Some 45 years ago, Barbara Spector Yeninas, a woman literally floating around in what was truly a man's world-ocean shipping-took a risk. Seeking a short-term step on her career path from maritime journalist, she established BSY Associates Inc., a woman-owned public relations agency at a time when females were rarely seen on the waterfront.

BSYA started as a PR and advertising agency, quickly expanding into industry event planning, association management, crisis communications and design. Today, BSYA embraces the disciplines of branding and integrated marketing communications to deliver business results that continue to exceed expectations for clients throughout the world.

An award-winning enterprise, BSY Associates Inc. is reportedly the agency with the longest continuous global history of covering what is now called logistics, world trade and transportation and a legacy of longevity with a stellar list of clients.

Surprise!

It started at birth when the doctor did not know it was going to be twins. First Faith was born, then… Surprise!  There is another baby here. A big April Fools! joke on the doctor who was expecting the birth of a single baby. In addition to celebrating their birthday on April 1st, identical twins, Faith and Hope Zimmerman will be celebrating the 25 year anniversary of their business, Zimmerman Architects. This is very fitting for a day when we typically celebrate the unconventional and the unexpected. Faith and Hope are women architects who have their own practice, which they built from the ground up. This is rather unusual with only 19% of licensed architects being women and even fewer heading up their own firm. And here there are two of them, identical twins, working together.

Whether you are an Olympic gold medalist, pro tennis player, or champion tri-athlete, the one thing all top sports figures have in common is a team of experts who work together. Athletes leverage the talent of coaches, nutritionists, trainers, and doctors to yield great results; why then don't top entrepreneurs create their own team? An entrepreneur's resources are magnified and strengthened by having a dream team working with them and for them.

Networking and relationship development skills are critical for any entrepreneur - male or female. These tools are just a great way to leverage the limited resources that challenge every entrepreneur.

Too bad that networking isn't taught either in our high schools or colleges ( or even sooner). It's a life altering skill that too many people never develop.

Judy Chapman and
son JonathanAfter 40 years of being in business for himself and learning to really develop his networking skills my husband Jack and his partner, Andy Bluestone, formed Bluestone + Killion to coach professionals and business leaders to upgrade their networking and relationship development abilities that naturally result in stronger business growth, accelerated careers and much richer personal and family lives.

I too have used networking as a key resource for developing Garden State Woman and our Education Foundation. We emphasize networking when we mentor the young, exceptional , inner city women we support with financial aid for their 4 year college educations.

In the Spring we will be hosting an intensive, hands-on network workshop for our Garden State Woman followers. Watch for details.

Mel Montalvo, Vice President of My IT Provider in Caldwell, NJ, shared with Garden State Woman some quick tips for people who are trying to start a business and what they should be expecting out of their technology to help achieve their goals.

1. The name of the business should be your domain and belong to their email address. For example, using a domain on your email address is a lot more professional and attractive to new customers instead of a @yahoo.com or @gmail.com (free service with size limitations).  For about $40 (yearly) you can secure a domain and an email plan with Network Solutions or GoDaddy.
2. Purchase a little all in one scanner/copier/printer/fax – Having functionality in a little unit can help develop professional, colored brochures, flyers, etc. (in low volume) for that important meeting.  Even though we live in a digital age and paperless environment, high power executives still want to "touch" something and see a marketing logo/branding behind a company and these little All-in-Ones can help.
3. A simple database manager and building your contacts is key to maintain and track your relationships.  A "CardScan" device and software will help organize your networking right from the beginning.  The software allows you to automate calls and follow up with "hot" leads as well as any special notes on the client (birthday, mention of a special event, etc.).
4. Acquiring the latest but most common used PC software will help your information be read by others on any device.  Stick to the basics of Microsoft Word/Excel & Outlook instead of others which your potential customer may not have and will have a difficult time opening if he/she does not have that software.  Don't send that customer a Vizio drawing if you are not sure they have Vizio on their PC.  Don't send the executive the PowerPoint presentation because chances are he has someone else viewing it for him/her or he/she may not have PowerPoint.
5. Purchase a two or three phone line phone system without spending a lot of money.  Set up the voicemail and roll over options to make sure your missed calls land in a voicemail and easy enough for you to retrieve. Also have an unlimited plan on your cell phone to avoid overages and have your calls forwarded to your cell to ensure you don't miss calls.  You can also forward your voicemails to emails so if you're at a big conference or meeting but all of a sudden you READ and important message, you don't waste time and you can react quickly for sake of your potential customer.

My IT Provider is a network services and support Organization specializing in the design, planning, implementation and ongoing support of LAN's, WANs, Email Systems, Servers, Operating Systems, Software and related products. Their specialists provide tailored solutions and work with clients achieving specific objectives to ensure a solid upgrade path for the future.  Visit their website.

Are you an entrepreneur or planning to become one?

If so, you will be interested in an important new initiative being launched by Garden State Woman, developed to help New Jersey women succeed and thrive as entrepreneurs and controllers of their own destinies.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  to start receiving our new Garden State Woman Entrepreneur Newsletter.

More and more women are taking better control of their financial futures and their family's future by launching their own businesses. Finding your next job is going to get touigher and tougher as most organizations continue to outsource and raise productivity through better use of new technologies. All around us are people searching for a solid job. Recent college graduates can't find one. People who have been down-sized can't find one. Stay at home moms trying to get back into the workforce can't find one and the disadvataged without critical skills or a college degree certainly can't find one. The need and the opportunity for all of us to lead a more entrepreneurial business life has never been greater. We at Garden State Woman want to help you on this journey.

To start, we are launching a FREE monthly e-newsletter that will include plenty of rich content focusing on topics of critical importance to entrepreneurial women, for example:

As Elizabeth Mabrey said as we were wrapping up our conversation. “ I work like a slave but love what I do. It’s boring not to know things.”

Elizabeth has developed a system to make lemonade from lemons.  Basically frustrated  with the public education system in the U.S., she fought many battles with administrators and teachers while her two sons were younger. For 3 years, after a stint in the local public middle and grammar school system, she had both boys attend  Rutgers Preparatory School before switching them back into Hunterdon Central High School which she considers the best of the public schools she has experienced.

 At one point in our recent discussion with Elizabeth she mentioned that she finally came to view our public schools as providing day care services while the parents work. Following family dinners together - she always thought they were important – Elizabeth added to her sons’ education through home schooling. The approach obviously worked as Elizabeth’s two sons are now engineering majors at U Penn and Cornell Universities.

 Elizabeth is originally from Hong Kong and clearly recognizes the weaknesses in the Asian approach to education. The term she used to describe the rigid, non flexible teaching style in Asia with up to 50 students per class is “stuffing the duck” which basically means jamming as much information as possible into the kids without really ever teaching them to think creatively and outside the box. She believes the U.S. system does a better job of teaching creativity but doesn’t do nearly well enough helping students develop the necessary discipline to capitalize on their creative thinking skills.

Elizabeth has her undergraduate degree from Marywood University and her Masters from Drexel where she studied Computer Science. For the first 20 years of her working career Elizabeth worked the 60-70 hours a week necessary for a woman with a passion and interest in technology to advance in software development with leading companies such as BEA.

Join me and my entrepreneurial husband Jack Killion for a breakfast discussion focused on starting and growing a new business, any kind of new business. For over 35 years Jack has either been helping others start their own businesses or starting and developing his own including the Eagle Rock Diversified Fund that he launched 11 years ago and continues to head.

In these tough times, with many millions out of work and unable to find another career path, thinking about starting a business of your own is one viable option. Women are accounting for an increasingly higher percentage of new business start-ups.

There isn't any catch to this suggestion. We are not interested in selling you anything. You don't have to prepare anything in advance – but you will be expected to talk openly about your new business idea. It will be our treat entirely. Maybe the discussion will turn out to be some good content for a Blog on gswoman.com. We are thinking about developing a 2012 conference for NJ women entrepreneurs. This discussion will give us input for that idea.

We have been through just about any kind of situation that you might run into in getting a new business off the ground. We are passionate about the small business community.Our interest and experience goes back several decades. Over the years we have: helped others start and grow their own businesses; raised money for new businesses, served on the boards of emerging companies and invested in new businesses. We also started and developed our own businesses in a range of industries.

The idea is that we will have breakfast with 3 or 4 Garden State Woman who are either thinking about starting a new business or working hard to profitably grow one that they started previously. We will meet in the Morristown area at either the Park Avenue Club or another site for a couple of hours to have some eggs and coffee and share ideas, thinking, challenges, hurdles and opportunities.

AMBLER's Approach Has Generated $1 Billion of New Revenue for Woman Owned Businesses

Is it realistic to ask a small business to help other companies grow and to play a role in economic recovery when it sometimes can be an uphill battle to attract customers and keep paying your own employees? Apparently Aldonna Ambler thinks so. AMBLER Growth Strategy Consultants, Inc. (AMBLER) just passed the impressive milestone of generating over $1 Billion for other woman owned businesses.

$100 Million has come from a mixture of their own purchases from vendors, referrals, subcontracts, licensees, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. The firm has also played a key role in attracting over $100 Million in growth financing, grants, and corporate sponsorships for woman owned businesses. And even if they only count five years/client, the growth strategies AMBLER has provided for woman owned business clients has generated over $800 Million of new revenue for WBOs.

In 1985, when Ambler was the Statewide President for the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners (NJAWBO), Aldonna Ambler made the decision to "walk the talk" and committed to maintaining a vendor base that reflects the demographics of the business community. 40% of their vendors are woman owned companies. That vendor policy has generated $12 Million for woman owned accounting firms, attorneys, bookkeepers, computer programmers, call centers, equipment lessors, graphic artists, insurance agents, photographers, printers, public relations firms, website designers, writers, etc. AMBLER's commitment to diversity has brought $34 Million in subcontracts and licenses for women facilitators, interviewers, researchers, secret shoppers, speakers and trainers. They have referred over $15 Million of business to woman owned companies, and that number does not include the revenue those companies gained from any repeat business.

Aldonna Ambler's commitment has gone well beyond their approach to hiring, subcontracts, vendors and acquisitions. "The owner of a small company can generate jobs and make a difference in the economy when he/she participates in joint ventures and strategic alliances," says Ambler. "We have initiated over a dozen strategic alliances/joint ventures and participated in another ten." Alliances and ventures help companies share the risk, create new products, expand into new markets, and attract larger customers they could not have served on their own. For example, dozens of other companies have benefited from multi-city speaking tours featuring Ambler.

Known as The Growth Strategist™, Ambler's alliance and venture partners have included companies that provide complementary products and services to help midsized companies keep growing. AMBLER Growth Strategy Consultants, Inc. does opportunity/ resource analysis and growth strategy planning for midsized companies, generating $39 Million for market research companies, merger and acquisition (M&A) firms, family business attorneys, industry experts, etc.

Like many entrepreneurial women you are holding down one job (designing bathing suits) while working hard to launch your own business www.milagrosclothingdesign.com. Tell us about your “day” job designing bathing suits. After all these years can bathing suits really be re-designed and improved?

Nadine: The design is really based on the fabric prints. The silhouette really does not change that much. You have your basic triangle top, halter top, tankini top, bandeau top. Then as for the bottoms you have scoop, side ties, and boy shorts. And you have your one piece.

Starting from high school what has been your career path?

Nadine: My high school teacher encouraged me to take a patternmaking class in F.I.T. I was learning how different garments were constructed. It was a great experience. When I attended F.I.T. I was an intern for Gabriella Zanzani, a ready-to-wear clothing company. After I graduated FIT she offered me a job. It was a great experience and I had the opportunity to work with a high end clothing company. It was fun working behind the scenes for her fashion shows. My second job was with Anakha, a bridle company. I worked very closely with the customers on creating their dresses. I was working for her for three years. My third job in the industry was with Liz Lange Maternity, another high end company. My present job is with Inmocean, a swim suit company. It’s one of the largest manufacturing companies in the USA.

Where did you get your interest in becoming a clothing designer?

Jennifer Sullivan launched her entrepreneurial career three years ago when her son went off to pre-school. She realized she needed a good way to stay busy and productive. She launched Home Neat Home as a service to families – busy women are her primary clients – in order to get their homes to be better organized.

New Jersey-based Karen Nathan has launched a company (Olivine Products) to make us all more aware of how we can contribute to improving the environment.

Q: Prior to starting your company what was your educational and business background?

A: I have a Bachelor’s degree in Biology cum laude from Bryn Mawr College and a Masters degree in Education from Rutgers University. Prior to founding Olivine LLC I worked in the world of corporate training for 11 years. I get a lot of professional satisfaction out of matching an organization’s strategy with its employees’ self-interest, energy and talent.

Q: Tell us about the business you have launched. When did you launch it? What is its mission?
Why did you launch it? What is the company’s business model, i.e. what does the company do?

A: Although I had the idea for the company years earlier, I officially launched the company in the first half of 2008. I was increasingly aware of the growing environmental crisis and was looking for a way to help the average consumer make a positive difference. After exhaustive testing and research I developed a program that offers a realistic and incremental approach to green living—it’s a combination of easy actions and good sound products. The workshops I run are called Green Gatherings™ and they have been very well received in homes, schools, and offices.

The Rothman Institute Family Business Forum was established by the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies in 1992 to support family businesses.The Forum is designed to provide family businesses in the metropolitan area with a unique opportunity to learn from leading experts about proven strategies for successfully owning and operating a family business through outcome oriented educational programs and seminars.

The Forum also provides members with the opportunity to exchange ideas and share experiences.Programs are designed to foster interaction and participation by addressing issues of specific concern. The members-only environment fosters long-term relationships based on mutual trust and understanding and an ongoing dialogue about family and business issues.

Why a Forum only for family firms?

Family businesses face unique challenges. In addition to all of the fundamental issues involved in operating a business, families in business must address a number of other important concerns, including:

• Developing visions for the family and business that are mutually compatible
• Selecting and preparing successors
• Planning for estate taxes and ownership transfer
• Developing fair and effective compensation strategies for family members as well as non-family employees
• Developing and implementing governance structures
• Fostering open and productive communication
• Creating productive roles for family members who are not active in the business
• Managing conflict within the family and business
• Attracting and retaining non-family managers and employees

What to Expect from a Forum Seminar

A typical Family Business Forum seminar consists of from 40 to 60 members – representing two or three generations - with family and non-family members - from various types and sizes of businesses. Representatives from sponsoring organizations are also present at seminars to offer their expertise when appropriate. Seminars vary in content and format. Some feature family business experts while others include panels of members and sponsors.

Member Organizations

Member family-owned businesses range from insurance providers, manufactureres, commercial real estate and security firms with annual revenues from $1.5 million to $40 million

Fairleigh Dickinson University has a program has a long standing program that enables selected emerging companies to have teams of MBA students (many with years of real life working experience) develop new or revised business plans for them. This exceptional program is now headed by two women leaders at the University