Are You Ready to Think BIG with Your Business?

Are you ready to think big?

This year's Entrepreneurial Winning Women program, first launched by global management firm Ernst & Young, is dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs think big -- to learn how to grow and scale their businesses. (I first reported on this program back in 2009.)

The winners of the competition will be given access to capital, mentors, and networks to help them grow their businesses. They were also invited to attend this year's E&Y's Strategic Growth Forum, which was just held in Palm Springs, Calif.

Lisa Schiffman, E&Y's Americas director of marketing and communications, explains that after attending this conference, many of these entrepreneurs have a "eureka" moment and realize, as she says, "They're not thinking big enough."

I spoke with some of these "Entrepreneurial Winning Women" at the event and asked them to talk about their businesses and how they are planning to grow next year and beyond.

Not a Cop Out

Stephanie Point loved working as a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department, where she was assigned to sex crimes and homicides in some of the most dangerous parts of the city. But after a knee injury forced her out, she found a less strenuous job at a private security firm and eventually realized, as she says, "I can do this different. I can do this better."

That's when she decided to start her own business. Although her first attempt failed when a potential partner backed out, in 2004 she used the equity in her house to start Point 2 Point Global Security, a "high-end, boutique" security firm.

Point made $750,000 her first year in business, but, like most of us, her business took a big hit in 2008. Instead of laying off staff, she and the management team decided to go without raises and bonuses. This year revenues are expected to hit $10-13 million.

Point says she has learned that she "needs to be less hard on herself and her employees." Her ambitious goals are to grow her staff from 300 full-time employees to over 2,000, and to double revenues in 2012.

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway

Lani Hay also started her career in an unusual way: she joined the Navy because she dreamed of becoming a Blue Angels pilot. She was crushed when she learned that her allergy to bees meant would never be allowed to fly. Instead, she went on to become a Naval intelligence officer.

After leaving the Navy, Hay got her MBA and founded Lanmark Technology, which provides technology solutions to the U.S. government on national security issues.

Hay is still the rare woman in a predominantly male industry, but that hasn't stopped her rapid growth or the constant escalation of her dreams. She says, "I once thought $15 million [in sales] was as big as I could dream." Now that dream has scaled to $100 million, though she's learned not to set limits. Hay is well on her way with 2011 revenues of $25 million. "Small businesses can compete with big businesses like Lockheed Martin -- and beat them," she says.

Suze Orman 2.0

Like many entrepreneurs, Alexa von Tobel launched her own company out of personal need. While only the tender age of 28, she has already being called "Suze Orman 2.0."

Von Tobel joined Morgan Stanley after graduating from Harvard, and then went on to launch LearnVest, a website that provides free financial planning tools specifically geared toward women. Users can also get access to a financial planning expert for $5 a day, or $130 for the entire year. The site also offers a free 10-day financial boot camp program.

She has only been in business for two years, but she has already raised $25 million in funding and grown her user base over 300 percent. According to von Tobel, all she did was "modernize an old and outdated space."

Thank You, Julia Roberts

What's the unlikeliest business you'd expect a software engineer would start? After the Internet bubble burst in the early 2000s, Laura Zander and her husband dipped into their savings and opened Jimmy Beans Wool, a knitting store in Truckee, Calif.

Their original goal was to open a coffee shop (hence the "beans" in the company name) but Zander, herself a knitting enthusiast, decided to also sell yarn to, as she says, "hedge our bets." Knitting businesses across the country got a huge boost after actress Julia Roberts was spotted knitting on the set of her movie, and the craft was suddenly cool for a younger generation. "It wasn't just old ladies making afghans," Zander says.

Jimmy Beans Wool hit the Internet in 2002 and had first day sales of $19. This year revenues will top $6 million, and Jimmy Beans has not only moved to bigger space in Reno, Nev., but is the official yarn supplier to the U.S. Olympic snowboard team.

Zander has even launched a college scholarship, Beans for Brains. She attributes much of her success simply to "timing and being lucky."

Five Key Ways to Grow

So are you ready to think big? Here are five key things Ernst & Young recommends you do:

1. Think big and be bold.
2. Build a public profile.
3. Work on the business, rather than in it.
4. Establish key advisory networks.
5. Evaluate financing for expansion.

Do you have any growth tips that have worked for your own business? I'd love to hear about them. Please share with us in the comment section below.

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Follow Rieva on Twitter @Rieva and read more of her insights on SmallBizDaily.com.