Are you a female entrepreneur who is just starting your business? Congratulations on taking the first step to creating your future. Entrepreneurship is a big decision, but I’m sure you have a great idea for your business that you want to launch to the world.
There are many things you have to think about whether you are a male or female just launching your business. But we thought we would devote this post to women who are starting their own business because of women, in general, have more details to think about when trying to balance their business with their family life.
7 Tips to Get Started
The following tips are not the only list that we could provide for startup businesses. But they are some good ideas that you may want to consider if you are thinking about starting a business but are not quite sure where to start.
Plan. Then implement.
First, you must have a plan. It’s good to dream, but you also have to be willing to get out there and do it! If you are just now to the idea phase, now is the time to plan. Perhaps you have been working in a full-time job or part-time job in the past, and you want to make the transition to that of a business owner.
Every successful business owner has a business plan. Even for those who claim they have never written down their plan of activities, they do have one. They know what they want to achieve and what they will do to make their plan work. They have an idea of what type of business they can start due to prior experience or perhaps they just saw a need in their area and created a solution for it.
Whatever the case, the first step is to have a solid business plan. In her successful new book, Business Boutique: A Woman’s Guide for Making Money Doing What She Loves, Christy Wright, author, and entrepreneur, talks about how she started her business based on a need that she saw in her immediate area. But it was only after several failures at trying different things that she thought were a good idea. But she quickly learned that having a great idea is only part of the process. You have to have a marketable idea.
Her book speaks to the female entrepreneur about balancing family life with your business time, setting goals, being confident, and many other skills that you need to be successful. She states that she learned a lot from her mother who owned a cake-making company when she was growing up. Her mother’s business was very successful and she brought many lessons from what she saw her mother doing when she was growing up.
The key to making your business plan work is to make it practical and something that you can implement, one step at a time.
Find a Marketable Idea
Before you start with your business idea, you must first ask yourself if you have a marketable idea. There are many different ideas that you might consider for business. But you should make sure that there are enough people in the market that will support your dream. In other words, is the company that you are developing something that others will like and be willing to pay for?
You can test the market a bit first (known as “lean UX”), by creating surveys or polls to find out what the need might be first. Try out your idea on sites like Etsy or eBay at first to see how your idea might resonate with your target audience.
Leveling the Playing Field
Being “politically correct” is on the way out. This is partly because people have come to realize that actions speak louder than words. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good idea to level the playing field when it comes to men and women’s roles in the workplace.
Much success has already been achieved when it comes to making things more even between the two genders. But entrepreneurship poses some new challenges due to all of the family responsibilities that women have. To be completely equal to men in this regard, you would have to compare a single woman with no children to a man. Women do have more responsibilities at home than men do, even in our age of people who often chip in to help with the household chores and babysit the kids when needed.
That being said, good scheduling can solve much of this problem. Having a good calendar that will help you to prioritize your many duties and maximize your time will help you to make he most of your time.
For women who work at home, this is especially important so that you will be able to balance your family responsibilities with client workload.
Have sound financial resources.
This rule applies to both men and women who want to start a business. You need to have enough working capital and other financial resources that you will have some reserve to fall back on as you build and expand your brand. Start small so that you are not overextending yourself until you can afford to do so. Don’t purchase too much inventory at first if you deal in physical products. Instead, consider drop shipping or other methods that lower you amount of money that you invest until you get more established.
If you sell products online through Paypal, they have an excellent business loan system known as PayPal Working Capital. It allows you to borrow up to 15% of your last 12 months of sales that you made through Paypal; then you have up to 18 months to pay it back as you build your business. This allows you to be paid in advance for future sales as you grow your business.
Don’t listen to everyone.
It’s fine to get advice from others regarding setting up and maintaining your business. But in the end, only you can decide how you want to run your business and what decisions you will make with your business venture. Have the confidence to make your decisions and stick by them. You are the one who can decide what you should do, and you alone must live with your decisions.
Spend more time than money.
One of the best tips of advice that women entrepreneurs can get is to spend and invest more time than money to get started. When you invest your time, you are putting your resources, energy, and other tools into the process of getting your business off the ground. If you spend money, you are setting yourself back somewhat because you are taking money out of your business. Spending time puts money into your business.
Spend your time wisely.
On the other hand, you should remember some words of wisdom from famous entrepreneur, Peter Voogd, “You can always get more money, but you cannot get more time.” This statement illustrates the point that time is the most important investment you make in your business so you should plan how you are going to use it and then implement your plan, one step at a time.
Some Final Words
Being an entrepreneur is never easy, no matter whether you are a man or a woman. But we hope these tips will inspire and motivate the female entrepreneur to go for your dreams. Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot do it. If you are determined, you’ll succeed.