Launching and Learning

Last night I helped host a Ladies Who Launch event focused around public relations, marketing and branding for local Boulder ladies looking to launch their new or existing business. It was held at Common Threads on Spruce Street and about 35 women attended. Each of the four speakers were well versed in their topic and I thought each brought informative and appealing knowledge. I mean really, who doesn't love entrepreneurial women all meeting in an adorable, clothing boutique shop, sharing their ideas, buzzing with humor, enjoying hummus and veggies and pellegrino?

Listening ladies at Common Threads

To recap, Victoria Keziah, Founder and Principal at Egg Strategy, spoke about the power of branding. Through her current studies at Naropa University she relayed the philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel thoughts about thesis and antithesis, representing one end of the spectrum for branding to the other end. Branding shouldn't be forced, it should bring together two co-existing powers to a synthesis in the middle by filling a greater need (i.e. Whole Foods, Core Power Yoga).

Tara Anderson, (@tarable) Marketing Manager and a fave co-worker of mine at Lijit touched on the online tools that help to leverage business. She focused on blogging, while intermittently offering her humorous stand-up skills. If you didn't catch Tara's drift ladies, start blogging!

Tara (speaking on the right): "Start blogging!"

Elaine Ellis, (@Elainiac) an Account Executive from Metzger Associates gave insightful views about media and public relations practices, mixed with social media strategies. I liked her hand out of relevant sites to use, because many women hadn't even heard of Bad Pitch Blog or Filtrbox for staying on top of the coverage your business is getting.
Melani Ward, (@melaniward) copyrighter, marketing strategist and coach gave five succinct points on how to convey your topic with ease. 1) Understand target market. 2) Know audiences hot buttons. 3) Leave your ego out of it, what's in it for me? 4) Call to action 5) Tell your story.

Young and old learning together. Mother in for a visit, soaking it in.

Although I'm not an entrepreneur (yet) I still liked the knowledge swirling around in that room and I definitely felt fulfilled with some takeaways for my own life. Stay tuned for the next Ladies Who Launch event in December...

Ladies Who Launch

Since this September I’ve been lucky enough to be part of the Boulder/Denver, Ladies Who Launch (LWL) branch. Our team Director is Ricki Booker, an entrepreneur and vivacious trained leader. LWL offers tools, resources and a system of support for women launching or maintaining a business.

With that being said I have taken on the role Event and Marketing Coordinator. A few of the support and resources LWL offers, we host local events and speakers to help build a community around the challenging hurdle of entrepreneurship for women. I wanted to write about a few upcoming events we're hosting.

1-Chit Chat: This is based off the LWL incubators. It’s free to everyone (even non-members). It is tomorrow, Wednesday November 5th at 6:30-8:00 PM, at Common Threads on Spruce Street in Boulder. No strings attached, if you’re interested RSVP here and bring a friend! If you’re looking to grow your current business, launch one or would just like to meet a supportive group of women the chit chat would be a great way to start.

2- Branding, Marketing and Public Relations event: This is November 11th at Common Threads 6:30-8:00 PM. Also free, this event features speakers in the area that will speak on their designated topic to leverage your business or idea, then we will open it up to discussion. We have Tara Anderson, Community Catalyst and co-worker of mine at Lijit, Victoria Keziah, Founder and Principal at Egg Strategy, Melani Ward, copyrighter, marketing strategist and coach and Elaine Ellis, Account Executive from Metzger Associates. Please RSVP here for this event.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at gracekboyle @ gmail dot com or Ricki at rbooker @ ladieswholaunch dot com. We would love to see new faces and grow this branch, because it really is about you. I look forward to seeing you there.