Great Business Advice

by Cynthia Renee Frazier Class of 85'

On Friday (September 18, 2009) I attended Rep Joe Bacca’s first Women’s Conference. It gave me a chance to thank him in person for the certificate of recognition presented to me from his office last year when I accepted the 2008 NAWBO Trailblazer Award. I also had the chance to see quite a few folks I hadn’t seen in a while, including the speakers. I must say, the speakers were marvelous. I just had to share the inspiration with my Facebook family. Enjoy my notes. I listened well.

Peggy Long reminded me after the event that we served on the Fontana Business Women’s Conference committee together. No wonder she looked so familiar. LOL She began the conference by sharing her personal work history and how she went from a part time Woolworth’s employee to one of only 16 women next to 700 men in the local electrical union. Peggy was moved to tears when she talked about how being in a nontraditional field for women afforded her the ability to provide resources for her aging parents. It was a touching moment. Peggy’s advice was stellar. She told us to fight for what we believe in, “stand up and be counted,” don’t run when faced with difficult situations, and most importantly, stay true to yourself.

Next, Gillian Zuccker provided great inspiration with her tremendous success story of climbing the NASCAR ladder to President of the Fontana Speedway. When introductions are made in a group and someone says I want you to meet the President of the Fontana Speedway, Gillian is often overlooked as the expectation is that this position belongs to the male staffer in attendance. Gillian had a moment of truth when she went from VP of Operations to the largest Speedway operation. She was offered SR. Director, a title that sounded “beneath” VP. A sobbing Gillian called her father to tell him she was not going to take the job. Her father’s words came as a dose of reality. He said something like, “so you are going to pass up a great opportunity to work with wonderful people, take on great challenges that you know you can accomplish, show how good you are at solving problems, all over a title? Needless to say, Gillian came to her senses and accepted the position. Her first event was such a huge success and she was given the title of VP as a result. Gillian’s claim to fame is that she doesn’t take no for an answer. She says we have to be prepared to put the work out there first before the rewards come in.

After Gillian, a business associate Robin Allen De-Ivy made us laugh with a vivid description of the two women who live inside her head. One thinks positively and the other thinks negatively. Boy could I relate. Being a Gemini, I always thought that having conflicting thoughts was a trait given only to those born under the sign known for a double personality. Thanks Robin for letting me know that I am “normal”. LOL Those of us who know Robin are aware of the phenomenal transition she has made in her own personal life by eating healthy. One thing Robin said that stays in my mind is “wise women create more opportunities than they find.” She continued by sharing ten success tips. You can contact her for the entire list as I want to point out only a couple. One is that we need to practice mental fitness and the other is that we need to ID the power players.

Then Michelle Skillgien reminded us how important it is to continue to invest in professional development by quoting Thomas Jefferson: “I can't live without books.” Michelle obviously practices what she preaches because she opened a bag of books and began sharing tidbits from them. From Rita McGrath and Ian McMillian’s top ten characteristics of entrepreneurial thinking to Ken Blanchard’s four principles of success, Michelle illustrated the wealth of information available to entrepreneurs worldwide. She stressed the significance of starting any venture with a vision that comes from a personal passion for the service or product you want to offer. Then take that vision and develop a mission statement. Like the previous speakers, Michelle pointed out how destructive negative self talk can be. Her suggestion to those of us who want the break the bad habit of thinking negatively is to wear a rubber band around the wrist and snap it every time a negative thought comes to mind. Ouch! I am definitely going to try that.

The last speaker is someone who is very dear to me. She is a no nonsense woman who has a kind and generous heart, Hilda Kennedy gave a dose of reality with a side of love, tenderness, and spirituality. Quoting often from Dr Ben Carson’s book Thinking Big and the book of Luke (chapter14) in the bible, Hilda made the point that when an entrepreneur has a business plan that includes solid research and sound numbers, anything is possible. She told us that last year 627,000 new firms began operation and that by the end of the year 595,600 had closed. She further explained that it takes women business owners at least four attempts to obtain a bank loan or line of credit. Yet, in spite of it all, today’s market is an opportunity market. I totally agree!

Of course I couldn’t sign off without mentioning the beautiful and very talented Niya Brown who sang throughout the day. She is a lovely young woman with a great future ahead. Her current work “must Be Love” can be found at www.NiyaBrownMusic.com