The Trillion-Dollar Opportunity in Supporting Female Entrepreneurs
There is much discussion and debate about how to support female entrepreneurs — and rightly so. Currently, women-led businesses are less likely to survive, despite evidence that their startups are often highly successful. New analysis by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that if women and men around the world participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could ultimately rise by approximately 3% to 6%, boosting the global economy by $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion.
So how do we support female entrepreneurs? The focus is often on improving access to credit (financial capital) or providing training to help women build new skills (human capital) — two areas critical for improving the success of women-led businesses. However, another key factor in the success of these businesses tends to be overlooked: access to networks.
Working with public, private, and social sector clients around the world, we have seen first-hand how potent such networks can be. And we have also come to understand that these supportive mechanisms are in short supply.
The good news is that action in all sectors can address this gap.
10 Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs on Overcoming Self-Doubt and Launching Your Dream
As an entrepreneur and established businesswoman, I’m often asked if females still have to face the sort of obstacles and hurdles that males do not have to contend with. In other words, is it still a struggle for a woman to succeed in the world of business, an environment that many still consider to be male-dominated?
As is often the case with big questions, the answer is complicated. We’ve made positive progress in recent times when it comes to equality in the workplace. Still, the adversaries and struggles a woman has to contend with, particularly while growing a startup, cannot be underestimated. Having said that, I’m a firm believer in the adage that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
An entrepreneur of any gender needs a determined belief in what they’re doing and a cast-iron resolve to get things done if they’re to succeed in a highly competitive marketplace. Unfortunately, the evidence still seems to indicate that if you’re a female, you need that little extra something to break through the proverbial glass ceiling.
Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset
At its core, a business is really just a repeatable process of solving problems for other people. The problem just has to be big enough that customers and clients will pay for your product or service. If you’re an entrepreneur, really all that means is that you’re a problem solver.
And it takes some drive and a whole lot of other qualities to push your business idea toward success. Did you know that about half of all small businesses fail in the first five years? Did you know that about 70 percent of those businesses fail because of cash problems?
So in addition to being a creative person who sees opportunities and has the drive to persevere and navigate those rough spots when things get tough, you have to keep the business side of things in mind, too. Keeping things like financials, cash flow, bookkeeping, etc., in focus, in addition to your business goals, is key for success.
Go Ahead and Start a Business — But Don’t Quit Your Day Job
Many professionals dream about becoming their own boss — a full 62% of Americans, according to one survey. They often envision the classic image of entrepreneurship: triumphantly giving one’s notice, and then pounding the pavement to hunt for clients. But that “all or nothing” strategy is needlessly high risk and, almost always, is the wrong path forward. Instead, the correct answer to “Should I become an entrepreneur?” is two-fold: Go ahead and start your business. But don’t quit your day job.
Of course, there are some basic challenges to overcome — making time for a side hustle, and ensuring that your new venture doesn’t violate company policy. You should double check the rules, but most often, if you’re operating a different type of business — say, freelance writing when you work for an investment bank — there won’t be any perceived conflicts.
How to Get Ahead as a New Entrepreneur
Whether you’ve dreamed of going into business for yourself for a long time or you’ve only recently started thinking about entrepreneurship, you’re in excellent company. According to a 2018 study, about 62 percent of all Americans want to own their own business one day, and with good reason.
Being your own boss gives you the freedom to finally follow your passion and make a difference. You get to say goodbye to dress codes, time clocks, and rules you didn’t create for good, too. And best of all, it’s never too late to pursue the dream of working for yourself.
Who is a Mompreneur?
Basically, a mompreneur is a woman who successfully juggles parenting and a new profession (which is usually a home-based business).
She balances the demands of motherhood and the uncertainties of launching a company in order to bring in extra money or to fulfill a passion. She must be a super multi-tasker and a self-motivator if she wants to keep her family and her business running smoothly.
The companies created by mompreneurs are as varied as the businesswomen themselves. However, we’ve noticed that mompreneurs choose to be involved in passion-projects, whether it’s an artistic, political, or educational enterprise.
Business Mom Tips: Be Successful and Keep Balanced
More and more women of our time are proving to themselves and the whole world: a woman’s place is not only in the kitchen. A woman can be successful in politics, medicine, science, entrepreneurship. But what to do when you are also a mother?
As soon as you become a mother, all other worries usually fall into the background. But what if you are a single mother and do not have enough funds to support the child? Or do you have a lot of energy and want to use it?
Previously, you met with friends with pleasure, shopping or sitting in a cafe, sharing your experiences. You were in society, and it seemed that this would continue forever. But a child appeared, and your communication or exit to people came to naught. Although this does not mean at all that you have fallen out of normal life — just your quantity develops into quality.
Why Family Entrepreneurship is the New Family Business
Family businesses are everywhere. And they’re often misunderstood.
Many think of family businesses as old-fashioned companies, passed down from one generation to the next, sometimes across three or more generations. Findings from the first ever Family Entrepreneurship Report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) debunk that assumption.
The reality: 75% of entrepreneurs in 48 economies around the world said that their family was involved in starting their businesses, either as co-managers or co-owners. The vast majority of startups around the world are, in fact, family businesses.
Family businesses come in all shapes and sizes. They may be legacy businesses or new businesses started by siblings, spouses, and cousins—not just parents and children. The traditional focus of family business is on the business, when the real focus should be on the family.
Read more at entrepreneurship.babson.edu
3 Challenges Every Solopreneur Faces and How to Overcome Them
As a solopreneur, there’s a lot riding on your shoulders. You are a staff of one, so how many clients you have, how many hours you work, and how much revenue you generate is completely up to you. You are your own boss. You set the rules and reap the rewards.
But those rewards only come after putting in the time and effort to set your business up for success. After all, creating a full-time, long-term business involves more than just having a couple of clients from time to time. Being a successful solopreneur requires planning, follow through, and having reliable partners and services like VSP® Individual Vision Plans on your side.
7 Key Questions to Lay the Foundation for Success as a Solo Business Owner
Could you turn your passion, hobby or side hustle into a six-figure solopreneur career? Based on my experience working with thousands of solo businesses, you totally can! But if you’re going to move from earning side income to being your own boss full-time, you need to be honest with yourself about the answers to these seven questions.
What do you naturally love to do? When I talk about loving what you do, I’m not talking about results. For example, if you’re a hairstylist, it’s not about whether you love to see people with pretty hair. We all do. It’s about whether you love the washing, conditioning, cutting and teasing — the process of styling thick and rough or thin and flat hair into something full and beautiful.
Ultimately, it comes down to whether you love the process, and there’s no way to know that other than doing it over and over again. You have to own that, because fundamentally running your own business is doing the same thing over and over again and loving it like it’s the first time.
What Makes Being an Entrepreneur Challenging?
While being an entrepreneur does have its benefits, it also has its challenges. When entrepreneurs first start out, they’re often considered a one-man show, meaning they’re responsible for doing everything on their own. This usually equates to working really long hours, juggling numerous projects and having to constantly come up with new ideas. However, once you learn to overcome the challenges, you’ll be able to reap the rewards.
One of the biggest headaches for entrepreneurs involves dealing with finances. For new entrepreneurs, it’s often difficult to raise enough capital to start up their companies. Even after the business is established, entrepreneurs have a hard time obtaining loans and lines of credit, as banks set high eligibility requirements for small-business owners. Another issue that entrepreneurs face is they may struggle financially for quite some time before their business becomes profitable. In the mean time, entrepreneurs work long hours and for little to no pay.
Learn more at smallbusiness.chron.com
Advantages and Disadvantages of Starting a Startup
Before you launch your own startup company, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of owning a business to ensure that it is the right choice for you. While entrepreneurship can be an extremely rewarding career path both financially and personally for many, there are inherent risks and potential drawbacks that may make it less suitable for some aspiring entrepreneurs. Ultimately, the decision to start a startup comes down to you and your personal preferences.
If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, this guide to the advantages and disadvantages of starting a startup will help you establish whether this is the right path for you before you get started.
Learn more at startupsavant.com
The Best Part of Entrepreneurship? Giving Up and Getting a Job
Entrepreneurship isn’t usually worth the risk, some research says, at least strictly in financial terms. Thankfully, plenty of people take the plunge anyway, because they’re drawn to it for other reasons, such as wanting to be their own boss, or wanting to pursue a personal passion.
But that conventional view is misleading, argues a recent paper by Gustavo Manso at the University of California, Berkeley. Instead, he finds that self-employment does pay off financially, but not in the way entrepreneurs might expect. The financial benefit doesn’t usually come from the entrepreneurship itself, but in the form of higher wages when the entrepreneur returns to the workforce.
Research in this area typically compares salaried workers to those working for themselves; the latter group tends to make less, on average, after controlling for factors like level of education, hence the finding that entrepreneurship isn’t worth it financially.
The Myth of Failure – Debunking Entrepreneur Myths
Failure is a core part of the story of entrepreneurship. Each year about 6 million new businesses start up, but they don’t last long. By five years, half are gone. By 20 years, almost all are gone.
In most of our discussions around entrepreneurship, the genuine agony, trauma and shame around failure is discussed solely as a learning experience and bump on the road to inevitable success. We promote and analyze the building of a startup, but we leave the failure part untouched until the entrepreneur has been successful with another venture. Then, that failure is lauded as an important part of their journey that made them who they are. But why wasn’t that important moment in the entrepreneurial journey something we cared about when the failure actually happened? What are the immediate learnings that could be shared?
Read more at casefoundation.org
What can you do to avoid failure as an entrepreneur?
To be an entrepreneur is to fail. Let me explain. All entrepreneurs fail. Yes. All of them. It is the harsh reality of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs might fail before they even begin. The task of starting a business is just too enormous. Other entrepreneurs might fail within the first few weeks or months. Some entrepreneurs fail within the first couple of years.
Entrepreneurs start many different types of businesses. Some businesses have higher failure rates than others. According to a study that was done by Harvard Business School, 75% of venture-backed businesses fail. The failure rate of companies after five years in business is about 50%, and more than 70% after 10-years in business.
There are many causes of entrepreneur failure. One of the biggest reasons people fail as entrepreneurs is because they were never able to think like entrepreneurs. To succeed as an entrepreneur is to think differently.
Read more at successharbor.com
15 Rich & Famous People Who Were Fired Before They Became Successful
In recent years, the economy has suffered and a lot of us have fallen on hard times. So how can ‘getting fired’ be the best thing that could ever happen to someone? Well, a lot of successful people were handed the pink slip before they found their place in the world.
Read more at addicted2success.com
Acceler8Success Cafe 
You must be logged in to post a comment.