3 Biggest Career Showstoppers for Experienced Women Entrepreneurs
***A tweet post I sent out today is asking the question, “What are the 3 biggest career showstoppers for experienced women entrepreneurs?” So revisit this email again to see responses, including those from other experts I invite to comment here. Plus, see my Facebook page for comments. (click here to access it).***
For now, here are a few things I see that continue to be prevalent among working woman entrepreneurs, no matter how long they’ve been in business. This is backed up by my client sessions, my newsletter feedback, online studies, marketing classes, and books I’ve read about current women entrepreneur needs, such as Marti Barletta’s books, Marketing to Women and Prime Time Women.
1. Enough Time. Women are looking for ways to cut corners in their business efforts, particularly in their marketing, to spend more time offering the service or product they love, and have more time off for family or personal matters. This often means that they feel they are short-changing something or someone, which leaves them less fulfilled then they’d like to be.
A Solution: Set small weekly and daily goals along with one big or two big ones a week. Don’t try to eat a 1 pound steak at every meal. This way you’ll have days that flow more easily and better use the hours you have for working, so you will feel more accomplished without every day seeming to run into the next and never getting to the bottom of your project pile.
2. Enough Money and Support. This is a potentially terminal question, because not knowing what’s “enough” in your business can cause you to spend more than you have. We’ve learned it takes money to make money, yet it’s also true you can’t (and shouldn’t) do everything yourself and need to pay for help. This requires a strategic, balanced approach.
A Solution: Establish a budget and determine within that budget what is worth spending money on for you at this time. If you’re disciplined with your finances, you can still read and learn of opportunities to file away for the next budget period, but if you’re getting pulled to spend in areas that aren’t your primary focus now, delete those email offers and trust the best ones will return when you need them. However, one necessary spending is for office support. Decide main projects and find the best matched assistant you can to tackle revenue generating activities first, to pay for using their help for future projects.
3. Enough Confidence. There are many negative beliefs we have formed that can inhibit our progress or keep us pushing harder than is necessary. (This is the work done at PositiveThinkingWay.com) However, you can assess your own repeated patterns of ineffective behavior or emotions that keep you stuck or slow you down. It may be that you compare yourself and your achievements (or lack of them) with others, or you put off taking actions that you know would get you the results you desire if you could get a plan in place, or you get bogged down with having to do things too perfectly, etc.
A Solution: Keep a small notebook to write down what you notice about your negative thoughts or feelings. Ask yourself where that belief came from (your earliest recollection), write it down. Next, ask yourself if any other possible meaning (other than the belief you’ve said up till now) could be attributed to those same events at the time you formed the belief and write it down. In doing so, you’ll likely see that your “truth” isn’t the only one and it will take the “absolute fact” out of it and give you some freedom for new choices.
All 3 of these challenges can be showstoppers or you can choose to swiftly and easily deal with them. As M. Scott Peck said, “Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, forever a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit,” and your business too.
***Let me know if this blog has been helpful and feel free to ask your own questions or give your view on THE 3 BIGGEST CAREER SHOWSTOPPERS FOR EXPERIENCED WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS.***
Tags: 3 top challenges and solutions, time saver, what women need, women business owners, working women entrepreneurs
October 19th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
The first biggest career showstopper as an experienced women entrepreneur I have faced in the past year is minimizing income spent that doesn’t return on investment for sales and marketing. I have recently made significant progress by using new formats that have an edge over the competition like web video and social networking groups.
The second is finding the right balance for my budget between outsourcing and trying to do all the work myself.
The third is growing my business so I don’t get swells of orders that are beyond what my current team can handle.
Videographer Los Angeles/Videobizbytes.com
October 20th, 2009 at 5:19 am
The advice is a helpful tip.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Great article, Laurie! Yes, these are definitely “showstoppers” for many women entrepreneurs. Another showstopper I see when working with my clients is the tendency to not make firm decisions.
Women, most women, have a tendency to want to please others and have others “like” us. We are feeling beings and love connecting and making friends.
Growing a business requires that we make strong and firm decisions. Some of which will not please certain individuals. We must be okay with feeling the uncomfortableness of someone not liking the decision.
It takes courage to stand in our power and by standing out and above the crowd. That is why it is important to surround yourself with others who are like minded and have the courage, as well who can encourage and support you as you grow.
Jo Della Penna
http://www.TheBusinessofYou.com
May 10th, 2010 at 5:00 am
By “firm decisions” I think you may also include second-guessing ourselves. Yes, this is often because we are too concerned with what others think is best for us instead of being “okay with feeling the uncomfortableness of someone not liking [our] decisions,” at times. Thanks for writing in, Jo.