The world of business was once considered as a man’s world, but through the years things have changed. Millions of businesses all over the world are now owned by women and they employ millions of people and generates trillions in sales every year according to the data from the National Association of Women Business Owners way back in 2015.
While the numbers of women in the world of business is growing, there are still very few female entrepreneurs and investors, making it more challenging for women to raise a certain amount of capital, find mentors, and access coaching for women.
Although more women are entering entrepreneurship, there are still challenges that women face, and they are not typically shared by the male counterparts of these entrepreneurs. Here are some of the challenges that women face in the world of business.
- Defying the social expectations
Most of the female business owners who have attended the networking events can relate to scenarios wherein attending a seminar that is filled with male executives is unnerving. Scenarios like this make women feel as though they need to adopt a “male” attitude toward business, such as being aggressive, competitive and harsh just to be a successful entrepreneur. But successful female CEO’s believe that remaining true to yourself and finding your own style and voice are the main keys into rising above expectations.
Women should remember to have confidence in who they are, you have made it to where you are through your own hard work and your perseverance. You must not conform yourself to a man’s idea of what a leader should look like. Some women worry about coming off as too aggressive, but you must remember that you should not be concerned about this, it does not matter if you are a man or a woman, a business will fail if you refuse to defend or fight for it.
- There is limited access to funding
Not all the startup founders looked for investors to help them get their businesses off the ground, there are those who know how difficult it is to pitch your ideas and to start the process on your own.
Raising the capital of your business is even more difficult if you are a woman. There are A 2014 survey showed that less than 3 percent of venture capital funded companies had female CEO’s and Executives.
Venture capitalists tend to invest in business startups that are run by the people of their own “tribe”, which means that a male investor would want to back up a business that is owned by another man.
Venture capitalist firms with female partners are more likely to invest in startups that are run by women. Women who are looking for business investors should build confidence through a great business plan and a great team.
Investors look for businesses that can grow their valuation, this means that all you need is an expert on your funding team that can execute the business operations well because investors will have confidence in investing in your business. You also need a great product market to fit. Another way that you can overcome this issue is to work to get more female investors involved in supporting each other.
- Playing with the big boys
Most people would consider any given field to be dominated by men. It is even more of a challenge when you are a female and you are just coming in to give direction to males that may not want your opinion nor ideas.
As a female entrepreneur in an industry that is dominated by males, earning their respect has been a complete struggle. Many men in the industry are more experienced and they tend to dismiss ideas in marketing and sales, many of them even assumed that women do not have the drive to put in the long hours and the hard work that they did.
To overcome this, you need to learn to build your confidence and to overcome your negative self-talk. These are stopping you from reaching your full potential. One of the things that you can do is to join a variety of women entrepreneur groups. By joining coaching for women these groups can help you as they inspire, guide and help women to grow and learn from their outside experiences and perspectives.
- Balancing business and family life
Work-life balance is the goal of many entrepreneurs regardless of their age and their gender, but mothers who start businesses must run their families and their companies simultaneously. In this area, the traditional gender expectations often prevail.
Being a mother while running a business is very difficult and challenging. There are numerous ways to balance your time, but the perception is that you could be more effective in running your business if you do not have kids. It’s going to be even more challenging if you don’t have a car, one way to get a car is to apply for a title loan then you will see how easy life is.
You must learn to not take shortcomings on either front too seriously, and that you should not beat yourself up over the little things such as missing a class trip of your children.
Mothers who run businesses have dual responsibilities to their families and their businesses and that you should find ways to devote time to both as it is the key to truly achieving that work-life balance.
- Building a support network
It is said that forty-eight percent of female entrepreneurs report a lack of available advisers and mentors and it limits their professional growth. Majority of high-level business world is still dominated by men, and it can be difficult to blaze your own path and facilitate the introduction and connection into some of the more elite business networks.
Most businesses today still ring true with the idea that it is not what you know, it is who you know, and this can be a massive factor to your ultimate success. Knowing where to find the right kind of support network is not easy, there are a few good places to start including women-focused networking events like Womancon, Women in Technology Summit and WIN Conferences.
