{"id":3574,"date":"2016-01-18T17:04:54","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T22:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/?p=3574"},"modified":"2016-01-18T17:15:13","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T22:15:13","slug":"5-ways-to-grow-your-business-with-a-little-help-from-your-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/5-ways-to-grow-your-business-with-a-little-help-from-your-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Grow Your Business With A Little Help from Your Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by:\u00a0Geri Stengel<\/a><\/p>\n

After interviewing women entrepreneurs for the past four years, one fact stands out: Successful ones don\u2019t do it alone. \u00a0Support comes in many shapes and sizes and from many different sources. I was reminded of this when I reconnected with Diana Lovett of Ciss\u00e9 Trading Co. who takes advantage of several different kinds support. We originally spoke about raising money when you\u2019re pregnant or a new mother.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ciss\u00e9<\/a> produces cocoa baking mixes, hot cocoa and ready-to-eat treats. Lovett has grown the company from a small regional player that sold in speciality markets to a national company selling in traditional supermarkets. She\u2019s expanded her product line from foods you make to include foods that are ready to eat. All products are absolutely scrumptious.<\/p>\n

Lovett built her company using a wide range of support systems.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Do it formally and\/or informally<\/b>\n
    <\/div>\n

    You may want to get your MBA. However, not to worry if you don\u2019t have one. Most of the women I\u2019ve interviewed, including Lovett, don\u2019t have one. In the end, when each woman needed knowledge she didn\u2019t have, she turned to her stable of advisors, which included professionals, such as accountants and lawyers,and family members, peer advisory groups<\/a> (a.k.a. CEO roundtables or Mastermind), board members andmentors and sponsors.<\/a><\/p>\n

    Peer groups have a trained facilitator who guides entrepreneurs through a process of solving problems by discussing the problem with people who have been there and done that. Lovett\u2019s peer group is a small group of mom bosses in the food industry. The group is self-managed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    >>>CONTINUE THIS ARTICLE<<<<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Written by:\u00a0Geri Stengel After interviewing women entrepreneurs for the past four years, one fact stands out: Successful ones don\u2019t do it alone. \u00a0Support comes in many shapes and sizes and from many different sources. I was reminded of this when I reconnected with Diana Lovett of Ciss\u00e9 Trading Co. who takes advantage of several different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice-from-the-best"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Ways to Grow Your Business With A Little Help from Your Friends - Biz Women Rock!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/5-ways-to-grow-your-business-with-a-little-help-from-your-friends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Ways to Grow Your Business With A Little Help from Your Friends - Biz Women Rock!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Written by:\u00a0Geri Stengel After interviewing women entrepreneurs for the past four years, one fact stands out: Successful ones don\u2019t do it alone. \u00a0Support comes in many shapes and sizes and from many different sources. 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