Southeast Women Partner

Attract More Female Clients

Cross marketing at its essence is nothing more than joining forces with compatible companies so that everyone involved can more effectively capitalize on each others’ existing client base.

Marketing 2 Women International is pleased to introduce its new business partner matchmaking service, the Cross Marketing Circle, for busy business people who want increase their female client base.

The Cross Marketing Circle is one of the perks of being a part of the Marketing to Women Business Center. 5 – 10 complementary business people in non-competitive business fields team up to support each others’ marketing efforts. They engage in high powered networking while laying the foundation for a mutually beneficial local, national and or international cross marketing campaign.

Why sell to one person at a time when you can collaborate with non-competitive companies who are already catering to your target audience? Cross Marketing Circle participants work together to funnel clients to each other while sharing the time and cost of marketing together to attract new female clients.

Jerrilynn B. Thomas, Founder of Marketing 2 Women International, will serve as facilitator for the Cross Marketing Circle. Jerrilynn has fine tuned her business partner matchmaking skills over the past 15+ years by giving small group workshops and networking events for business people with the desire to team up to generate a buzz.

Why Market to Women?

Women start businesses at a faster pace than men every year. They generate $3 trillion in revenue. Now add that amount to what the overall women’s market spends in the U.S. on personal products and services — $5 trillion — and you see why companies should focus their marketing dollars on attracting women in business. They need business as well as consumer products and services. In short, they control the purse strings of their businesses and households.

The Details

A 90 minute mixer will be conducted for Southeast business and professional women during National Entrepreneur Week (February 20 – 27) on Monday, February 22, 2010 from 2 – 3:30 PM Eastern as part of Marketing 2 Women International’s Cross Marketing Across America campaign.

20 women will have the opportunity to present a 3 minute company showcase  to attract prospective cross marketing partners. An international guest speaker will share her insight on how to tap into her metropolitan women in business market.

The special guest speaker for the Southeast Women Partner Virtual Mixer is Mari Kawawa.  Mari will educate participants about Japan’s women in business market.

Mari is Co-founder and Principal of Acumen Capital Japan (AcumenCapitalJapan.com), a company that focuses on supporting cross-border businesses between Japan and the world.  Acumen Capital Japan provides expert service in the following areas for companies around the world:

• Business Development Advisory
• Structuring Advice on Investments
• Information on Global Investment Trends
• Translation Services for Financial Documents

Mari has over 15 years of experience in real estate finance, securitization, fund structuring, derivatives and asset management in New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo. Senior positions held include Managing Director at real estate investment firm Redwood Trust (RWT), Managing Director in financial structures at asset management company Invesco, and Managing Director in structured credit products at Banc of America Securities. She started her career in media translation and public accounting. Mari has an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a BA in English from Sophia University, Tokyo.

At the end of the mixer, participants will be sent a slide presentation that includes everyone who participated and assigned a joint marketing project.  They will also receive a 30 day profile on the Women’s Collaborative Forum in honor of Women’s History Month.  The cost to participate is only $20.  The cost to participate is only $20.

Register today to secure your spot in the Southeast Women Partner Virtual Mixer showcase for Southeast business and professional women.

It’s a sad fact that most people overpay for their health coverage and I’d like to make sure that you’re not one of them.  With that in mind, this is the first topic of a series of informational articles that are intended to educate, not sell, so that you’re armed with the knowledge you need to make an informed decision.  I hope you find them helpful.  This first one is on Sharing Financial Risk.

All of us who buy health insurance want the same thing…And that’s to pay as little as possible for good coverage, without assuming too much financial risk, in case of a costly medical event.  For example, you can choose to share none of the risk and have the insurance company pay 100% of everything, and you’ll have a sky high premium to match.  Or you can take on a lot of risk yourself by choosing a huge deductible of say, $20,000, with no coverage for doctor visits or prescriptions, in order to get a cheap premium, and then hope you don’t end up in the hospital and have to pay that $20,000 out of your own pocket.

Somewhere between those 2 extremes of managing exposure to financial risk, there’s a fine line, a tipping point, between saving you money with the right plan and the right deductible that you can afford, without lining the pockets of the insurance company.  Choosing the right plan, co-pays, deductibles and co-insurance determine how much of the financial risk the carrier will assume, and how much risk you will assume, so they all affect the premium.  For example, low co-pays, deductibles and co-insurance drive your premiums up because you’re asking the insurance company to start sharing the expense sooner.  Whereas, no co-pays, higher deductibles and co-insurance lower your premiums, but you must be financially able to pay them when you need medical attention.

It’s a real balancing act and you need a broker who knows how to find that tipping point so you protect yourself financially without lining the pockets of the insurance company.  Remember, unpaid medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the United States today, so it’s important to get it right.

Your exposure to financial risk is why you’re buying insurance in the first place.  Take the case of one of my clients, Craig W, who always was an active and healthy adult when he went to the 2008 U.S. Open in San Diego, and caught a virus that knocked him flat and was undetectable to standard tests…and they ran them all!  After 6 months, and $69,000 in hospital, doctor and lab bills to try to find out what it was, the virus passed.  That could have emptied his cash reserves and forced him to tap into his retirement funds.  But with insurance, he paid his deductible and his maximum Out-Of-Pocket expense of 2500 and he was done and back to full health.  When selecting a plan for him, his financial risk was managed and it paid off….Big Time!  And that’s what you need your broker to do for you.

The next educational article will be on Contracted Rates and how the right company will save you thousands!  In the meantime, if you have any questions, give me a call.

Evelyn Jackson
President & Insurance Specialist
Prescribe Me Insurance, LLC
Kennesaw, GA
Office: 800.961.8546 Fax: 800-961-8416
www.PrescribeMeInsurance.com

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EvelynAJackson

Connect with me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/evelynajackson

Join my FaceBook Fan Page: http://bit.ly/6syKIt

Recently, I was thinking about the questions that franchise candidates ask during the investigation process, and what motivation lies behind those questions. The more I boiled it all down, the more I realized that it really comes down to one simple question – “Why A Franchise?”.

So, I went back to the very beginning of WHY a candidate would use my services to help them find a new opportunity, and I came to the following conclusions that seem to apply to about everyone I work with:

MOTIVATION: You’re dissatisfied with the way you’re being treated by your company. Perhaps you’re an executive who has been displaced. You realize that your labors have been creating wealth for others, but not for yourself. You’ve had the idea of owning your own business as a solution to these and other issues but you’ve heard all the horror stories about the failure rates of independent businesses.

OPPORTUNITY: Franchising is nothing more or less than a business strategy for getting and keeping customers. It is a marketing system for creating an image in the minds of customers about the company’s products or services. It is a method for distributing products and services that satisfy customer needs. Franchising is a network of interdependent business relationships that allows a number of people to share a brand identification, a successful method of doing business, and a proven marketing and distribution system.

For the franchisee, franchising is about risk reduction and safety. You give up the total freedom associated with being an “independent owner” to become part of a group of people committed to building a brand and dominating markets using a common, proven operating system. You don’t have to guess about the most effective way to build your business; there is a proven system to use.

METHOD: The franchisor provides a proven method of doing business (the operating system), a brand or trademark that will have value in the eyes of the customer based on execution of the operating system, and initial and ongoing support so you won’t have to reinvent the wheel to be successful. You provide capital to expand the brand faster than the franchisor can by itself and management talent to run the business and execute the operating system.

A franchise system should also provide group buying power to cut your operating expenses, faster growth due to tested marketing programs, predictable results based on your adherence to the operating system and less risk of your invested capital. The trade offs for you are the fees you pay the franchisor for the operating license and the restrictions you will deal with on the method of operating the business.

In looking at any franchise opportunity, the above holds true for most all my candidates. Franchising is about being part of something bigger than just your office or location. It really doesn’t matter which product or service you are selling – it’s about building your dreams by using a common and proven business system.

If this strikes a cord with you, give me a call and let’s discuss how we can help you build YOUR dream!

Happy Holidays!

Best regards,
Jackie Adams
866.250.5448

FranChoice Consultant

www.franchoice.com/jadams

As a business woman, you know first hand that the women in business market is so lucrative because of the different hats we wear in our business and personal lives. We are CEOs of our own companies and households, mothers, wives, consumers of personal products and services, brides, caretakers of our aging parents, students, home buyers, drivers, and more. But have you considered that our businesses are shaped by the metropolitan areas we live in?

The metro economy, job market, culture, business resources and more affect our bottom-lines and needs. Depending on our professions and place we live it is either feast or famine right now. The way that you marketed to business women a few years ago requires a different approach now. The recession has changed the metropolitan landscape by separating the weak from the strong while identifying business needs that are not being met.

The women in business market in the Dallas / Austin area has different needs from one in Los Angeles or Toronto, Canada. Women who analyze the women in business market on a metro by metro scale will grab a BIGGER share of their target market by uncovering underserved markets, new needs, and new business opportunities.

Stop thinking of the women in business market as a whole. Break it down into the hats the women wear, professionals, and how they are affected by the metro area they live in. If you do so, your marketing message will produce BIGGER results.

Georgia businesswoman Jerrilynn B. Thomas is the founder of Marketing 2 Women International.  Jerrilynn’s specialty is facilitating cross marketing partnerships between complementary business and professional women to help them increase their female client base while saving time and money on their marketing.  Her services are very exclusive.  She works with women in select business 2 business fields and limits the number per state and international areas.  Visit http://WomenPartner.com to see if your business is a fit for her expertise.You can follow her on Twitter @WomenPartner, LinkedIn, and on Facebook.

Marketing 2 Women International wants to help you get to know the businesswomen throughout your region who can open business doors for you in 2010.  We are declaring Saturday, December 12 as “Smart Women Partner & Grow Rich!” day.  It’s a day for women to share their business stories and connect with women who not only want to survive the tough economic climate but thrive by growing their companies to the 8 figure mark.  $1 million only goes so far these days.  You need to reach for the $10 million + mark.

We are inviting women from around the US, Canada, & UK to meet up with us for events in Atlanta, New York, Houston, Great Lakes Region, Phoenix, and Surrey/Hampshire (UK) for face to face web cam interviews to share their in-depth business story — the start up, challenges they’ve faced, hopes and dreams for their company, lessons learned they can share with other women, and more. The events will kick off at the same time.

Smart Women Partner & Grow Rich! day will provide us with the opportunity to document the impact of the economy on the women in business market and promote the concept of forming collaborative business relationships to grow in a slow economy.  Women who can’t make it to the live interviews will be able to tape their own video and send it to us.  All of the interviews will be grouped by region and placed on one of the blogs that make up our “Women’s Business Growth & Relocation Center” as well YouTube, Facebook & Twitter.

Since December is also “Write a Business Plan Month”, WPI experts will be on hand to help guests with their 2010 business plans.  While they are waiting to be interviewed and receive assistance from our business plan experts, guests will be able to network and mingle to find high powered collaborative partners who can introduce them to the “right” business people in their region.  We want women to leave their one on one sales mentality at the door and enter with the goal of identifying 5 or women owned companies whose client base they can service or form a joint venture with.

The first 100 women to walk in the door will receive a “Business Diva” gift bag full of goodies.  Admission is free but a holiday gift for a needy child or woman in a shelter is required to be considered for an interview.  Interviews will be conducted on a first come first serve basis.  Interviewees will receive a copy of the video for their web sites.  The best stories will be weaved together for a documentary Marketing 2 Women International is creating to show how the Trillion dollar women in business market is the solution for our global economic problems.

Would you like to shine the spotlight on your business and get a jump start on networking by volunteering as a Smart Women Partner & Grow Rich! task force member to help us spread the word and present our event?  If yes, fill out the task force form on http://WomenPartner.com/TaskForce and lets get down to work.  We are looking for location recommendations.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. — Barack Obama

The world stopped on January 20 to watch the 44th president, Barack Obama, get sworn into office. During his speech he told everyone that we need to “pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work.” It is going to take all of us working together to fix this financial mess.

We have to start creating new opportunities for ourselves by effectively marketing our companies to boost our bottom-lines and outsourcing work so we can direct the flow of money into the women in business community. A lot of self-employed women have had to step up to the plate as the bread winner because their spouse has been laid off. It is more important than ever for us to cross market, engage in JVs, and form alliances.

Marketing 2 Women International and its partner companies are here to help you navigate through the recession. Contact us if we can be of service to you. Please post your introduction in the comment section.

Women Collaborating to Help Other Women Thrive Instead of Survive the Recession

Marketing 2 Women International is pleased to announce the prelaunch of Southeast Women Partner. Take a look around to acquaint yourself with our unique concept.

The Business and Career Reinvention 2.0 section is going to be a “work of business art”. The business relocation section will allow local business and professional to recommend the “best of” in their metropolitan area while plugging their own company.

Southeast Women Partner will be “manned” by a high powered team of distinguished Southeast business and professional women. Not only will they help women in their state thrive during and beyond this recession, they will serve as door openers for women from other US and global metropolitan areas who want to tap into their local women in business market by utilizing their products and services.

Women who want to step out from the crowd by engaging in outside the box cross marketing activities are invited to submit an application for Marketing 2 Women International membership.

Over the next few weeks, our center will be filled with information supplied by local magazine publishers, leaders of women’s organizations, and owners of companies whose products and services are building blocks of the Southeast’s marketing infrastructure. Please register as a user on our main blog and click the link above to subscribe to our RSS feed. We welcome your thoughts and ideas on what you would like for us to cover to truly make this center beneficial for your company.

Advertise like a BIG corporation on a tiny budget by pooling your marketing dollars with complementary companies and watch your visibility and profits grow in 2009.

Marketing 2 Women International is looking for seasoned Southeast business and professional women who want to become known as the #1 expert in their field in their state that can help women owned companies keep their doors open during and beyond this recession.

We are seeking companies that offer essential business products and services — Marketing, PR, Accounting, Event planning, Sales coaching, Advertising, Business development, e-Business consulting, Business coaching and Publishing for our women’s business consortium.  Involvement is limited to one person per category.

While your competition is participating in the recession by cutting staff and marketing costs, you will be able to keep your company in the spotlight by sharing the cost of marketing with other companies who want to crush their competition. You can participate in expos together; buy full page ad space in the top business and consumer magazines; send out tip post cards; conduct joint workshops; purchase cable advertising; and more.

Advertise like a BIG corporation on a tiny budget by pooling your marketing dollars with complementary companies and watch your visibility and profits grow in 2009.   You will cross market with companies in your state to expand your client base as well as with companies in other states and countries so you can grow your client base in over 200 metro women in business markets.

If you are looking for a new business association that will help you stretch your budget and market your company in 2009, click here to find out how Marketing 2 Women International can help you build a $1 million + company in spite of the economy.

Download an application

Ask how you can cross market with one or more of your business associates to reduce the cost of signing up.