Women's Business Blog

The old adage "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime" may not sound like a quote entrepreneurs should pay attention to, but it should.

The media provides a daily dose of articles of why women entrepreneurs don't grow their businesses as large as male entrepreneurs. The reasons range from lack of capital to lack of connections to lack of role models to lack of willingness to take risk. The fact is many women entrepreneurs choose to keep their businesses small. Not wanting to grow a business beyond a $1 million in revenue is not a crime....it is often a choice.

Let's talk systems! Every small business benefits when systems are put in place so that the company can run smoothly with or without the people who started them.

Women are the multitasking gender. We all know that women have a special talent for juggling it all - work, family, community and (sporatically) self. However, launching a home-based business is not as easy as many pretend it to be.

Congratulations, you are a small business owner! You successfully wrote a business plan that demonstrates the feasibility of your concept and you've raised the funds needed to begin. You've hired the best and brightest and the doors are opened. You've targeted your market and the customers are approaching and ready to do business.

Women leaders and entrepreneurs continue to start or buy two out of every three new businesses in the U.S. They are willing to take the risk of the first big step to small business ownership. The question is, what is it that allows us (women) to take that first big step, out of our comfort zone to become a small business person and then fear the decisions that are required to strengthen our chance for success?

Starting or buying a small business doesn't require special credentials. It doesn't even require that the individual be of a certain gender, race or religion in order for the business to succeed. All types of individuals can be successful in operating a small business -- as long as they excel in one area - DECISION MAKING!

Entrepreneurship necessitates stress -- male or female. Starting a business is not best suited for the already overly anxious, stressed individual. Business owners must learn to juggle business and life's ups and downs, decisions and rejections, every minute of every day and night. But women in America are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression. Researchers believe that a combination of several factors, including the "effects of estrogen on the stress hormone, cortisol, the prevalence of the victimization of women and the fact that women are likely to ruminate over their problems cause women to experience higher rates of anxiety. But, none of these factors prevent women from using the tools they have available to not just handle their stress but TO CONQUER IT.

The economic future of America is clearly in the hands and minds of male and female entrepreneurs. It takes entrepreneurial passion to develop new businesses which will employ people, spend and circulate money and grow the economy. All around us their are opportunities for entrepreneurs. The question is: Are entrepreneurs born or can anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur be taught?

"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I shall die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take."  These are the words I learned as a child to recite on my knees as I got ready to crawl into bed each night. My family wasn't particularly religious and I think back on it now and wonder why on earth I was praying about dying and not waking up. It' was enough to send this little girl entrepreneur wannabe to a therapist.