She Owns It

Celebrating, Connecting, and Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

The One Thing All Start-Up Founders Must Master by Vanessa Youshaei of @petite_ave

by Leave a Comment

by Vanessa Youshaei 

So much of life comes down to talking to others and convincing them to see things your way, but this is especially true for successful start-up founders. Whether you’re hiring employees, raising money, or onboarding strategic partners, negotiation is always at play. This is even more true at the beginning when you don’t usually have the funds to pay for things or the traction to easily convince people of your vision. Can’t afford an employee? You’ll have to convince him or her to join for equity. Need money to get things going? You’ll have to convince investors of your vision. Need a critical business partner but don’t have any customers? You’ll have to convince them of how your company stands out from the rest.

So what’s the secret to doing this effectively? How do you get busy, talented people to pay attention to you especially when you’re just starting out?

Build FOMO
People are always more interested if they know others are interested. Selene Cruz, the founder of Re:store, raised her seed round by meeting with 60 investors and implementing this exact strategy. She let lukewarm investors know that they would need to make a decision quickly otherwise she would pass the opportunity to other interested investors. This allowed her to raise $1M in two weeks.

Make sure you’re talking with the decision maker – at the right time
When negotiating, knowledge is king; the more information you have, the more likely you are to achieve your desired outcome. Instead of talking with the decision maker right away, start by talking with junior level employees to gather as much information as possible to build your case. For example, try and understand the priorities and objectives of the senior leadership team. Once you have that information, you’re in a much stronger position to create a pitch that will captivate the decision maker. More often than not, it’s hard to re-pitch decision makers once they’ve made up their mind, so make sure you’re ready when the time comes.

Let them know what’s in it for them
Always emphasize what’s in it for them (not you) and what they’ll be missing out on if they don’t make the deal with you. This process always begins with understanding their goals and then aligning your message and offerings accordingly. When I was first building partnerships with the large brands on our site, I let them know that at the very least, they’d be receiving free brand exposure and introducing themselves to a market that wouldn’t normally think to buy from them. The best part? They had absolutely nothing to lose.

Don’t Oversell
When you’re trying to close a deal, you’re likely very excited and probably a little nervous. Keep in mind that the people you’re talking with are probably seasoned professionals who have been around the block a few times. If you come across as overly eager, you also seem desperate which gives people a reason to question the opportunity. Approach the conversation confidently and in a way that lets the other party know they’ll be sorry if they walk away.

Leverage Past Accomplishments to Build Credibility
Establishing yourself as an authority from the getgo gives you more credibility and ultimately more bargaining power. Often the best way to do this as a start-up founder is by leveraging your past accomplishments. As someone who is building a fashion start-up, I was always wary that people would question my credibility because I didn’t come from the fashion world. Even though I wasn’t an expert in clothing and fashion, I had previously worked at Google in sales and marketing, two areas that are critical to building any company. Whenever I met with someone for the first time, I made sure to start the conversation with my professional background which helped build automatic rapport and gave me a lot more leverage in our conversations.

Have other tactics you’d recommend or need help with a deal you’re putting together? Comment below to get the conversation started.

——————————————————————

Vanessa Youshaei is the founder and CEO of Petite Ave, a one-stop shopping destination for women under 5’5’’. They currently have partnerships with 20+ national brands including Ann Taylor, Bloomingdale’s, and Express with many others joining later this year. In addition to making the shopping experience more convenient for petite women, they hope to become a champion for the petite community and help shorter women achieve greater representation in the fashion industry. Prior to Petite Ave, Vanessa spent 3.5 years at Google working in sales, marketing, and program management. She’s a graduate of Emory University with majors in marketing and finance.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

How to Finally Decide on a Business Idea & Why Choosing the Wrong One is OK

by 2 Comments

by Tara Eggenspiller

For several years, I’ve had tons of business ideas but struggled with committing to one. I felt any one of them could be a success but wasn’t sold on any enough to invest my time and money into building the actual product. Many books geared toward entrepreneurs assume the reader has already decided on a business idea and reading these often led me into frustration because I wasn’t sure where to direct the information. In college I was briefly set on ‘Trends on Treads’, a fashion truck selling the wares of local designers. I shopped for trucks and met with potential suppliers but ultimately dropped the ball. “What if I buy this truck but realize I really want to develop an app? What if i learn a programming language but later realize I’d rather pursue a service based business?”

After begrudgingly listening to the new idea of the week one friend said “I don’t understand why you aren’t out driving your fashion truck and selling your wares as we speak. Anyone with web hosting and some moxie can be an entrepreneur in 2017.”

Did I not have enough moxie? Maybe not, but I believe the problem centered around my commitment issues and some serious fears. After endlessly Googling what to do if you can’t decide on a business idea to commit to I realized my only hope was to move forward with one and see what happened. I needed to finally take SOMETHING from idea to execution whether I was 100% passionate about it or not. I looked through my list of ideas and chose the one that required the least investment and overhead and hoped I would learn something along the way.

If you aren’t embarrassed by things you tried a year ago you’re not trying enough new things.”

My business was to be a “nutrition workshop and fitness tee” company, (CHIC) Community Health Initiatives of Chicago (now that I’m reflecting it doesn’t sound so bad..) Was I a nutritionist? No. Was I a particularly gifted tee shirt or graphics designer? No. Was I super in-shape and into fitness more than most? Absolutely no. But I wanted my very own business baby that I could make banners and advocate for. I wanted to negotiate, sell things I created, and attend industry events. I wrote out a few nutrition class templates, designed a silly fitness tee, and got to work.

What I Learned

Choosing the Idea With the Least Investment Was a Good Idea
My tee shirt/nutrition workshop business was less than $500 to execute. Smarter people than me can get the experience for a lot less. I learned the same range of skills I would have learned if i had invested $10,000.

What I’m Good At
I was suddenly in charge of making it happen and being resourceful. I was researching material for workshop templates and making flyers to get people in the community interested, and negotiating with fitness events for vendor space. I learned I was good at writing and sticking to a budget and that I was bolder than I thought when it came to sales. By putting myself in a situation where it was 100% up to me to make something happen, I learned where I thrived and where I struggled.

What Should Be Outsourced
You’ll be skilled at a few things, conversational at others, and still others you should not attempt. I learned there were certain tasks that would hold me up for hours or even days. These things i either did not have the skill set for or lacked the interest in developing it. For example I learned I should outsource logo creation, photo editing, and really anything to do with graphic design. I think I once had the delusion that the entrepreneur must do ALL things 100% by themselves. I learned asking for help is one of the most important skills they can have.

To Build an Audience
Did I ever ask non-profit organizations if they would host my nutrition workshops BEFORE i spent hours creating templates? No. Did i ever ask anyone in my target market what they thought of my tee-shirt design? I did not. I had two fatal attitudes for an aspiring entrepreneur: that “it has to be perfect before I can show you” and that “if I like it and think it’s a good idea, so will you.”

‘Irrelevant to the Grand Scheme’ Skills are Not Wasted Skills
“Ugh. Did I really have to learn how web hosting and WordPress worked? Did I really have to learn about google ads? I didn’t want to be a designer or a marketer after all.”

Around a year after my tee shirt business I finally decided to start a handbag line, an idea I felt 100% committed to. Because I had chosen the ‘wrong’ idea a year prior I had an arsenal of directly transferable skills I would have never learned at my corporate job. This made for much smoother sailing when it came to setting up all the basics, such as a landing page, branding, and facebook ads. I feel more comfortable delegating tasks to others and trying new approaches.

Starting a Business Will GIVE You Something to Be Passionate About
The book So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport argues that experience and expertise are the real source of passion; that a naturally ingrained passion is a modern day hoax. I agree and also believe passion is REVEALED through trial and error. During my CHIC days, I became passionate about what I was doing even though I first chose it because it required the least investment. Wouldn’t it be great to find out that the only missing factor in an uninspired idea was a lack of commitment?

———————————————————–

Tara Eggenspiller is an accountant who decided to pursue her long time passion of launching a fashion line. She designs Angela Mariah handbags for artistic and adventurous professional women.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

4 Things We’ve Learned At Intimate Rose About Building a Business in a Not So Mainstream Niche by @amandaolsondpt

by Leave a Comment

by Amanda Olson

In our three years in business, CEO Aaron Wilt and I have learned some lessons. Some of them quite frankly have been learned the hard way. In 2016 my expertise as a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and certified pelvic floor specialist combined with the innovation of Aaron, the CEO of Intimate Rose. This resulted in the collaboration and creation of some of our award winning products.

Perhaps the most important lessons for new entrepreneurs we’ve learned can be summarized below:
Just Because Something Isn’t Mainstream Doesn’t Mean There’s Not a Great Opportunity to Help People and Build a Successful Business: Some of the health related issues we help women with are extremely personal and although most of the large online media outlets out there will write a blog post or two about them, it’s still uncomfortable for most women to seek out professional advice or even to talk about things like painful intercourse, urinary incontinence, feminine odors etc.

You Should Always Provide Extra Value to Customers Whenever You Can: We have continued to develop exceptional value offers of free education and support to both our customers (B2C) and clinicians (B2B). By providing educational videos and support groups for challenging issues, we have established that we care and that we want to help them on a grander scale than simply what our products offer.

Be Creative: I know this sounds contrived, but truly allow yourself to feel free to write down and draw ideas of what could be, but that does not exist. I’ve always loved writing and implementing creativity into projects, and that is not usually a component of the lifestyle of a healthcare professional. Years ago I would tell myself to keep being curious and developing skills that don’t necessarily fall into the box of medical provider. Eventually these types of skills are the ones that lead to product development at Intimate Rose.

Cut through the Nonsense: In manufacturing, working with employees, and contractors. Hear not just what people say, but understand how their information fits into the framework of what you are trying to accomplish. Analyze their incentives. Our primary goals at Intimate Rose are to care for women with sensitive issues, provide trusted and quality information, and highest quality products. Unfortunately some contractors and consultants can present a bias based on their beliefs of what is right for themselves vs the company.

Intimate Rose came out of a need and desire to help women feel their very best and have a community where answers to questions they may feel uncomfortable asking for are out in the open.

——————————————————————

Amanda Olson is the Chief Clinical Officer at Intimate Rose. She’s also a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Certified Pelvic Floor Practitioner and the inventor of some of the award winning Women’s Health Products at Intimate Rose. Her medical background combined with Aaron’s business knowledge has enabled them to build one of top companies dedicating to helping women with pelvic pain and pelvic disorders.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Is the Juice Worth The Squeeze? by @mAmLtDaRtBrand

by Leave a Comment

by Melissa Matthews

In life and business, things can appear to be going well from the outside looking in. You have the nice place to live, the car, the dog and 2.5 kids. You are earning good money [insert your definition here] or damn close to it but it doesn’t feel right.

The running of your business(es) feels stressful. Like you are working harder for yourself than smarter— trading money for time. But, without the gains you signed up for… “me time,” “family time,” and/or “quality time.” It can be overwhelming trying to figure out how to “fix it.”

The truth is you don’t “fix it.” You’ve got to change it! But first, you have to know what needs changing. These few steps can help you figure out how or if you want to change it.

Negate the Noise: Take an hour out of your day. UNPLUG every single device or tool that connects you to the outside world. Take out a piece of paper and a sharpened pencil. Close your eyes and imagine your perfect day. Draw it or write it out. Sit with it for 15 minutes, make sure ALL the details sit well with you. Take another sheet of paper, fold it in half and translate that vision into time. From the time you wake up in the morning until the time you go to bed. Account for how you want to spend every single hour. On the other half of the paper, write down your complete schedule as it is now or as close to it as possible. Decide on or two things that you want to cut out immediately to get you closer to your vision.

Automate or Eliminate: Choose three more activities that you want to stop doing. Make a list with one side titled “Necessary” and the other “Unnecessary.” For the necessary tasks, you’ll want to delegate and/or automate them. Hire a virtual or personal assistant; get a team member; a family member or your spouse to agree to do that task. Anything on the unnecessary column, stop doing it! Commit to never do it again under any circumstances.

Reclaim Your Time: Take a page from Congresswoman, Maxine Waters and reclaim your time. For every task that you cut from your schedule, add an activity from your vision. Whether that is activity is a family dinner; a trip to the gym; meditation; or reading time, schedule it in. The same way you would work or a commitment to someone else.

Check-in with Yourself: It takes 21 days to build a habit. Keep a journal about your changes. After the first three weeks of your new routine, take an hour to check in with yourself. Do the timetable again and assess whether you are feeling any closer to your vision. If so, keep it up. Rinse and repeat the cycle every 6-12 months to stay on track.

If not, ask yourself what you have left undone? Is there a deeper issue than time? Consider making larger or more meaningful shifts in your life. Change the people or shift your mindset. Consider counseling or a change or environment. Whatever you do, commit to understanding if the juice is worth the squeeze.

———————————————————–

Melissa A. Matthews is a 33-year-old storyteller and entrepreneur. She lives and works in Trinidad, West Indies. Melissa tells stories through her Arts N Farts Podcast. Her blog, Artpreneur Guide; and her children’s book series, The Adventures of Makaynuh. She helps others tell their stories through MAM Squared Limited; the training business she co-owns with her twin sister, Michele.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

How To Overcome Obstacles in 5 Minutes by @EllieBurscough

by 2 Comments

by Ellie Burscough

When you are on the cusp of getting EVERYTHING you want……

Life can throw you obstacle after obstacle.

Health problems
Relationship issues
Arguments
Stress
Emotional eating
Procrastination
Clients leaving
Extra expenses
Natural disasters

You name it. It can all come your way at the same time.

These obstacles have come your way to prove that you really want it.

When all these obstacles and challenges come your way you can choose one of two paths –

1. Play the victim. Why me? Blame others. Judge. Criticise. Act out for attention and sympathy. Listen to your stories and limiting beliefs as if they are reality. Stop. Give up. Give in.

Or

2. Stare these challenges in the eye. Look at them with excitement instead of fear. And realise that on the other side of all of this is the breakthrough. Is transformation.

Whenever myself or my clients have obstacles or triggers we use a simple strategy. This strategy builds self awareness and allows you to overcome obstacles fast, so you can keep moving forwards.

Write the following questions in your journal and answer them any time you have a trigger in your life.

  1. What was the trigger?
  2. What was my reaction to it?
  3. What are the positive lessons and learnings?
  4. What positive action can I take to move forwards?

I created this exercise in 2016. Here is what I answered then.

  1. What was the trigger? – I had a lot of clients leaving all at once.
  2. What was my reaction to it? – I got angry and defensive and made it all about me.
  3. What are the positive lessons and learnings? – It wasn’t about me at all. This was happening because I was stepping up. Some clients will step up with me, some will fall off and that’s ok. This is creating space for more new, amazing people to come in.
  4. What positive action can I take to move forwards? – I walked down the road to a healthy cafe and took time out for myself. (changed my state and environment). I journaled and found the lessons and learnings. Then I went back to my apartment, got on sales calls with my new attitude and made $13 000 in two hours.

If I hadn’t have done this journalling activity I either would have blocked myself on those sales calls or not even picked up the phone in the first place.

This is a simple exercise you can do in as little as five minutes, that can drastically change your mindset and your life.

—————————————————-

Ellie Burscough is a Coach, Writer and Speaker. She supports entrepreneurs to create their best life possible and make a massive impact in the world. She has spoken at events, retreats and businesses around the world including Virgin, Snap Fitness and school groups.

She dyes her hair bright colours all the time, loves music, tattoos and adventure. She is a Mum of two beautiful children, who she travels around the world with. She is currently loving life in Portugal.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

4 Reasons Why Rejection is Crucial to Your Business by @sarahforsuccess

by Leave a Comment

by Sarah Gleeson

One of the most relatable experiences among successful women is that they’ve all faced rejection at some point in their lives. It can be devastatingly impactful when something that has been desired does not materialize. It can sabotage potential, terminate opportunities and kill dreams.

What defines successful women differently from others is how they allow that rejection to influence them. Understandably, the feelings of disappointment and a resulting lack of confidence can be overwhelming.

In business there will be pivotal moments where you will need to make important and difficult decisions. Responding to rejection will be one of those moments. Quitting will most definitely be an option. But, so will persistency.

Here are 4 reasons why rejection is crucial to your business.

1. Personal growth will not be an option, it will be a result!

Many times personal growth programs have to be scheduled when it is convenient or affordable. However, when you experience rejection you will be forced to re-evaluate your personal and business strategies. Determining why something didn’t work or figuring out how your behavior influenced the outcome; these are examples of how you’ll grow personally and professionally. Questions like these will influence who you need to become in order to build the successful business that you desire.

2. You’ll realize that your best feedback doesn’t come from your best friends

When you are deeply involved in what you are doing, you will create filters that change the way you see things. Everything becomes personal when it shouldn’t. One of the hard lessons to learn from rejection is that you won’t be able to please everyone. Stepping out of your ego and allowing both positive and negative feedback to mold your thoughts and actions can make a huge difference. Your clients and customers are the perfect source for critical feedback and you should listen to them. If they don’t like what you’re offering they won’t buy it. And, if they’re not buying from you, you’ll be out of business.

3. Thinking out of the box will become an asset not a necessity

I know you’ve heard the cliché “to think out of the box” before. But, have you ever considered why it gets said so often? Truth is you’re a problem solver if you’re in business! Customers and clients have problems and they look to you for solutions. When you get rejected, it forces you to think more creatively. Once you have established a routine that involves results based problem solving you will master any obstacle that your business encounters.

4. Flying high is seldom smooth so expect turbulence

A straight trajectory from start-up to success probably won’t happen. You’ll be faced with detours and decisions that could change the direction of your business at any time. When you experience rejection it can become a moment for re-evaluation. Being rejected forces these moments to occur and that’s not a bad thing. The odds for your business to continue on the right path are drastically improved when re-evaluations are added routinely into your business planning.

Ultimately anyone who puts themselves or their business out to the world opens themselves up to be rejected. It is an experience as necessary for success as are the victories. The idea of rejection conjures up fear for many women but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. When you understand how to use it for growth and improvement you will undoubtedly become a better business woman and build a better business.

————————————————————–

I am known as the B.S. Buster. As a High Performance Consultant and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist I help companies and individuals to change their game and up-level their potential by creating new ways to think bigger, take action and achieve better results.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Why Offering Internships Is Better Than Outsourcing by @ladybossblogger

by 2 Comments

by Kendall Kamholz

As a college student, I’ve found that the most valuable learning experiences I’ve had have not been in the classroom, they’ve been at the internships I’ve had. By exploring different types of career paths from these internships, I’ve been able to pick my college major and minor and further focus on doing internships related to what I’m interested in.

By using tools like Handshake, LinkedIn, and even Google, I’ve been able to find internships geared toward developing the skills that are necessary in order to achieve my career goals. By doing a quick search one day on Handshake, I came across a PR/Marketing Internship with Lady Boss Blogger.

After a quick browse of the website, I found that the founder, Elaine Rau, was a self-made businesswoman and proponent of female empowerment so I was excited to the prospect of this potential opportunity and signed up to not only gain experience from her, but also class credit!

1. Mentorship

As a businesswoman, you can decide to outsource your needs or create internship opportunities and mentor the next generation. Elaine also learned everything from internships so instead of outsourcing tasks, she decided to invest her time in creating opportunities and to play a role in developing future industry leaders.

2. Win-win solution

You can benefit from having interns because it lessens your workload and the intern benefits because they get class credit and/or their desired work experience. Make sure to structure your internships so that they are win-win to make sure your intern has a good time. Similar to acquiring clients, you’ll be surprised at how well word-of-mouth works and soon you’ll find yourself with a whole team of interns!

3. Develop leadership skills

The ultimate goal in business is to develop a team and the best way to test run your leadership abilities is to lead a team of interns. You’ll learn very quickly what your strengths and weaknesses are. Make sure to not only give feedback to your intern but also ask for feedback from them. It’s a mutual learning experience, so have some fun with it!

In my time as an intern with Lady Boss Blogger, I’ve already been gaining experience in reaching out to media outlets to get Elaine and her blog featured by crafting press releases and also how to appropriately time these releases according to current events. These are all things I skills I hope to strengthen as an intern with Lady Boss Blogger so that I can use them in the PR industry once I graduate from college and I’m looking forward to developing them with Elaine.

—————————————————————-

Kendall Kamholz is a Public Relations Intern at LadyBossBlogger.com. LadyBossBlogger is a platform that helps ladies learn how to start, grow and scale their own online businesses and blogs. Since its conception, LBB has garnered a massive audience of 150K followers in under 2 years and has helped thousands of women launch their dream businesses and become entrepreneurs.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

15 Ways To Bring The Sales/Leads In by @janebakerbiz

by Leave a Comment

by Jane Baker

I know that feeling of sitting there thinking “how on earth am I actually going to get these leads/sales” the good news is it likely isn’t as complicated as you think. In fact 9 times out of 10 we get stuck in the how and in our head and it complicates everything.

Making sales and getting leads is actually way simpler than you might think. So here’s 15 ways that you can bring in sales/leads in the next month or hell even the next week!

  1. Follow up
    Now initially you might think “but I don’t have anyone to follow up with” but I can almost guarantee that isn’t the case. Write out a list of all the people you’ve had discussions with in the last 6 months about what you do and/or people you’ve spoken to about your business/services previously but haven’t as of yet bought. Then get in touch with them all, follow up and have a conversation.
  2. Ask how you can help
    Next up make a list of all the people you’ve had conversations with recently but haven’t necessarily entered the “this is how I can help you and this is how you can buy from me conversation” yet. Make a list then get in touch with them to see how you could help them.
  3. Re-connect with those previous clients
    If you’re someone who’s been in business a while and have past clients that you can get in touch with then do that, is there anything else you can help them with right now?
  4. Ask for referrals
    Simply put go and ask for referrals! Ask previous clients, ask people you’re connected with, just put the word out that you’re open to referrals. You might be surprised just how many leads and sales you can do via referrals!
  5. Time sensitive
    If you’re in a situation where you need some quick sales/leads then create something that has a sense of urgency for your ideal clients. It could be a new package aimed at something they urgently want/need or it could be something that you currently offer but add a bonus onto it, combine that with a deadline so they want to take action ASAP!
  6. Facebook Live CTA
    Show up everyday on Facebook live sharing value and getting your ideal clients interested then at the end of every FB live CTA an offer/discovery call etc
  7. Show up
    Show up everyday where your ideal clients hang out and always include a CTA…this one is pretty basic and simple!
  8. 5 conversations
    Set yourself a target of having 5 conversations every single day, connect with 5 people daily and have a conversation with them about what you do and build a relationship!
  9. Engage and get seen in other places
    Engage in other Facebook groups, remember this is engaging not actively posting. This is about you engaging on a thread that someone else posts!
  10. Run a free training
    Run a free training where you either help solve a problem your ideal clients have right now OR you help them achieve something they desire, at the end of the training remember to CTA!
  11. Run a free challenge
    Same concept as above but this time it’s a challenge
  12. Ads
    There’s always the ads option, set up some ads on social media
  13. Run a competition
    Run a competition and then offer something to those who don’t win
  14. Advertise your discovery calls
    Yes this one seems really basic and yet people don’t do it, let people know you have discovery calls available
  15. Get out in the offline world
    I love the online world as much as the next person but you might be surprised at how much the offline world can yield for you. Go out to some events or networking locally and see what the offline world has to offer.

There’s 15 ideas to get you started, you can use one or all of them the choice is entirely yours but you have to remember when it comes to making sales there isn’t necessarily going to be a quick change in your results unless what you’re doing is a fit for your ideal clients and equally unless you’re going to be consistent with any of this stuff then it simply won’t yield you the results you’re probably looking for!

Sales comes down to:

  • Knowing what your ideal clients want and selling that to them
  • Showing up consistently in front of them
  • Always remember to ask for the sale
  • Follow up

Sales are simple, it’s you that’s making them difficult!

—————————————————————-

Jane Baker is a multiple business owner and coach, she specializes in helping online business owners create packages that their ideal clients can’t wait to buy and she combines that with putting together a marketing strategy that brings in consistent leads and a sales process that ensures they hit their sales goals every month!

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

4 Tips for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs Eager to Start a Business by @myjoyorganics

by Leave a Comment

by Joy Smith

More than a decade ago, it was rare to see women entering the business world and embark upon the challenging entrepreneurial journey.

However, times have changed and presently women are at the helm of reputed businesses across the globe. According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, America has nearly 12 million women-owned businesses, employing nine million people and generating a revenue of $1.7 trillion.

In fact, numerous ambitious women are starting to assert themselves in fields like the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), banking, healthcare, and fashion and beauty.

One of the most prominent examples is the representation of women in the cannabis industry. Statistics reveal that over 36 percent of all executive-level positions in the industry are held by women who are passionate about marketing organically-grown hemp CBD oil to the masses.
If you are passionate about being your own boss, the effective tips shared in this post will help you launch and scale your venture, allowing you to realize your career goals.

1. Be Prepared to Impress Venture Capitalists

The uncomfortable truth about entrepreneurship is that it has always been male-dominated. This can be particularly challenging when raising capital for your enterprise as venture capitalist firms tend to hold women entrepreneurs to a higher standard in comparison to their male peers.

Though the scenario is slowly changing in favor of women, presently 94 percent of the decision-makers at venture capitalist firms are men. Further, merely three percent of all the venture capital in the U.S. is being directed to women-led firms. Thus, with men controlling the vast majority of capital, women may find it tough to impress venture capitalists and find funding options for their startup.

Venture capitalists expect to invest in compelling business ideas that have a huge market opportunity, thereby promising them a lucrative return on investment. Moreover, they are looking for dedicated, passionate, and coachable entrepreneurs who are not afraid to take risks.

Before cold-calling for capital, it is wise to research on venture capitalists who would want to invest in your idea. Connect with them on LinkedIn and Twitter and introduce yourself to them. Join business hubs, incubators, and accelerators that can connect you to venture capitalists and help you enhance your reputation in the industry.

Does the venture capitalist follow some industry influencer? If you are able to make an impression on the person who influences your prospective VC, you can easily impress the latter.

2. Look for Mentors

An effective mentor who is experienced in your field can help you launch and scale your venture, propelling your startup towards success. Above all, experienced women mentors can help you respond to blatant gender bias.

Make sure you have multiple mentors so each of them can offer advice based on their individual expertise and enable you to overcome the practical and emotional challenges faced by aspiring female entrepreneurs.

Join professional women’s networking groups like Women in Business Network (WIBN) and Meetup that support women-owned ventures and connect you to industry influencers and prospective mentors. Online mentorship networks like Find a Mentor are dedicated to pairing budding startup founders with potential mentors.

If you still find it challenging to come across a worthy business mentor, surround yourself with a value-adding board of advisors, who can guide you with the major business decisions and lead you to prospective customers and investors.

Furthermore, it is important to give back the knowledge you acquire. Remember the challenges you faced and volunteer to help other budding women entrepreneurs navigate the entrepreneurial path by mentoring them.

3. Learn to Respond to Condescension

During your entrepreneurial journey, you will be often spoken to like a secretary, even though you run the show. Although times are changing, the chances of you meeting a chauvinistic client, investor, or competitor who believes in outdated gender norms is quite high.

As a startup founder, you are in a client-facing role; hence, you cannot afford to feel humiliated or abandon your stakeholders for their biased attitude. Instead, learn to respond to arrogance in a way that asserts your professionalism.

Likewise, you will come across people who will underestimate your professional abilities and chances of making it big in the industry. Instead of feeling bogged down, put in maximum effort to prove the crowd wrong. The idea of creating a successful startup in a world full of baseless gender-based assumptions is a completely entrepreneurial thing to do.

4. Remember: The Key Entrepreneurial Traits Aren’t Male or Female

We have often read articles or hear industry influencers say that men are better at negotiating and leadership, whereas women excel at communication and listening. Though several such entrepreneurial traits have been labelled as male-or-female-oriented, they actually belong to both genders and are critical to entrepreneurial success.

Identify the common entrepreneurial traits relevant to your industry and work towards developing them. For instance, if your business requires you to meet vendors and negotiate the cost of material, you should develop the art of negotiating in order to network and strike a profitable deal.

Women entrepreneurs across the globe are overcoming the challenges of starting a new business and proving that their skills can build a profitable venture in the male-dominated business world. If you aspire to catch up with the changing tide of women entrepreneurship, use the tips shared in this post to navigate the entrepreneurial path and scale your business to success.

———————————————————————

Joy Smith is a speaker, mentor, entrepreneur, mother of four, and grandmother of six. After trying a number of poor quality CBD products, she teamed up with her family to develop an organically grown, full spectrum hemp oil to help people who suffer from a wide array of ailments. Visit Joy’s website to learn more Joy Organics.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Cooking for Cash by Holly Hurd of @VentureMom

by Leave a Comment

by Holly Hurd

Do your kids love your enchilada suizas? Are your friends begging you for your low cal lasagna recipe? Are your spiced pecans a hit every holiday season? You may think friends can cook like you or even love to cook. But that’s not the case. I can hardly boil water, and I would love for someone to cook for my family. And I’d pay them for it.

So many women love to cook and are getting paid to do it. Take Megan Ruppenstein for example, she began cooking great meals for her family and sharing her ideas with friends on the soccer sidelines watching her boys’ games. But when her friends said, “Would you just make extra for me?” she had an idea for starting a food business. With four boys to feed, she named her company Four Forks. Megan began by sending an email out to her friends a couple of nights a week, sharing what she was making and asking for orders. Customers would pick up their dinners at her home.

But her business grew, and she needed a bigger kitchen. Now she has a commercial kitchen and store front and offers prepared meals four to five days a week. The ordering process is completely automated and she’s rockin.

Another mom began making granola for her family around a recipe she developed herself. She shared her bags of handmade granola as gifts, and the fantastic feedback made her realize starting a food business with her granola could be successful. Naming her granola, By Hand, and using a hand drawn hand as her logo she was in business. Her son came on board and began selling the bags of handmade, By Hand granola to hotels creating a profitable business.

Cooking Sauce. Imagine your family’s marinara sauce in the local super market. That’s what happened when Stefanie Bhalla had an idea for starting a food business, “Launching the sauce business that we had talked about felt right to me. I could give part of the proceeds to leukemia research to honor my brother, and my own venture would give me ownership of my time.”

First step: Stefanie knew of a food incubator program at Cornell. She reached out to them to gain an understanding of the process of going from the stovetop to the shelves. “I worked with my Dad in a commercial kitchen to formulate a shelf-stable recipe for our sauce.” Due Cellucci specialty sauces was born.

Stefanie sent an email to everyone she knew—friends and family, business associates and her family’s restaurant patrons—and the orders started coming in. With an office at home, Stefanie ran the distribution center out of her dining room. Word of mouth fueled the growth of the sauce business. “When I got my first order from someone I didn’t know, I felt great. You offer this product with no idea if anyone will like it and ultimately buy it.”

What’s your specialty? Take your gift for cooking and use it to make money. Who knows, you could be the next Martha Stewart. She began by cooking for others.

Check out more Venture Mom stories at VentureMom.com.

———————————————————–

Holly Hurd is the founder of VentureMom.com, a web site devoted to profiling women who have their own businesses. Holly has interviewed hundreds of women with their own ventures, making her uniquely qualified to speak on entrepreneurship for the small start up. Her web site shows women how other women have created businesses out of thin air so they can do the same. The VentureMom Marketplace curates and sells the luxury goods these women offer
When she was only twenty-five, she was featured in Futures Magazine, USA Today and in Fortune’s “People to Watch” column for her exceptional work managing her own fund on Wall Street. She has put her life experiences to excellent use by creating VentureMom.com to provide women economic freedom.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post