“If you’ve been thinking about beginning your journey through Startup Land, there’s never been a better time. Check out these tremendously valuable resources which will undoubtedly increase your chances of success.”
Check out The Founding Moms featured in the Get Inspired section of this infographic. YES! (Hint: Click on it to get a bigger version that you can ready easily.)
“Jill Salzman, one of the four judges and founder of The Founding Moms, said it was a unanimous decision in choosing the team…Judges were tough but fair: After all, the weekend was about the learning experience. “To say we’re going to Facebook and Tweet is not really a sell,” one of the judges said in response to a pitch, pressuring entrepreneurs to re-think and revolutionize marketing strategies. They left entrepreneurs with a few key pieces of advice:
Work on your pitch. “You need to tell a good story, or you have lost us,” Salzman said. Make no more than three points in a presentation and know what you want to get across, what you want your audience to walk away with.
Don’t fill your slides with numbers and facts. Again, remember to tell a story, and remember that you are talking to humans. The numbers are important, but don’t make your presentation surround around them.
Salzman said the judges considered “who could actually be a thriving company down the road.” The winning company, Diabetes Winners! said they hope to continue the project running, and to check back to see where they are moving forward.” Read the rest of the Techli article here.
To learn more about Startup Weekend head over here.
Published in PBS Parents on March 19, 2012
“Got guilt? It’s an epidemic. And we’ve all been there. Rushing out the door after dropping off your preschooler to get to work on time? Check. Late for a meeting because of a sick child? Check. Determining that you want to be a stay- or work-at-home parent and second-guessing yourself when you meet someone who chose to do the opposite of you? Check.
You can fight it. You can feel terrible about yourself. Or, you can take an active role in extinguishing the pain and suffering that comes with parenthood guilt. The Wall Street Journal has reviewed the “dependency dilemma” that exists in American families and Psychology Today has explored the topic of guilt in the context of “serving the cherubs” that are our American children. ABC News has even reported on the “external blame and recrimination that seems to bombard working mothers on a daily basis.” Nonsense, I say.” Read the rest of Jill’s PBS Parents piece here.
“Jill Salzman talks about her venture, The Founding Moms, a group that connects women and provides them with resources to start a business.” Watch the full interview here.
What a week! I joined Itzy Ritzy’s Kelly Douglas on HLN’s new TV show, Making It In America with Vinnie Politan, to talk about mom entrepreneurs. (You should at least watch it to check out my big hair.)
We’re teaming up with Ricki Lake! And you’re invited to join us.
On September 10, The Ricki Lake Show returns to the airwaves. And with it comes Ricki’s Meetup groups, #Friends of Ricki, that meet up to discuss parenting topics also featured on the show. They meet on a monthly basis. In cities around the country. Sound familiar?
The Founding Moms and Friends of Ricki will be partnering this Fall by joining together in several hand-picked cities. The topic? Mom entrepreneurship. The cities? LA, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, New York City, Bergen County (NJ), Washington D.C., Chicago, Oak Park (IL) and Naperville (IL).
Stay tuned by finding a Founding Moms’ Exchange near you and joining us (it’s free!). Keep an eye out on the Friends of Ricki Facebook page and Twitter stream for their future meetups, too. See you soon, friends.
“Are you ready to be entertained? Meet Jill Salzman- sassy CEO of Founding Moms. A graduate of Brown University and law school after that, she ditched bankruptcy law to begin her entrepreneurial journey with two successful companies; Paperwork Media LLC and the Bumble Brand LLC. Her third venture, Founding Moms is focused on connecting mom entrepreneurs around the globe. Jill brings great advice to this Q&A with lots of humor. Enjoy!
If you had to give a piece of advice to a girlfriend that was thinking about starting her own small business, what would that be?
I’d ask her to sell me on her idea. Then I’d tell her to go out and find friends, family and strangers and pitch her product or service to them. My first piece of advice for anyone is to figure out whether there’s a market for what they’re selling. Too many people spend far too much time planning, thinking, planning, waiting, wondering if it’s the right time, creating a laundry list of worries, and then planning some more. I’ve seen a lot of entrepreneurs spend upwards of 2 years prepping their product launch only to find out, post-launch, that no one is interested in buying it. I’m very much a dive-in-first-and-then-plan kinda gal, and since it’s worked for me three times, I’m confident it’s going to work for someone else, too.
What small business resources can you not live without?
Twitter. And Tadalist. And LessAccounting.com. And Google Docs. And WordPress. And Evernote. And Skype. And most importantly, My First Ticonderoga #2 pencils.”
“I’d just published Found It: A Field Guide for Mom Entrepreneurs in January. In it, I write about how any entrepreneur can rent a mailbox at The UPS Store and set themself up with an official-looking business address. Once I dove into marketing mode, I thought I’d reach out to UPS and ask if they’d sell the book in their 4,700 stores around the country.
But they said no.
Then, magic happened. A woman who read my book tweeted publicly: “I just learned that you can get a UPS mailbox for your business from @foundingmom’s book! Who knew?”
Read the full article at NBC Chicago here. Or just cut to the chase and watch the commercial here:
“Did you know that newsletters are far more effective at driving business to your company’s website than social media? For you “I-Don’t-Have-Time”-ers and you “Why-Bother”-ites, maybe you should rethink your marketing efforts and create a promotional email. Only please make it less annoying, less spam-like and less cringe-inducing than everyone else’s newsletters.
How?
1. Content matters. Don’t get lazy and turn your newsletter into an aggregator of other people’s newsletters. Come up with short, to-the-point information, stats or opportunities. Make sure that you have relevant, concise information about your industry that’s interesting. Without the interesting part, you’ve lost me…” Read the full article at NBC Chicago here.
Courtesy of Zak Kates
“How fitting that Jill Salzman was the May speaker for the Women in Business Breakfast this month – just in time for Mother’s Day! Although I still believe there is sometimes a stigma involved with being a mom and an entrepreneur, I am inspired by Jill. Her latest entrepreneurial venture is an international networking group for entrepreneurial women. And get this – kids are allowed to attend the meetings! The group is called “The Founding Moms” and has thousands of members across the globe.
If you didn’t attend the breakfast, Jill was NOT there to speak about work-life balance and how being a mom directs your business. Rather, she got right to business (after telling a funny story about her idol, Peter Walsh) to teach us business folks about how we can cultivate our fanbases.
She gave us all kinds of helpful information; but the point she wanted us to remember relates to follow-up.”
