Advantages of Being a Woman Entrepreneur

By Carole Nicolaides
Posted Monday, August 23, 2004

Even though I strongly believe that the entrepreneurial success strategies are not different for women or men, I also believe that women do have traits that help them in starting and running a business. After all, most successful entrepreneurs have a few things in common such as courage, vision, intuition and persistence.

From a very early age, most girls are bombarded with beautiful dolls. They learn to care and support their siblings and family. I am not saying that this is wrong; yet, I am recognizing these early roles equip women with some characteristics that can help us manage businesses.

Girls learn to care, make friends and use their intuition to protect them from danger. They are taught to cook dinner while listening to the details of their partner’s workday. In essence, they learn the roles of being a multitasking caregiver. Our families have taught us well!

The most powerful advantage that women have is the development of our “intuition muscle”. And this is the most important skill for many successful entrepreneurs - following their gut instinct. You’ve got an idea, nobody believes you in you, people try to reason with you and stop you from doing it. Yet, you ignore all the naysayers and move ahead, following your instinct.

Someone that doesn’t listen to his inner voice and waits for perfect timing or a logical explanation of why he or she should start a business usually will never start. Again, all these traits that I am going to discuss are important. Often times they are well developed by both men and women. I will just emphasize the traits that women have developed more effectively because of their upbringings.

So what else do women naturally have in their disposition that can help them in starting and running their own businesses? Below are few traits that I identified from being a woman entrepreneur. These have become even more apparent as I’ve supported women entrepreneurs as their Business Coach.

1. Multitask oriented- Women are known for juggling many tasks at the same time and still producing excellent results. A woman can talk on the phone, open and read her email and schedule what else she needs to finish for the rest of the day all at the same time. Men have more trouble with this multitasking thing, therefore sometimes they miss many opportunities.

2. Connecting more easily with people- Women love to have a support group at work and at their personal lives. As a result we find it easier to ask for help in our businesses. Actually, we focus a lot on activities that can find the appropriate resources to help us out. Men, in contrast, sometimes wait too long before asking for help and this can often costs them business.

3. Being patient with the process- This is an extremely important attribute for entrepreneurs to have. Too often we hear of visionary entrepreneurs who tried to start their businesses and after a few months gave up. Very often we find these entrepreneurs gave up on their dreams too soon. They became impatient with the process. Women know naturally that you must wait in order to receive positive outcomes.

4. Branding and marketing themselves- Women are natural marketers. They are so passionate and enthusiastic about what they choose to do that they just do not stop talking about it. They don’t forget to emphasize the benefits of their services to their potential customers. They understand how to accentuate the positive.

5. Create and use your network- Women are real pros at using their contacts. We also tend to create new contacts and friendships that get us where we want to go. This feature of our personalities certainly plays a vital role in our business success.

6. Being consistent and thorough with daily tasks- If you stay consistent with your actions you are more likely to get clients. You have more chances to be seen by potential customers if they consistently see your name. Likewise, providing a consistently good product or service helps with maintaining repeat customers.

As a woman entrepreneur, venture out and design your life and business around who you are. You have all the disposition for becoming a successful entrepreneur, just identify your passion and start living it.

About the Author
Carole is President of Intentional Success Coaching offering Personal Success Coaching, Marketing, Business Planning & Internet Success Consulting. Visit her today for your FREE coaching session and newsletter. (http://www.intentionalsuccess.com)