Case

I am CEO and president of one of the fastest growing online success stories; AskPatty.com -- Automotive Advice for Women. In fact some times I feel like a virtual rock star at 53. However, for me the true success of my venture was not in the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Ask Patty.com. Nor was it the many interviews in major publications or being featured by Oprah Winfrey in O Magazine. AskPatty.com gave me the ability and opportunity to mother my son during his darkest days and nights.

Moving along in my middle ages and looking forward to slowing down a bit in the technology business world, I started a business consulting practice to help automotive related businesses develop cause-related marketing programs, which would allow me more flexibility than the corporate structure allows.

As life would have it... at age 30, my oldest child was diagnosed with a progressive disease, had a horrific car accident resulting in paraplegia, which required a lifetime of income to support. My plan to ease into retirement screeched to a halt, took a hard left and got my engines super charged again to handle my own personal "cause related" issue.

The Ask Patty – Automotive Advice for Women business opportunity came to me as a result of one of the consulting projects I was working on related to women owned automotive businesses and my role as the current President of the Women's Automotive Association International. Once I realized the potential business opportunity, I agreed to the role of President of Ask Patty and committed myself to get this business up and running and quickly develop an income steam equal to the needs up to speed ASAP!

My decision to launch the Ask Patty blog ahead of the website to gain momentum with our brand with consumer women was either one of my most brilliant brain storms; the luck of the Irish or "the powHer" above's answer to my daily prayer for help and guidance.

The Ask Patty—Automotive Advice for Women blog and Ask Patty.com exploded onto the marketplace in 2006 and rocked not only my personal world but I think some automotive industry folks as well. Business blogging as Ask Patty has turned out to be the quickest way to syndicate content and get our brand out to women.

The Ask Patty.com, Inc. website and blog is a safe place for women to get advice on car purchases, maintenance and other automotive related topics. Women can shop for vehicles at our network of certified female friendly dealerships across the U.S.

AskPatty.com is a member and 2008 corporate sponsor of the Women's Automotive Association International based in Detroit, MI, Board member of the UnitedSpinal.org, Member of the California SkillsUSA.org board, on the Women's Board of the Car Care Council, a SEMA member and a member of the SEMA Business Women's Networking Group.

Who would have guessed that in a short few weeks we would have hundreds of thousands of visitors to Ask Patty, a deluge of publicity and articles written about throughout the blogging world, automotive trades and mainstream media. This has definitely been a PR dream come true.

AskPatty.com also offers automotive retailers "female friendly" training and certification which drives significant revenues and helps them deliver to women a "female friendly" experience. The challenge here is to convince the automotive retailer that they need to improve how they communicate and serve women.

Ask Patty Certified Dealer Program: Properly armed with the right tools and training dealerships can increase their share of the largest and fastest growing demographic of new vehicle buyers in the US -- Women Consumers. The Ask Patty Certified Dealer program was designed specifically for car dealerships to attract, sell, retain and keep loyal women consumers.

What Is An Ask Patty Certified Dealer? An Ask Patty certified dealer is a dealer that creates a safe and comfortable environment where women feel welcome and a dealer that makes the experience of purchasing and maintaining her vehicle a pleasant one. I Ask Patty trained and certified dealers are held to a high level of customer satisfaction for women consumers.

AskPatty.com has trained and certified over 5000 automotive retail professionals to be "female friendly since the launch in late 2006 of our program for automotive retailers. AskPatty.com is changing the perceptions of a very male dominate industry to "get" that women are the majority car buyer and influence 85% of all car buying decisions.

Some days I feel like Madonna as the outpouring requests for TV and Radio interviews, speaking engagements, phone time, email (an avalanche) and most of all the demand for me to speak to auto retailers about how to become "female friendly".

Most days I operating in a dream-like state, except this is not a dream. I really am a middle aged Mother who's son is very ill, his precious life slipping from me and I am just absolutely willing to do whatever it takes to make his life comfortable and happy while he still has some quality of life. Nothing motivates me more than the needs of my children. Has AskPatty.com changed my life and my son's life for the better? Yes, an understatement at best.