Northern Ontario Business - The fine art of schmoozing

By IAN ROSS

Katherine MacRae wants to set up the girl’s version of the old boy’s club.

The Sault Ste. Marie professional training consultant knows how tough it can be for first-time women entrepreneurs to promote themselves and receive some encouragement.

The former aircraft and motorcycle mechanic has faced a few barbs, good-natured and otherwise, from male co-horts and she’s not the least bit intimidated in any kind of environment.

“I’ve been dealing with the boy’s club most of my working life as a woman in a non-traditional trade,” says MacRae. “I put up with a lot of B.S.”

But not every woman has had the same experience. And she wants to imbue others with the same sense of confidence and ease she feels when walking into any professional or social setting. As a local chamber of commerce vice-president, she noticed many women weren’t comfortable attending the after-hours social functions, especially new business owners.

“Many felt intimidated and didn’t feel comfortable to talk about themselves and promote their businesses. Women, culturally, are socialized to be more care-givers and not toot their own horns,” says MacRae, who writes a success column for a local news website.

In most towns and cities, there’s always a behind-the-scenes men’s network that meet in restaurant backrooms to swap stories, make intros or put in a good word for each other. MacRae wanted to create the same kind of kinship through her SuccessBiz Women’s Network, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. The Sault group is geared to self-employed businesswomen.

“I want to build that support for women running their own business. It’s a lot tougher than having a job to go to every day. Where do you go for support especially if you’re home-based?”

The network is an offshoot of her executive and entrepreneurial coaching and corporate leadership training business.

Ten years ago, she moved to the Sault to “re-invent herself.” Before, she worked on business jets as an aircraft maintenance engineer for 15 years for Alberta Energy, Trans Canada Pipeline and various Calgary oil companies.

MacRae didn’t find any work locally as a mechanic, but was intrigued by career coaching and enrolled in some online programs.

“I consider myself a life-long learner and I’m constantly involved in the coaching community developing my own programs.”

With 15 paid members in the network, the monthly gatherings in an undisclosed location are a place to build networking skills, support each other, provide referrals and share best practices. Each meeting features a member speaking about their business. There’s even the occasional ‘girls night out’ function.

Among her members are a bookkeeper, real estate agent, caterer, hypnotherapist, financial advisor, professional organizer and skin-care consultant. She eventually wants to grow it out into a larger virtual network of businesswomen across the North through a web portal that members can access and connect with each other.

MacRae says many women just need the moral support of staying the course and “not feeling overwhelmed like they’re out there on their island all alone.”

There’s been a few partnerships formed. Some share trade show booth space, while one fitness studio owner offers a discount advantage off another member’s business that sells nutritional products. Membership is $60 annually and $10 per meeting for members. Non-members pay $20 for up to two meetings.