Unfortunately this was not our year, but we’ll be back! The award went to Shaune Skinner of ACS Group, and was very well-deserved. She’s a strong and experienced businesswoman who has created change both in her industry and her community. We’re thrilled to know her, and truly respect everything she has done both personally and professionally.
Since it’s like the Academy Awards, in that you don’t expect to win but have to be prepared in case you do, we’ll share the thoughts we had about the experience here..
We were very honored to be considered Women of Vision. Which got me thinking about what being a Visionary really means. According to the dictionary, a Visionary is “a person who is given to audacious, highly speculative, or impractical ideas or schemes; a dreamer.” That sounds pretty flighty, but let’s dig a little deeper.
There certainly IS some truth here. Visionaries DO have audacious ideas and schemes, we ARE dreamers. We’re the people that say “what if” and “why not” about every crazy idea that comes our way. We’re always coming up with ideas about how something could be better, faster, smarter, easier or cheaper. And just because an idea may seem impractical at first, that doesn’t stop us from pursuing it…just to see where it might end up.
But there’s more to it than that. Being a Visionary is not just dreaming and coming up with ideas. It’s figuring out which ideas might really work, and pursuing them.
Everyone has the opportunity to be a Visionary, whether you’re a business owner, an employee, a volunteer, or a student. Everywhere you go there are spaces for something new, or opportunities to make something better. When you have one of those ideas, think about it. Dream a little. Speculate. Ask “what if.”
When you find the right opportunity for you, and decide to take action…that’s when you’ll find your own inner Vision.
Because a Visionary may dream, speculate and scheme…but TRUE Visionaries take action and make a difference.
–Kristen.
___________________
NAWBO has been such a wonderful help to us in achieving our goals. We joined NAWBO the very first year we opened our business. As a matter of fact, we were recruited immediately to work on the communications committee. Initially, we thought it would be a great place to network and find people that could use our services.
But what we did get is something so much more valuable. We got to know fellow women business owners. Women that understand every facet of what we go through in a day. Women that understand the life balance, the demands, the problems of being a female business owner. We have developed relationships that will last a life time. With every problem we had starting our business, there was another member that has already gone through it and they were very willing to share how they got through it. And now we can do the same with other women trying to start a business.
For us, NAWBO has been a sisterhood of experience, a resource for a great education and an opportunity for us to own more then our business, but an opportunity to own our future.
— Catherine