Women tell entrepreneurs how to survive tough times

• Reprints

Clockwise from left: Cathy Hughes, Leylani Cardoso, Lynn Tilton, Maxine Clark

Article Extras

Updated: November 10, 2011 10:15AM

One faced having to lay off hundreds of employees and a lender who wanted her business off its books. One dealt with the loss of key corporate contracts, while another realized the business she had planned wasn’t going to fly.

They were among women entrepreneurs sharing their stories of perseverance, determination and ultimate success to Chicago area women here Wednesday looking to start, strengthen or expand their businesses during tough economic times.

The occasion was the Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Annual Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference.

“The scary thing is when you know you’re doing everything right, you know your company is going to make it . . . and all of a sudden you find yourself in a troubled situation,” said Cathy Hughes, founder of Maryland-based Radio One, the largest African-American owned broadcast company in the nation and among panelists speaking at the conference breakfast.

She said she succeeded in getting employees from the top down to agree to take reduced pay, so she could avoid having to lay off many workers when she needed to cut costs. And the fact that she had a U.S. Small Business Administration guaranteed loan “made the difference in my [company’s] survival,” when lenders wanted her off their books.

“You restructure, you re-do your business plan,” she advised women attendees, grappling with changed business environments.

She shared that in building her business, she has at times slept at the company, borrowed money from her mother and sold a precious family heirloom when circumstances required that.

“You have to have that dogged determination that come hell or high water” you’re going to do everything to keep your dream alive, she stressed.

Panelist Leylani Cardoso, who founded an international handbag and accessories line and who helps run Miami-based in-flight travel retailer Duty Free World International, founded by her mother, said the pursuit of growth plans helped the $65 million company weather the unexpected loss of three airline contracts.

“One of the airlines went bankrupt,” she said. “Another one, the airline’s contract was up, and the third decided to go with someone else. We found ourselves on the brink of not having any other airline contracts. Fortunately, we had been planning for growth. Several of the other airlines that we had been working on came on board before the others left, and our company actually doubled in size. It’s one customer at a time . . . You never know the door that you open where it may lead you to next.”

Lynn Tilton, founder of Patriarch Partners LLC, based in New York, told attendees she scrapped her original business plan that focused on taking troubled companies off the balance sheets of lenders and opted to build a private equity firm and holding company that helps turn around troubled companies. Today the company manages 75 companies with annual revenues of more than $8 billion.

“Business is about people,” she said. “In the end, there is no one hero. There is a team of people that stand together that create a vibration, a resonance that allow companies to come together. You must get people who believe in each other who believe in your company.”

Having a business plan is key, Build-A-Bear Workshop founder Maxine Clark told attendees.

“It’s a working document,” she said. “It’s constantly changing. It has really guided me, and it’s something I can trust. When people discourage you, you can go back to that plan and say this is what I want to do. I can do this.”

Clark, who said she received inspiration to launch her business from a child, also told attendees to follow their gut, noting hers is a trained one, and “it has always led me to the right place.”

The Women’s Business Development Center was founded by Hedy Ratner and Carol Dougal 25 years ago. On Wednesday, it honored several women business leaders at the conference, including Sharon Hoffman Avent, president and chief executive officer of Smead Manufacturing Co., named Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year.