If you’ve never heard of the amazing women’s boss conference called CREATE & CULTIVATE, then take a seat. I’m about to tell you why this is a great resource for ANY woman (and man, as some have been known to attend) who want to explore and learn about women in business.
Here are a few reasons many (including me) attend:
- Soak up content by women for women
- If you’re starting a business
- If you’re interested in starting a business
- If you’ve got a business and want to make it better
- If you want to network
- If you want to just hang with other dope females kill’n it or wanting to
- If you want to be inspired and learn from those who are succeeding
- If you want to hear the real challenges we all face when starting something new
The energy at these conferences is contagious and you leave with a few dozen contacts in your phone and a gazillion of images because – let’s be real, if you didn’t snap, insta or blog about it, did it happen? And, not to mention, so much knowledge, you won’t know where to start!
So what is CREATE & CULTIVATE anyway? I quote: “Create & Cultivate is a movement for women looking to create & cultivate the career of their dreams.” It’s a one-day workshop, split into two tracks, which focus on specific subjects. Each track will have a series of panel discussions from Boss Women, then at the close of the day everyone gathers to listen to the feature speaker. The likes of Chelsea Handler, Jessica Alba, and Rachel Zoe are the three that I saw when I attended their LA series last year! But the list of amazing female professionals is endless.
Unfortunately their NYC conference is around the corner and completely sold out, BUT their blog is an amazing resource for many of the discussions that come up there. Also, if you’re not able to make some of their conferences, look out for their mini pop-ups, where they hold the same type of panel series centered on a specific topic.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend their pop up in LA titled “JUST MORE” Richer Poorer Panel. The panelists:
- Jen Gotch, founder and CCO of Bando,
- Bobby Kim, co-founder of The Hundreds and JENNIFER,
- Jeni Britton Bauer, founder and CCO of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams,
- Iva Pawling, co-founder and CEO of Richer Poorer, and
- Ellen Bennett, founder and CEO of Hedley and Bennett.
I didn’t necessarily think that this was going to be beneficial for me. While I toy with the idea of starting a business, I have no idea what that business would be or what it would look like. My friend suggested checking out this seed to sale tracking system that might be useful if I was considering starting a cannabis business but I’m not sure it’s for me. I am however, always interested in listening to those who have launched a business and all the pitfalls and successes they experienced.
Here are a few gems that I jotted down during that discussion that inspired and called me to action. I may not be starting a business, but I’m always selling my ideas or myself…
1) BE CREATIVE! – They detailed the story of SPANX founder Sara Blakely finally getting the shot to sell her spanks n Bloomingdale’s. However, her product was tucked on the bottom shelf of the hosiery department. What did she do? Sara went out and bought fixtures and went into Bloomingdale’s and put her display by all the cash wraps. People at the store assumed she had approval!!
2) TRADE YOUR SERVICES OR PRODUCT FOR EXPERTISE
3) CREATE YOUR OWN HYPE – Co-Founder of The Hundreds, Bobby Kim told us a story of his team’s first experience at annual fashion trade show PROJECT. (If you follow us on Snapchat, you would have seen my walkthrough in February). He told a story of how when they launched, they had a very unimpressive booth. Surrounded by volume brands, they didn’t stand a chance. After the first day of everyone walking past them, on day two they switched up their strategy and threw a black tarp over their lonely rack of T-Shirts. Every buyer that came by to ask to see what’s under the tarp they turned away. Creating hype and demand!! Of course, be prepared to deal with high demand and the pressures of scaling-up. Investing in managed IT support services might help you to do this.
4) YOU DON’T NEED TO GO THE TRADITIONAL ROUTE TO START YOUR OWN BUSINESS – Being raised by a generation that said, “if you don’t get a degree you wont survive out there”, this was great to be reminded of. You don’t need a Master’s Degree to start a business or have a great idea! There are intelligent people out there with their Master’s Degrees that can help you with the stuff you aren’t the best at. Working with a company like Dua & Co (find out more at their website) they can walk you through the complicated accounting you are likely to encounter when you start a business. They can also serve as business advisors which helps if you need a smart suggestion to keep your business on track.
5) SURROUND YOURSELF WITH LIKE MINDED PEOPLE
6) YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT’S A GOOD IDEA! – You won’t always have the right answer; you have to be open to learn. Do your research, test your idea in the market and don’t be afraid to JUST DO IT! If you are struggling with something, make a change. A lot of people who I know who have started a business say keeping track of payroll is difficult – I always tell them to look into cloudpay.net or something similar. Do things differently so running your business becomes easier!
7) FIND A NICHE
8) DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY
9) THINK OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SALES TOOL! Not just a place to put up pretty pictures of your product.
10) THESE AREN’T BUMPS IN THE ROAD…THIS IS THE ROAD!
Love, L
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Photos by Lesli Lolene