Business success as a woman can be challenging. You need drive, determination, and the ability to navigate and overcome obstacles. You may even have to work twice as hard as your male counterparts.
The good news is that you have superpowers as a woman in business! Not all our superpowers are the same (I can’t bake to save my life, and don’t get me started on trying to French braid my daughter’s hair), but there are core superpowers that impact our business journeys immensely.
Community and networking
I love meeting other strong women in business and seeing them succeed. It makes my heart happy! There is immense power when women come together. When we pull each other up along the way and show kindness, we all reach our potential and become the best versions of ourselves. Women are learning that we can be confident without becoming hard. Empathetic yet firm. Kind yet strong. It’s not one or the other.
Your community or network can also serve as a sounding board for ideas, provide valuable feedback, and offer mentorship and career advancement opportunities. Networking helps us build meaningful connections and expand our professional reach, leading to new business opportunities, access to resources and information, and successful collaborations and partnerships that drive success.
I would have loved clairvoyance as a superpower, so I could take things a little less seriously and be a bit less anxious, knowing that things would work out!
Alas, clairvoyance still eludes me. But a girl can dream!
Mentorship
We can always learn from someone else, be it a friend, business coach, psychologist, or formal mentor. When we stop learning, we die!
Every entrepreneur starting out should be coached and guided through the hard times and reminded to celebrate the good times. Imagine having obligatory mentorship with a points system like CPD points — it would be so powerful!
Focus
One of the most important superpowers I’ve discovered is to take away Plan B and back myself. When I started The IV Bar, money worried me, so I kept jumping back into communications consulting for an additional income while the business grew.
But every time I stepped out, the business would dwindle; every time I focused, it would fly. So, after six months of stepping in and out, I took away Plan B and decided to make it work. Where focus goes, energy flows. So, when I get distracted, I remind myself to focus and break my ideas into projects. In this way, I get to be a creative over and over again, which excites me.
Joy and purpose
Identifying and focusing on the things that bring you joy and purpose is life-changing. The IV Bar gets me up in the morning, along with the energy from my monthly Jetfuel drip (oh, and my kids nagging and dogs barking). Joy and purpose drive The IV Bar. We’re making people look, feel, and perform better, and that’s a magic feeling.
I hope you’re ready to embrace your superpowers as a businesswoman! Remember, you know more than you think you do, and you’re better than you give yourself credit for. Your track record for making it through the tough times is 100%. So, stop hiding in the shadows and let your light shine!