How Women-Owned Businesses are Surviving the Recession

Women are starting businesses at rapid rates and thriving, despite the economic downturn. According to a recent study conducted by Florida International University’s Center for Leadership and The Commonwealth Institute of South Florida, women-owned businesses are doing better in the recession than most.

Key Factors:
* Women traditionally take on less debt and thus have more flexibility during tough times.
* Women also try to strategize and reach out instead of jumping to cost-cutting measures.

This is exactly the route Rachel Sapoznik, CEO of Sapoznik Insurance, took to grow her business without eliminating staff. See the full story on how Sapoznik’s and other women business owners’ determination and networking led to success in hard times.

Looking for recession proofing tips? Sign up for my tip of the week or follow me on Twitter!

Businesses Use Twitter to Engage Customers Online

If you haven’t jumped on the social media bandwagon, hop on! More and more companies are coming up with creative ways to engage their customers online. According to Marketing VOX, a recent study indicates that more than eight in 10 Twitter users, most of which represent small businesses, expect their company's use of Twitter to increase in the next six months.

And if you know me, you know how much I love Twitter and believe in its power. Nestle is taking an interesting approach to get moms talking about their product. The company is running a Juicy Juice ad that asks questions like: “How do you help your child shine a little more every day?" and "How do you stimulate your child's mind?" If you go to CafeMom and BabyCenter, you can tweet your answer, and it will be live on the ad, wherever it’s running in cyberspace. Talking about the love(s) of our lives and being an online celeb for a day. Who doesn’t love that?

How are you using Twitter to grow your business and increase awareness?

It's never too late to tell you about trends, is it?

Ok, here's a funny story. My friend Stefan Swanepoel is THE real estate trends guy. He publishes a well-researched, well-read Trends Report each year and the industry folks who are smart, read it. I realize it's April, and first quarter is over, BUT I am finally reading the report! In my defense, for some unknown reason, it took two months to arrive from California to my mailbox in Ohio. (Yes, even reports don't want to visit Ohio if they're from Laguna Nigel.) But enough excuses. I learned a lot, and here are the trends that resonated with me:

1. Real estate is in the "transformation years", and those years will continue until 2012 (yikes!)

2. Social media is a real estate agent and company's friend! (yay!)

I'm not going to dwell on the negatives surrounding point 1 above, as I'm sure if you live in a home or know someone who does you've heard just about enough even if you aren't a real estate agent. But point 2 is exciting! As Stefan writes, "some 530 million individuals are now participating in some sort of social networking . . .and each person on average belongs to two or three social networks."

That's huge, in my industry and yours. If you aren't out there blogging and tweeting about your expertise in a meaningful and helpful manner—as a real estate agent it is your local market knowledge and your niche knowledge-you're missing out on customers. As Stefan writes: "Real estate professionals have an excellent opportunity to take advantage of this emerging trend by influencing others through creating meaningful content and releasing it through blogs, online communities, wikis and social networks....only 18 percent of online Americans actually create content or publish an article or blog at least once a month."

So get out there and get writing. You are an expert in your field, and you have something your tribe wants to read about. Write it, and they will follow!

Of fortune cookies and creative business for times like these

Here is what’s great about Twitter. Yesterday I tweeted about my fortune cookie message: Look for the dream that keeps coming back. It is your destiny. About three hours later, FortuneKookie Crew from Chicago followed me on Twitter. Their goal: “We like to follow people who tweet fortune messages!” Works for me!

Where else but Twitter? On a more serious business note, I was followed by the founders of www.UrbanInterns.com. Lauren Porat and her partner, Cari Sommer, created a company—beta testing in NYC right now—to connect small business owners with college educated assistants, on a paid or unpaid basis. I love hiring interns at our company. We always learn from them, and hopefully the feeling is mutual. And sometimes, when it’s possible and the fit is right, these intern positions turn into full time employment. And everybody’s a winner. In today’s tough economic environment, which is about to see an influx of college grads, interning is a great solution.

Who else have I “met” on Twitter? So many great folks! It’ll be fun to make this a regular feature of my blog. And, just like an intern, I learn something everyday! And that’s fortunate.

Kaira Rouda is an entrepreneur and author of Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. Sign up for a weekly dose of inspiration!