"
What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our
attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty
has an opportunity." ~J. Sidlow Baxter
In 2005 I started on this journey, well, the real
journey started for me in 1973, but, what I am
referring to is the journey I embarked on to
create a women's business development group
in my new local community of Santa Clarita Valley,
CA (
I was born & raised in Chicago & moved to
SoCal in 2003, more on this another time...).
The journey started with me wanting to connect with
local women in business to learn from each other, to
collaborate to help each other grow & to learn from
expert speakers on business development topics.
So, I couldn't find what I was looking for in SCV &
decided to start a chapter of an organization that claimed to have groups all
across the United States. What I thought was that this organization would
provide me with the resources, tools & support I needed to run a successful
group right alongside my own coaching/consulting business.
This organization was not successful in developing chapters & had no
systems or processes in place to help run a successful group. At the
time, I felt this was a huge obstacle, however, it has turned out...or
should I say that I found the amazing opportunity in it!
I decided to leave that organization
& start my own group, Women
Entrepreneurs of Santa Clarita Valley.
WE of SCV launched with 12 women &
by the end of the 1st year, WE had over
130 members! Oh & still no systems or
processes, another obstacle that has
developed into a fabulous opportunity!
So, over the past few years I along with my fabulous WE Team have
worked to improve our WE of SCV group & develop systems for the
way WE do EVERYTHING!
This has allowed me to launch The Association of
Women Entrepreneurs to help women that want to
run a successful women's business development
group in their own local community!
A of WE provides our Leaders with the resources,
services, support & tools to run a successful group
right alongside their own business!
WE have found that an ideal Leader for this type of
group is a Coach, Consultant or Service-Based Business
Owner that would like to stand out in their community
of about 250,000 people & they are located just outside
of a major city in the United States.
If this sounds like you, please visit:
www.AofWE.com/Start WE currently have 6 amazing Diamond Group Leaders that are creating
AofWE affiliated groups in their local communities & it has been a pleasure
for me to watch as they implement the strategies that I am sharing with
them to launch & run their own group in their area.
I've attended 2 Launch Events in the last 2 weeks & both were completely
different in style & personality, yet, both had the same core value of
bringing together quality women to build relationships focused on business
growth & development.
This exciting journey started from what I thought was a HUGE obstacle of
starting a chapter of an organization that just didn't have the foundation
to make their chapters successful.
So, I am confident that the time I've taken over the last few years to build
a solid, strong foundation will result in 100 successful AofWE affiliate groups,
10 groups outside 10 major cities in the United States!
Whether WE grow by 5 or 50 each year, WE need to ensure that what WE
are doing works for our Leaders, their Members, our Speakers & for AofWE!
I am hoping that this inspires you to look at those obstacles you are facing
& try to look for the opportunity in them. Often it is difficult to see the
opportunity right away, however, I encourage you to keep looking,
be patient & you will find it.
Then I hope you will share with me here how you have found the
opportunities in your obstacles, I look forward to reading them,
thanks so much...