Networking for Professional Women - Help for Small Business Women Who Struggle with Self or Business Promotion


What would you do if you saw an article in the Seattle Times that read "Study Finds Women Flunk At Self-Promotion"? I’ll tell you what I did. I read it – twice.

The article said that women don’t understand the fine art of self-promotion, and even struggle with the thought of it. This is especially important if the woman is a small business owner. The article went on to say that women don’t occupy as many high-level positions in corporations as men because they struggle to fully embrace the art of self-promotion. The study found that women think more holistically, for instance about a company, an organization, a unit as a whole and its welfare, and not as often about strategic “self-promoting” moves and compensation. I think we can look at women and generally find they are better at promoting others than they are themselves.

The study found that women consider the communal aspects of a workplace, and community, very important. Women are community oriented. Whether it is an online social networking community, or a face-to-face “networking for professional women” organization, women enjoy linking their thoughts, ideas and hearts with one another. In contrast, men tend to be driven more by what's at stake for them personally. It's not that men don't care about their companies, families or communities they simply interact with the world differently than women.

Because women struggle with self-promotion is would be advantageous to have an environment where self-promotion and benefiting others could be combined. This way, women could learn to self-promote, while they were also promoting others. That is why Dawn L. Billings, relationship and communication expert and author of over 20 books, www.DawnBillings.com created the intimate, self-promoting environment for professional networking women called The Heart Link Women’s Network®. The Heart Link Women’s Network® is a professional business women’s networking and marketing tool built specifically for women who need to network with other women in order to increase their visibility, but feel uncomfortable with “self-promotion.”

Women have been trained to not "toot their own horn", or draw unnecessary attention. Women have been trained to see “self promotion” as showing-off or selfish. Most of us were taught that it is “not nice” to show-off, and certainly not nice to be selfish. The problem is, like it or not, mastering the art of self-promotion is essential if you want to be noticed and remembered. And being noticed and remembered is what is necessary if you are going to grow your business or move up a corporate ladder. Some women feel that in the ideal world, they shouldn't have to promote themselves. But the reality is you must be your greatest advocate. Self-employed businesswomen and entrepreneurs must actively market and network with women and men to maintain their client base, and grow their bottom line.

If we want to succeed, we must continually find ways to be visible. Visibility is one of the major success keys. The more visible you are the more likely you are to be remembered. That is why women attending networking events is a great way to market the business they love. You need people to know us, talk about us favorably to others, and to do this; we must give them something favorable to talk about. An intimate networking environment like The Heart Link Women’s Network® gives women an opportunity to make wonderful and positive differences in the lives of the women they meet, while providing them with the perfect opportunity to become wonderfully and powerfully visible. Since The Heart Link Womne’s Network® and other women’s networking events are so plentiful these days, (The Heart Link Women’s Network® has over 145 locations in US, Canada, and Australia), it is easy to for any woman to find a comfortable, safe, and fun place to network near her.

I would recommend every women learn the fine art of self-promotion by visiting The Heart Link Women’s Network® or any other women’s networking gatherings. There, women can discover how to not only become visible, but how to master the art of “self-promotion” is a wonderfully new, exciting, fun and easy way.

Another way women can market and advertise their small businesses online if with the new TROVA NOW Directories. TROVA means “find” in Italian and TROVA NOW Business Directories are dedicated to helping small businesses get found on the Internet. There is a small business directory called TROVA Business Directory and a women-owned business directory called TROVA Women Business Directory.  For less than .50 cents a day, a small business can have an optimized mini-website with a gallery of pictures, video and detailed business and contact information that can easily be shared on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Feel free to e-mail with specific questions about The Heart Link Women’s Network® marketing and networking model or send in examples of other ways you have increased your own visibility and exposure, and I'll share them with women around the world on our “no cost” online networking community for women, The Heart Alliance® online community for women www.TheHeartAlliance.com

Here's to the fine art of self-promotion, encouraging and inspiring others, and lasting success!

Here's to linking hearts to lasting success, and learning to showcase and optimize your small business.

by Dawn L Billings, MA, CEO & Founder of The Heart Link Network® and TrovaBusinessDirectory.com and TrovaWomenBusinessDirectory.com