Women Entrepreneurs: A few things to remember

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Women in a work place are always challenged twice over – being good at work and still maintaining the status quo at home. Entrepreneurs even more so because everyone expects more from them. There are people who bet on them failing earlier than male counterparts would in the same line of work. Earlier entrepreneurship was dominantly marked for men alone. It was an area where women were not encouraged to participate. The tides have turned since and there are several women entrepreneurs who have broken those glass ceilings and have created empires from their humble beginnings. But for every women entrepreneur who wants to set off on this journey a few things to remember include:

Don’t act like a man

People do not expect women to be like men and women shouldn’t try to act like men either just to run a business. Women need to draw on their own personal strengths to convince customers and investors about their abilities and ideas. If you need to interact with men through your venture, don’t be intimidated by this and draw from your strengths that gave you the power to start this business in the first place.

Understand investor ideology

Investors are mostly men and hence they are more wary of investing into ventures backed and started by women. It is a fact and the faster you accept it the better. Remember to understand what investors look for and present your companies in the manner and format they require to gain a better understanding of your work and vision. Investors only understand facts and the language of success and they need to see your confidence and not your gender. This can only be achieved if you have the confidence to present your work without second guessing yourself.

Hold the emotions

Women have a natural tendency to nurture and this makes them very emotional and attached to the kind of work they do. This can prove detrimental in the long term. While it is important to be empathetic towards employees and build people and not just sales figures – it is also equally important to understand that sometimes it has to be just business. Don’t compromise on ethics but be sure to ensure that emotions don’t rule decisions that should be based on reality and logic.

Accept failure

Women feel that in order to prove that women are as good as men they can never fail. It is in fact this attitude that leads to a large number of mistakes. In every start-up failure is a very real possibility. That can happen whether you are a man or a woman so attributing the failure to just being a woman entrepreneur is wrong and will hamper many bold initiative that you would have normally taken.

Every business needs a visionary mind at its head and if you can succeed in creating a product or service that customers enjoy and repeatedly come back to then you are a success.