<bt>Everyone knows how important it is to network with people they don’t know, but Laurie Chester, Michelle Lore and Ann Principato found that it was just as important to network with people they knew — and with people that had a common interest. Thus was formed a networking group called Enterprising Women Entrepreneurs (EWE).
The group has evolved since it first began. When Chester, Lore and Principato first got together, they thought they would meet a couple of times and that would be it. Instead, they found that the women wanted to continue meeting once a month; some members meet twice a month.
There are no rules or dues for this group; it is a chance for women who have their own businesses to get together, brainstorm, and hear from other members of the group.
“They [the members] do everything from selling Southern Living at Home to a yoga trainer to an academic coach to an artist. It runs the gamut,” Chester said.
Chester and Lore came up with the idea when they were at Chester’s home. Chester was hosting a party for Principato, who had just become a consultant for Southern Living at Home. The women started talking about what they do, and realized that they all had their own businesses.
“We all started businesses at the same time,” Principato said. “We figured that if there were three of us, there were probably more. I do what I do because I love shopping and I love meeting women,” she said.
Chester, Lore and Principato each came up with a list of women that they knew had their own business and started holding meetings. Lauri Ploch was one of the first to join and agreed to manage the e-mail list for the group.
PLOCH HOSTED the most recent meeting, which was held in her home at the beginning of December. As is the case with many meetings, they invite somebody to come in and speak; in this case Ploch was the speaker as well as the host. She talked to the group about her image consulting business which she has been practicing with BeautiControl Cosmetics since 1996 as a part-time job and hobby. She said that this is a sort of artistic offset to her job of court reporting, which she has been doing for 21 years.
“All these years I have been mentally doing makeovers on my juries. I am working toward making image consulting my full-time occupation when I retire from reporting in the next few years. Stacey and Clinton on TLC's What Not To Wear are my role models. I also collect vintage clothing and work part-time at The Remix Vintage Fashion Shop in Delray.
“You can see that our group is comprised of intelligent, educated and ambitious women with lots of talent who have left full-time and in some cases high-level jobs and are committed to growing their home-based businesses while maintaining a healthy balance with their family and personal lives. We really enjoy each other, and I especially like that the age ranges from 30-somethings to 50-somethings. We have mothers of toddlers and empty-nesters.”
CHESTER FEELS that the group has accomplished what she hoped it would. “We get a lot of positive support and exchange of ideas,” she said. “We leave these meetings super enthusiastic — we feed on each other. It’s a very warm and caring group of women. It’s amazing to see their ideas, their intelligence and their enthusiasm. If somebody has a problem, they bring it to the group and we brainstorm. Most everybody has middle and high school kids and is doing something they love.”
Chester, who is an academic coach, fell into her profession because of her children. She learned so much while raising two children with learning disabilities that she decided to put it into practice. She now works with students in grades 3-12, helping them with study skills and time management.
“I didn’t get enough working with my own kids, now I have 16 other kids. I think, this is so exciting, but would we be excited about what we are doing 25 years ago?” Chester said.
Lore teaches yoga and meditation. She has a home studio and gives private lessons. Her lessons are varied, but are all about stress reduction. This is her fifth year as a yoga instructor, and said, “All of the women are doing what they want to do.”
Cheryl Spohnholtz has a more dramatic tale to tell. A career Navy woman for 24 years, she decided that she needed more flexibility in her schedule. She was in a very technical field, working on a project with satellites that required her to work 12-14 hours a day. She left it to become a consultant for Weekenders, a home-based business where she sells a line of women’s clothing. Spohnholtz recently became a manager and loves what she’s doing.
Rhonda Adams is one of the newer members, and runs her own business called Labors of Love. She makes ponchos, sweaters, quilts and handbags.
“I’ve been sewing for years, and decided to take it on as a business,” Adams said. She is also a flight attendant, which helps fuel her passion for purchasing exotic fabrics, like hand-knitted lace from Brussels. Adams has made memory quilts and christening gowns; she also reconstructs wedding gowns.
KAREN GARDINER joined the group after meeting Chester. She originally worked for a trade association, but wanted to get out of a 9-5 job when she had her son. She started her own business called L&G Designs, and is a professional organizer who focuses on creating systems to “combat clutter, decrease stress and increase productivity.” She believes that organization is critical for success, whatever the occupation.
“My business has risen to the next level and I’m so excited to be working with Laurie and Kim. I’ve moved out of my comfort zone where I just relied on referrals and am notching it up. I see that there are other ways to present my business.”
The collaborative effort she is talking about is a joint presentation that she, Chester, and Kim Smith Kidd are doing for City of Alexandria schools. Kidd is a personal success coach and that combined with Gardiner’s organizing skills and Chester’s academic coaching is a package that they believe many parents and students need.
Like Principato, Karen White also sells Southern Living at Home. She was recently promoted to the director level and is in the position of having to decide where to focus her energies. She also has a residential interior design business called Picket Fences.