How Women Entrepreneurs Prove It's Not Just A Man's World???

Women entrepreneurs are proving that it's not just a man's world

I had the honor of speaking at the Women's Business Association luncheon this week on the topic of entrepreneurship. When I mentioned to my wife the day before that I was speaking to a group of businesswomen, she asked, “Why on earth would they ask you to speak?

In her defense, my dear wife has no idea what I do for a living. She never read a single one of the several hundred columns I wrote. She has never attended an event where I have spoken or sat in the audience at any of my seminars. She just knows that we live a very comfortable lifestyle and believes me when I tell her that our money doesn't come from drug dealing. Besides, she is incredibly happy not to know her husband's skills. When I feigned hurt feelings, she waved her hand at me and said, "I mean, what on earth can a man say to a room full of women who don't know yet?" Henny Youngman, Ralph Cramden, Rodney Dangerfield, Tim Knox.

At least I'm in good company. But she was right. What the hell did I know about women in business? So as not to look like a total idiot in front of this group I now call "women entrepreneurs", I decided to do a little research on the subject. Here's what I found: while some still believe business is a man's world, women are catching up fast.

Twice the rate of men

According to the Center For Women’s Business Research, there are more than 10 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., employing 18 million people and generating $2.32 trillion in sales. Women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men, and women-owned businesses make up 28 percent of all businesses in the United States and account for approximately 775,000 new startups annually and account for 55% of new startups.

One thing I found particularly interesting was that in recent years, the fastest growing sectors for women-owned businesses have been construction, wholesale, transport/communications, agribusiness, and manufacturing, which are traditionally male-dominated sectors. Over the past 25 years, the number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. has doubled, employment has increased fourfold, and their revenue has increased fivefold. Here is the question I was trying to answer specifically:

Do women approach business differently than men?
When it comes to business, I've been compared to a bull in a china shop. Would a female counterpart approach the matter differently?
Perhaps more elegantly?

Keeping their lives in balance

As my beautiful bride would say, "Duh." In her book How to Run Your Business Like a Girl, Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin explores common feminine traits and how female entrepreneurs—and perhaps men—can use these traits to their business advantage. Baskin said women tend to use three unique strengths more than their male counterparts: trusting their intuition, focusing on relationships, and placing more emphasis on keeping their lives in balance.

Women are much more likely to make decisions

Trust Your Gut Women are much more likely to make decisions based on gut feeling. Women can gather the facts and figures necessary to support this feeling, but they generally know what they want to do based on intuition. Build Strong Relationships Men play the business game like a sport. They want to win and dominate. "Women," says Baskin, "are much more interested in making connections."

Stages of their business

Find work-life balance. Several women interviewed for this book cited quality of life as a reason for starting a business, alluding to their desire to find a way to combine family and work. “If having more family time is important to you, find a way to work it into your day. It's not so much how much work you do, it's about being able to decide when you do it." Baskin offers another piece of advice to women in the early stages of their business: You don't have to know everything. My wife would argue that she knows everything, but Baskin says that when it comes to business, thinking you know everything is not the key to success.

Conclusion

"It's amazing how many women say they didn't know anything when they started their business," Baskin said. "Don't be afraid to ask for help - you don't have to be perfect at everything." Solid business advice: for guys and girls. Here's to your success!