Being a NAWBO member means so much—it means having a support base, a network of business leaders at your fingertips and a voice on major current issues affecting women-owned businesses.
Hear what NAWBO means to some of our chapter leaders, whose chapters brought in the most new members in the small, medium and large categories during NAWBO’s spring membership drive, and how they communicate that value to boost membership in their chapter.
Describe the value of a NAWBO membership, and how your chapter communicated that value during recruitment?
“The value of the NAWBO membership encompasses friendships, support, knowledge and a way to propel your business through the relationships established with veterans in multiple business types. Our chapter is not made up of just one or two of us, it is made up of a team that works together for a common goal of supporting each other both in our own businesses as well as the growth of the organization itself. It has taken each and every one of us to communicate our message of who we are in Kansas City and the presence and success we hold within our members to change the way a woman’s position in our city can be looked at and taken very seriously.”
—Dawn Potts, Director of Membership, NAWBO-Kansas City
“We focused on the fact that NAWBO-Cleveland is the ONLY organization in Northeast Ohio that is dedicated to supporting women business owners. Everyone in this chapter shares a common language, common goals and common struggles. To be able to be in a room with like-minded women—and to know that you are also able to tie into the resources at the national level—is unlike any other organization. We communicated this through social media posts, a video and asking current members to invite the sharpest woman business owner they know to our events. We also held The Taste of NAWBO Event in March, where we had multiple stations where we shared local and national benefits. We had around 65 members at the start of the Spring Membership Drive and added 28 more during March and April.”
–Lisa Crilley Mallis, Director of Membership, NAWBO-Cleveland
“At its core, NAWBO is a community of women business owners coming together to support, educate and invigorate ourselves toward greater success in our businesses. The differentiators from other women’s organizations or business organizations are that we are all women entrepreneurs and NAWBO’s focus on community. We infuse this message into all our communication, including our newsletter, weekly event e-mails, social media and the ‘scripts’ our leaders use to kick-off the smaller satellite meetings.”
–Deb Doyle, Director of Membership, NAWBO-San Francisco Bay Area
Why is it important for you to be involved as a NAWBO chapter leader and what would you like your legacy to be?
“It is always important to get involved with any organization you are a part of. NAWBO itself stands alone because of the diversity it has within its membership locally as well as nationwide. I don’t look at the legacy of this chapter as a single entity within; I look at the legacy as a group of women working together to give support from beginning to end. Whether it is a student wanting to learn what it is to be an entrepreneur, or a veteran in business looking to retire. Our hope of this chapter is to be that support that the women in Kansas City can feel confident in joining.”
–Dawn
“Being a business owner is what I love and what I know. Being involved as a chapter leader allows me to take my passion and my expertise, and use it to help make the lives of other WBOs easier—and more fun! I’d like my legacy to be that each NAWBO-Cleveland member exits a meeting with more ideas, skills, support and enthusiasm than when they came in.”
–Lisa
“Becoming a NAWBO chapter leader allowed me to tap into the aforementioned community. I was able to work with and become friends with women in other industries that I would not normally meet in my standard circles. It helped me build and deepen relationships more quickly than if I had just attended simple monthly meetings. Over the years, those relationships have nurtured my business, sent me trusted resources that have allowed me to work on my business and helped my business, Stage2 Marketing, grow. The theme for my term will be scaling our businesses—growing bigger in the face of fear and obstacles. For my legacy, I would like my NAWBO sisters to say they were emboldened to take steps that scaled their businesses using the support by leveraging the NAWBO community.”
–Deb