To be a successful woman entrepreneur, you need to be more than just a good leader. You also need to be a good business person, and you need to be able to build a strong team. The list goes on and on, but at the heart of all of the things you should know to be a successful woman entrepreneur are some key habits.
If you take the time to cultivate these habits, your business has a much better chance of thriving in the future. Five of these habits are discussed below to help you get started.
1. Give up Some Control
You can’t do everything. There aren’t enough hours in the day and no one has enough energy to do it all. Therefore, you must force yourself to delegate and depend on other people to do their jobs effectively.
There’s a saying, “Hire fast and fire faster.” In other words, don’t be afraid to hire people to help you because you’re worried they won’t live up to your expectations. Instead, search for the right employees, hire them when you think you find them, but if they turn out not being the right fit, let them go and find the right person. As the business owner, it’s up to you to build a team that can help you meet your company’s goals.
2. Don’t Be Overly Risk Averse
Don’t be fearless but do be willing to take strategic risks. The key is to make decisions based on the facts, which might require some digging to get as much information as possible.
Don’t make decisions blindly, but do understand, that often, you won’t have enough information to make decisions with complete confidence. Risks are a part of business, and you need to be willing to take calculated risks or you’ll miss opportunities.
3. Know (and Admit) Your Limits
Understand what you know and don’t know as well as what you can and can’t do. Identify the gaps, and surround yourself with talented people who fill those gaps by complementing your skills and knowledge.
Don’t surround yourself with “Yes Men” and “Yes Women.” That’s because when you surround yourself with a team of people who always agree with you, your company won’t be as successful as it could be if your team brought together different viewpoints. A diverse team is a strong team.
4. Get out of Your Own Way
Don’t let distractions derail your strategic goals. Yes, seize opportunities when they present themselves, but too often, business owners are victims of mission creep where “quick wins” from “low-hanging fruit” that bring short-term gains take priority over strategic investments that will enable the company to reach its strategic goals in the long-term. No one wins if you never make progress toward achieving your mission.
5. Learn as Much about Business as You Can
As a business owner, you should learn as much about business as you can, so you fully understand how and why to make strategic decisions. Too often, I’ve seen small business owners lose their companies because they relied on accountants, lawyers, financial executives, salespeople, and others who claimed to be getting the necessary work done and making the right decisions, but in the end, they weren’t doing their jobs or were making decisions that cost the company dearly. As a result, the businesses couldn’t recover and had to close.
Don’t assume your accountant is recommending the best way for you to handle everything or that your financial person’s advice is right for your business. Instead, educate yourself. Learn more about business finance, accounting, operations, human resources, sales, marketing, and so on. This way, when strategic decisions have to be made, you’ll understand what your experts are telling you, and you can make the best choices based on their recommendations and your knowledge.
How to Develop the Essential Habits to Be a Successful Woman Entrepreneur
Developing habits happens over a period of time. You can’t wake up tomorrow, say “I’m going to stop being a control freak,” and expect it to happen instantly. Instead, you need to make small changes on a daily basis that lead to real behavioral changes over time.
It took you a long time to develop the habits that could prevent you from being a successful woman entrepreneur, and it will take you some time to break those habits and replace them with the five habits discussed above. The good news is that you can do it if you’re willing to try and don’t give up to quickly.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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