If you are reading this Blog you are either thinking about leaving a private sector job or you have left and started a small business. You are looking for support for you and your small business. You know that you have what it takes to be successful in business, yet you feel isolated and wonder how so many women are doing it on their own.
As the above image demonstrates, the majority of women start a small business because they desire greater flexibility in their work life.What many don't take into consideration before starting their business is that owning your own business means you are on duty 24/7 and if you aren't available you have no one to depend on to jump in for you. This 'lonely at the top' and 'I have no one to share the load with' is what being an entrepreneur is all about. So:
(1) Entrepreneurship means taking 100% responsibility. If you have family time challenges small business ownership may not be for you. The idea that you can hire someone to do your job and still make a profit is fantasy -- at least until the business is well positioned. Think about what you can do in your business that has customers paying you while you sleep. For example, you run an online business selling product and fulfillment is outsourced. Your job is monitoring the website and developing content. Your sales come from across the world and you have developed a site that can accommodate any amount of sales 24/7. There are other models that work as well, but most small business startups require more than 40 hours a week from the entrepreneur. Be sure that what you mean by flexibility is not less time than what your private sector job required. You may be able to control the hours you work but not the amount of hours needed.
Since women entrepreneurs are almost equally divided on leaving the private sector due to the glass ceiling, unhappiness with the work environment and feeling unchallenged, be prepared for this when you launch your own business. As a woman entrepreneur, the glass ceiling may still exist with some of your clients.
(2) Don't be afraid to show your aggressive side - it's a jungle out there. When it comes time to present your new business, if you don't promote yourself no one else will. Entrepreneurship is all about selling yourself and your concept to everybody and anybody. There is a glass ceiling in entrepreneurship just as there is in corporate America. Be prepared to deal with it head on. Your new work environment and company culture lies in your hands so be careful in creating an inviting work place for future employees, vendors and customers. You have begun a serious enterprise and although you want every day to be an adventure make sure to craft it purposefully.
And, finally, as far as feeling unchallenged by your new business, I have yet to meet the entrepreneur that hasn't experienced what I call the '2 a.m. club' - the 'what keeps you up at night club'. Yes, you will have plenty of sleepless nights as a women entrepreneur and your best solution to this problem is to find yourself a busines coach and a women's networking group of other women's business owners. It takes one to know one. Or, yes 'misery loves company'.
Entrepreneurship is the ride of a lifetime. Gender has no bias here. So go for it and prepare yourself for the ups and downs---there will be plenty.
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