About five years ago, Nell Merlino saw statistics that shocked her. Even though women were starting and building businesses, somewhere along the way, they were getting stuck.

While women were running almost half of privately held companies, most had less than $50,000 in revenue; and only a sliver -- 2.6 percent -- had revenue of more than $1 million, according to the 2002 Census. The numbers showed a much brighter picture for men.

Armed with this information, Merlino founded Make Mine A Million $ Business, a global initiative to inspire women entrepreneurs to dream bigger and achieve more by giving them better education and support to increase their revenues and develop their businesses. The program is just one offered by Merlino's organization, Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, a not-for-profit provider of resources, business education and community support for women entrepreneurs.

Merlino has teamed up with Office Depot in Boca Raton to bring the Make Mine a Million $ Business Program to South Florida later this week. On Thursday, women business owners from across the country will gather for a two-day event at Office Depot headquarters to hear speakers and attend workshops and matchmaking sessions.

We spoke to Merlino about the upcoming event, discussing with her how women entrepreneurs are faring in this sour economy and what they should be doing to stay on track.

Q: What can you tell us about this event in South Florida?

A: The Leadership Institute is one of several programs we put on. We feel that to grow your business, you have to grow yourself. You are leading the enterprise. We want you to figure out what you need to know about leadership to grow the company.

We do it in a personal and comfortable way for women. The women will stand up, say what's gone great this year and where they have had challenges. There often are common themes in what the problems have been. It's incredible for those attending and for the experts. It's fascinating hearing and seeing how we help women face their challenges.

The value you get is not only from experts but also the woman you are sitting next to who might help you avoid problems they have overcome. The event is very engaging and interactive. We usually have two to three Leadership Institutes a year, but this is our first one this year and will probably be our only one.

Q: What's the size of the businesses run by most of the women who come to this kind of event?

A: All sizes. It's always an interesting mix. Most have been in business at least a year. You get the energy of people who have new businesses and new products combined with people who have been at it for a while.

Q: What advice do you think most of the women attending this year will need to know?

A: This has been a tough year. Some are just trying to hang on. In tough times you have got to keep going back to basics. Whether you have $5 million in revenue or $500,000, you have to remember why you are in the business you are in. Are you in touch with your customers? What are they needing from you? It's easy to forget those things when you are putting out fires. You have to understand what you want to provide and whom you want to provide it to.

Q: Besides leadership training, what is the range of services Count Me In offers to women business owners? Do you still offer micro-lending?

A: We offer coaching to women interested in growing their business. We help them get hooked up with SCORE volunteers and paid coaches. We hold webinars and meet ups. We just had our first meet up in South Florida on Monday [Sept. 14]. Lending is not something we're doing right now. It doesn't make sense with the new SBA programs available through community banks. The loans are guaranteed up to 90 percent. In some cases you get 10 years to pay it back.

Q: What are common obstacles women confront trying to build million-dollar businesses?

A: They take their at-home behavior to their business. They multitask and want to do all these things themselves. They look at taking someone on to help for three months as an expense rather than looking at the upside. If you are up packing boxes until 3 a.m. and not getting a good night's sleep, you can't make sales calls the next day.

Also the women entrepreneurs think they have got to stay in the office and get things done. But if business isn't flying out the door, you need to be out getting more business and making contacts. The notion that you have to do everything yourself is what stops so many businesses from growth.

Another challenge is most women business owners know so little about their financial information. Make friends with your financials so when you come to ask for loans, you will have a much better picture of what you are asking for and why.

I see remarkable transformation in businesses that get involved in Make Mine a Million $ Business programs. You can watch businesses grow in front of you and barriers being broken.