Everyone who wants to learn more about blogging is invited to Mocha Joe’s on the last Thursday of each month from 9:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.  The Akron Bloggers Community was formed by Chris Brown, BrandandMarket.com, and Deborah Chaddock Brown, Make or Break Moments.com.

Each month I learn 1) New words, 2) New blogs, 3) New sites, 4) new concepts and 5) new technical stuff.  Along with great coffee and great conversation.

Mocha-Joe’s Coffee House is on the corner of Graham Road and Rte 91 in the old Arabicas.  Join us.

thank you ansik - flickr

 Several women owners did not like their existing business well enough to want to build it into a million dollar biz.  They asked for a workshop to help them create a vision for the business they wanted to grow, something they had a real passion to build.   

I knew what was needed for the workshop – the original breakfast group had spent three years working through their vision and growth opportunities. 

 Soon the workshop was developed and I invited all the owners who wanted to participate, some Boardroom Group members, some from previous marketing workshops. 

Wow.  What amazing results.  Sometimes it turned out the way we might have guessed.  In other cases, the owners discovered hidden passions for building a different business – building it to the size of stability – building it to be valuable – building it so it could be sold.

Thanks to randy cox - flickr

We have a very specific definition of a million dollar biz.  It might be a $1,000,000 in revenues.  Or it might only require $350,000 in revenue.  In another case it might require $2,500,000 in sales revenues. 

But this special “million dollar biz”  was named specifically because it would be profitable enough to pay the owner $200,000 per year. So our million dollar business means generate enough profit to pay the owner $200,000.

 If the biz was selling a product and the margin was only 20%, then it might require more than a million in sales to pay the owner the $200,000.  (Sales revenues of $1,000,000, (100%), cost of $800,000 (80%) = gross profit margin of  $200,000 (20%).  There would be $200,000 available to pay expenses in the categories of marketing, insurance, professional fees, office cost etc.  That might leave $100,000 profit before tax.  So in this case, it will require more than a million in sales to be able to pay the owner $200,000. 

In another case, if an owner develops a membership site on the internet and generates $350,000 in revenue, perhaps the expenses will only be $150,000, leaving $200,000 remaining to pay the owner.

It is incredibly exciting to watch owners refine their business model to determine exactly how to build their “million dollar busines.”  There is another criteria, this business needs to be salable.  The business needs to be able to continue operating if the owner sells it, or transfers it to another generation.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, this business needs to be built in 24 months.  First the vision,  then the plan to achieve the business, then build the business in 24 months.  That is a million dollar business!

thank you nedral - flickr

More than three years ago I realized that many owners in Boardroom Groups were moving along slowly – too slowly to build the million dollar business they might actually want.  I invited five women owners (from different Boardroom Groups)  to consider meeting for a once-a-month breakfast, one and one half hours, to work on growth. 

With this additional focus on growth, they were accountable monthly to keep making it happen.  Over this period there was significant growth! 

I told many of the Boardroom Group members about the progress of the breakfast group.  They said “Why can’t we have a million dollar plan?”  So we converted the four existing Boardroom Groups into Million Dollar Boardroom Groups, and they each started to build the model that would help them achieve their million dollar business.

A Boardroom Group is a membership of eight or ten women owners who meet monthly in a facilitated forum to discuss business challenges, issues and opportunities.  They become a board of advisors for each other.  The purpose of a Boardroom Group is to help the owners grow their revenues and profitability at a faster and easier pace.  Boardroom Groups were founded by Norma Rist in 1994 in NE Ohio to help women owners build  stable, viable and highly profitable businesses.

According to the Center for Women’s Business Research  10.1 million firms are owned by women (75% or more), employing more than 13 million people, and generating $1.9 trillion in sales as of 2008.