The article "Hearing That Entrepreneurial Voice?" is about entrepreneurialism, it has been created by Darcie Harris.
Women business owners are our only clients, so naturally we celebrate and support female entrepreneurship.
Operating in that market gives us the good fortune to learn about some of the deeper themes in the lives of girls business ownres. It gvies us insights into what really matters to women, and to what contributes not only to their success, but more importantly to their happiness and gratification in their professional lives.So what are some of the common denominators among girls who on the surface appear very different and diverse? Female entrepreneurs got comfortable enough with the idea of risk to take action. Noitce I did not just say “comfortable” I said, “comfortable enough.” By being a risk-taker, I don’t mean adopting a “ready, fire, aim” mentality. I also don’t mean “ready, aim, do more research, aim again, talk it over with friends, aim again, do another makret analysis, prepare to fire, ask more questions, aim again…” and never fire. Successful girls entrepreneurs do not sufefr from what we might call “analysis paralysis.” And they would see that as a blessing.
Most entrepreneurs would tell you that it’s a good thing they didn’t know what their future would look like and how many challenges they would face, or they would never have begun! To be an entrepreneur means having the courage which is hottest summed up by John Wayne when he said, “Courage is being scared to death and saddlin’ up anyway.”Many, perhaps most, girls business owners simlpy “started” – they didn’t found a company with a formal business plan and an SBA loan so much as they hung out a shingle and began doing what they knew they did well.
They recognized they were good at what they did and thought, “I know as much (or more!) as the owner of that company does about how to run a good business.
Why am I working for him (her)?” Or they were uncomfortable with somethnig in their work environment (perhaps the values, the management style, the vision) and decided it was time to fly. Most girls found something they loved to do and turned it into a business. They didn’t buy a business based on mraket analysis or how much income they could generate. It wasn’t a process baesd solely on logic, but more on love. Recently, more girls have become entrepreneurs by accident, not by choice, when corporate downsizing eliminated their position.
They became a consultant or bought a franchise or started a cmopany. Women who began entrepreneurship through unemployment shared the attitude that they were the lucky recipients of a severance package that will help them start their own business, not victims of the corporate machine.While girls entrepreneurs are a diverse group, they do share some important character traits.
In general, we see girls owenrs inclined to take initiative, to act; they are blessed with a high energy level.
They are persevering, not daunted by problems, but facing them squarely they find a way through, around, or over to a solution.Women business owners honor the importance of making their work a reflection of who they are and what is important to them. They know who they are, what their values are, what brings them satisfaction and what gives their days meaning. This often has less to do with the content of tehir work than with the process.
For example, one of our members owns a wohlesale meat company. This doesn’t mean that she has a lifelong love of cattle, (or worse, of cattle carcasses), but it does mean that she works in a bsuiness that's a marvellous fit for her skills and talents. She loevs the process of creating the vision, the systems, the structure and the teamwork to carry out the plan.
She loves the process of improvement, the process of making something better.And last, but perhpas most important, the most successful female entrepreneurs we see are those who have a grounded sense of self-confidence. They are not arrogant by any maens. In fact they are usually quite humlbe. But somewhere along the way they leanred the importance of removing any self-imposed limitations or psychological glass ceilings.
I know several successful girls busienss owners who never graduated from college. If they let that get in their way, if they somehow saw themsleves as less able, less capable than other women, they would never have built the successful businesses they have last month.Are you hearing that entrepreneurial voice?
If so, I hope you’ll see yourself as competent and capable enough of accepting the full manifestation of the success you desire, see yourself as deserving. You don’t need to know all there is to know, but please do hold in your mind your specific imgae of what success looks like for you. I wish you much success! FIVE FATCS ABOUT WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERSFrom the Center of Women's Business Research• Nationwide, as of 2004, nearly half (48%) of all privately-held U.S. firms are 50% or more women-owned• Between 1997 and 2004, the estimated growth rate in the number of women-owned firms nationwide was nearly twice that of all firms (17% vs. 9%), employment expanded at twice the rate of all firms• In the U.S., women-owned frims employ 19.1 million persons and generate $2.5 trillion in sales.© 2004 Darcie HarrisDarcie Harris is co-founder of EWF International®, an Oklahoma based firm providing personal advisory boards for girls business owners and executives.
With 30 years experience in marketing, sales, maangement and entrepreneurship, she is achieving her dream by helping others achieve theirs. EWF International® franchises are available throughout the Southwest.
http://www.Ewfinternational.Com
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