What do women need to know to grow their business?

Have you noticed how different it is for us women to grow our business compared to men? We just have a different way of doing business. And sometimes that’s a good thing; but most of the time, it’s bad. I’ve seen this as a business coach for women and a businesswoman myself, time and time again.

For example, 66% of female entrepreneurs do not make plans. And a further 60% of them do not make financial plans. This is a major contributor to why they are less successful than their male counterparts.

 

 

I’ve experienced this first-hand when I ran my own business for 22 years in my male-dominated niche. And because I was working in a hyper-masculine industry, I had to learn to do business the male way. But what was it about their way that make them more successful when running and growing businesses?

So I did my own research. How do women do business, and how can they scale and grow successfully? With all my insights and knowledge from more than three decades of being a female entrepreneur, and later on a business coach for women, I came up with “The Women’s Blueprint to Business Success.” It is a holistic approach to scaling and growing your business, with 9 areas that you need to consistently work on. This article touches on Area 1, Mindset.

blueprint for women

I’d like to point out here that it’s never just one area that you need to fix when you want to seriously scale and grow your business. Adopting male traits of doing business, on its own, will not make a significant difference when you don’t have other systems in place to make sure that your operations run smoothly.

 

Women are not wired to have the masculine skills to grow their business successfully

We women don’t innately possess some traits that men naturally have that help them succeed in business. In general, men:

  • Like to compete
  • Have focus
  • Are system thinkers (a business can be a system if you manage it well)
  • See more opportunities
  • Are not afraid to take risks
  • Are goal-oriented
  • Keep a good overview of the whole process
  • Are action-oriented
  • Do not shy away from promoting themselves
  • Say yes before they know how to do it
  • Like to negotiate

But just because we don’t possess these traits naturally doesn’t mean we can’t learn to adopt them and use them to our advantage.

 

Women find it more difficult to grow their business

In the course of doing my research, I was surprised to know that women have their own way of doing business. I used to think that the masculine way is the only way and the right way to run a business. It was how I learned, and most of the books I read (which were written by male authors, by the way) supported this notion.

From the male perspective, female business owners:

  • Have businesses that are too small
  • Don’t position themselves well
  • Don’t seem to have faith in their own product or service because they are insecure
  • Cannot level with men in a conversation

DISCLAIMER: not my words, but I’ve actually heard businessmen say these words.

And I’m sorry to say that I used to think the same. I was, after all, doing businesses the male way.

 

Running and growing a business is not a fair playing field

We like to think that everybody has equal chances in business. But sadly, this cannot be farther from the truth.

We have to face the fact that men have it better in business. Why?

  • The language of men is spoken.
  • Their behavior is expected and accepted.
  • Their way of doing business is common.

Only 1% of the big business deals in the world are going to female-owned businesses. Now this can be due to a variety of factors, but I’m inclined to think that the women who succeed in business adopt and accept the male style.

I have to admit that I didn’t think very positively about female entrepreneurs before because I myself had adopted the male way of thinking, communicating, and doing business.

This was great when I did business with men. But it did not work with women at all. They couldn’t connect with me. They didn’t want to see just the successful image I had created––they wanted to see the real me.

And guess what?

I had no clue because I did not accept my femininity.

 

Women can be strong entrepreneurs and grow their business successfully

There are many misconceptions about how women run and grow their businesses. So let me set the record straight and give you very good reasons why women’s ways and strategies in growing a business can work just as well as men’s.

  • Women hardly ever go bankrupt
  • Women’s businesses always deliver (a woman will not say yes if she is not convinced that she can deliver)
  • Employees prefer to work for female-owned businesses
  • Women don’t always have to have facts; they trust their gut feeling
  • Women are very creative
  • For women, relationships are more important than money
  • Women are very thorough
  • Women easily find consensus. They are open and willing to listen.

We need more people in the business industry with these characteristics, don’t you agree?

 

What women can learn from men when growing a business

When growing a business, it doesn’t have to just be one or the other. We can integrate both the masculine and feminine ways. We can adopt masculine skills while remaining feminine.

1. Planning

We women can make yearly plans and take into account our relationships, as well as work on improving our service or product, all at the same time.

2. Self-promotion

We can also benefit from promoting ourselves so that we can grow our businesses faster. You may think that this is bragging, but it’s not. The truth is women underestimate themselves most of the time.

3. Financial literacy

We need to spend more time in understanding our finances. This may not come naturally to us, but having a good grasp of our numbers will give us more control.

4. Focus

We don’t need to take on and act upon everything. Having a clear direction will help us get to where we need to be faster and more efficiently.

5. Goal setting

We tend to forget the big picture when we focus too much on the specifics. On the other hand, when we put too much emphasis on the broad plans, we fail to work on the details that can make those a reality. Having clear goals will help give us focus and balance.

 

Summing it up

Growing a business isn’t just about learning to do it the masculine way, or the feminine way. As a business coach for women and a businesswoman who used to do it the male style, I strongly advocate the combination of both the masculine and the feminine. There are very strong points on both sides that can help us grow our businesses successfully.

What will also help you scale and grow your business is working on the other areas that can make or break it. Don’t focus on just one––there are 9 areas that need your attention if you want to be truly successful. Learn all these areas in my holistic system, “The Women’s Blueprint to Business Success.

Checkout our FB group for international self-employed businesswomen

 

Checkout our FB group for international self employed businesswomen

 

Join Facebook Group

 

Learn more

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I created the system “A Women’s Blueprint for Business Success,” where I work with female entrepreneurs in 9 major areas in their business.

There are many out there who call themselves “business coaches” but have never had their own business. What you need is a business coach who has experience in scaling and growing businesses. And I’ve had plenty. In my 31 years of experience, I’ve become an expert in many areas, and I can help you with whatever topic you need help with. Because it NEVER is about changing just one thing that’ll pivot your business around

If you want to learn more about what makes a good business coach for women check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

Interested to learn how you can work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year? Click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

 

About the author:

Tineke Rensen

Tineke Rensen is in business for 29 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold this after 22 years. Tineke was a national whitewater kayaking champion.
She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators you can find. There are very few topics she cannot help you with your business. Many people find it hard to believe when they hear this. How much do you think you know about a topic if you live it day and night for 28 years?
Tineke works with female business owners to grow to their full business potential. She uses her own system the “Blueprint for a Successful Business Makeover”. She is a women’s business coach.

Tineke is the author of “Maximum Business Growth For Women”

Maximum Business Growth For Women

If you want to watch business videos with Tineke Rensen you can like the Powerful Business Academy Youtube Channel

info@PowerfulBusinessAcademy.com

 

Most recent blogposts

6 Tips to Help Female Entrepreneurs Stick to their Business Resolutions
6 Tips to Help Female Entrepreneurs Stick to their Business Resolutions Do you make new year resolutions for your business? Many of us make personal resolutions, but is it necessary to make ones for our business? Absolutely! Much like individual new year’s resolutions, business resolutions push us to accomplish more…
6 Reasons Why SMART Goal Setting Does Not Work for Female Entrepreneurs
Do you have a list of business goals? If you’re a female entrepreneur determined to be successful in business, I’m sure you do. You might even think of yourself as “goal-driven,” too. You understand how important setting goals is to stay focused, dedicated, and enthusiastic in achieving positive results. The…

You can call, email or send a direct message for a response.

Vosmaerstraat 37, 2651 AX, Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands
up