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5 lessons from ‘Dream, Girl’ entrepreneurs

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Roc Girl Gang brought the inspiring doc “Dream, Girl” to The Little.

Hey, gals. If you don’t like it when your boss makes an inappropriate comment about your attire, don’t get mad, become entrepreneurs and CEOs of your own companies.

entrepreneur
Erin Bagwell

That’s what Erin Bagwell did. First, though, she found inspiration from strong and passionate female entrepreneurs she met online. Then she started writing a blog called Feminist Wednesday and profiling them. Then she began attending networking events and meeting even more inspiring women. After a particularly bad day at work, she quit her job as a designer of computer graphics for a big Manhattan firm to fulfill the dream she’d had for a while, making a movie.

Dream, Girl is the result.

Thanks to Roc Girl Gang for bringing that documentary to The Little on May 16. A few hundred women were enthusiastic attendees, and it was a great idea to have a panel of local women share stories of their journeys as entrepreneurs. Here are five  key points I picked up from the film and the panel:

entrepreneur
Komal Minhas

Recognize self-sabotage and stop it in its tracks.

You believe in yourself but others don’t. Tune them out. Don’t procrastinate as that is a prime way you sabotage yourself. (Guilty!) You can read more of Dream, Girl producer Komal Minhas’ thoughts on this topic here.

No woman is an island. 

Even entrepreneurs need all kinds of partners. As Dream, Girl shows, when Bagwell started writing her blog, she reached out to other women to write for her blog, too. When she started making her movie, she built an all-female team to help her. She even ended up working closely with two of the women whom she originally met when she wanted to feature them in her movie: Komal Minhas and Joanne Wilson. Minhas became the doc’s producer. Eventually Wilson invested in the movie and found other investors. (See next item.)

Network with each other and support each other.

Thirty years ago, women had to compete much harder with each other because there were so few opportunities at the top and even in the middle. While there are still too few female CEOs, studies show that when women are at the top, more women advance throughout the organization. Angel investor Joanne Wilson, featured in Dream, Girl, talks more about that here. (Her blog is Gotham Gal and I just subscribed.) There are many good networking organizations in Rochester. I’m definitely going to keep a closer eye on Roc Girl Gang now that I know about them.

 Pick one dream and focus on that one.

A recent Rochester Institute of Technology grad in the audience at The Little told the panel that she has many great ideas. She asked: “Do I have to pick just one?” Yes, the panelists said, nodding and smiling, but then once you fulfill that one dream, move on to the next.

Behind successful women are super supportive spouses/partners.

I second that emotion! That partner can be someone who shares your dream and will make dinner every night. (From my personal standpoint, my husband Gary Brandt has kept me sane through years of a hectic newspaper career, and yes, he did make dinner pretty much all the time!)

entrepreneur
Audience hears from local Rochester entrepreneurs.

After absorbing all the powerful messages in the movie, it was good to talk about it with local entrepreneurs. The panelists from left to right are: Simone Boone of Apogee Wine Bar;  Jacquie Daley Parnell of Jacquelyn Daley Photography; moderator and Roc Girl Gang founder Sarah Knight; Leah Stacy of Boomtown Table; and Nicole Renee Kazimer of Hikyoga.

What lessons can you share about being an entrepreneur? 

Rochester SCORE names therapeutic rec specialist, veteran Clients of Year

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Rochester SCORE Client of the Year
SCORE Client of the Year Anita O’Brien of Rochester Accessible Adventures and her mentor Bob Zinnecker.

I love to see entrepreneurs take their great ideas from seeds and fertilize them with creativity and hard work until they’re shooting up from the ground, growing and branching out. Two such talents were honored on May 3 as SCORE Clients of the Year. The Greater Rochester Chapter of SCORE is the sponsor, and I’m a volunteer.

Rochester Accessible Adventures 

Anita O’Brien is the executive director of Rochester Accessible Adventures.  I was fortunate to sit at her table at the SCORE luncheon. She told me she’s a certified therapeutic recreation specialist who has worked for 20 years with people with disabilities.

Before I met Anita, it never occurred to me that if one person in a family has a disability, it can mean that the entire family can’t enjoy recreation activities together. RAA, the non-profit that Anita founded, is working to change that. Her organization trains businesses and community rec programs to offer their services to everyone.

That means Erie Canal Boat Company now has adaptive kayaks and bikes, so an entire family can enjoy time on and along the canal. Read more here.  RAA’s latest initiative is making pickleball inclusive, working with Bob Stokes of  Pickled Power.

“We work so others can play,” Anita told the group of SCORE clients and volunteers at the luncheon at Oak Hill Country Club. Anita had high praise for SCORE, saying that the mentoring from volunteer Bob Zinnecker, along with workshops, webinars and helpful documents had a great impact on the success of RAA.

Rochester SCORE Client of the Year
SCORE mentor Dale Dewey with Albert Urban of Global Urban Enterprise, SCORE Client of the Year.

Global Urban Enterprise LLC

A military veteran also was named SCORE Client of the Year. Albert Urban is the president and CEO of the construction company Global Urban Enterprise. Al has an incredible background in construction, project management and leadership.

He’s a 26-year veteran with the Pennsylvania National Guard who’s done multiple deployments, including in Bosnia and Iraq, acting as a planning officer and executive officer among other duties. He’s overseen major projects for Rochester General Hospital and Newark Hospital. He also worked for two years in Australia on the $70 billion Gorgon Gas Project.

His new company provides general construction services to the federal government and New York State agencies. As a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business, Al’s company is eligible to compete for government contracts set aside for SDVOBs.

Al had high praise for the help he’s received from SCORE, including his mentor Dale Dewey. Everyone knows the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Al put his own twist on that: “It takes a village to build a business.”

 

 

Register for SCORE’s free biz seminars, meet lenders and yes, lunch!

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I don’t know of any business-oriented organization that offers such great quality content and advice for free better than SCORE does.

I’ve been a member of the Greater Rochester Chapter of SCORE for about two years and the level of expertise of our volunteers is amazing.  They are men and women with impressive careers with both big name companies and smaller enterprises.

The “Gear up to Grow Your Business” event on Wednesday, May 3, will put that business expertise on full display. Attendees can choose from two of four seminars to attend in the morning:

  • Growth Through Leaps and Bounds: Joint Venture, Merger, Acquisition

  • Business Protection and Continuity.

  • Be Prepared: The Changing Landscape of Government Regulations, Policies and Procedures.

  • Personality Profiles: It’s No Longer About You. It’s About the Person You’re Selling To. 

Descriptions of each session are here.

Then there will be lunch at which two local business people will be honored as “Client of the Year.”

In the afternoon, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. there will be a “bank matchmaker” event, which will give business owners and entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet one-on-one with local lenders — banks, Kiva, credit unions, etc.

And in case you missed the word “free” in the headline, this event is all free on May 3. It starts with registration, networking and continental breakfast from 8:15 a.m. to 9 a.m. The workshops start at 9. The event will be at Oak Hill Country Club, 145 Kilbourn Road, in Pittsford.

When you register here, you can let us know which workshops you want to attend. And you don’t need to attend the entire day. Our registration form allows for you to check off whether you plan to attend just some or all events.

I’ll be there helping with registration, and then attending two sessions so I, too, can keep learning. Questions? Let me know.