by Tinhorn Consulting | Entrepreneurship
On this Mother’s Day, I am reflecting on values — those I learned from my mother, what I hope to impart to my own daughter and how I apply what I’ve learned to my business.
First, I honor the teachings of my mother, Barbara Tinhorn. She raised me as a single mother for most of my life and has been a constant source of strength. Growing up, she would tell me to always give 110 percent, no matter what I was doing. She taught what she knew from her own life, often working in job situations as the only woman in a world of men. From the fast food industry to a forestry crew to a long career as an elementary teacher on the Hualapai rez, she walked her talk.
My mother would say, “be your work” as your work ethic would define how others would view you. I also learned from my mother to stand up for your beliefs. As a school teacher, she always looked out for her students, whom she considered to be her family and cared for them as such. She would tell the students, as she would tell me, to use our voice to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves.
She was honest and frank with me about the difficulties of starting a business and the time it would take to become profitable. Fortunately, given my inherited resilience, she now tells me the seeds are blossoming.
As I was growing up, my mother could be strong-willed but she was also sensitive, wearing her heart on her sleeve. I often call my own daughter my little “cub,” an affectionate term that always reminds me how fiercely my own mother cared for her family and students.
I am grateful for my mother and thankful for the blessings of motherhood. When I first started my business more than 7 years ago, I was single and singular-minded. Now, with a 6 year old daughter, my worldview has changed dramatically, like Dorothy transitioning from black and white Kansas to vibrant technicolor Oz. As a mother, I am now the protector and the teacher.
More than anything, I’ve learned that I don’t have a free pass anymore. I can’t wallow because I have to always be present for my daughter. She is a mirror and what I do reflects through her. I want my daughter to be joyous and strong, imbued with the teachings I learned from my own mother. Every day I tell Zoey to be courageous and always do what makes her heart sing.
I’ve come to learn that my clients respond to the same approach. When I’m facilitating or training a session, I open up my heart and energy to my clients. I always say a prayer to help me help them.
Today I honor the teachings of my mother and pray to always be a positive force for my own daughter. Honor your mother today and honor yourself for everything you do to support your families every day.
Happy Mother’s Day!
by Tinhorn Consulting | Entrepreneurship, Women Warriors
Among Native cultures, women are celebrated as the core of family and community life. But what is known about women as entrepreneurs and the impact we have on the local, tribal and global economy?
It’s a fitting question as we come to the end of the 2018 National Small Business Week that began April 29th and ends May 5th.
Recent economic analyses indicate that women’s entrepreneurship is on the rise.* Native American/Alaska Native women-owned businesses are a significant part of this unrecognized economic engine. Over a 20-year period, Native women-owned business grew at substantial rates and contributed billions in revenues (see sidebar).
Other economic data suggests women are also more likely to invest their incomes back into their homes and communities, despite lower wages. It’s estimated that women reinvest 90 percent of their incomes in their families/communities, as compared to 30-40 percent for men. Also, while women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, the earn only 10 percent of world’s income (https://dreambuilder.org). In 2017, two-thirds of Native women were family bread winners, yet only earned 57 cents compared to $1 for white non-Hispanic men (http://nativewomenlead.org).
This is important and compelling information for all tribal communities, as business promoters and consumers. Even as entrepreneurship is growing, we can do more to achieve parity and help our communities address social ills. Whether you support the breakfast burrito lady, buy traditional clothing made by your sister or grandmother, or contract the woman-owned engineering firm, you have the power. Invest in Native women-owned businesses and they will invest back in you, our families/communities and the economy.
Key Trends about Native Women-owned Business (1997-2017):*
- Women engaged in entrepreneurship grew at an extraordinary rate of 114 percent over 20 years; that rate is more than four times higher – 467 percent – for women of color.
- Native women-owned businesses grew at a rate of 201 percent.
- Native American/Alaska Native women created 15 new business firms per day.
- As of 2017, Native women owned firms account for 1.4 percent of all women-owned businesses; an estimated 161,500 firms and employing more than 61,000 workers.
- As of 2017, Native women-owned firms generated an average of nearly $690,000 per firm and an overall $11 billion in revenues.
*Source: “The 2017 State of Women-owned Business Report.” Commissioned by American Express. Http://about.americanexpress.com/news/docs/2017-State-of-Women-Owned-Businesses-Report.pdf.
About Tinhorn Consulting, LLC:
Tinhorn Consulting, LLC is a full-service integrated marketing and communications firm specializing in telling clients’ stories in the most powerful way that has a lasting and far-reaching impact. Tinhorn Consulting, LLC works with clients from a variety of industry sectors, including health, government, education, nonprofit and business. Tinhorn Consulting LLC is a 100% Native American woman-owned business. For additional information, contact [email protected].
by Tinhorn Consulting | Entrepreneurship
As a business owner, I’m constantly on the go — working with clients, promoting my brand and seeking new
opportunities to collaborate. While the work never stops, I enjoy taking a pause to give back to our Native
community.
I had an opportunity a couple of weeks ago as an invited business panelist at the “ASU RECHARGE
Conference” for Native youth. ASU hosts this annual conference to engage and empower Native mid- and
high school students to “take charge of their education and invest in their future and community.”
These are the types of sessions I most enjoy, when young Native students are motivated and engaged to
learn about becoming entrepreneurs and seeking their own footprint in this fast-changing business world.
While the session did focus on important tips and lessons learned for these up-n- comers, I was amazed to
learn how some of these students are already steps ahead in the game.
From t-shirt designer and Native music promoter to a 12-year old martial arts trainer, these students already
know a thing or two about taking risks and stepping up. Not only are they turning their skills into a business
trade, they are invested in our tribal communities.
One aspiring teen fashion designer learned to sew from his grandmother; made traditional clothing; and
started designing contemporary dresses. Because he aspired to attend the National UNITY conference, he
utilized his designing skills to raise funds. Not only did he succeed, his ambition was noticed and his tribe
stepped forward to help fund his trip. This year, this same student is developing a scholarship to help
another student in need attend the National UNITY conference.
I’m proud of these young Native entrepreneurs and impressed with their ingenuity. I want to encourage them
and others taking that first step, there is always room to grow and expand your knowledge. Because these
students wanted to know how to take their business ideas to the next level and get help where needed, I
wanted to share some business tips that I have learned as a business owner.
- Start with your passion: Once you identify your service/product, do your research. Is it
a marketable product/service? Yes? Start your business. No? Enjoy your hobby.
- Seek mentorship and support: Look for resources and peers in the same field. There
are mentors willing to help and funders interested in your ideas. Find them. Ask the
person who is where you want to be to become your mentor.
- Respect yourself and others: You are your brand. Especially in Indian Country where
we are all connected, be intentional in everything you do (i.e. social media, marketing,
etc).
- Promote yourself: You are always marketing yourself, whether you know it or not. Be
positive.
- Give back: Just as you needed help, there are others like you needing advice and
support.
Often in my business, I challenge my peers and clients to be open-minded, to think outside the box to
approach and solve problems. This time, these young Native entrepreneurs challenged me to change my
own thinking of the state of entrepreneurship in Indian Country. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive among the
young Native generation and they are out there, showing up and doing it.
by Tinhorn Consulting | Women Warriors
Just this past Sunday (01.21.18), I purposefully participated in the Honoring Indigenous Women Leading The Women’s March to the Polls in downtown Phoenix. I took my five-year old daughter, Zoey because I wanted her to see all of the strong women standing up for gender equality. I explained to Zoey that women are still not treated the same as men and that the women at the march are speaking up to promote change.
Even as I teach my daughter to believe in herself and draw strength from her Hualapai, Navajo, Hopi, and Chinese heritage, I recognize the struggles we as women still face and those our mothers, grandmothers and generations before them faced in their lives.
Today Zoey has a choice to become whatever she wants to be. Even I have been able to reinvent myself from a computer scientist to a woman business owner. These choices were not available to my mother and grandmother. They had to work in the few accepted fields for women, had less educational opportunities and married young since that was the societal expectation.
As much as I hope that with all the struggles our ancestors faced, and women today, that society is moving closer to equality, that we could live in a world where we are treated as people, I recognize the obstacles still ahead of us. I’m reminded of my aunt Eileen, who comforted me during a moment of fear. She assured me of the strength I had within, that I came from a long line of warrior women. “It’s in your blood, in your veins,” she would tell me.
I give my daughter this same assurance which is why I wanted her to be among the Indigenous women gathered for the march. I wanted her to see the warrior women who are not only speaking up for gender and racial equality, but injustice, voicing the hard truths about missing and murdered indigenous women. #mmiw
I was proud to hear the women at the march share their stories, in their own voices, reinforcing to me the reason I am focusing my business on communications services to tribal communities. We, as indigenous people, need to be heard.
A few days ago I saw Zoey looking at herself in a mirror, telling herself that she is pretty, she’s strong and she can run fast. She possesses a confidence I never had at her age. It’s a constant struggle for many women. It is my fervent hope that my daughter will continue to feel this empowered, strong and beautiful every day.
by Tinhorn Consulting | Women Warriors
++EILEEN ALLISON (DINE) ++
According to the National Science Foundation, women were awarded 3.1% of bachelor’s degrees in engineering, 6.5% of bachelor’s degrees in physical sciences, 5.4% of bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and statistics, and 9.7% of bachelor’s degrees in biological sciences in 2012. So when Eileen Allison (Diné) graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Construction Management from Arizona State University (ASU) in 1998, it was a HUGE accomplishment because those percentages for women were even lower then – especially among women identifying as American Indian.
“My passion for math and science led me to study Construction Management,” Eileen said, when asked what inspired her to pursue her studies in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field.
“I can count the number of Native females on my hand in the construction management field,” she continued. “Like in any STEM field, the female representation is a small number. Females have much to offer; they offer a different perspective in the STEM fields. I know females are talented and can perform just as well or even better than their male counterparts. We need to close that gap and encourage our Native females to pursue a STEM career. It makes me happy to see Native females study STEM fields and succeed in their professional careers.”
Eileen is a mother of 4 children, and is not only very involved in the lives and education of her kids, but also in her community. Eileen has served on her local parent teacher association and basketball booster club. Currently, she is an active member of the ASU Native American Alumni Chapter and enjoys teaching primary school at her church.
Eileen credits planning and preparedness as important practices for success, and often encourages her own children to enrich their learning by taking Honors classes in school and volunteering within their community. “As a mother, I want to see my kids succeed and fulfill their educational goals,” Eileen shares. “As a mother, I can assist with building a firm foundation and it is up to my children to build up from that foundation.”
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