What Successful Women Entrepreneurs Know

Have you ever wondered “What do successful women entrepreneurs know that I don’t know?”

You’re working hard, you’re passionate about what you’re doing, but the success just isn’t coming as fast as you’d like it to.

As founder of Women’s Prosperity Network for the past 6 years working with thousands of women entrepreneurs, and having owned my own business since 2000, I’ve studied, observed and gleaned the following factors as the essential keys to success for women entrepreneurs.

1. Have Your Own Definition of Success.  Rather than measuring their success by comparing themselves to others, successful women entrepreneurs define their success on their values, beliefs and priorities.  Anne Sweeney, President ofWalt Disney says, “Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.”  The challenge I see for many women is that they are often so busy doing things that they don’t make the time to reflect and ask themselves,
   1. “Why am I doing what I’m doing”
   2. Is this what I really want – or am I trying to live into someone else’s definition of what success looks like?”
   3. In my chapter in the book Conversations That Make a Difference (being released on December 19th – reserve your copy here now), I share the 7 Secrets to Revealing Your Passion & Purpose and my personal journey of defining success on my own terms.  
      
2. Be willing to take informed risks and accept failure or mistakes as part of the process.  “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of the process.” (Arianna Huffington, Editor in Chief of Huffington Post.)  During one of our weekly Wow Wednesday tele-classes, my sisters and I shared a powerful discussion on “Success & The Perception of Failure.”
   1. Several of our listeners shared that they had been beating themselves up for past mistakes which brought fear and doubt as they contemplated moving forward – causing them to feel stuck.
   2. By creating a new definition of success as a series of experiments – some that work and some that don’t, it now set them free to continue moving forward.
   3. Remember … you’re never a failure, you’re not a mistake, it’s simply that certain things may not have gone the way you planned … YET!  Keep the faith, stay in action and keep experimenting – now that’s what I call success!
3. An understanding of the key drivers for their business.  That is:  sales, marketing and customer service.  If you made the leap to entrepreneurship, it was most likely based upon something you’re excited about and that you have a good deal of knowledge about.  BUTwhere I see most women entrepreneurs hit roadblocks and not have the financial results they hoped for, is that their skills and knowledge in the area of sales and marketing are their weakest links.
   1. Without sales you’ll have no business, without marketing you’ll have no sales and without customer service, you’re likely to lose the clients who do happen to come your way.
   2. In order for your business to bring the revenue that will allow you to continue to do what you love — the money has to follow and that comes through sales and marketing.
   3. Successful women entrepreneurs are intentional and disciplined in making sure that their business activities include dedicated time to sales and marketing.  They also continue to hone their skills in these areas by attending workshops and seminars, listening to CD’s and reading relevant books.
4. A commitment to excellence and a willingness to do the work.  One of my favorite quotes from Thomas Edison is“Opportunity is often missed because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.”  Successful women in business recognize opportunity and are willing to put on overalls!  I am a big believer in the tenet “Do what you love and the money will follow” with this added clarification: “Do what you love, get really, really good at it, then the money will follow.”  Getting really, really good at things requires an investment of time, energy and money.  So put on your overalls, roll up your sleeves and always do the work of being excellent at what you do.
5. Achieving work-life balance by being authentic and honest.  Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and Author ofLean In: Women, Work and The Will to Lead says, “I don’t believe we have a professional self from Monday to Friday and a real self for the rest of the time.  That kind of division probably never worked, but in today’s world…it makes even less sense.  I’ve cried at work…I talk about my hopes and fears and ask people about theirs.  I try to be myself – honest about my strengths and weaknesses.” 
   1. Rather than trying to be a Super Woman who attempts to achieve work-life balance by compartmentalizing the different aspects of her life, successful women entrepreneurs allow their authentic selves to shine through in all they do.
   2. Success in business and in life is based upon the quality of your relationships and relationships thrive when we are honest with ourselves and others.  So just be YOU – the best YOU that you can be in work and in your personal life.
   3. Release the need for perfection in balancing your work and the rest of your life — it’s all part of your journey as long as you remember… “The most important things in life aren’t things.” (Anthony J. D’Angelo)

So now you have it, the essential keys to success for women entrepreneurs.  You now have the answer to “What do they know that I don’t know” and this begs another question … what are you going to do with this knowledge?

The community of Women’s Prosperity Network is committed to continuing the conversations that inspire and empower each of us to be the successful women we’re meant to be.  Defining success on our own terms, encouraging each other to continuously move forward even when fear or doubt surface, supporting each other through our many “experiments”, focusing on the key drivers for our businesses with trainings on sales and marketing and creating the space for each of us to “Be Real, Get Real & Achieve Real Results!” 

What are you going to do with this knowledge?  They say, “Knowledge is power” and again, while I agree with this tenet it requires an added clarification “Knowledge plus action is power.”  Take action now and see how Women’s Prosperity Network can play a role in your journey as the brilliant and successful woman entrepreneur we know you are!  Our Holiday Membership Specialincludes bonus virtual trainings, live workshops and of course a huge holiday discount.  CLICK HERE NOW and put this knowledge into action!