Utah Women-Owned Businesses Facing Obstacles with Confidence
Some of Utah’s top women in business discussed company growth and overcoming obstacles during the recession and shared advice for future female business leaders at a Utah Business roundtable October 5, 2010.
Up to the Challenge
Downsizing was a solution for many businesses to survive the recession, a very hard decision for some of the women at the roundtable to make. “[Our business] becomes our baby and our child and we want to grow it,” Suzanne Ziemba, president of Yelo Creative Group said. “When something happens to it, it becomes this very emotional thing. It’s hard to say, ‘it’s just not working the way I thought it was going to work,’ and there is an element of loss. It has been very difficult.”
Maxine Turner, president of Cuisine Unlimited had to cutback on her employees. She said the company was functioning at the profitability levels of 2005, and decided to cut staff from 110 to 65. Even with the cutbacks, the company implemented some innovative menus to compete with other local caterers, it was able to expand to Park City and is also expanding its international presence.
Hydee Willis, president of Creative Expressions said she also cut her staff from 65 to 32. Willis said it was hard, but compared her company to running a big ship, and that she turned over all its issues to the entire crew. “They came up with some incredible ideas and process changes,” Willis said, that helped the company through the recession.
While some struggle to get business, Alicia Bremer, president of Bremer Public Relations, Inc. and Jeri Cartwright, president of Cartwright Communications, are busy trying to keep up. Cartwright said she has had to learn to turn some work away so she can continue providing services to her existing clients at the quality she promises. Bremer said there has been a high demand for strategic communications that really picked up the beginning of this year and that one of her biggest challenges is constantly staying up with the social media that will benefit her clients’ bottom lines.
Some women said their biggest obstacle has been getting funded or knowing what kind of funding would best fit their business. Wells Fargo’s Julie Tanner, vice president and manager of women’s financial services said, “If you have a successful business and can prove that, you’ll get a loan. We are ready and wiling to lend.”
Giving Advice
Joining networking and support organizations helped many women around the table succeed, and they shared some advice they’ve learned about starting or leading a business.
“Women need to stand on their own.” Said Sabina Zunguze, CEO of Beautiful Options USA. “Being a minority woman, where in business you are doing the same thing but they look at you as if you’re doing something less than they are, I know there are many women who fizzle out because they don’t have the confidence. If you have the confidence and your focus and you know what it is you’re doing you create a successful environment.”
Kelly King Anderson, founder and managing director of StartupPrincess said business owners need to be careful when using social media because while you are building relationships with Twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc., Anderson said, “If you’re not linking it to a sale, it’s a waste of time.” She also advises women entrepreneurs to study your passions and work within an industry before launching a business. “I think it’s so smart to learn everything you can about the industry before you go into it,” Anderson said.
Lavanya Mahate, executive director at the Salt Lake Chamber Women’s Business Center said there are a lot of checklists when starting a business, but she thinks the three most important things are, “1) Imagination—imagine the possibilities, 2) Inspiration—you have to be inspired in what you’re doing and then be willing to inspire your associates. Without inspiration you can’t move forward, and then 3) Intuition. Use your best judgment—you’re smart, you’ve done all your homework, just go dive into it.”
Willis agreed it’s good to make a business out of your passion, but if you don’t know how business works upfront, you’re setting yourself up to fail. “You need to learn the aspects of business, then you take your passion and your inspiration and you build on that,” Willis said.
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