Small-Business Women Rock!

Happy National Women’s Small Business Month! Hopefully you’ve been celebrating since October 1, but just in case this hasn’t been on your radar, we thought we’d bring it back to the forefront.

Really, there’s quite a bit to celebrate! According to the third annual American Express Open Forum’s “The State of Women-Owned Businesses” report, there is an estimated 8.6-million+ women-owned businesses in the U.S. They generate over $1.3 trillion in revenue and employ almost 7.8 million people. Women-owned businesses are growing at 1.5 times the national average! That deserves a, “you go, girl!”

If you or a friend or loved one happens to own one of these female firms — or you’re thinking about starting a new women-owned business — perhaps you could use some good advice? Last year, the U.S. Small Business Administration offered web chats to answer questions and share tips with women on how to start or grow a business. Perhaps the government shutdown put a kink in those plans this year, because we couldn’t find a similar offering in 2013. But we did find the archives for last year’s chats, and we thought the info was still worth sharing. Following are the titles and links to four chats:

Starting and Growing Your Business with Erin Andrew, Office of Entrepreneurial Development

Finding Capital to Start your Small Business with Pravina Raghavan, Director, SBA New York City District Office

Contracting with the Federal Government with John Shoraka, Associate Administrator, Office of Government Contracting and Business Development

Business Opportunities for Young Women with Ana Harvey, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Women’s Business Ownership

So where are women excelling? Looking back at the “The State of Women-Owned Businesses” report, women-owned companies are exceeding overall sector growth in eight of the 13 most populous industries. Those with the highest concentration include:
• Health care and social assistance (53%)
• Educational services (45%)
• Other services (41%)
• Administrative support and waste management services (44%)

Something else you may have missed is our “Business Women Have Come a Long Way Baby” contest. The 123Print contest runs from October 15-29, and three small-business women will win. Specific details and the rules can be found elsewhere on our blog, but the short version is that you just need to submit a photo of you and your woman-owned small business along with a 100-word max story about how you got started and/or what inspired you. Easy! The grand prize is $100 in 123Print business products. With only a handful of entries so far, your odds of winning are pretty good! And if you aren’t a woman or don’t own your business, please stop by the Facebook contest page to view and vote for your favorite.

Other than trying to win our “Business Women Have Come a Long Way Baby” contest, how are you celebrating women in small-business month? Leave a comment below, tweet us, or drop us a note on our 123Print Facebook page.

Photo Attribution: By SanFranAnnie/Ann Larie Valentine (Flickr photo) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons