The Million-Dollar Club

In just its third year, an ambitious program that helps woman-owned businesses break the $1 million threshold in sales is thriving

by John Tozzi

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Karen Bevels had hit a wall. Revenue at the gourmet catering company she founded in 1992 outside San Francisco once grew annually by 30%. But by the time she reached $500,000, her growth had slowed to 10%.

Bevels faced a problem many entrepreneurs share: She wanted to expand her company, but wasn't quite sure how to do it. She found help in the form of a growing network of women committed to turning their small businesses into big ones. The "Make Mine a Million $ Business" program aims to get a million female business owners committed to making $1 million in sales by 2010.

There were 6.5 million woman-owned firms in the U.S. in 2002, according to the latest U.S. Census data. But only 117,000 of them brought in $1 million or more. Although 28% of all American firms were counted as woman-owned, those companies accounted for just over 4% of total receipts.

Mastering the Three-Minute Pitch

Many of the women who participate in the program report the same problems: trouble getting financing, uncertainty about hiring and firing new people, not thinking big enough. Women business owners trade advice through blogs and e-mails, conference calls, and events. The program was started by Nell Merlino, co-founder, president, and CEO of nonprofit Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, who says its biggest benefit is encouragement (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/11/06, "Minting Women Millionaires").

Bevels' five-person company took in $660,000 last year, and with a high-end caf�eacute; opening to showcase her food, she expects to top seven figures in 2007 sales. Says Bevels: "This is the beginning of our scaling up."

She and seven other women are the latest winners of the program. The awardees, selected based on three-minute pitches in an American Idol-style competition this month at the National Association of Women Business Owners conference in Atlanta, will get help with financing, marketing, and mentoring.

Merlino thinks there are at least a million women business owners like Bevels with the potential to top $1 million in sales, and she wants to enlist them all. "People historically thought that women liked having these tiny little businesses, and some of them do," she said. "But there are a growing number that, given the right tools and opportunity, would love to have a million-dollar business." Make Mine a Million has picked 87 winners in 10 competitions since 2005, and 10 have already reached the $1 million mark. Awards consist of a $10,000 line of credit from American Express (AXP), up to $45,000 in financing through Count Me In, and other marketing and mentoring benefits. Merlino is planning competitions in every state for 2008 and 2009, with the next competition scheduled for Austin, Tex., in October, 2007.

Your Own Team of Cheerleaders

Some 20,000 women have declared their intent to expand their businesses to $1 million by registering on the organization's site since the project started in 2005. Merlino hopes to add 100,000 this year. She says growth is viral: Women take the idea back to their local chambers of commerce and spread it among their own networks.

"Every other woman who we work with has a story of someone who told them they're not going to make it, and they're not going to make it because they have a kid or because this isn't a business for women," says Merlino. "That still goes on every day."

Francine Glick, whose Livingston (N.J.)-based hand sanitizer company, Water Journey, is on pace for more than $1 million in sales this year, double her figures from before she won in 2005, says the network of support is invaluable: "You're running this race, and it's not how fast you run or how hard you prepare. It's all those people cheering you on."

See BusinessWeek's slide show featuring short video interviews with a selection of the program's winners.

Tozzi covers small business for BusinessWeek Online.