Our Current Reality; A Peak Back and Forward Looking Possibilities
What does it mean to your business to be in a state that voted differently from the nation? While the President and Congress gained Republican control in Washington, DC, California's Governor and Legislature gained a Supermajority for the Democratic party. I would submit that there is a benefit in this dichotomy between our nation and our state for women who are members of NAWBO - you made a wise investment. As a non-partisan organization seeking to advance the voices of women business owners, proactively, throughout the State and the Nation, we play on both sides of the field with a single mission - propelling women business owners into economic, social, political spheres of influence worldwide.
Your CA Public Policy Committee is meeting with Public Policy Directors in all chapters to explore how to more effectively engage our chapters and our members on public policy matters in CA that affect our businesses. We need your feedback and input. We want to hear from you on public policy issues that have a direct impact on your bottom line: How are worker's compensation laws impacting your business? How are the new 1099 rules enhancing and crippling your business? Are tax laws creating barriers to your success and that of your employees? Diane De Mailly and Tamara Badkerhanian-Ganev want to hear from you and your Public Policy Directors.
Plans are in full swing for the Propel Your Business Conference 2017. NAWBO NEXTGEN is a critical part of the program and the Committee is seeking to introduce program topics and speakers to engage the next generation of women business owners. Are there any exciting NEXTGEN stories in your chapter that we can feature in future newsletters? We hope that you can encourage them to come to the 2017 Propel Conference.
As 2017 quickly approaches with a new Presidential administration and incredible possibilities, I decided to take a peak backwards to see what the predictors commented on in the 2016 Outlook. In looking at SCORE, the U.S. Small Business Administration team of Retired Executives working with small business owners, they reported the following at
www.score.org:
- More women will become small business owners, jumping from 43% in 2016 to 50% by 2020
- Working remotely will take hold of the younger generation. In fact, Microsoft predicted that 2016 will be the first year that more people's first jobs will be virtual rather than in a physical space
- The power of the cloud will be realized and more companies were predicted to use computing power from the cloud than from servers
- Cyber crimes on the rise; 22 percent of small business owners cited hacking and cybercrime as a major risk to their business
- Mobile capabilities will become more powerful than ever from Skype for Business, OneNote and Continuum
- Content marketing rises to the top and small businesses must be more creative in their content - more video, more visuals, more behind-the-scenes access.
How did you do in these areas in 2016? What is your Outlook for 2017? NAWBO-CA wants to grow with you, learn from you; and achieve the collective mission of propelling women business owners. Let's make it happen in a big way in 2017.
As Betsy Berkhemer Credaire always encourages, use this season for your greatest networking and build your business pipeline for 2017 through every holiday mixer you can attend. Of course I am in the Inland Empire and NAWBO-IE has a really fun mixer planned on December 15th. It will be worth the drive, the flight, the train or even the jog to get there.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family. Create new memories and don't limit the boundless possibilities for the New Year.
With best regards,
Hilda Kennedy
President
