Women, Relationships & Business – How They All Come Together

• Women make 80% of purchasing decisions
• Women entrepreneurs account for 70% of all new start-ups
• Women are occupying positions of power and decision now more than ever in many parts of the world
• American women add up to the biggest national economy in the world, presenting an huge opportunity that is bigger than the internet

Robert Kiyosaki, Author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Explains The Perfect Business

Network marketing is all about building relationships with other people. Just like it is in friendships and every day life, and you have to treat it as such. Network marketing is not about being “that car salesman”.

Relationships are about being honest and trustworthy. When you put the relationship first, customers and clients will forgive your mistakes.

Relationships are about giving unconditionally. A prospect that receives a personal, customized follow-up card or even an initial marketing card from you is more likely to do business with you than your competitor.

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get others interested in you.” Dale Carnegie

Relationships do not happen solely through good intentions. They start with the act to connect. And it starts with a single encounter – your next one.

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

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A beauty queen opens up the world of entrepreneurship to tens of thousands of women.

Mary Kay Ash
Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc.
Founded: 1963

“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says ‘Make Me Feel Important.’ Not only will you succeed in business, you will succeed in life.”—Mary Kay Ash

Innovative, charismatic and contagiously optimistic, perhaps no woman has played a more important role in the advancement of women entrepreneurs than Mary Kay Ash. After experiencing firsthand the “glass ceiling” that kept many women from reaching top positions in the male-dominated corporate world, Ash envisioned a dream company where working mothers could determine their own levels of advancement and compensation, be their own bosses, and set work schedules that would still leave time for their children. The result of this vision was Mary Kay Cosmetics, a unique multilevel, direct-sales cosmetic firm that would provide hundreds of thousands of women with the opportunities Ash herself had been denied.

Like many business pioneers, Ash stumbled upon her entrepreneurial talents quite by accident. It happened in the latter half of the 1930s, when a door-to-door encyclopedia saleswoman struck a deal with Ash: If Ash could sell 10 sets of encyclopedias, the saleswoman would give her a set free of charge. Ash agreed and sold 10 sets in just a day and a half. This was a rather remarkable feat, considering 10 sets was the three-month quota for the company’s most accomplished salespeople.

Believing she’d found her forte, Ash continued peddling encyclopedias part time and was soon earning enough money to help support her young family. Unfortunately, she also earned the wrath of many of her friends who accused her of selling them a product they didn’t really need. Taking her customers’ disdain to heart, Ash searched for a more useful product to sell. She turned to Stanley Home Products, a direct-sales company offering housewares and cleaning supplies.

Shortly after joining the company, Ash attended a convention at which Stanley’s most successful saleswoman was crowned “Queen of Sales.” Ever the competitor, Ash vowed that the next year she would be queen. To achieve her goal, she persuaded the reigning queen to hold a demonstration party, during which Ash transcribed her presentation word for word. True to her vow, the very next year Ash did indeed win the title.

A major turning point in Ash’s life came when her husband returned home from World War II and ran off with another woman. With three children to support, Ash was forced to make Stanley Home Products her full-time career. But even though she quickly became a top sales producer, she watched in frustration as men who had less talent and knowledge were promoted ahead of her. [continued at www.entrepreneur.com]

Lipstick Bungle

An interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

By Katharine Wroth

Beauty, they say, is only skin deep. But given the load of toxic chemicals in everyday products like shampoo, deodorant, and makeup, that superficial truth is still cause for concern. With increasing frequency, studies point to hidden dangers in the medicine cabinet: things like lead in lipstick, phthalates in baby lotions, aluminum in deodorant. While the amount of each toxic may be tiny on its own, the number of products most people use each day means we’re exposing ourselves to unnecessary risks — all in the name of looking and smelling good.

In 2002, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics — a coalition of health, labor, environmental, and consumer-rights groups — began fighting to protect people around the world from these risks, by pressuring companies to change their formulas and by raising awareness among the public. The latest tool in this effort is Not Just a Pretty Face, a book by CSC co-founder Stacy Malkan.

Malkan, a former teen beauty queen, first became aware of the impacts of routine chemicals on humans as a reporter in Colorado; after a stint in politics in Washington, D.C., she got involved in Health Care Without Harm, a global coalition working to reduce pollution in the health-care sector. It was there that she first learned of the dangers of everyday products. Now living in Berkeley, Calif., Malkan splits her time between HCWH and CSC; I spoke with her by phone about her Aqua Net-clouded past, how she’s getting the word out to women and men alike, and the most surprising thing she’s seen along the way.

To view this entire article visit http://www.grist.org/feature/2008/05/02/