Self-employment Archives - LiisBeth

Am I Really a CEO?

LiisBeth — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 06:29:32 +0000

Dear LiisBeth,

Help! I am about to print up new business cards, but I have no idea what my title should be. I just incorporated my new start-up service business. I have no employees and I work out of my home. I looked at other people’s cards and see everything from CEO to Chief Dishwasher. What title should I use?

Signed,
Annika

Dear Annika,

What people want to know when they receive your business card is who you are, some detail about your company, and what decision-making authority you have. Titles are a kind of shorthand for all this. It’s also important that you demonstrate an understanding of business structures and conventions in your industry when you choose your title if you want to be taken seriously.

Let’s be honest about using the title CEO. Every time you see a three-person enterprise or sole proprietor business card that says CEO, you want to cringe, right? At least we do.

CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer, a title that implies you have other “executive officers” like CFO, CTO, or CMO. These are senior leaders who usually have vice presidents reporting to them, which makes them the chief. It also indicates that the company is a very large for-profit entity, likely incorporated and publicly listed. CEO titles tell others you were hired and appointed by a board of directors, that your operating decision-making power is paramount but corporate-level power is limited, and that you may or may not have an equity stake (usually through compensation or performance-based options).

President is a title similar to CEO, but typically refers to someone in charge of a private, stand-alone company or a separate division within a larger company. The people reporting to them are often functional heads with a VP or Director title (the key here is they have employees). Similarly, a President may or may not have any ownership stake. Again, operational decisions would be up to the President, but larger strategic decisions would involve a board of directors.

In the non-profit sector, the person in charge is typically called the Executive Director (ED) if there are other directors involved. EDs are generally hired by, and report to, a non-profit board of governors. They usually have operational decision-making power, but larger decisions will be made with input by the board.

If you’re a sole proprietor of a newly minted non-profit or incorporated start-up (which generally have at least three board of directors and zero or few employees), pick a title that is in line with your company’s stage and type, your role description, and the level of decision-making authority you have. It’s important to choose a title with credibility and integrity.

With entrepreneurs, we typically suggest using the title Founder, which means you started the company, along with either Owner or Operator (if you have no staff) or President (if you have staff). If you prefer a non-hierarchical approach, you can simply say Founder followed by your main functional role. For example, Business Development, Product Management, Producer, and so on.

You could always forgo a title altogether, or opt for a fun one like “Head Cheese,” which can be appreciated by staff and insiders, but don’t expect your banker or the angel investor you’re courting to be impressed.

In the end it’s up to you and what you want to communicate, as long as you’re aware of what these commonly used—and abused—titles really mean.

–LiisBeth

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Self-Employment Programs For Women Need Improvement

Jodi Lastman — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 07:30:52 +0000

A couple years back, I sat in a room full of women executives in pantyhose as keynote speaker Dr. Sherry Cooper (former Chief Economist and Executive Vice-President of BMO Financial Group) profoundly shifted my perceptions about women’s self-employment.

Like many who throw around words like “incubator” and “accelerator,” I viewed the narrative around growing numbers of female entrepreneurs as a sign of progress.

That day, Dr. Cooper’s Powerpoint featured a chart that showed that while the number of female entrepreneurs is on the rise, the income of women entrepreneurs is pitifully low compared to the average income for Canadians.

Having been an entrepreneur myself, I know that the romantic ideal of entrepreneurship does not always align the reality. Think about the majority of female small business owners you see in your daily life. The wife of the couple that runs the convenience store on the corner. The lovely woman who runs that little flower shop. Chances are she’s just scraping by. You read it on her face.

In Canada in 2011, the average income for women was $32,100 (compared to an average of $48,100 for men). Single moms in this country have a net worth of about 17,000.

Dr. Cooper’s chart made me wonder if promoting entrepreneurship is really a useful strategy to help lift women out of poverty?

The Canadian Women’s Foundation invested $4.5 million in economic development programs from 2009 to 2014 to help women begin moving out of poverty. One stream this of funding is dedicated to women’s entrepreneurship. Chanel Grenaway, The Foundation’s Director of Economic Development, helped shed some light on the question of whether entrepreneurship is a sound strategy that addresses the needs of women living in poverty.

The short answer (spoiler alert) is that women on low-incomes do indeed benefit from self-employment programs. However, the impact of these programs are are profoundly influenced by the real limitations women living in poverty face.

Limitations to Self-Employment Programs for Poor Women

Access to Capital:

Women living on low-incomes have a hard time securing loans. Lack of solid credit history or risk-aversion makes it harder to launch a business idea. Even if they could access funds, women who are at risk of homelessness or hunger see dipping deeper into debt a as something to avoid at all costs. Consider the fact that 82% of the women who participated in The Canadian Women’s Foundation’s self-employment programs name ‘housing’ as a core need.

Business Vision:

It is a common dictum that the key to success is to “do what you know.” Yet, in the case of women, a great cookie recipe, a knack for jewelry making or childcare experience is not likely a recipe for economic sustainability. How do we encourage women to move beyond what they know to develop scalable business ideas in high growth areas?

Time:

Women living on low-incomes are beyond over-extended. It’s hard to dedicate time to building a business if you can’t afford childcare. The truth is, most women in these circumstances are “job-patching” which means they’re working multiple part time jobs to make ends meet. This precarious-work model has a disproportionate impact on women, who largely oversee childcare responsibilities. In this context, creating a business becomes an “off the side of the desk” project which just doesn’t make the grade when launching a new business.

So, what can help make self-employment a viable pathway for women to move out of poverty? Here are some preliminary ideas Chanel Grenaway shared with me based on her tenure at the Canadian Women’s Foundation.

Tools to Dream Bigger:

Women need tools to help them develop businesses ideas beyond the familiar. Grenaway puts it best when she says “we need to help women dream bigger.” This strategy requires what she calls, “thinking beyond jams, jellies and sewing.”

Grenaway says that the process of growing female entrepreneurs needs to start early. Girls, she says, need tools to see themselves in new ways. For Grenaway believes this means that girls and young women need mentorship, job shadowing and education programs that can eliminate the gaps in their own thinking.

Policy Levers:

Grenaway insists that there’s a need to reform policies that profoundly impact woman’s capacity to move out of poverty. Lack of access to affordable daycare makes it nearly impossible for women to navigate their way out of subsistence living. Also, precarious “just in time” work schedules have an enormous impact on low-income women. Women need predictable, stable incomes to plan to return to school or start a small business.

Benefits Beyond Business:

Ultimately, Grenaway believes that programs like those funded by The Foundation help grow women’s personal assets. Women don’t always become successful business owners as a result of participating in the programs funded by The Foundation. The evidence does show, however, that these programs help women living in poverty build the confidence they need to pursue more education, start another business or enter employment. These skills are often called “soft” skills, but there’s nothing soft about them. As Grenaway puts it: “If we aren’t going to build these kinds of skills for these women, then who will?”

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