7/27/2012 New WCOE members and New opportunities

Welcome to our newest members

Just a few hours after sitting down at this week's Western Regional Conference in Los Angeles, Linda Martini-Posner said, “I've finally found the place I belong”. After trying a number of different organizations which all seemed to focus on issues that weren't relevant or interesting to her, Linda was effusive in her praise for what she found at WCOE – women just like her who are building non-traditional careers in the construction industry.

Linda has designed a special niche role for her company – The CAD-Scan Connection which takes pre-CAD architectural and engineering drawings and converts them to CAD. She also found a market need for large format scanning so of course that is a service she offers as well. There is no longer a need to outsource your old documents to India or China for conversion and pray that they come back to you in a readable format (and copies aren't being sold on some black market creating duplicate buildings all over Asia). Just pick up the phone and call Linda – she'll l take care of the rest.

You can welcome Linda to WCOE at 805.237.9347 or emailing lindap@cadscanconnection.com. Or you can check out her website for more information, http://www.cadscanconnection.com.

Carrie Schmidt, President of BC Schmidt Construction in Williams, CA, wanted to find out who these WCOE women were and jumped right in by joining the group for a pre-conference dinner on Sunday evening. How better to learn about your colleagues than by sharing a glass of wine, wonderful food and hours of conversation and laughter. No shrinking violet, Carrie is the consummate networker and bright and early on Monday morning introduced herself to everyone and didn't shy away from questioning the various speakers.

Carrie is an 8a/HUBZone/EDWOSB/WOSB/CA UDBE general contractor with some fabulous projects to her credit. She also has a very robust website with great project photos of a wide variety of completed projects including “mine closures”, “sprung” structures, aerial tramways and airplane hangars. She is licensed in California and Washington and is one very dynamic woman. Her home page has some terrific stop-action photography showing projects in process and even progress photos of a demolition project.

You can welcome Carrie by calling 530.473.5423 or emailing cs@bcschmidt.com.

Speaking of the Western Regional Conference

WOW – is all anyone can say about the just completed conference. If you don't believe us, then take a look at the photos. New WCOE member Linda Martini-Posner said it best: “The guest speakers were great. I came away reinvigorated and taller in the saddles.”

 It was a sold out conference with additional chairs having to be brought in to accommodate all those who didn't pre-register. Some of the speakers' power point presentations and speeches are posted on our website so if you weren't able to make it to the conference, you can pick up a few tips from reading the documents. The photos are also posted and you can easily see that this was an exceptional event and if you missed it – be sure to attend the next one. WCOE is building a strong reputation for organizing relevant, interesting, interactional, and focused speakers and workshops. No fluff and no lecturing – just good solid information that everyone can use in their businesses. The schedule for the rest of the year is set and they are described elsewhere in this newsletter. Take a look and then get them on your calendar.

CBS Evening News contacts WCOE

If you live in a “swing state” you received a special email from WCOE this week. WCOE has been contacted by CBS Evening News who is doing a special next week on the Presidential election and the undecided business-owner-voter. They are particularly interested in talking with WCOE members who live in VA, OH, PA, NV, FL, CO, IA, NH, WI, or MI and have not yet decided which Presidential candidate they support.

If you vote in one of the swing states and you are an undecided voter, immediately contact Aaron Weisz at 212.975.8902 or email Aaron at weisza@cbsnews.com. This is a great opportunity to get your 3 minutes of fame on national television – you just never know where that can lead – but the exposure can be priceless.

New Member Benefit program announced at Conference

The Los Angeles Conference featured a presentation of a fabulous new member benefit for WCOE members. WCOE's new strategic alliance with Affinity Center International reported that 7500 merchants have signed up to provide discounts and reward points to WCOE members.

 Everyone has at least one rewards card in their purse – usually a credit card and/or an airline card. Well here is the good news – you can double-dip. Sign up for this program, purchase from your favorite vendor (like Staples, Ryobi, Lowes and even FedMine), use whatever credit card you want and accrue those rewards points – plus you will also earn reward points on your purchases that you can redeem on vacations, spa days, family experiences and a lot more. It costs nothing to join – you get the discounts and earn more reward points – plus the WCOE non-profit Resource Center receives a commission for every single purchase you make which will come back to you in the form of education and training opportunities. Everyone wins – and it costs not even one thin dime. Sign up now and start earning those reward points.

Attention KCMO Members

Our very active members in the Kansas City (MO) area have scheduled an action-packed breakfast meeting for WCOE members and prospective members on August 14th. If you are in the area, you won't want to miss this stellar intelligence-gathering event. You will learn the latest SBA and Congressional attempts to fix the WOSB 8m program, a review of the highlights of the just completed WCOE Western Region Conference, announcement of a new WCOE program to save you and your company big bucks, and finally a review of legislative issues in the KC region. You can download the registration form – or contact April Ramirez at Mark One Electric, 816.842.7023 or email april.ramirez@markone.com. The meeting will be held at Mark One Electric, 909 Troost Avenue, KC, MO

While you have your calendars out – mark these down too

WCOE will be co-sponsoring a luncheon at both the Democratic National Convention and the Republic National Convention in Tampa. You do not have to be a credentialed delegate to attend and there is no charge to attend – we just want to show these politicians that women construction owners have the clout to make a difference – and we're not happy. The RNC luncheon is on August 28th in Tampa, FL and the DNC is on September 5th in Charlotte, NC. If you are interested, send an email to penny@wcoeusa.org for more details. You must pre-register in order to attend.

Next Regional meeting is set

The Board of Directors of WCOE has selected the date for the next WCOE Regional event. On November 1st and 2nd, the Board of Directors will gather in Kansas City, MO which is our fastest growing region – although California is nipping on their heels after this week's Regional conference in Los Angeles.

Mark your calendars for the afternoon of November 1st for workshops and a VIP reception and the morning of November 2nd for the annual Board of Directors Strategic Planning meeting. All WCOE members are encouraged to attend the strategic planning meeting as well – this is your organization and we want you to share your thoughts about how to make WCOE even more valuable to you and your business. More details will be forthcoming.

Florida members take note

On August 8th, an inaugural meeting will be held in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. This is another high growth area for WCOE and several new members have organized a Welcome Reception in order to meet more women who have chosen the challenge of building a career in the non-traditional construction industry.
The meeting is being hosted by two WCOE members – Lisa Colon Heron and Elisabeth Kozlow – so there is no cost to attend. We also have Janet Harris-Lange presenting a one hour workshop on how to get certified as a woman-owned business, a certification required by most major corporations. Janet is
President of National Women Business Owners Corporation, a Florida-based credentialing organization and a strategic alliance partner of WCOE. To register to attend this event, simply send an email to penny@wcoeusa.org. Again, there is no cost to attend. A second meeting is already planned for October with a presentation about how to get positioned for a corporate board appointment.

Attention Ohio members

An inaugural meeting of WCOE's Ohio members and prospective members will be held in the Cincinnati area on September 20th. Details are still being worked out but mark your calendars now – and stay tuned for the specifics.

We don't do advertisements – BUT….

…we know how hard it is to find good work boots that are sized for a woman's foot. WCOE has been contacted by Lynda McLaughlin with The Union Boot Pro who is trying to gauge interest in their produc style="color:#287AA8"ing work boots made specifically for women. If you are interested, please send Lynda an email and let her know, Lynda@theunioinbootpro.com. She's working on our behalf to get the manufacturer to produce this product – but she needs to know for sure there is a market. By the way, these boots are all American made.

Women Construction Owners and Executives
www.wcoeusa.org | info@wcoeusa.org