How to succeed as a millennial woman entrepreneur

Female entrepreneurs have now become a powerful force in today’s competitive business world. The number of businesses owned by women is rapidly increasing day by day. Women are running 30% of the U.S. businesses and employ approximately eight million workers.

Women-owned firms provide one in seven employment opportunities in privately-owned businesses, Womenable.com reports.

There are many leading corporations in the U.S. that are leading by women entrepreneurs these days. Many millennial women entrepreneurs have already paved the way for future generations of female business owners.

When it comes to running your own business, it’s not impossible for a woman to face unique challenges and hurdles, especially when trying to juggle multiple roles of wife and mother with the demands of starting their own business.

If truth be told, women are more ambitious and determined than men. To back this statement up, here’s a report revenue data which shows, corporations controlled by female entrepreneurs received 13 percent more revenue than those firms that helmed by men.

Rather than waiting for opportunities to rise to run their own startups, a number of younger women are taking a different approach to breaking the glass ceiling.

A study from the consulting firm Real showed that among millennial women entrepreneurs, approximately 90 percent left their 9-to-5 job in the corporate world to start their own business.

This has not only given them a golden opportunity to take on executive leadership roles, but it also allows them to employ female staff, execute flat business structures that have no or few levels of middle managers between executives and employees. It also encourages greater employee consideration and inclusion of females, the study reveals.

Women entrepreneurship is a breeding ground for the cultivation of well-informed and empowered women. Many females who are not getting the opportunity to make a great impact at a corporation are leaving and running their own startups where they are utilizing their skills and making the impact they want to make.

For many young, energetic women entrepreneurs, the desire to get away from the corporate world was a big motivation for starting their own business. A survey reports that 43 percent of women left their corporate job because they weren’t getting their desired roles, while 42 percent of women said that that were not satisfied with the corporate lifestyle, 33 percent said that they changed their directions because they are not comfortable with their career and felt restricted.

Undoubtedly, millennial women have a different attitude and outlook than baby boomers. A study conducted by Zeno Group suggests that 15 percent of millennial women aspire to become the top leader of large corporations. One of the main reasons is the reluctance to make the personal sacrifices they believe are required to succeed in business world.

The study further says that, approximately 50 percent of women believe that sacrifices required are not worth it and nine out of 10 reported that they have to make more sacrifices than men.

Did you know that seven percent of startups launched in 2013 were led by women, Success Harbor reports. Millennial women want a great sense of purpose of their existence. This is the reason they are more interested in becoming influencers while creating an impact.

According to Carolina, brand strategist at Branex, “The sad truth about women startups is that nobody knows how many businesses, digital marketing companies, ad agencies or SaaS startups are led by females and what percentage of startups are founded by females.”

In fact, there is no authentic study on women startup founders. However, the best estimate was done by CrunchBase. According to CrunchBase, U.S. based startups founded between the years 2009 to 2014 and that received funding, 15.5 percent have at least a one woman founder.

And the good news is that the number is increasing. In 2009, only 9.5 percent of startups had at least one female founder, but by 2019 the number raised to 18 percent. So, there is a big hope that this trend will continue in near future. There has been a consistent increase in the number of female founders in the past few years.

Here are some challenges millennial women entrepreneurs face:

• Lack of respect and demotivational behavior in highly technical industry.
• Majority of people feel that they have to represent masculine attributes to be successful.
• Lack of confidence in their own pitching skills, because the ability to pitch counts more when it comes to attracting investors.
• Lack of belief because of no previous entrepreneurial experience.
• Majority of investors are men.

Tips to be Successful as a Women Entrepreneur

While there are nearly innumerable tips and tricks that any female entrepreneur can take advantage of when launching their own small business. These tips for small business owners will surely help women looking to start a small business.   

• Research, plan and prepare carefully. Talk to successful entrepreneurs, women influencers and expert in your field you are aiming to run a business.
• Find out the right business partner as you are more likely to succeed with the right cofounder.
• Take your inexperience as a great opportunity not your deficiency.
• Get more comfortable with running your business by your own rules and regulations.
• Humanizing your business is OK, run your business in your own management style.
• Ask for help if needed. There are many female industry experts and thought leaders who are willing to help you.
• Be unique, don’t try to copy someone else’s style. Running a business is hard enough, so bring your passion into your business.
• Reward yourself. Take ownership of your own achievements. As an entrepreneur, you have to give yourself credit to stay highly motivated.
• Build a strong team of people to run your business. Hire people with professional experience and willingness to take your business to new heights.
• Networking is key. Use your network to find the right people, expert advice, get funded and potential clients.
• Believe in yourself, feel confident that you can do it.

Millennial women have a great potential to become successful entrepreneurs because they are as confident as men. But before you are going to start your own business, ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the real reason behind your women entrepreneurship?  It will be constant battle to succeed as a woman entrepreneur. Be clear about the real reason you want to become an entrepreneur.
• Think what does your future business look like? Do you want to be solopreneur or do you want to hire people to support your business? Try to build a business that meets your personal objectives. Build a business that you want.
• What issues are you trying to solve? Seek out your potential clients, figure out what problems they are facing. Successful entrepreneurs involve their customers from day one and try to solve their concerns in the first place.
• Determine your target audience. Knowing your customers and meeting their demands can help you get success.
• Pre-sell your services, so that you will have an idea whether they are willing to make a purchase from you.

Takeaway

The “can do” attitude is the most important aspect of millennial women entrepreneurship that can lead any woman towards success. Entrepreneurship requires determination, courage and the willingness to achieve something. Develop the right business plan and be comfortable knowing that you can do it.