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A personal negative business experience for Just Fearless LLC to help other small businesses:
There is something so truly mind-boggling about the ability to write something about a business and/or person based on slander and lies online and on social media and people take it as fact. They don't consider the website it was written on, they don't look at the response below the complaint on sites such as Rip Off Report (which deliberately creates a huge separation from the complaint up top, then tons of ads, then any rebuttal response)and others like Complaint Board. They don't look at the fact that someone used a fake name to write the same complaint (on multiple sites) and/or social media, they don't look at the date of the complaint (8 years ago) and even one this year for a company that we declined to fund via the angel fund (this women pretended to be a man from Boston even though men are not eligible for our fund - how petty can one get). People complain all the time, these same sites (RipOff Report & Complaints Board) have complaints against Wells Fargo, Pepsi, Sallie Mae, Taco Bell, Apple, T-Mobile, Avis Car Rental etc., and yet they are ALL still in business despite having hundreds and sometimes thousands of complaints on these websites and more. But you find one or 2 complaints over a 10 year period for a small business and it is automatically thought to be true without any verification or even questioning it or reading the reply at the bottom. This is how we got to where we are as a society and country. This is how the US got Trump because people are taking anything that is written online as truth without due diligence, asking questions directly, and common sense. For any company that has every had to deal with this, especially small businesses, this video gives you tips on how to deal with that. Keep going and don't let anyone or anything stop you. Just Do It! If people are not smart enough or willing to use common sense when it comes to discerning and questioning what's truth and what's really "Fake News", then they are not someone you want to do business with. Remember this the next time you do a Google search on someone or a company and something like RipOff Report or something similar comes up. Ask the company or contact about it directly and consider the source of the complaint rather than making assumptions. Common Sense is not so common these days.
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 Is China eclipsing Silicon Valley in promoting women?
As Silicon Valley struggles to shed its male-dominated "brogrammer" culture and bring more women into the technology industry, Asia can proudly point to a long list of female tech entrepreneurs -- including a number of self-made billionaires. Each of them has a remarkable story to tell. For this special report, Nikkei Asian Review journalists interviewed five women who are thriving in a famously male-dominated industry. Doris Hsu, raised in a poor farming community in Taiwan, runs a top global semiconductor supply company. Shilpa Vyapari's software firm competes in one of the most promising areas of tech: the internet of things. Carman Chan launched two startups of her own before becoming a successful venture capitalist, while Bai Xue and Han Mei both left top positions at Alibaba to pursue their entrepreneurial visions. Their success should not be taken as a sign that Asia's tech companies are hiring and promoting enough women, however. Pocket Sun, co-founder of SoGal, a U.S.-based venture capital firm that invests in women-led startups, says obstacles remain -- particularly in markets such as South Korea and Japan. "Asia is not better or worse for women entrepreneurs," Sun says. "Raising funding for women entrepreneurs is hard everywhere, and in Asia, women face more blunt discrimination and straight-out biased questions at pitch meetings." "There will be more successful women entrepreneurs across Asia and in the world. No doubt about that" Pocket Sun China is emerging as a leader in promoting women in tech, however. Nearly two-thirds of startups in China have women in the executive suite, while 57% of their U.S. counterparts have no women in top roles, according to Silicon Valley Bank's 2018 Startup Outlook Survey. One Chinese tech executive who believes in promoting women is Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder. At a technology conference last year, he advised companies to "hire as many women as possible." Sun says women in Asia have new opportunities to start businesses on their own terms, thanks in large part to the opportunities created by the web. "Today's women entrepreneurs tend to create businesses that are an extension of their self-expression, which really adds color to the business world," she said. "There will be more successful women entrepreneurs across Asia and in the world. It's a great time in history to be a woman." To read the rest please Click Here  The economic and business roles of Arab women have been discussed for more than two decades and initiatives have been launched on the consensus that their participation is worth promoting. With electoral quotas in several Arab countries to promote their political participation and with more women appointed to significant positions in the private sector, there are indicators that the roles of women are being taken more seriously. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, while there is a great deal of focus on women driving and flying, much less has been published about those women who make up the majority of Saudis enrolled in medical and pharmacy schools, teaching and research programs, and a number of scientific concentrations.
But I believe that the emphasis across the region on building up women as entrepreneurs will only bear fruit if the term applies broadly to women who create and run small and medium-size enterprises as businesses as well as their sisters engaged in IT, programming, hi tech, and similar sectors where entrepreneurs tend to concentrate. Recent enterprise program initiatives recognize that empowering rural communities, co-ops, neighborhood associations, and similar groups will enable them to act as proto-incubators for bringing greater business literacy to those who have been largely marginalized economic players. The cost of not including women as serious economic actors is severe and largely unnoticed. A Brookings Institution article recently noted that: “The World Bank recently said that globally we are losing $160 trillion in wealth because of the gender gap in earnings, including $3.1 trillion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.” Yet changes in legal codes, allocating more funding to female-centric programs, and building friendly ecosystems to support women in business still has to overcome the most significant barrier to women in the workforce – social and cultural stereotypes driven by a patriarchal society. As the Brookings article puts it: “In order to address the cultural barriers and the deep-rooted gender stereotyping concerning the division of labor, we must work closely with communities and with men specifically to raise the desirability and legitimacy of women working.” Perhaps the reason that there is so much emphasis on promoting women entrepreneurs in hi tech is that these sectors are outside of traditional jobs tied to crafts and food processing or more male-dominated areas. An IFC article says it clearly: “It may surprise some to learn that one in three start-ups in the Arab World is founded or led by women- a higher percentage than in Silicon Valley. Indeed, women are a force to be reckoned with in the start-up scene across the Middle East. Because the tech industry is still relatively new in the Arab world, there is no legacy of it being a male dominated field. Many entrepreneurs from the region believe that technology is one of the few spaces where everything is viewed as possible, including breaking gender norms, and is therefore a very attractive industry for women.” To read the rest Click Here  Since my book Dive Right In – The Sharks Won’t Bite: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Success was published in 1995, I have seen plenty of amazing changes happen for women founders, including an increase in resources, networks and opportunities. I have observed these positive shifts not only in my own work life, but also through mentoring women and being involved in a number of female-focused organizations, such as the National Association of Women Business Owners and the National Women's Business Council.
But despite these positive changes, overall revenues for women-owned businesses have stagnated. In fact, women’s share of revenue has actually decreased from 4.4 percent to 4.2 percent of all U.S. firms since 1997. What’s more, according to the National Association of Women Business Owners, only 4.2 percent of women-owned enterprises ever reaches the million-dollar mark. Why? That’s a tough question to answer, but I suspect that it partially involves various forms of gender bias or stereotyping. We have expectations about how women should think and behave, and how driven they should be when it comes to business, success and money. This bias, on the part of both men and women, has changed little during the past 20 years, although now it can often be more subtle. But gender bias is not the only roadblock to building a thriving business. Women’s own fears and beliefs often stand in their way to success. Here are three of the personal barriers that continue to plague women and what they can do about it. 1. PerfectionismOne of the biggest problems I saw in the mid ’90s with women wanting to start businesses was their inability to choose one business and focus on it. They would tell me about all the businesses they wanted to launch but kept stalling. At first, I thought this was a commitment issue until I realized that it was a form of perfectionism. Everything had to be perfect before they would officially launch. Today, I see this in the woman who won’t start a business until she has the perfect name for the company, the woman who won’t delegate tasks because she can do it better herself, or the woman who obsesses over the fact that a client complained about some minor glitch. Yes, the name of your company is important, but don’t let it keep you from launching. And doing everything yourself is a way to get tasks done perfectly, but it’s not the way to build a business. You need employees, partners or outside help in order to grow. And, of course, you want satisfied customers, but don’t let something minor through you off track. Women often blame themselves for minor imperfections. Don’t do that. You need to fix the problem and move on. To read the rest, Click Here.  By Charumini de Silva
With a view to enhance the participation of women entrepreneurs in business and particularly in the exports sector, the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) recently held a forum titled ‘Women to the Fore in Exports’ to encourage increased participation of women in the economic development of Sri Lanka. The forum identified and discussed key issues both at the policy and operational levels that hinder the participation of women in business activities, as well as facilitate cross-border trading transactions to accelerate economic development. The discussion also highlightedon the available Government assistance for women led businesses, especially women led startups, since the objective of the NCE is to encourage women entrepreneurs to focus on the field of exports as a professional career path, as well as a rewarding business. During the forum the Chamber also launched its latest initiative, ‘NCE Women’s Wing’ to provide services specifically for women exporters as well as potential entrepreneurs and exporters. The NCE intends to provide a series of services such as market information, facilitating the provision of resources, and advice to build a sustainable international business for women who engage in business globally. In addition a dedicated webpage for women entrepreneurs in the award winning NCE website, was also launched during the event. To read more about their plans to enhance women leadership roles, Click Here |
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