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Association of Women Business Leaders

Held at the Women and Family Life Center

96 Fair Street, Guilford, CT 06437

Directions: www.womenandfamilylifecenter.org

or call: 203-458-6699

$10 donation requested at the door.

8:30-10am  (8:30-9am= networking, 9-10am=Speaker)

New Meeting Day: AWBL will now be meeting on the last Wednesday of each month. This will allow more business leaders to attend, fewer holiday changes and also accomodate the schedule at WFLC.
                       Fall Calendar Dates:

Oct 29th

Nov 19th

Dec 17th

November 19th: "Double Your Business With Interns!,"  a by the dynamic duo of Super Interns, Julie Braun and Michelle Demers.

Julie Braun and Michelle Demers, the dynamic duo and founders of Super Interns (www.SuperInterns.com) present “Double Your Business with Interns!” Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 8:30 to 10 am, at the Women and Family Life Center, Fair Street, Guilford, CT.

What are the three most precious -- yet limited and scarce -- resources of solopreneurs and small business owners?  MONEY, TIME, and HELP.  So, how do you get more of these?  INTERNS!  Unpaid interns can provide you with virtually free, quality HELP to give you more TIME to  make more MONEY.  In their presentation, Michelle and Julie will share their secrets to doubling  and tripling your business, turning a 5-figure business into a 6-figure business within 1-2 years, solely with the power of interns!

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT AND RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY GIFT FROM SUPER INTERNS:

http://preview.totalbusinessfitness.com/super-interns-class-presentation-awbl-0808/

PS – Want to start utilizing interns right away?  Check out the next Super Interns  4-Week Crash Course, starting October 1, 2008!  For more info. and to register for the Crash Course, click here: 

http://superinterns.wordpress.com/grow-your-business-with-interns/grow-your-business-with-interns/

About AWBL

The Association of Women Business Leaders (AWBL) is a group dedicated to women who are enthusiastically expanding their businesses. Our focus is community, networking, and exchanging ideas. Unlike many groups primarily dedicated to new business owners or striclty "networking" formats, AWBL remains dedicated to serving women in all levels of business maturity. Our goal is to offer a format for women business leaders to develop a community of friends. Creating a "tribe" is something many desire to be a part of, yet are not sure how to manifest.

Our meetings seek out quality speakers with relevant topics, as well as a unique "Business Brainstorm": a lively opportunity for women who in either a New, Established or Mature business to receive singular support for their unique needs at that time.

Joan Fisler began the AWBL 6 years ago with hopes of meeting other entrepreneurial women. Passionate about her own life’s work, Joan is a Certified Financial Planner® and Divorce Financial Analyst. Kari Henley began running AWBL in October 2007, and we are continuing to grow! Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

NEW!! Business Brainstorm!
As a new feature to AWBL, each month, one person will be selected to share her business with the group for a short “mastermind” type brainstorm. Our group typically has members that span the spectrum of businesses- we have everything from financial planners to attorneys to spiritual intuitives! Everyone has a unique perspective to share in helping to build a successful business, and the support shared is incredibly valuable to help ease the common sense of isolation that can occur.

Since the issues and requirements for business leaders vary depending on the longevity of their work, our AWBL Business Brainstorm alternates every three months to focus on three distinct stages of development: 1) a brand new business started less than one year ago, 2) a business established for 1-3 years, 3) a mature business, established more than 4 years.

Any participant attending on the day of the particular business focus, may put their business card into a jar to be chosen. Time is given for a brief introduction of your business, and a brainstorm session of any particular issues or challenges being faced at that time. So far this has been a raging success! After the meeting, the business chosen will be featured on this website for further exposure.

Recap of March AWBL- Kari Henley

Why Women Gather & Why It's Vital to Your Business

After numberous requests, below are notes from my lecture entitled, "Why Women Gather and Why It's Vital to Your Business. Enjoy!

Why do women make time to come to meetings like AWBL? How come they like to go for walks together, go out for drinks together- even go to the bathroom together?

While it is obvious to all that women are simply “social creatures” studies are beginning to piece together vital information to help us understand our nature, and how to use these desires for contact in a more  profound way in your business and personal relationships.

Here are some interesting studies drawn from a variety of  sources to help piece together a new puzzle of how gender affects the way we manage stress, look at how to run a business and literally – how to live longer.

Current Business Model:

Hierarchy– Top Down Model

Bottom Line Results

Personal Needs/Interests a detriment to success

Coupled with……

The ME Generation!

“Personal” Growth

“Self” Development

“Inner” Child

Essentially we are being schooled in business and in our society to function in an individual world- may work for men, but does this work for women???? No! It is against our nature not to have a communal component to our lives. Having to adapt is something we have done, but not without a price…

STRESS!

How many of us are stressed out! Everyone. I have taught stress management for years and almost ALL of the suggestions for managing stress are individually focused. Examples of “managing stress”

Deep Breathing

Going for a Walk

Meditating

Exercising

Does this work for men? Yes. Typically men decrease their stress by focusing on a specific task that is simple as a way to wind down. This could be flicking channels, going in the workshop or playing golf.

BUT- does this REALLY WORK for women??? Not really! Women in the US are twice as likely to suffer from mood disorders, anxiety and depression. What if I told you the #1 best way to manage your stress is to go out with your girlfriends once per week (MANDATORY) for a glass or two of wine and a great dinner…… how does that sound? 

Here are some shocking studies:

1. What is the #1 Cause of Death for BOTH men and women in the US?

Answer: Heart Disease

2. What is the #1 Contributor to Heart Disease?

            Answer: (NOT: Stress, obesity, smoking, severity or genetics)- Loneliness or  Social Isolation    (UCLA Dept of Psychiatry)

3. What is the greatest way to double your chance of surviving heart

            disease?

            Answer: (Not: genetics, diet, or previous conditions)- Having FOUR friends

(Duke University 2001 – Study explored the protective effect of friendships. Over a 4 year span, people in the “isolated” group with fewer than 4 friends were twice as likely to die from heart disease. Also, more than 4 did not change results.)

Do Men and Women Handle Stress Differently? You bet! Ever get lost in a car and notice the woman wants to pull over and ask directions, and the man wants to “drive on?”

UCLA Study, Shelley E. Taylor (2000) Made Groundbreaking work in re-examining the research conducted on the “Fight or Flight” studies, and found all the volunteers for the study were men. The impetus came from an earthquake at their labs, and finding ALL the women had gathered together in the kitchen; talking, eating and calling family. Where were the men? Out alone somewhere.

Findings on Dealing with Stress:

Men: Fight or Flight- surge of energy to focus and react

Women: Tend and Befriend-desire to “gather the flock” for protection

What does that mean? Well, it means the instinct to have a book club, girl’s night outs, or  phone calls to pals is a natural way we engage to lower the stress in our bodies and keep ourselves healthy. When we engage in these activities, oxytocin hormones are released, which allows us to calm down, see something in a different light, and restore balance physically. Men do not require this to the same degree, although they also have oxytocin in their systems, but not the same degree, just as women have testosterone, but not to the same levels.

How does this show up in Business?

Tom Rath, author of: Vital Friends – the people you can’t afford to live without works with Gallup polling. He found that strong social relationships are THE leading indicator of overall happiness, across all cultures and countries.

Strikingly: part of Gallup poll found that people who feel they have a ‘best friend(s)’ at work have better safety records, higher customer loyalty scores, and more profitable teams.

Sadly, only 3 in 10 of the millions in database felt they had a best friend at work. This means 7 in 10 do not.

Those with work friends reported a staggering 56% engaged in their work. The remaining majority of people without friends at work are drastically less engaged in their jobs at only 8%.

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, had a new book: Social Intelligence- the new science of human relationships

Goleman acknowledged that his writing of EQ, there were not studies about the impact of human relationships between one and another. The newest research in biology and brain science demonstrates people are “hard wired to connect”, and good relationships are like vitamins and bad ones are like poisons. We have a built in bias towards empathy, cooperation and altruism.

neuroscience has discovered our brain’s very design makes it sociable, inexorably drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we engage with another person”. (ie book club is for the talking with each other, not the book itself)

“The stronger we are connected emotionally, the greater the mutual force. The resulting feelings have far-reaching consequences that ripple throughout our body, sending out cascades of hormones that regulate our body from our heart to our immune cells.”

The New Feminism- Understanding the different make up of men and women’s brains

Mona Lisa Schulz.M.D..PhD wrote, The New Feminine Brain- How women can develop their inner strength, genius & Intuition.

Traditional Female Brain Traits:

More Connections between brain areas (corpus collosum)

More Connectivity

More likely to think about multiple things at a time

Greater capacity for growth and change over time (plasticity)

Traditional Male Brain Traits:

Fewer Connections between brain areas (corpus collosum)

More Compartmentalization

More likely to think about one thing at a time

Less capacity for change, but more anatomic stability

 A Woman’s Brain is Wired for Talking, Listening and Multi-Tasking!

Louanne Brizendine, MD and author of The Female Brain:

On average, women use about 15,000 more words per day then men. (wonder why they escape to their remote controls??)

In brain centers for language and hearing, women have 11% more neurons than men. (wonder why men never seem to listen?)

The hippocampus is larger in the female brain which is the principal hub of memory and emotion – which means women are, on average, better at expressing emotions and remembering the details of emotional events. (Those birthdays, anniversaries, etc….)

Men have 2.5 times the brain space devoted to sexual drive, action and aggression.

We need each other.

“Your personal village (or tribe) can become the most valuable asset in your life. The human story is one of people bonding together to give each other help. With the increasing clamor of the modern world, it becomes important that each of us nurture a personal village; a place where we can rest our hearts and embrace the community of people who populate our lives.” ~Marvin Thomas, MSW Author of  Personal Village

Put this info to work in your life!

Create something that includes social support Daily, Weekly and Monthly.

Validating our network of friends as lifelines and critical components of our health and stability.

Cheers

Kari