CUSTOMER DONATION PROGRAM TO RAISE MILLIONS TO IMPROVE LITERACY

Washington, D.C. (Oct. 27, 1999) — GTE has committed to become America’s
Literacy Champion–pledging to help to improve literacy through a national
program aimed at increasing funding, raising community awareness, and supporting
a wide variety of literacy efforts. Beginning in November, more than 11 million
GTE Network Services residential and small business customers in all states
except California will have the opportunity to donate a dollar per month to
support literacy. Along with our customers, GTE will contribute $1 million to
this cause, more…

Owning and operating a child care business can be a very challenging yet rewarding career. It requires dedication, love and patience to be successful in this field. In fact, you may soon discover that you will have to work longer than the normal eight hour day. But the feeling of satisfaction you’ll get as you watch the children grow and develop will be worth the extra effort.

If you are interested in or have considered starting a child care business, then this publication is what you need! It is designed to help you plan, prepare and operate a successful family home child care business. It explains the step by step process of starting the business, from assessing the need for child care services to selecting the service, setting up your business, and preparing for opening day. It also includes information from women who have owned or now operate their own childcare businesses. We have included this information in our “Best Practices” sections. more…

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 631, et seq., section 7106 of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-355), and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, 41 U.S.C. 403, et seq., and in order to strengthen the executive branch’s commitment to increased opportunities for women-owned small more…

Every business owner has, at one time or another, experienced something that had a profound impact on the way they do business. Perhaps they changed their customer return policy, or implemented new security procedures. Or they may have decided not to offer a product or service any longer because it turned out to be more trouble than it was worth.
If experience is the best teacher, then we can all learn from the experiences shared here as “Lessons Learned.”

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Last spring a new client was referred to us by someone we had a very close relationship with. The new client needed their website to be taken over from another developer who was leaving the area and going out of business. The new clients, an older married couple, were owners of a nationally franchised realty company.

Our first conversation took place in April. I spoke briefly with the wife about what they needed and she asked me to take a look at the website that was currently up and running. What I found was pretty horrible. Most of the links weren’t working, images were missing, and the top image on the site was so distorted and out of proportion you couldn’t read the company’s name. The developer had used several Java-enabled effects, but none of them were working and the site was generating “gray box” error messages.

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When my business grew to the point that I could hire someone to do what I hated–the financial stuff, including invoicing–I hired a bookkeeper.

Since I’m a consultant, I was out of the office almost all of the time. The bookkeeper worked by herself and told me she would be fine without me. I was so trusting and so happy to have someone doing work I hated that I rarely supervised her work. Besides, she used a software program that I was unfamiliar
with, so I didn’t understand her paperwork from the computer anyway.
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In the 80’s I had a small export management company which represented a
variety of American manufacturers in the food industry. We specialized in
finding overseas markets for typically American products such as snack foods and
pancake mixes. With the support of the PA Dept of Agriculture, I was able to get
exhibit space at major international food shows. more…

 Our export company started last year. We were doing a fair business
with medical equipment and laboratory supplies. While my experienced partner was
travelling, a research university in South America asked for a quotation on
their supply of reagents for research for the year (they receive funding based
upon what the goods will cost them). Excited at corresponding with a new client
that was potentially great business, more…

March is Women’s History Month, and the U.S. Air Force is making history by
awarding one billion dollars in contracts to women-owned businesses this year!
Mr. Tony DeLuca, Director of the Air Force Office of Small and Disadvantaged
Business Utilization calls it the "1Bi2K" Initiative and the program is a top
Air Force priority! To make good on the pledge, DeLuca has created a national
outreach program of innovative methods that help women entrepreneurs do business
with the Air Force through education, technical assistance, conferences, and
procurement strategies. As a result, women-owned businesses are winning millions
of dollars in Air Force contracts in industries such as construction,
manufacturing, base services, and technology. more…