As soon as the holiday festivities ended and the calendars were turned to 2019, women business owners around the country hit the ground running with new strategies and goals to help take their business to the next level. Continue reading to discover how the following NAWBO chapter presidents plan to make 2019 the best year yet for their business and chapter.
- Jesika Young, President/CEO of Cimtech Inc., NAWBO-Kentucky
- D.J. Heckes, CEO of EXHIB-IT!, NAWBO-New Mexico
- Ronit Urman, Owner/CFO of Urman Enterprises, NAWBO-Phoenix
- Ana Parmet, Founder and President/CEO of Parmetech, Inc., NAWBO-Philadelphia
- Robin Schuckmann, Executive Director of BNI Oregon/SW Washington, NAWBO-Oregon
Jesika:
“Preparing to succeed in 2019 is all about strategic planning and execution. It is one thing to dream and another thing to execute on those dreams. Within Cimtech, we as a team, are prepared to drive and grow our business. As a computer integrated manufacturing technology company, we are always striving to exceed our customer’s expectations and employ technologies that streamline efficiencies. For us, 2019 is a building year, building upon our culture and delivering on values. As for NAWBO, 2019 is a critical year for us as we round 27 years in the bluegrass. We have worked to build strategic partnerships with other local chapters (such as Indianapolis) and license our signature GROW educational program. We are excited to execute on the work of many boards before us and bring this great program to the national level.”
D.J.:
“For my business, I have my five-year exit strategy in place and have been following it and measuring the goals and objectives since being a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Graduate in 2016. This plan details out what I need to do each year (2019 is year 3 of 5) to continue growth momentum to build to sell and transition to my next career. My largest goal this year is to apply for the Quality New Mexico “Roadrunner” Award, the highest level award for a company that is run on proven best practices with systems and processes in place. This will help build the credibility of my business that has been built through empowerment of employees to run the day-to-day activities with KPIs in place. This will allow me to transition from president to past president and hopefully, have more time to join NAWBO Circle in late 2019.
For the NAWBO-New Mexico chapter, our board has monthly checks and balances in place to measure our goals and objectives to actual metrics on our ‘One Page Business Plan for Chapter Growth’ to become a medium-sized chapter by June 30, 2019. To be able to grow to this size, we know we must also measure the following for the second half of the year: attendance growth at our program and special events (continue to grow 18-25% in attendance numbers), investment in our members by creating two special member appreciation events, investment in growing our chapter with two membership recruitment efforts at fall (eight new members added) and spring (10 new members to add), have monthly surveys filled out after each program to measure our efforts for creating new and innovative program deliverables for what we are doing well, what we need to do better and what changes, if any, we need to make on our current budget and growth plans to measure January-June 2019 and my personal investment in the Board of Directors and committee members to make them feel appreciated and valued.”
Ronit:
“In order to continue growing and succeeding with our chapter, we must continue to be engaged with our members. This may mean asking them to bring a guest so they can experience our enjoyable, educational lunch and business program. Asking our members what intrigues them and continuing to raise the bar of our speakers is also a big goal, as well as asking our corporate sponsors what we can provide them with that will enrich our partnership. It’s important to not be afraid to make changes to what we normally do. Just because we have always done events the same way doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t look at making changes. We will continue to get the word out and enhance our exposure. That’s why we will be working with news outlets, placing targeted advertising and creating more organic social media opportunities.
As far as my business is concerned, we will be implementing target marketing in order to grow our property management side of the business. We will also invest in a new software to be more productive with our time and provide better reporting to our investors. Lastly, we will continue to provide the highest customer service to everyone we work with.”
Ana:
“NAWBO-Philadelphia’s motto for 2018-2019 is Teamwork Makes the Dream Work! We are focused on strategically building our committees to work efficiently and cohesively. We are joining forces with our 501c3 to be more strategic in our efforts to increase our corporate partner’s participation. My company, Parmetech, Inc., will celebrate 28 years in January 2019. We are an office equipment technology solutions provider. We are also focused on having our teams work strategically to build new business opportunities and continue to build a strong foundation within our existing customer base.”
Robin:
“For 2019, pre-planning my calendar and honoring those commitments is vital to reaching our goals. Putting together an amazing team who is willing to hold each other accountable and be held accountable is critical. No one person can accomplish everything alone; it takes a team effort. Always look to the future just enough to see which positions need to be filled. Find candidates and groom them as leaders to fill those roles throughout the year. Great leaders build other great leaders who can achieve success as a team. This applies not only to my business, but also to our NAWBO Oregon Chapter as well. Happy New Year!”