Recap: The Lady Project Summit

April 15, 2014 by Rebekah in Career, ETC.

So this past weekend, I had the honor of going to Providence, RI to attend The Lady Project Summit. If you follow any of my social media channels, you probably saw that I had the best time ever.

It was inspiring and motivating to be around a group of ladies with interesting jobs or side hustles. Everyone that I spoke to was trying to do something major with their life. In the past, I have always hated networking or conferences because small talk is awkward. However, at The Summit, I felt like we all kinda instantaneously became friends, and there was none of that boring BS. Good times.

Not only did I meet so many cool people, I also learned a lot from the keynote speakers and workshop leaders. I thought I would share some of the best moments from The Summit.

Tammy Tibbetts, Founder and President of She’s The First

One thing Tammy said that really resonated with me is: “dream big, start small”. This is something that I have been trying to remember as I start Glamtrepreneur. It is the only way to make any kind of business work. She also said that these are the things that keeps her going in business:

Mission: what drives you?
Enthusiasm: when you share your passion, you will attract other people.
Authenticity: remember where you came from.
Walk a mile in someone’s shoes: build relationships; instead, of just figuring out what you can get from people.

Next, I went to a workshop called, “Negotiating for Women”, by Bethany Hodge, inside business development at G Adventures. It was a very useful 45 minutes.

Even as a business owner, talking about money is no fun. I hate asking my clients for raises because you always run the risk of not being liked/rejected. However, when Bethany said, “Women usually lose out on $600,000 over the course of their career, simply because they don’t ask for more,” I realized that I had to get over my fear.

I could write a whole post just on this workshop, but here are a few helpful negotiating tips:

Always know your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) aka your worst case scenario
You always want to open a negotiation with small talk to feel the person out and bond
Engage in active listening
Learn how to frame the issue; show how your skills help them to solve a problem or achieve a goal
Get comfortable with silence
You always want to drop your offer (anchor) first, and negotiate from there. The higher your anchor price, the more likely people are to focus on your positive attributes!

Another thing that Bethany mentioned that I thought was interesting is that you don’t only have to negotiate money. You can negotiate for more vacation time or the ability to work from home one day a week, etc.

It was really awesome to be part of this media panel, along side Jenna Goudreau (Business Insider), Taylor Trudon (Huffington Post Teen), Debbie Stoller (BUST Magazine), and Ashley Erling (The Rhodes Show). The panel was moderated by Audrey McClelland (Mom Generations).

We chatted about how to get your business noticed by media and the importance of mentors. I think my favorite question was the one at the end where we all talked about the good, the bad and the ugly in today’s media landscape. I personally think that the bad/ugly is publicists not setting realistic expectations for their clients. The good is there is always an outlet for you to get press/there is always a way for you to connect with your consumer.

Up next, Michelle Kwan gave her keynote! She talked about transitioning away from figuring skating, and trying to find her next path in life. She also discussed her involvement in Special Olympics.

As part of the afternoon workshops, I gave one on “DIY PR”. Hiring a PR firm can be pricey, especially for start-ups or small businesses, so I talked about ways that business owners can get their own press. I hope that by the time people left my workshop, they at least had a good idea of how to write a pitch, and start getting some media attention.