This article originally appeared in Inside Small Business – see the article here
Being an entrepreneur and business owner is challenging. There are amazing ups, but terrible downs. Of new small businesses being started, 70 per cent are owned by women. Sadly, one in five of these businesses will fail in their first five years.
So, can you choose success? Is it really that easy? What is at play, in your mind and in your physical environment holding you back from being the absolute best version of yourself? Here are my seven reasons I believe some women are not seeing success:
1. Lack of confidence
Women feel the need to be perfect and have all their ducks in a row before they hit the go button. Have you heard yourself say, “I just need to do X, before I could possibly do Y and Z”. Believe in yourself, back yourself and just do it!
2. Lack of a support network
There is no way that we can do all this alone. We need support in our homes, with our children and in our business.
3. Work-life balance
Life doesn’t have to be “perfect” by other standards it only needs to be perfect by your standards. And if your standard of perfect is making you feel unbalanced and stressed then it is time to change your standards.
4. Fear
So many fears in our life. Being too successful. Being too ambitious. Fear of failure. Being judged. Taking on too much responsibility. Being found out as a fraud – the “impostor syndrome”. Fear of being invisible. And the list goes on.
5. Planning
Do enough planning to be able to stay focused in your business.
6. Money mindset
Have a good relationship with money, know your numbers. Where does the money come from, what are you spending it?
7. Lack of understanding of marketing
I believe you need a marketing strategy, which is well thought out and considered. A strategy, backed with sound research, giving campaigns which are measurable – all feeding your customers into a lead funnel which provides sales and customer retention.
With some work around these, maybe you can choose to be successful. It does take hard work, with no fairy dust options available!