The ten biggest mistakes made by women entrepreneurs
- Not starting because you’re not ready; I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but you will never be ready. Start now, and get perfect later. After five years you might start to feel you’re beginning to feel ready. That five years will pass anyway.
- Giving up before the magic happens; whilst I understand it can feel like you are speaking into the void, your ideal clients are out there just waiting to hear from you. Keep on enthusiastically sharing your truth until they find you. If you have an idea and you’re passionate about it, keep showing up, keep putting the work in and keep believing in your project. Be patient, and trust the process.
- Not being clear on your values; success depends on rapid decision-making. Being clear on your values makes every decision simple. “Does this align with my values?” “Yes”? Then I’ll do it” Then you just have to decide when putting it in the calendar and take action.
- Not knowing your client group; if you try to sell everything to everyone you will never stand out. When you are a specialist and know exactly who you work with then you become the go-to expert. You want to know everything about your ideal client. Their habits, hopes, and fears, lifestyle, and aspirations.
- Not delegating; as hard as it is, delegating is essential to your energy levels. Delegate tasks you don’t enjoy, aren’t expert at, or don’t understand. Share the love.
- Not taking care of yourself; self-care is Queen when it comes to running your own business. Take regular ‘CEO days’ to wind down, relax and have fun. Remember not to abandon your friends and family, put away-days in the diary, and take holidays and break. Get outside in the fresh air for a walk each day. Someone recently asked Gary Vee how important health is for entrepreneurs. His reply; “You can’t run your business when you’re dead”
- Not taking care of your nutrition; you need to fuel that positive energy with loads of fresh food. Eat a balanced diet, drink enough water, and take nutritional supplements.
- Not keeping fit and strong; exercise at home, find a class on YouTube, spend ten minutes a day stretching, take regular breaks from the desk.
- Not understanding your sector; be smart and find out before you start. For example, food drink and cosmetics have strict regulation around preparation, ingredients, storage and labelling. Free advice is available from your local authority environmental health offices and trading standards. These laws ultimately protect your future customers and nobody wants to operate a business on the wrong side of the law.
- Not having a tribe; success leaves clues. You can actually compress time by learning from people who have already achieved what you are working towards. They will help you along, encourage you, hold you accountable and share their wisdom and experience with you. Working with high quality genuine experienced coaches and mentors and being in coaching communities has been a real game changer in my achievements and progress. And as Tony Robbins says, progress is happiness.
Clare Honeyfield is a success coach working with women entrepreneurs. Clare has a 25-year track record of setting up and running award-winning and successful social businesses and has worked with many thousands of women business owners to help them to get focus, get direction and achieve success.
