It wasn’t so long ago when the Spice Girls exploded onto the top of the charts, chanting their slogans for world peace and guuuurl power. These days, women are increasingly entering the world of business for various reasons. Some women see entrepreneurship as the best way to have more time to spend with their kids while others consider business as a great avenue to become their own bosses.
Putting the allure of being your own boss aside, the reality is that running a business comes with its own set of difficulties. According to research, female entrepreneurs have a tougher time than their male counterparts for a variety of reasons. Struggling to shuffle work and family life, fear of stepping out into the unknown, and lacking the same belief in their abilities as men are just some of the challenges unique to women entrepreneurs.
On the plus side, being a successful female entrepreneur is possible. A lot of women have climbed the ranks of success in the business world. And if many other women have done it, so can you. With that in mind, this article offers 7 strategies to help women overcome various entrepreneurial fears and hardships and become a success at whatever venture they choose to establish.
#1. Don’t Be Afraid To Follow Your Gut
It’s human nature to seek validation from family, friends, peers, and people in the business industry before launching a business. Unfortunately, it’s not every day that an idea gets approved by everyone. Listening to naysayers can cause you to miss out on what would have become a huge success. So, if you believe in your idea and are willing to turn it into a business, don’t be afraid to take calculated risks. After all, a good number of successful businesses today were once believed to be crazy ideas.
#2. Set a Series of Goals
Starting something you believe in, are good at, have vast knowledge about, or are passionate about is just the first step to success. You need to find a way of turning the idea into a functioning business. Having a solid plan can help with that. So, be sure to breakdown your vision into short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. This makes it easier to decide what actions need to be taken daily to reach the set goals. Knowing what you need to do on a daily basis in turn makes it easier to run your business.
#3. Don’t Be Fazed By Failure
Although the number of female entrepreneurs is on the rise, there are still more male founders in the business world. This puts undue pressure on female entrepreneurs to succeed. This is quite unfortunate since not all endeavors you take in your business will turn out to be successful. Occasional setbacks are inevitable. Therefore, as a female entrepreneur, you should learn to approach failure as an opportunity to learn and improve on your business skills.
#4. Learn To Appreciate What You Have
Regardless of how successful you are, there will always be someone who has it better than you. Constantly comparing yourself with larger companies than yours only brings despair and kills your morale. Make it a point to appreciate what you’ve managed to achieve, regardless of how small it seems to you.
#5.Don’t Become Fixated On Perfection
Women are inclined to tick off the full checklist of skills and qualities needed for a task before committing to do something. To put it bluntly, women naturally want to be perfect in everything they do. Men, on the other hand, are less hard on themselves and will willingly go out to perform a certain task even if they only meet two thirds of the required skills and qualities.
To be successful in business, women need to get over the female need for perfection. Instead of focusing on all the things that can go wrong, go ahead and start a business or undertake a new project. Once you get something going, it becomes much easier to tackle it even if you’re not 100% prepared to handle it. The more you do something, the better you get at it.
#6. Make Each Investment Count
Unless you have a steady flow of cash, managing your startup capital well is crucial to the success of any new business. Unfortunately, a great number of new entrepreneurs tend to develop an unhealthy focus on spending and trying to save as much as possible in order to prevent wastage of capital money. Doing this can cause one to lose out on great opportunities since to make money in the business world, you sometimes have to spend money first. Instead of trying to cut corners, you should place your focus on making worthwhile investments that will bring a good payout.
#7. Develop a Willingness to Take Risks
Sometimes taking risks is the best thing you can do for your business as you can get to enjoy a big payoff in the end. However, for this to work, you need to learn the difference between strategic risks and suicide moves. So, only take a risk if you’ve crunched the numbers are feel confident that you’re going to be successful.
Being an entrepreneur is not easy, more so if you’re a female. However, with the above tips in mind, female entrepreneurs can overcome the challenges they face and find success.
Author: Uyo Okebie-Eichelberger, Serial Entrepreneur, Wife, Mom and Duke MBA, has successfully built a seven-figure empire in the maternity industry with You! Lingerie and Preggo Leggings, two leading designer brands of chic maternity/nursing intimates and apparel cleverly made for fashionista moms.
The former Kraft Brand Manager and her brands have been featured in several publications and TV shows like The New York Times, Glamour Magazine, Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, CNBC, The Today Show, E! News, OMG!, The Daily News UK, Pregnancy & Newborn, American Baby and Fit Pregnancy. Currently, Uyo’s brands are sold online and in over 120 stores internationally. Uyo recently partnered with Walmart to launch an exclusive line of maternity/nursing lingerie called Love Xoxo by You! Lingerie. She shares business tips on her blog: www.UyoOkebieEichelberger.com
Follow her social media pages on Twitter: @UyoEichelberger and Instagram: @Uyo
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