It’s a fact that women and men solve problems in different ways. Women tend to talk through their problems in great detail before arriving at a solution, while men generally don’t see the point in all that gabbing – just solve the problem! (If you want a good laugh about how men and women communicate, check out this video.)
That’s why women business owners need each other. It’s not that men don’t care or can’t be helpful to us, but we need to talk – and our fellow business owner sistas are usually willing to lend a sympathetic ear.
I’ve found this be true myself, and so have several EnMast members.
Cori Moschberger, owner of Integrated Advising Services, said she feels most supported by her women business owner networking group, which consists of women from different life stages and industries. “There are about 10 of us that meet monthly. I have been meeting with them for three years now and have developed some great friendships and business relationships!”
Cori said that this community is a place “where I feel like I can say I don’t know what I am doing in a certain area and they gather around to help me figure it out. I am more comfortable with them than with a co-ed group because they are women so we relate on several levels and not only in regards to business. We talk families and friends and hair and clothes, etc….”
She added, “I think women deal with much of the same that men do as business owners, but then we also have things specific to us and our other roles, as daughters, friends, mothers, etc., that play a part as well.”
Jill Salzman started of The Founding Moms as an alternative to the “formal, stiff and expensive women’s-or-business-and-or-entrepreneurial groups.” It’s a place “where you can dress casually, bring your noisemakers (babies, toddlers, kids) and discuss the ultimate balancing act.”
Jill said one of the benefits of the group are the Exchanges, which are meetups held throughout the United States. “I think the support these mom entrepreneurs give to one another at our Exchanges is just tremendous. Invaluable. And if men sit around a table together and support each other with resources, emotional support and a thumbs up, I haven’t seen it yet. Support in and of itself is complex. People need support in a variety of different ways. I think a group of women together is a powerful thing: we’re often good at reading those complex signals and offering what the support-seeker is looking for.”
Nevertheless, Jill says, “I actually hate making it a male-female thing.”
And I’m with her. I don’t think that we women should isolate ourselves completely, but I do think there is value to hanging out with the girls on occasion!
What do you think?
