Making A Difference

Thanks to a recent Gold Exchange where the recipient mentioned 3 Degrees - Connected™ network, and the generosity of a local jeweler who made a promise to share his profits with us, we have been able to contribute to another Women's business in Tanzania. This is the fifth women's business that 3 Degrees-Connected™ has been able to support.
















This is 39 year old, Grace W. Mfune, is from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She is married with two children between the ages of 15 and 16. Grace has been running an African traditional cloth business called batik business since 2000. Her business is to make different kinds of batik and sell them. She works at the business between 9 to 12 hours per day, 6 days a week.

Grace currently earns about $200 (USD) from her business. She is requesting a loan of $775 in order to purchase cloth and dye for making batik. Grace has agreed to repayment terms of 14 months. In the future, she plans to increase the quantity and range of her stock. Grace thanks you for your support!

As funds are repaid, the opportunity exists for us to continue supporting women's business in other parts of the world. Please join us in this effort of creating a better life for women and families throughout the world. To see a map view or a listing the women we have helped, click here.


To join us in this effort, please join our group, and lend as little as $25.00.



Best Wishes, Hoping You Happy!

New Technologies, New Gadgets

When coming to a women's networking site, do you expect to learn about new technologies or new gadgets that are impacting the way we approach our businesses and/or our lives?


In perusing the Internet, the following article caught my eye regarding the development of gadgets that will help us to download books and share our experience with others. Piggy-backed on a previous article on this blog: Reading is Fundamental to Business Growth, it makes me wonder what type of reading materials will be available to download on E-books for business research. One model the Kindle DX will be used by many universities to download textbooks (a link to this article is attached below).


To learn more about E-book technologies, click on this link to read the article Next Up for E-Book Readers: Social Networking.


As you read this article, follow the related links at the bottom to learn more about specific brands of E-books like "Cool-er" and "Kindle DX".


Please comment:

Do you have an E-book? If so, what do you like, or dislike about the model you chose?

Do you plan to get one in the future? If so, what are you looking for when making your decision?

Why Build a Women's Network?

Growing a women's network is no small task, but in the process of creating one, there are several looming question that I ponder.

1. What value could a women's network have to West Michigan?
2. What are women hoping to find that they've not found anywhere else?
3. How often would women want to meet in order to make this a useful tool to assist them?
4. How should we organize our events or meetings to have the greatest impact on those who attend?

Like everything else, I begin this quest with research. As I grow in knowledge, I will be happy to share those findings with you here in this blog. Occasionally we may conduct formal survey's to gain greater feedback to make sure we are on the right track to serving the needs of women who join us.
This morning while doing some preliminary research I jotted down some notes from women who shared their ideas about joining a women's network. Some of their input, which is shared below all indicates that there is a great benefit to women when networking with one another:

• I enjoy meeting other women which can provide me with inspiration for my business endeavors. They often know what I’m going through.

• I enjoy the aspect of creating a unified voice which can be more powerful than one person acting alone.

• I am often very uncomfortable in networking events, but at the end of the evening I’m glad that I’ve gone. By taking me outside my comfort zone, it helps me to practice my interactive skills and create good business relationships with others.

• As a small business owner, I often feel isolated and alone. I do not work closely with other individuals on a daily basis, so networking helps me to feel a part of a bigger unit, a family of sorts.

• I have used forum settings on the Internet to network with others, this is an approach I like to take, when I’m pondering a problem that needs to be resolved, it is always good to gain the input from others. I use the network as a sounding board.

• Finding mentors who can help and being a mentor is a very fulfilling aspect of networking with other women.

• The network has a facet of giving back which is a great experience.

If you can think of any reasons why you might be interested in a women's network, please add your comments below. Your feedback will be useful as we move forward establishing solid goals and objectives. Thank you,

Privacy Policy

One of the tasks on my "to do" list, and possibly on yours too, is writing a "Privacy Policy" for a website.

People are never comfortable doing Internet business with you when they do not know you, and do not trust that the information they share with you will be secure. Like everything else for my business, research is necessary if I'm to learn how to do things properly. When I came across this article written by the Anti-SPAM organization, I felt like it was worth sharing as it had excellent content. So if you've been wondering about your existing privacy policy, or haven't gotten around to writing one yet, here are some good guidelines on what to include.


How to Write a Privacy Policy for your Website

Women Over 50 Talk

Whether you are a women over fifty, or marketing to women over fifty, what better place to learn about what is important to women of this demographic than VibrantNation.com. Vibrant Nation is a web destination founded by Stephen Reily and Senior Strategist Carol Orsborn, PhD.

http://www.vibrantnation.com/

If the name Carol Orsborn, PhD sounds familiar, maybe you have read or heard about the book she co-authored with Mary Brown called BOOM (Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer - The Baby-Boomer Women).


As you access this website, you will be greeted with a video explaining how to use this site. This group can contribute a wealth of information to anyone wanting to understand the needs of this market demographic. You know this group understands women of our age when you join their site, they even let you chose the text size that works best for you!


According to a press release on May 20th, although this demographic is flocking to the Internet for connection and information, a study conducted by Vibrant Nation indicates that this group is still highly associated with traditional media such as newspaper, television and radio. For more information about this survey, I've attached a link to this article below:


Boomer Women Count the Internet as Primary News Source, But May Be Best Bet for Survival of Newspapers and TV News

How to Spend Your Social Networking Budget

Women are extremely busy and need to spend their "time" resource wisely. When in business, women may wonder how to best invest their "time" resource to have the greatest "ROI" (return on investment) impact.

Based on a recent study conducted by iVilliage, BlogHer, and Compass Partners, the 2009 Women and Social Media Study reveals that women are twice as likely to go to blogs versus social media sites when seeking information, advice, and recommendations about products or services. Whereas, women are 50% more likely to turn to social media sites to maintain and build relationships with friends and family.

The 2009 Women and Social Media Study was conducted in March 2009 is available for download by accessing the link below: 2009 Women and Social Media Study

The contents of this report might provide some insight on how to "invest" the limited resource of time on the Internet. Don't forget to stay connected to this blog as a source for "information", "advice" and "recommendations"!

The Rule of Reciprocity

As we grow our businesses (and/or network), it is important for each of us to create inter-active relationships with one another. Through interaction we will learn more about each other and ultimately become more supportive of one another in the process.


This morning I came across an article about blogging and driving traffic to one's site. This article was relevant for this newly formed West Michigan Women's network, but it is also relevant for our business growth too. Each of us has limited time from which to accomplish our goals. Hopefully one of the activities on our "to do" list is making connections with others.


In Lena West's article: The Reciprocity Rule, February 16, 2009 found on the blog "lip-sticking", she reports that "the whole social media movement is built upon the premise of reciprocity . . ."
She points out what people are wanting from others as they post stories on their blogs:

1. Links
2. Comments
3. Followers

Without these three things, the blogger begins to feel like they are talking to themselves (a sure sign of insanity!)
As the article continues, Lena points out that if you want to acquire these three things, that you must give these things to others. She indicates that for every five posts on a blog, one should post a comment on someone else's blog.
This makes sense as this is just part of the discovery process where others will know you exist without having to search to find you.
I love this quote by Winston Churchill who said:

We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.

Making the connection for our businesses:

One of my goals is to create active relationships with other women on a daily basis. This is not just sitting behind my computer doing research and writing in a blog hoping that others will happen across something of interest.


My husband's mother is a great example of this. She hates technology, she doesn't send emails, or posts comments on blogs, but, she loves her friends. She has made it a goal in life to connect with others on a daily basis (she calls it her three good deeds). As a result, she has more friends in her 80's than I could ever wish to acquire in my lifetime. She leads by example and has such a wonderful giving spirit.


Two women in our network who support making personal connections are Margret Bazany and Lisa W. Lee. These two ladies wrote the book "Gift Letters: Writing to Family and Friends" . They also hold workshops to teach others how to make connections through personal notes and letters. The self-published book is available for $19.99 at http://www.writinggiftletters.com/.