IAM640- Integrator Helps Fempreneurs Impact Their Businesses

A native Washingtonian, Lisa Shapiro holds a BA in Psychology and a Master’s in Educational Psychology from George Mason University. Professionally, she has decades of experience in communications, writing, research, digital marketing, and social media. She is a natural community organizer and integrator with a passion for connecting with others. A self-described serial entrepreneur who started her own business at age 18, Lisa launched DCfempreneur to connect with other female entrepreneurs to help impact and grow their businesses to make them more purposeful, profitable, and sustainable.

• CEO Hack:(1) Planning (2) I don't hesitate when it comes to ideas
• CEO Nugget: (1) Stop standing in your way (2) Don't get stuck in the comparison track
• CEO Defined: Listening and responding to the needs of those you're supporting

Website: https://dcfempreneur.com/

Podcast: https://dcfempreneur.com/podcast/

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello. Hello. Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Lisa Shapiro of DCfempreneur. Lisa, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Lisa Shapiro 0:38

Hi, thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

Absolutely. Super excited to have you on too because I know you're doing really awesome things. And just to introduce you to everybody. I wanted to read a little bit more about Lisa so you can hear about all these awesome things that she's doing. And she's a native Washingtonian. Lisa Shapira holds a BA in psychology and a Master's in educational psychology from George Mason University. Professionally Hey, she has decades of experience in communications, writing research, digital marketing, and social media.

She's a natural community organizer and integrator with a passion for connecting others, a self-described serial entrepreneur who started her business at her own business at the age of 18. Lisa launched the DCfempreneur printer to connect with other female entrepreneurs to help impact and grow their businesses to make them more powerful, and profitable. And of course sustainable. Lisa, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Lisa Shapiro 1:24

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 1:25

Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about how everything started. Can you tell us your CEO story? What made you get started in the business?

Lisa Shapiro 1:33

Sure. So I think how I got started, at least for DCfempreneur is two things. feeling like I had a sense of greater purpose, I felt like I was surrounded by a lot of people who were crystal clear about the goals that they had for themselves. They knew exactly what they wanted to do in their life, and they were going out and doing it. And I felt a little bit lost that I had not found my true purpose. So I started really digging deep and searching for what I was good at what really fired me up and what I love to do. And then eventually I connected that with. The second part was feeling like a failure. You know, when a person is born and meant to be an entrepreneur, they spend their entire lives working for other people.

And, you know, like a lot of us, it's not a successful experience. People who are meant to be entrepreneurs feel like failures all the time because they go to work for other people, and it doesn't work out and they internalize that I sound like the psychologist right now, don't I? But they internalize that failure, they think that something is wrong with them. But the truth is, they were not meant to ever work for someone else. They were meant to create a life for themselves doing what they were meant to do and living their purpose. And so I guess my story begins by realizing I needed to go out and do what I was meant to do find it and actually go and do it.

And it took a lot of convincing from other people to help me step out of my own way and start DCfempreneur. I had to be convinced. I said, Well, you know, there were other people that had networking communities, there were already people that had groups that supported entrepreneurs. And I had to be convinced in a very, you know, Marie Forleo kind of way, you know, that I had a special gift that I could give to other people that what I did was not going to be like anything else that was already being done. So I had to be convinced to do that.

Gresham Harkless 3:37

Yeah, no, it makes sense. It's so funny because we come across like where we're supposed to be in so many different ways. But I myself have had jobs, and I, you know, and I haven't talked a lot about this, but I used to beat myself up a lot about not feeling that I was in the right place. And I know exactly what you're talking about. And I'm sure a lot of people that are listening can you know speak to that as well to is that you see all these people that are doing their things and you want to be there you want to be grateful for what you have and those things like that. But you still feel like you're not in the right place. And it's not until you start to kind of walk your own path and sometimes it's not by our own doing sometimes the circumstances, people around us events that happened that not only not really put us in that path, but sometimes push us in that path where we start to walk where we're supposed to be.

Lisa Shapiro 4:19

Yeah, every single time I lost a job. I tried to look at it as this is the silver lining and that oh, now I have more time to focus on this Saturday. The other thing was some business idea I had or something I really knew I wanted to do but didn't have the time to do it. And especially as a female. A lot of us have families, we have children, we're running a household. We're always going to put ourselves last and what our dreams are. And I feel like I finally have found what I am meant to do. And I'm excited about that. So I spend all my time working on DCfempreneur. I'm 100% dedicated to this community.

Gresham Harkless 5:02

Awesome, I absolutely love that. And just as you said, you know, I think we always have to make sure that we put ourselves first. But as somebody who gives, especially as you talked about, you know, mothers, you know, you give so much of yourself in so many different ways, sometimes you are the last person. So I appreciate you for speaking to that, but also for helping, you know, so many women be able to do that and understand exactly what that means in your community. So I know you touched on it a little bit, but I want to drill down a little bit deeper, can you tell us a little bit more about DCfempreneur and exactly what we can find there?

Lisa Shapiro 5:29

Absolutely. So DCfempreneur is a community to support female entrepreneurs. We are DC-based right now. But of course, I think with time we will expand which is exciting. Mostly what we provide is events, both in person and online. And we are spending a lot more time coming up with innovative ways to be able to help other businesses be I should say not other, but female businesses be more visible. So creating a platform to help businesses be more visible, whether it be a podcast, because we do have a DCfempreneur podcast, being able to really open up our blog, so other people can really get the word out about what it is that they're doing.

And, you know, a lot of what is something I say all the time to my members, and when I'm speaking to groups is, a lot of times somebody will spend their entire life developing a core set of knowledge and skills, you know, sometimes decades, somebody who's in their 30s and 40s, who spent their entire life working for someone else has a huge amount of information that they can contribute to the world. And only after a time of working for someone else do they decide, okay, I'm gonna go out on my own and do that. So often, we are really, really good at what we do. In my instance, I think it's marketing.

And I think that if I had the knowledge and skills to run a business, I would be a lot further along in my business. So I need to tap into the knowledge and skills of all the other people in the world in order to move myself along that path. So what I think DCfempreneur does really well is we work together within our membership to help each other learn what we don't know about the different aspects of running a business. So you know, having a bookkeeper, I mean, I do not, I'm never gonna be a bookkeeper I, you don't want me to be your bookkeeper. So I had to have somebody available in that community to be able to say to other people, hey, you know, yes, you're a solopreneur, you're running this business.

But bookkeeping is not something that you should do yourself. And here are some things that you can do or tools that you can use to help you and you have to really figure out what you don't know, you know, and if you're running a business, we don't have time to learn all of the things, to run our own business. So I think that's really the benefit of being a part of a community like this is that we really do come together, and not only just support each other, but we share in those knowledge and skills to help each other be more successful and grow.

Gresham Harkless 8:04

Absolutely, no, I love that. And I appreciate you for breaking that down. And I think you know, what was coming to my mind is that that kind of the seven habits of highly effective people, and one of them is sharpening the saw. And I think in order to sharpen the saw, you have to know your saw, and then you have to be able to, to be able to sharpen it with somebody else. And I think that speaks to you, you what you were talking to you about being in the lane and having that community where everybody has their expertise, they spent years and years and years crafting that expertise and that experience in those experiences.

And being able to have that collaboration, that opportunity to really you know, glean from somebody else, you know a little bit of their expertise helps us to be more successful helps us to sharpen our saw even more and be better, you know, entrepreneurs and business owners. So I love everything you've been able to build and build that community around doing that.

Lisa Shapiro 8:44

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 8:44

You're absolutely welcome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you personally or your business. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Lisa Shapiro 8:52

I think that it could be twofold. And that. Part of that is me, I think that the secret sauce to the DC seminar is me, in that I'm incredibly dedicated to the community, I bring my own set of unique set of skills to the community, and every single one of our members, we have more than 50. Now, so we've been growing, but I'm able to assist that new member in the ways that I know I can help them. A lot of it is brainstorming, helping them find ways to be more visible in their business. And then also, you know, I took the time, and I still do on an evolving basis, I take the time to go out and look for new tools and platforms to be able to help our member businesses be very visible.

So one of the things that I think makes the seminar very unique is that we have a really nice member portal. So as soon as you become a member of DCfempreneur you have this really nice member directory, you're able to add a really nice description of what you do and a whole host of images. Somebody can recommend you right there on the portal. You can offer a special deal to the members or to the public. And, you know, then we have all the other formats, to be able to help the members be visible in the podcast and tapping into the blog. And you know, our Facebook group, there are more than 955 other DC area female entrepreneurs in that Facebook group. So I think it's what makes us unique is that we're coming together. And, you know, it's not just me that as the founder of DCfempreneur.

It's the fact that we have all of these other members, especially our founding members, there are 20, and they really are the backbone of DCfempreneur, they are our leadership team, we come together quite a bit to talk about how we're going to support each other, how we're going to grow and in what areas and the founding members are committed to not only helping to grow the community but also to reach down and help out that those new entrepreneurs to provide information about what they do and what they know, in order to kind of help that new entrepreneur, learn what they need to know in order to help them grow their business. So I think what makes us different is we're a cohesive group and a true community.

And, you know, yes, we have events and a lot of our members are putting together educational resources about how to help other people and how to help other businesses. But really, what I think makes DCfempreneur unique are the people, you know, I think, I believe in the law of attraction. And obviously, the people that we've attracted to be our members are there for a reason. And it's probably because, you know, we're interested more in building a genuine community and a supportive way to work together. It's not, you know, not like I'm knocking a BNI. But it's not about, you know, that transaction. And it's not about a monetary value, it's about really working together and building a community of support.

Gresham Harkless 11:57

I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So that could be like an apple book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Lisa Shapiro 12:06

Even though as you've mentioned about Stephen Covey, I'm a huge planner person, I have every kind of goal planner and daily planner, but really, what I think is my CEO hack is that I don't hesitate. And I'm a little impulsive. When it comes to my ideas. I mean, I could even call them wild hair.

Gresham Harkless 12:25

Great reminder. So now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And that could be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice could be around marketing or community building. Or it might be something you might tell a member or maybe even would tell your younger business self.

Lisa Shapiro 12:38

So I feel like it's a little philosophical, but I guess it's because I'm really learning from my own experience that I really let fear almost for two years stand in the way I got stuck in that comparison trap about oh, well, that's already being done. But how have I done that, how do I not move forward with DCfempreneur, I wouldn't have these, you know, 50 members, these women that have come together, and there are several members that have formed all their profit or profitable businesses by working together. But that wouldn't have happened had I not formed this group and they met each other. So I think that, as I said, it's a little philosophical, but I don't think that we should stand to try that we shouldn't, we should stop standing in our own way, and find a way to move forward with our idea, even if someone else is doing it and not getting stuck in that comparison trap.

And I'm sure this is something that has been said over and over and over. But it took me two years. And a lot of convincing before I really did decide to move forward with something that I probably was meant to do all along multiple times, I had to fail by trying to go and work with other people or form bodies with another person that was never going to work because I wasn't meant to do that with someone else. But I had to figure that out on my own.

Gresham Harkless 14:05

So now I would have asked you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Lisa, does being a CEO mean you?

Lisa Shapiro 14:15

To me, it means listening and responding to the needs of your constituents, your clients, your whoever it is you're supporting.

Gresham Harkless 14:25

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Lisa, truly appreciate that definition. I appreciate appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best they can download the podcast, find the group, and to hear about all the awesome events and things that you guys have going on.

Lisa Shapiro 14:41

Okay, so for the listeners that are male and they're not female, DCfempreneur still has events, both in person and virtual, where we say mixed with the other 50% of our marketplace, because a lot of our members even though they're a female business, and we do create that safe space for females. A lot of times, you know, our members are not just marketing to other females, you know, would be silly for us to cut off the other 50% of the world. And so there are lots of opportunities that we come together and we mix with other male-owned businesses and the public in general, I would say, you know, to check out our, our website, DCfempreneur.com, we have a really great event calendar, it's DCfempreneur.com/events.

And all of our members are eligible. And they take full benefit of the fact that they can post their own events to that calendar. So not just our events, but there's a whole host of a variety of things from chocolate tastings to, you know, workshops that are a criminal attorney is posted there, all kinds of things. So I feel like there's an opportunity for everyone, regardless of where they are, especially in a virtual environment where we can learn from each other men and women to come together and share and that knowledge and skills. So I welcome you know, any conversation about how to come up with ideas to how to better support each other.

Gresham Harkless 16:10

Awesome, awesome. I really appreciate that. We will definitely have the links and information in the show notes so that they can find all the information you know about the events in the podcast and all the awesome things that you have on I appreciate you so much and I hope you have a phenomenal day.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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