In Mexico, business is personal. It’s not only what you know, but also whom you know and how well you know them. The greater the distance between you and a business person’s heart and mind, the more difficult it is to achieve your goals. It’s much more important to be a friend of the family than a baron of business.
Christopher Payne, resident manager of the Presidente Inter-Continental Cozumel, says there’s no such thing as a “strictly business” relationship. “If it would be strictly business, in my personal opinion, it would be bound for failure.”  more…

A conference in the Online Women’s Business Center (OWBC) is a scheduled, online, written “lecture” or training session (chat) that is led by an expert. Input from other conference participants is encouraged whenever appropriate-the leader will indicate how much time there is for comments and questions from other participants, as in a lecture or workshop. more…

The Online Women’s Business Center (OWBC) live chat room is like a virtual meeting room that is open–free of charge and around the clock–for the use of our OWBC community.

Contact a business associate in another town and set up an appointment to “meet” in our live chat room where you can chat with no long-distance telephone fees. If you want to have a private chat, there’s an easy Private Room option available to you on the chat menu (see below).

You also can simply enter the live chat area to meet someone new who might be there for the same reason. more…

What is a message board?

A message board is like an electronic bulletin board that enables participants to post questions and comments and return later to read the responses. Stated another way, unlike a chat or conference, a message board isn’t “live” - it’s a place in cyberspace that can be visited by participants at a time that’s convenient for them.

A “hosted” message board on the Online Women’s Business Center (OWBC) means that an expert is committed to provide answers to questions that are posed by the community in a certain amount of time - usually 48 hours. Any community participant is encouraged to provide an answer but, at a minimum, on a hosted message board the question will be answered by an expert in a reasonable amount of time. more…

SBA’s network of more than 80 Women’s Business Centers (WBC) provide a wide range of services to women entrepreneurs at all levels of business development. These WBCs, located in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, teach women the principles of finance, management and marketing, as well as specialized topics such as how to get a government contract, or how to start a home-based business.

The Online Women’s Business Center is pleased to offer you access to the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) network of business counselors. Through a cooperative agreement with SCORE, you can now access a database of counselors and receive online counseling via email and have easy access to the resources of the Online Women’s Business Center at the same time. more…

Mentored Women Twice as Likely to Mentor Others

New York, June 4, 1998—Results of the Avon Mentoring Matters Survey, conducted by Avon Products, Inc. reveals that mentoring makes a decided difference in career advancement and business success of women. Revealing that 68% of women 18-29 have had mentors, the survey indicates that mentorship of women is on the rise. more…

Welcome to our Events area! Our scheduled events give you the chance “meet with” experts in cyberspace and ask them - free of charge - that burning question you’ve been trying to answer. Other participants often provide helpful answers as well. Click here to go to the Message Boards to post your questions and comments. more…

Visitor Agreement and Guidelines for
Online Women’s Business Center (OWBC) Message Boards,
Conferences and Forums

The Online Women’s Business Center Information Exchange exists to facilitate a free and open exchange of ideas within our online community while maintaining a climate of mutual respect. Consequently, these ground rules have been established to protect the rights of our online community. By participating in the OWBC Information Exchange message boards and conferences, you agree to abide by the following guidelines. Owners, sysops and staff who are active participants in the Information Exchange area will also abide by these policies.

The OWBC reserves the right to reject any posts deemed unacceptable under these guidelines and to limit or terminate service to participants who violate the terms of this agreement. To register a complaint about another participant’s conduct or for clarification of guidelines, please e-mail the OWBC sysop. more…

Message Boards

Message boards are like electronic bulletin boards that enable participants to post questions and comments and return later to read the responses. Stated another way, unlike a chat or conference, a message board isn’t “live” - it’s a place in cyberspace that can be visited by participants at a time that’s convenient for them.

A “hosted” message board on the Online Women’s Business Center (OWBC) means that an expert is committed to provide answers to questions that are asked by our online community in a certain amount of time - usually 48 hours. Any community participant is encouraged to provide an answer but, at a minimum, on a hosted message board the question will be answered by an expert in a reasonable amount of time. more…