Where Are the Women?

Yesterday, I was one of three women on a 15-member judges panel for the GSEA student entrepreneur awards at USC. It was an interesting and inspiring event, but the two other female judges and I couldn't help but notice that all six contestants were young men. The business school dean at USC apparently has a tough time getting women to sign up as business majors, let alone start companies in school and compete in rigorous, international contests.

Today at BusinessWeek, we feature an annual survey of the 25 most promising entrepreneurs under 25. I contributed by writing about how young entrepreneurs can get funding.

The slideshow presents an impressive and creative group, many of them former college roommates, but something stuck out as I clicked through the list. There is one - count 'em, ONE - woman included. And her business is a partnership with a male entrepreneur.

Every day, it seems, I get pitched about "mommy entrepreneurs" - women who have young children and decide to run home-based businesses to accommodate their families. That's wonderful, I'm thrilled for them, but I have to wonder why so few young women study business and start companies when it would be much easier and more logical: Before they have spouses and children!

It's sad for me, in this day and age, to see how sparse the participation of women is in the business world. I realize that entrepreneurship, in particular, is a big risk that takes swagger, self-confidence and - some might say - "balls." I just hope that's not literally true.

The New One-Armed Bandits

Business owners hate it when new expenses crop up. The biggest one for many entrepreneurs is the monthly mobile phone bill.

A few years ago, nobody paid a dime for cell phones, let alone smart phone service. Now, many businesses are finding that they must issue BlackBerrys - or at least mobiles - to all their employees. Yes, they do great things and help improve communications and productivity, but they often add a big chunk to the expense column.

This week, I interview a cellular phone expert about how small businesses should manage their cell phone plans and audit their bills.

In the course of researching the column, my own cell phone bill came up. Mindy, the expert, said that my per-unit cost (take your total expense and divide by the number of mobile phone lines you have) was pretty reasonable.

In digging deeper, however, she noted that I wasn't using the full minutes on the plan I had, and could probably downgrade to a less-expensive plan without going over the usage limit. She also advised that I cancel a video-streaming service that I wasn't using, but that was costing me $15/month.

Mindy's recommendations got me thinking. I got out my land line bill and looked it over, only to find that I was still paying for call waiting and line insurance on my home phone, which almost never rings these days. In fact, we'd been thinking about dropping it altogether.

My son, who is honing his negotiating skills for a possible job in business, got on the telephone. Verizon tried to talk us out of downgrading our plan, but he held firm and saved us $25/month. AT&T, whose customer service reps are not likely to be on commission (as Verizon's are), not only happily revoked the services we weren't using, but they also recommended a new long-distance plan that will provide unlimited calls at less monthly cost.

Cha-ching! Another $20 in monthly savings. What's the lesson here? Whether you run a small business, are self-employed or are just looking to reduce your household budget, take a few minutes to look over the little things. You can't do it all at once, so maybe this month comb through your phone bills. Next month, see if there's room to save somewhere else.

In this economy, every little bit counts.

A New Gig

Happy - nay, very happy - to announce that I'm going to be writing entrepreneur-focused features for a brand-new venue, Bloomberg's Entrepreneurs page.

Here's my first contribution, on the solar panel king of California, Danny Kennedy.

Yes, I'll still be doing my columns at Bloomberg BusinessWeek and the L.A. Times.

Back from a spontaneous summer break, but I'll be updating my goings-on at those places shortly.

Insuring Small Business Risk

Entrepreneur insurance - really?

That was my reaction when I heard about a new insurance product that indemnifies small business founders and investors from personal loss when they take out commercial debt.

With the blisteringly high failure rates for small business, it has always taken a strong constitution and high levels of risk tolerance to open a business. But in the past, one could get a bank loan and limit personal risk if a business was established and had a good chance for growth.

Not so anymore. Personal guarantees, once reserved for startups and those with shaky financial backgrounds, are now de rigueur for any business owner seeking a loan - no matter how stable and successful their businesses are.

Enter Asterisk Financial, the subject of my Q&A this week. Its founders have developed a new-fangled product that pays half of the personal loss for policyholders who have signed personal guarantees and then defaulted on their business loans.

An innovative idea, and one that would probably not be possible (or necessary) outside of the current credit crisis.

The Birds and the Bees

I've developed a serious (layperson's) interest in science recently, after years of bewildered suspicion on the subject.

So when I hear about ways that science intersects with my own topic, small business, I like to explore them.

This week, I write about a new book from National Geographic senior editor Peter Miller. He believes that the collective intelligence of "The Smart Swarm" can inform entrepreneurs in management decisions.

Tweet, Tweet-Tweet, Tweet-Tweet

Yes, I worked at Disneyland back in the day and listened to the Enchanted Tiki Room soundtrack one too many times. (My restaurant, Plaza Pavilion, was housed with the Tiki Room ride and the Tiki Terrace, a Polynesian-themed restaurant that was well-known among Disney "cast members" for only hiring Asian employees).

In today's terms, "tweeting" is a technological innovation that one (apparently) must participate in to be a valid member of society. Or at least a smart marketer and savvy solopreneur.

Buzz Bissinger, once a Twitter skeptic, has become an enthusiastic convert, according to The New York Times.

I feel more like the Times' Peggy Orenstein, who wrote an insightful column in last Sunday's magazine. It's worth a read, but here's a bit that particularly resonated with me:

The expansion of our digital universe — Second Life, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter — has shifted not only how we spend our time but also how we construct identity. For her coming book, “Alone Together,” Sherry Turkle, a professor at M.I.T., interviewed more than 400 children and parents about their use of social media and cellphones. Among young people especially she found that the self was increasingly becoming externally manufactured rather than internally developed: a series of profiles to be sculptured and refined in response to public opinion. “On Twitter or Facebook you’re trying to express something real about who you are,” she explained. “But because you’re also creating something for others’ consumption, you find yourself imagining and playing to your audience more and more. So those moments in which you’re supposed to be showing your true self become a performance. Your psychology becomes a performance.”

It's that blurring between the public and the private - that sense of being "on stage" at any given moment during the day - that gives me pause and makes me a reluctant technology adopter.

No doubt one day I will tweet like the birdies tweet, several times a day. But for now, I'm content to stay quiet.

Specialty Networking

Entrepreneurs are often told to narrow their marketing efforts and target specific customers. But how effective is the highly targeted networking that is enabled online these days?

I address that question in telling the story of a new social networking group for LGBT professionals and their allies. Check it out.