Small Business Tips for Women Entrepreneurs

One of my favorite things about the life I live is the freedom it affords me to do a lot of what I want. That has only taken about 24 years, but it's nice when it does happen. 🙂 With that freedom and thanks to an awful lot of A-list celebrity clients, I get interviewed a ton which suits me. Via my interviews, I can share my traumas and dramas in the hopes that other women entrepreneurs will NOT have the crazy bumpy road I did. Today's insight is gleaned from an interview about women entrepreneurs that I did with Laura Dunn of the Huffington Post.

Women Entrepreneurs Unite! Here are your tips!

1. Don't build your business backwards. While it's an amazing idea to build your business around your passion, you cannot forget to give the MARKET what it wants, not just what you want to give it.
2. Find the intersection. Women entrepreneurs should build their businesses based on the intersection of their passion, the work they would do whether or not they got paid for it, their skills of course, but most importantly what the market WANTS and NEEDS.
3. The USP. You cannot forget the USP. Ever. A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is what makes you amazingly different from everyone else out there. Think Sprinkles and their ATM cupcake machine. Now THAT'S different. Baked, sugar deprived Angelenos can now drive by for goodies day or night, exactly when they want them. Now that's different.
4. Have a business plan. Listen, there are TONS of ways to create business plans including software, books, blogs and tutorials. If the thought makes you gag, well, just get over it, I mean, write a one page business plan and call it a day. It's a LOT better than nothing.
5. Review the damn thing. Don't just make yourself write the thing, post it somewhere where you can see it and tweak it. My best projects are those on which I marinate. I do the work, go for a run, come back, take a look, check Radar Online, have a coffee, do more of whatever, and then go back to it. A fresh perspective is key. (One of the top crossword puzzle guys in the world uses this technique. He swears that the quality of his puzzles is directly proportional to the number of times he comes back and revisits it instead of forcing himself to hit submit.)
6. Sleep with your numbers. Decide not only your sales goals, but your PROFIT goals and track, track, track. Women in business have to, have to, have to face their fears and get good, comfortable and totally unafraid of working their numbers. You can get help on that here. Period.

Want More Small Business Tips for Women Entrepreneurs?

I dig into more nitty-gritty about becoming a leader and part of this special group of women entrepreneurs, although that leader part is DEFINITELY a work in progress, which you'll see when you read my answer to: "How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?".

Always remember that we're all in this together. Women entrepreneurs DO support eachother, or at least some of us do. Go find them. They're out there. #Swear. And if you like this, share it because you just might find yourself a few like minded business peeps to sharpen that USP and of course give us your favorite tips and resources below.

xx Marley

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