The day starts early on a weekday morning last week. I'm up a little earlier than usual to work around a speaking engagement I have at 10am that day. Between celebrity clients under contract for Site Canvas and advising other clients, along with the day to day operations of my startup, 9, mornings are hectic in general. Throw in a panel event clear across the city, in L.A. traffic, and it's outright chaos. I field a call with an agent on speaker phone as I finish pulling myself together in the car to avoid being late. One minute I am talking business, the next silently touching up eye shadow at a red light.
I barely finish the call I was on as I hurry into the venue in black leather knee boots, DL1961 jeans and a cashmere sweater. The panel is literally starting as I take my seat next to the digital head of a major studio and a host of accomplished Hollywood execs. As the other panelists begin introducing themselves, I snag a lucky minute to decompress from the call, the drive, the makeup session in the car, and get the game on. I pour a glass of water and as it comes to my turn, start to introduce myself.
"I'm Patricia. I'm a serial media and internet entrepreneur with a background in internet telecom engineering and platform business..."
If there's ever one thing today's new modern women founders and executives can do is transition. One minute you're talking about the future of the internet, the next you're handling something on your startup. Then, you're talking with your BFF about whether or not you should wear the Patterson J. Kincaid top on your date with your guy later.
An hour later I field back to back calls over lunch, then duck into back to back meetings. As the afternoon sinks away I meet with friend and fellow founder Jenna on trade. It's one of the secret strategies between Power Girls. Almost every single female friend I have owns a business of some sort. More than often, we swap services. Sayeh handles all of my geeky tech stuff like SEO in exchange for a few things with me. Jenna is fitness training Meg and I on trade for our help with a big project.
It's generally nothing more than an hour or so every few weeks. We all hang out a lot anyway. Having lunch or drinks and talking shop on swap is practically organic.
Women in business today know the value of an eye for an eye, and they're not afraid to take advantage of it for their business. Sayeh lending her website experience from owning her retail site and magazine to another fellow Power Girl in exchange for PR help saved their companies both thousands of dollars. Another friend did makeup for a sizzle shoot in exchange for a 101 on how to market her business. A third got nearly a year of professional massage sessions with a therapist on trade for writing services.
It's something I have seen with dozens of friends and female founders that I've met and know, a sort of invisible currency cashed when in need and paid forward. Power Girls know how to leverage their connections to get things done, and lend their companies to do the same too.