The BOSS Network Blog

The Great Girlfriends DiMe Take Over #WomenInspired to Live an Extraordinary life event sponsored by Prudential and partner Dorinda Walker was a day for the books! The featured speakers made sure the women who attended would leave the event with a book full of notes. Hosted by Sybil Amuti and Brandice Daniel , of the Great Girlfriends Show, they introduced women including, Style influencer, public speaker, media personality, and entrepreneur, Tai Beauchamp, who shared her message about “The Power of You” encouraging women to understand and claim the essence of power that we all internally have. Timeless messages that we’ve heard before, but rings true when you are trying to stand out in a saturated market.   Another great speaker featured, Christina Schelling , who is the modern day “Career Scholar” working for fantastic companies such as American Express, IBM and U.S. intelligence and defense agencies. Now with Prudential, Christina is the Vice President of Talent Acquis...

Photo Credit Bossip.com The latest sensation taking over media outlets is a campaign started by Girl Scouts of America CEO Anna Maria Chavez and LeanIn.org Founder Sheryl Sandberg. The video campaign, which can be found on YouTube, features influential women such as Condoleezza Rice, Jennifer Garner, Jane Lynch, Diane Von Furstenberg and Beyonce in a ploy to ban the word "bossy." These women are proclaiming that being labeled matters. They’re proclaiming that words matter and can be interpreted to limit young girls’ potential rather than encourage it. The purpose of this message is to change the culture in leadership by raising girls’ self-esteem and inspire them to seek leadership roles. While the effort is commendable, to identify the term "bossy" as the sole cause of the lack of women in leadership roles—as the campaign promotes—is implausible. Indeed, it’s a positive message for young girls but a valuable lesson for women in business. As a promising en...

Course: Creating an Exit Strategy Lesson 1: HOW TO CREATE AN EXIT STRATEGY Just revving up or about to retire, you need to know what the plan is to transition out of the business and help a new leader transition in. Lynette Khalfani-Cox a personal finance expert and founder of Ask the Money coach.com, is teaching a course on The Exit Strategy. Review the first lesson on How To Create Your Exit Strategy and get your business in order. Every business owner needs an exit strategy; this is true for the startup entrepreneur, part-time entrepreneur, long time business owner, or the serial entrepreneurs. An exit strategy simply put is your game plan for when you leave a company, sell it, or disband it. An exit strategy also helps you plan ahead, in the event of a death, disability, or a divorce, or anything else that would affect your operations. You don’t have to be running a multi-million dollar company or have lots of employees to require an exit strategy. Even if your ventur...

Course: Growing Your Business Building your business is one thing. Now it’s time to grow. Small business lady Melinda Emerson, Author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months teaches week 6 Black Enterprise Small Business University course on How to grow your business? Lesson 1: WHAT’S YOUR GROWTH STRATEGY? For the Entrepreneurs and Small Business owners who have survived the startup phase and who are now ready to grow your business, they are numerous possibilities with growing your business which depends on the type of business that you have, you’re available resources, and how much money, time, and sweat equity you’re willing to invest all over again. This first option for growth is to open a second location you first need to look at the economic environment and the trends for indication that your company has staying power. Make sure that your operation banking processes are all in order. It’s also important to have a strong marketing team to send to the new locatio...

WEEK 5 Course Review TEAM LEADERSHIP This week for Black Enterprise Small Business University expert teacher Scott Gerber, Founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, teaches a course on Team Leadership. LESSON 1: HIRING A GOOD TEAM A manager is only as good as his or her team. Serial entrepreneur Scott Gerber tells you about the ups and downs of hiring the wrong team, and helps you avoid mistakes many entrepreneurs make. Based on poor hiring decisions from a previous startup that Scott and his business partners started that led to bankruptcy they quickly learned DOs and DON’Ts to hiring a good team.            ·           Don’t hire people you know because they’re your friends and a part of your family. Instead hire people who are qualified to do the job and based on talent and ability. Do hire people who are the best people for the job, know the risk, when you get involv...

This week for this week for Black Enterprise Small Business University expert teacher Tina Wells, CEO and founder of Buzz Marketing Group, teaches a course on Marketing. Lesson 1: SOCIAL MEDIA AND WHAT IT MEANS TO YOUR BUSINESS If you are launching a new business you need to understand your target audience, go where they are in order to reach them. For example, Marketers looking to promote a product or service for the millennial generation must launch campaigns online. Studies have shown that more than 40% of the millennial generations spend more than 6 hours a day online.   How can you accomplish this? Social Media. Social Media has drastically change the way entrepreneurs market their products and services, you can no longer rely on traditional tactics to reach your target audience, especially millennia’s’ who are bombarded with hundreds’ of advertisements a  day. To break through the noise and reach out to them to directly through platforms such as Twitter ,...

Lesson 1: YOUR GADGET GUIDE This week for Black Enterprise Small Business University, we’re giving you a course review in Technology—helping you choose the right gadgets (and avoid the wrong ones!) for your business. Mario Armstrong a digital Lifestyle Expert and technology contributor for CNN and NBC shows you all the latest tech tools in this lesson titled “Your Gadget Guide.” For this lesson Mario Armstrong is taking you to the tech lab, to introduce gadgets that can make your business and lives efficient and better through technology. First up: The Power Bag: This gadget is essential for every entrepreneur and small business owners, doesn’t waste time searching for outlets, having the power bag provides instant power up to 4 devices simultaneously. The Power Bag comes with a built in battery that’s charged directly into an outlet. Purchase at : http://www.mypowerbag.com/ , amazon.com, http://www.voltaicsystems.com/ 2 nd : Tablets:  Tablets keep you p...