Why, the Women Presidents’ Organization, that’s where!
People like to talk about the glass ceiling. For Marsha Firestone, founder of the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) for women business owners with $2 million or more in annual revenue ($1 million for service businesses), there was not only a glass ceiling, there was also a “sticky floor.â€?
Marsha founded WPO in 1997 with one chapter…this year the group celebrated its 10th anniversary with 75 chapters, and it is 1,100 members strong.
We first read about Marsha when she was quoted in a New York Times article on women businesses trying to reach that million-dollar milestone.
What inspired you to create the Women Presidents’ Organization?
Firestone: While I was working for the American Women’s Economic Development Corporation, I realized that there were many programs for startup and young businesses, but nothing for women who had already achieved success–women who had businesses that were making $2 million or more. There was simply nothing for this particular market.
While I was there I applied for the presidency, and they gave it to someone else. I had proposed to them that, as president, that I start the Women’s Presidents’ Organization for them.
When I didn’t get the job, I cried for two to three months, and then started the Women Presidents’ Organization on my own.
How did you keep your focus and handle both your full-time job while you were starting this other full-time organization?
Firestone: I worked a lot of extra hours. I worked on things at home and talked about them over the weekends, too. In terms of finances, it was hard because I didn’t have lot of money coming in to run WPO. Actually, one of my dear friends, Mary Leeman-McGlocklin, and I were on a plane going to a Women’s Leadership Board that we were both on. She asked me how much money I had in the bank for this–I said zero. She opened up her checkbook and wrote me a check for $10,000. And that’s really what enabled me. I just was blown away.
She passed away from cancer in 2002, and WPO has an award in her memory. Mary firmly believed in economic empowerment of women–which is really what the WPO is about. We want to strengthen women businesses so that there is a lot of economic security, not just for the women who are the owners, but also for the people who work for them, many of whom are women.
We want women to be able to take care of themselves financially.
In the NY Times article, you mentioned women business owners being “motivatedâ€? vs. “stalledâ€? in business–what did you mean?
Firestone: If you walked into a room of any one of our WPO events, you’d see these women who are very driven–motivated. They don’t even have to have a big dream or be seeking international business exposure or want to own a large number of franchises. They just have this passion and fire for excellence and achievement.
The Center for Women’s Business Research has actually identified certain characteristics of successful women business owners. They use professional advisors, bootstrap their revenues, get creative with finance, and many of them start “nontraditionalâ€? businesses…manufacturing–not retail, fashion, fitness or beauty.
We just did a survey of the top businesses in our organization. The number-one business is manufacturing. Number two is consulting, training and communication. Number three, believe it or not– is information technology. More and more women are starting IT businesses.
What types of businesses fall into manufacturing?
Firestone: One of our women businesses actually makes parts for NASA. Another manufactures parts for the airplane’s black box. Another one manufactures parts for Harley-Davidson.
Some are in furniture–specializing in a particular type of office furniture. Another woman makes paper. Women are in every industry from real estate to manufacturing to marketing to construction. One of our members is listed on the top 25 largest consturction compaines in New York; she’s the only woman, and she’s number 11.
One of our members is Taryn Rose. She’s a doctor, an orthopedist who wanted to look nice when she went to work but her feet would kill her, so she developed the shoes.
What practical steps would you tell a woman today, who’s at the bottom of the mountain–at the $50,000 level and wants to get to the $2 million level?
Firestone: First of all, don’t get distracted into many different directions simultaneously. Focus on a specific product or service, know what that product or service is (and) make sure it’s unique–that you are fulfilling a market segment or a product or service that isn’t already out there and a zillion people are carrying it.
I think a lot of people have the idea to improve upon an already good product. People see something that is working and they think they are going to make it even better–but it doesn’t necessarily work that way.
So, making sure you have a product that there’s a need for and an interest in and that’s unique and fills a hole in the market is the first most practical step.
Second, focus your resources. Because you only have a certain amount of dollars, and you have to spend those dollars on your primary product. Let’s say you start spending your resources and you’re doing well. Don’t all of a sudden decide that you are going to go off in 10,000 directions simultaneously. Make sure that product is well-rounded before you start expanding
Another point I want to make…you have to be highly motivated, even on your bad days. You have to be able to say “OK, that was a bad day; I just lost my best customer, but I’m going to figure out how to rebound and keep going.� That’s keeping that fire in your heart going.
Where can they go to find out about how to research a market?
Firestone: I think a lot of people have an idea, and they think it’s a really good idea, but they haven’t spoken to their customer or their customer-to-be. Market research can be expensive; there’s a lot of good market research on the internet. One good way is to go stand at the mall, do a little intelligence work yourself. There are ways to go online and do market research that years ago you could not do, certainly not only researching what already exists, but creating a survey you can get a response to.
What can a woman do who feels like she’s stuck or stalled vs. motivated?
Firestone: Well, we know from research that women, not just women adults, learn best from each other. And every entrepreneur should have a peer advisory group. And that’s what WPO is. It doesn’t exist for the women below a million dollars in revenue, but go out and find a group of advisors that can help you with those days and with the problems in running your business. Taking courses in community colleges are fine; there are lots of starting and growing your own business courses, those are good. But you want someone who can support you, who is going through similar experiences that you’re going through, whom you can learn from and really share the experience with.
What mentors played a role in your success?
Firestone: Neat story–Margaret Meade was on my dissertation committee. I took her course on birth, marriage and death. There were 3,000 people in the auditorium, and I waited until all of them were gone and asked her. She came into my dissertation wearing a cape and trident. It was very cool.
I learned a lot from her. She said to all of her students that if we gave her a 3 x 5 card with our contact information, and our photograph and something about us, that she would keep the card and anytime we needed a recommendation she would write it for us. And so I made a commitment that when I became involved in the women’s business community, that whoever called me I would respond to.
You can find out more about Marsha and WPO here: Women Presidents’ Organization
We salute Marsha for blazing the trail, and we wish you a happy holiday season.
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December 21st, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Even though it is targeted to women, I believe men could also benefit from this great interview with a lot of inspiration and advices. Thank you for the information.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Michelle & Michelle,
Thanks for a great article and splendid gems of wisdom from one of America’s smartest and most passionate women business leaders.
Government contracts can also drive business growth. I wonder how many of WPO’s 1,100 members sell to government — and how many want to, and how many tried and gave up.
Watch for it this week: there’s about to be a new rule announced that’s apparently not going to be as helpful as it could be for woman-owned businesses. WPO would be an excellent group to turn to for opinions on whether the provision — which came about after seven years of foot-dragging by the current Administration — is genuinely useful, and, if not, what WOULD be helpful.
That could be a great story for business owners looking to grow.
I’d love to help you with the research and offer sidebar commentary — I give people, especially woman-owned businesses, the insight they need to win government contracts.
Let me know when would be a good time to get in touch! And happy holidays.
Judy Bradt
703 627 1074
www.summitinsight.com