Parisian Phoenix Publishing

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a webinar through Santander Small Business Banking, “She Built This: Business Perspectives From Female Founders.”

It had a clever title, so of course I went.

I’m posting about it here, on the Parisian Phoenix web site, because I think it’s important to remind people that writers become entrepreneurs as soon as they enter into the publishing sphere.

I try, as a publisher, an editor, and an author to provide the types of information that can guide people to their next step. The invitation to listen to the webinar came to me because I am a small business banking customer of Santander. My personal banking has been with Sovereign Bank since the late ’90s. so when Santander bought Sovereign they inherited me, too.

I, knowing nothing about business banking, walked into my local branch when I started a business and asked how to go about opening a business account. And the process was fairly quick and fairly painless. We even got my credit card services up and running with minimal expense to me.

I’ve even talked about my bank and my banker before on this blog.

The webinar featured three entrepreneurs from the bank’s Cultivate Small Business Program where Santander provides support for female entrepreneurs starting food businesses. The panel also included the Executive Vice President of the MidAtlantic Region Angela Moultrice, as moderator, and included a brief presentation by Christina DeLay from Small Business Banking. The other guest was Dr. Candida “Candy” Brush of Babson College

The Entrepreneurs were:

• Mona Ahmad of Mona’s Curryations, which specializes in frozen, homemade-style skillet meals
• Tangie Wilson of Simply Doyenne, a nutritional beverage company
• Haydee Gomez of Bosco Frozen Desserts

The webinar also included polls which allowed the panel to address questions and topics proposed by attendees.

The panel went over the different facets of owning and building a business, starting with the initial phases, “I had to ask myself ‘Do I want to have a business?’ because to build a business I had to build a new me,” said Ms. Ahmad.

Dr. Brush agreed with that statement, suggesting that building a business meant facing a variety of risks: psychic, social, financial and to family relationships. And despite the fact that more women in the United States consider it a strategic career move to build a business, they are less likely than men to do it.

Changing fields or building a business can create instability, and that may feel like a mistake, Ms. Wilson said.

But the trick is to build a community and to mine the available resources– like those offered by your bank, the Small Business Administration or the CIC (community investment collaborative), said Ms. Gomez.

And then one has to keep stress under control.

Dr. Brush reminded participants that the three “-ates” are a great guide:

• Automate
• Eliminate
• Delegate

However one choses to alleviate stress, for Ms. Ahmad, it’s spirituality and taking the time to take appropriate breaks. For Ms. Wilson, it’s meditation, affirmations and movement. And for others it might be yoga or knitting, the group said. Dr. Brush explained that balance– as in work/life balance– does not exist. The necessity is that one set boundaries and time limits to keep oneself sane.

An entrepreneur needs a daily ritual to return to center amidst the chaos.