Plugging into 'good ol' girls network'
Men shake hands, pass out business cards, then cut to the chase, she said. Many women are uncomfortable doing business with so little preamble.
So the 42-year-old former management and sales trainer designed eWomenNetwork Inc., a Web-based business that teaches women the art of building business contacts.
"I'm not anti-male. I'm really not," said the company chief executive. "But formulas that work for men may not create the right environment for the way women connect to each other."
She'll be the first to allow that some women don't fit her generalizations. But her 20 years of experience in organizational learning and development for such corporate heavyweights as Coca-Cola and AT&T indicate that the vast majority does.
She and her husband, Kym Yancey, launched eWomenNetwork and its same-name Web site two years ago using spoils from an earlier venture.
Kym Yancey, who is multiracial, had developed a lifestyles and business Web site for black professionals and fortuitously cashed out in 1999.
Good thing the couple had that money, because nobody was funding new Internet businesses in September 2000.
They quickly discovered they'd have to offer more than a Web site to make it in an e-world gone bust.
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Each member pays $290 to join and $17 a month to have her business profiled on the Web site with a link to her business' Internet page.
"We have many members who've spent tons of money on beautiful Web sites but no way to drive people into them," Sandra Yancey said. "We're branding eWomenNetwork on behalf of our members so that if you're conscious about supporting women-owned businesses, you'll know it's the place to find solid talent."
Members also get access to networking events put on by 47 U.S. and Canadian chapters.
EWomenNetwork also plans to launch a magazine in the first quarter of 2003.
The company made an ever-so-slight profit for the just-ended fiscal year on sales of $2.1 million and projects $3 million in revenue for fiscal 2003.
The Yanceys have no loans and use one company credit card with a $7,000 limit, mostly to get the miles for business travel. They pay off the balance each month.
"Kym and I have always been entrepreneurial, but on separate journeys," Yancey said.
"Our big question about bringing our talents together was whether we and our marriage could survive it. I knew from my corporate experience that we had to be very clear about roles and responsibilities."
And they are.
Sandra, as CEO, is the visionary leader, while Kym, the company president, is the strategic marketer who keeps the focus firmly planted on his wife.
"Being in advertising, I've always understood gender and cultural differences, but I don't think a man is credible telling women, 'I feel your pain.' Give me a break," said Kym, 47.
He previously owned an Ohio ad agency. "Sandra is the heart, soul and vision of eWomenNetwork. I see myself as one of the mechanics who helps make her vision work."
They also realized that neither was strong at behind-the-scenes operations.
So they brought in Dale Martin as "the glue" to handle membership services and juggle a staff that now numbers 20. She came on board before the first concept pages hit the Web.
"I'd worked closely with Kym in the past, and we got along great," Martin said. "I knew he believed in doing things honestly, fairly and with quality. It's turned out to be quite a trip. We have a blast."
When it comes to being female- and minority-owned, the Yanceys, who've been married for 25 years, have the bases covered.
Sandra is Hispanic, while Kym calls himself a "racial fusion." Each of his grandparents was a different ethnicity: black, white, Polynesian and pure Cherokee. They check "other" next to race when they fill out forms for their daughter and son.
The concept for eWomenNetwork started on a sticky note that read: "Develop a good ol' girls network."
It was among a field of yellow squares stuck to a wall as the Yanceys brainstormed about what they'd like to do.
"We wanted to make a living by making a difference," Sandra Yancey recalled.
"That pulled most of the Post-its off the wall. There are lots of ways to make money, but not so many ways to make a difference."