"Mining small business everywhere for jewels and diamonds"
October Celebrates Women in Small Business
Throughout the month of October celebrate the women small business owners that you know for National Women’s Small Business Month. Patronize their brick and mortar establishments and/or e-commerce stores. Women in small business have come a long way and this is the month to recognize that (although I chose to do this daily).
According to the American Express OPEN’s second annual State of Women-Owned Businesses Report:
”Women-owned firms continue to grow in number and economic stature. They are standing toe-to-toe with competitors in a broad range of industries, including construction and transportation, where women-owned firms are just as likely as all firms in those sectors to generate more than half a million dollars in annual revenue. The growth in the number (up 54%), employment (up 9%) and revenues (up 58%) of women-owned firms over the past 15 years exceeds the growth rates of all but the largest, publicly-traded firms. As of 2012, it is estimated that there are more than 8.3 million womenowned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.7 million people.”
That same report also revealed the states with the fastest growth in the number of women-owned firms during the past 15 years:
- #1 Georgia (95%)
- #2 Nevada (92%)
- #3 North Carolina (83%)
- #4 Mississippi (75%)
- #5 Texas (75%)
As a resident of Georgia and business owner whose second business (Celebrate Atlanta) officially launches today —I’m pleased with our progress ladies!
Early in the year I had the chance to celebrate the 5th annual ranking of the Top 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Compnies of North America with the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) and American Express OPEN. It was truly an honor to be in the room with the top 50 women with small businesses that generated $4 billion of combined revenues in 2011 and employed 26,883 people. I even had the chance to interview Jennifer Schoenhofer, CEO and founder of Sandy Springs, GA-based wireless engineering firm, Axis Teknologies the leading woman owned company in Georgia. She had a 2011 revenue of $14.2 million.
The SBA is honoring women in small business this month with their monthly web chat series webinars that are focused on helping women in business succeed! For more information click here.
Who are some of the women in small business that you’ll be celebrating this month? Share your small biz diamonds in the comments section below.
Have a successful day!
Ashley Neal is an entrepreneur and small business advocate that enjoys writing about topics pertaining to small business. Ashley is the boss at Celebrate Atlanta, a personal touch home welcome service in Atlanta, GA. She is also the owner of Small Biz Writer, where she specializes in providing quality content online for small business owners which in turn increases visibility and sales. Additionally, Ashley is the editor/writer and publisher of her own award winning small business resource blog Small Biz Diamonds. She also writes for Examiner.com as the Atlanta Small Business Examiner, CBS Local Atlanta, and Future Simple’s small business blog: Growth University.
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I'm a lover of everything small business, small biz writer, in search of and offering small biz jewels and diamonds. Got small biz jewels or diamonds? Send them to ashley@smallbizdiamonds.com
