11 Tips for Budding Women Entrepreneurs

When you hear about someone’s Cinderella story, it is tempting to think that success can happen to you too overnight. That’s hardly the case, as there is a lot of work behind almost all success stories. It may seem challenging initially, especially for women trying to find feet in the male dominated boardrooms. However, as clichéd as it may sound, there is absolutely no substitute for hard work.

For all women entrepreneurs, the startup phase is typically characterised by a flood of queries about what it takes to make it big, finding work-life balance, understanding finance, marketing, etc. Every business needs to be based on a solid & sustainable idea, aimed at a profitable market, have solid execution plan in place, and market itself effectively.

Some of us are accidental entrepreneurs, some may have inherited the business while a few may have joined a friend to start completely afresh. Wherever you may be on your path to success, here are a few achievable tips to help become a powerhouse.

Find your calling

Start a business that works for you and fits within your personal life & passion. While it may seem that it is not easy to identify this but you must listen to your inner voice. Do what you excel at as often as you can. Focus on your strengths and you may outsource the rest to the functional experts for maximising output. If you love what you do, nothing can actually stop you from making it work.

Plan your Resources

Schedule dedicated time every day for revenue generating activities. Business is full of ups and downs. While money is required to keep the business afloat, it is equally important to identify other resources as well to bring down the dependency on raising capital from external sources to sustain the business.

Learn the basics & prepare the roadmap

Keep a close watch on how the finances are being managed and what are the key factors of financial decision making. This is going to be of great help. You are the sailor of the ship. You should know exactly what is happening right at the stern or on the deck. If you do not have a business plan yet, you must create one. It will set the steps you need to follow to succeed and sustain.

Persistence

Have a firm belief in your capabilities to make it work. Inevitably, you will encounter bumps in the road. To succeed, you will have to be willing to persist through difficult times. Despite rejection, successful entrepreneurs always find confidence from within. If you don’t have unwavering faith in your idea, no one else will either.

You don’t need a lot, you just need the right people

Okay, this goes for every entrepreneur. An effective & flexible team is the backbone for any business. Build a lean team initially and encourage them to provide solutions, not problems. Create a climate of success for your team and keep aligning them with your goals & vision.

Learn to prioritise

This is what all successful entrepreneurs do very effectively. All of us have endless tasks to do. How we utilise our 24 hours makes all the difference. However tempting it may sound to micromanage & control everything, it is critical to prioritise and focus than spreading yourself thin & delivering mediocre results.

Don’t be a social butterfly but network well

You could join a meet-up entrepreneurs. Meeting like-minded people and listening to their struggle & success stories along with sharing yours can actually lift up your confidence. You would gain ideas and inspiration. Actively cultivate relationships with people, businesses and others who could potentially present business opportunities for your company.

Stop procrastinating

As an entrepreneur, there is absolutely no room for indecision as it stalls progress. It is a famous saying that you should eat a live frog first thing in the morning (not literally). This means, keep the morning for toughest projects first and this way you would pave the way for a very productive day.

Change the way you think about failure

When the buck stops at you, it is important to know that fear is not an option. Don’t lose hope if you do not get encouraging response initially, you should know that a lot of successful entrepreneurs encountered failures before finally achieving success. Starting a business can be gruelling, it’s important to keep moving forward. Developing a mindset for accepting failures with a view to correcting them in the future is a crucial attribute. This entails knowing when to adjust strategies to deal with the sudden and unforeseen.

Ask for help

Look in the mirror and be brutally honest with yourself. All wise entrepreneurs have the ability to look at themselves with unbiased judgement while they keep improving themselves and reach out to others for feedback. No entrepreneur knows all the answers. Do not be afraid to ask other people for their help or advice.

Be Nimble & spread out your risks

This is very important. Don’t put all your eggs into one basket; you may never recover from it. Spread out your risks. The path to a successful startup is not a straight road. A nimble entrepreneur will be the one who can adjust with the journey’s curves without losing sight of their final destination.

Success is a choice. You can’t put half-baked efforts into your business. In order to succeed, take control, commit to the journey and give it 100% commitment. While you take one step at a time to reach those goals, keep focusing on the bigger picture.

You can’t change conditions, just the way you deal with them.