Running a business in today’s fast-paced environment is overwhelming. For women business owners, running a business is even more stressful as we strive to balance the demands and aspirations of our business with the stressors and cravings of our personal and family life.
With barely enough time and energy each day to run the business, when we do find time to grow our business? Now, more than ever, what every woman business owner wants is to “Rise Above“ the overwhelm and achieve.
Women Build Great Companies
And, that’s not just my opinion! A recent study by Babson College found that women entrepreneurs:
- Create more jobs. By 2018, women entrepreneurs will create more than half of the jobs expected to be created by small business.
- Do more with less. On an average, women use 40% less capital for venture-backed startups than men. (We know how to “pinch a penny.”)
- Fail less often than men. Despite less capital, women-owned businesses are more likely to survive the transition from startup to that of an established company.
The 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report revealed that the rate of women-owned enterprises is growing at one and half time the national average! In fact, as women-owned enterprises have expanded, men-owned businesses have contracted! This information certainly substantiates that women have the vision, capacity, and perseverance to build thriving companies.
Women-Owned Business Revenue Lagging
With mounting evidence that women business owners have an edge in running successful businesses, why is the average revenue of women-owned business 27% of the average revenue of those businesses run by men? Here are a few influencers a women business owner can relate with:
- Businesswomen struggle balancing the many necessities of home and work, which can stall their business progress.
- Despite the progress made by women in business, a lingering discomfort continues to exist with powerful women. Many times, women are scolded for their ambition. In turn, this causes some women in business to view wealth and success as unbecoming.
- Women in business are involved with their families and don’t always have the time to develop the professional network necessary for success.
- Many women lack the strategic planning, organizational, and management skills that allow them to manage their everyday tasks while accomplishing larger business goals.
Women as Serious Players in the Economy
To succeed in today’s turbulent times, women business owners need:
- Success redefined. For women in business, success is more than money. The desire to grow a value-based business, one with vision and purpose, is equally as important. Businesswomen need to know that both are possible as they redefine success.
- Goal management. As women in business juggle the many needs of business and family, emphasis on goal management, rather than time management, allows businesswomen to grow their business at their desired rate.
- Strategic planning and thinking. Research shows that the only statistically significant predictor of business growth is not the industry, size of business or length of time in business. It is the entrepreneur’s goal for growth. Strategic planning allows female entrepreneurs to move from “I have a dream” to “I have a strategy and a plan.”
- Tools for tracking metrics. Gathering the necessary data helps in making sound business and financial situations. As we discussed in a previous blog, Business Metrics: If You Don’t Know It, You Can’t Grow It, business metrics help you make better decisions and prevent growing your business in the dark.
- Delegation skills. Women in business experiencing high business growth have excellent delegation skills. They know what to delegate, how to delegate, who to delegate to, and what to do with that time.
- Robust network. The support and encouragement of other women in business helps “stay the course” and act as a catalyst for accelerated business growth.
Undoubtedly, women in business are key players in this economy. With the unique strengths and perspective that women bring to business, they can “Rise Above” the overwhelm, stress, and unrealized potential to achieve work-life balance, greater fulfillment, and accelerate business growth.
