This is a guest post courtesy of Patrick. In short… go hard or go home.
Don’t waste your time and energy succumbing to fear and a lack of confidence.
More and more fearless females are entering the exciting, stimulating and challenging world of entrepreneurship.
Owning your own business is tough!
But the rewards are hard to beat which is why men and women alike continue to make their way into this unique lifestyle and career.
Being a female in what continues to be a male dominated world can add unique challenges.
While we have come a long way as society in terms of women’s rights, only 4% of the CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies are women, which just goes to show… we aren’t quite there yet.
Have Confidence in Who You Are…
… as a person and as a business woman.
Sounds cliché, yes, but having confidence in who you are as a person and as a career minded intellectual that will dominate everything she sets her mind to, is important.
If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?
Confidence is that necessity that will help you overcome rejection (and there will be a healthy dose of rejection at some point on your entrepreneurial path).
It is the key to having the guts to say your opinion in a room full of men and present yourself in a way that will interest them in what you have going on.
When you are confident in your abilities, you show the world that you mean business. And when you mean business, you put yourself in a position to exceed your own expectations and others, and dominate your new venture.
Don’t be Afraid to Ask Help Now and Then
Women often times feel as if they have something to prove. In a business environment where men continue to dominate, many women feel that the best approach to making it big is to go out there and prove to everyone that they can do it!
Of course you can do it, but everyone (even the men) need help sometimes.
Women struggle to know when to ask for help. If they ask for help too early on, some women feel as though they are not quite cut out for entrepreneurship.
If they don’t ask for help until later in the game, some women worry it may make them look as if they never knew what they were doing to begin with.
But the opposite is true.
Asking for help shows a true sign of confidence and bravery. No person – male or female – can be all things at all times to all people. It’s just not feasible.
And, it’s just not the smart way of going about business ventures. Successful entrepreneurs hire people who are smarter than them in their weak areas.
This might be a copywriter to help build your website and create a stronger brand online. Or a web designer that has the skills to create the pages that you can see in your head but can’t quite code on your own.
Getting help from others is how your business can thrive. And asking for help is the first step to forming new business partnerships and making your business stronger as a whole.
Learn the Power of Negotiation and Master Your Skills
Did you know that research has shown only 7% of women ask for more money while their salary is being negotiated?
This is in comparison to the 57% of men who are not afraid to ask for what they feel they are worth.
Negotiations, for many women, signal conflict.
People who are deep in negotiations use tactics to try to manipulate the other party to get more of what is beneficial to them, and give less of what will slow or hurt their process. But this is normal – especially in business.
Women shy away from these types of conversations because they tend to be less interested in screaming louder, punching harder and battling it all out to establish why they are worthy.
This can have adverse effects, and to be successful as an entrepreneur, you are going to need to learn the power of proper negotiation and how to make it work for your business.
If the process of negotiation scares you, try to think of it in a new light.
Instead of thinking of it like you’re demanding what you want from someone, think of it as trying to come up with a mutually beneficial agreement and showing them how they will benefit.
This will help negotiations feel less like a tug-of-war match and more like a business relationship, which it is.
As a female entrepreneur, flexing your muscles every now and then will be necessary.
Don’t be shy about using these three strategies. They will take you further and afford you even more success within your business if you wield them fearlessly.
Over to You
So… if you found this post useful, please consider sharing it. And do drop your thoughts in the comments below… how do you build credibility in the world of big, hairy men when you’re just a slight, slip of a girl?