Article Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith
Over the past 20 years, the number of businesses owned by women has grown by more than 42%. In fact, in 2008, women-owned firms accounted for more than 1.9 trillion dollars in sales.
But while more and more women are eager to become small business owners, they’re also still facing more challenges than men. Businesses owned by women are nearly 50% less likely to reach the million dollar mark—and often produce less return on investment for hours worked.
A new study by Michele DeKinder-Smith, market research professional and founder of the website www.janeoutofthebox.com, has recently released a study that reveals five different types of female entrepreneurs. Each personality type has a different approach to business, along with different strengths and challenges.
Success can be defined in many ways and it’s clear that each of the five types have their own definition of success. Taken overall, if we consider business revenue and personal satisfaction with work/life balance, one might say that the type that is most conventionally successful is the type known as “Jane Dough”.
Why should we pay attention to Jane Dough? Comprising 18% of all female entrepreneurs, she’s five times as likely to hit the million dollar mark as the average female entrepreneur. She’s also one of the groups most satisfied with her work/life balance. So, if growing a large business while working reasonable hours is important to a business owner, she can learn from Jane Dough’s characteristics, behaviors and decisions.
Here are some of the traits that tend to make Jane Dough so successful.
1) Focus on growth
Running a business is filled with a ton of minor details, every day of every year. But Jane Dough has learned how to personally stay focused on the big picture: growing her business. This means getting past the details, the billable hours and the overdue invoices—and paying attention to the process of getting (and handling!) more business, in less time.
2) Building teams and systems
Jane Dough knows there’s only so much a woman can do by herself. Because business growth is an important goal, she’s learned how to build a team and delegate responsibility. This means using systems that create leverage and prevent her from falling victim to the ‘dollars for hours’ trap.
3) Prioritization
Along with a focus on growth and systems, Jane Dough tends to prioritize those activities that will make her the most amount of money with the least amount of personal time expended.
4) Looking ahead
How does Jane Dough stay so focused on exactly what she needs to do to grow a successful business? Well, many of these women started their companies with a big vision and/or they are intentionally building a business they can later sell or pass on to their children. These big, longer-term priorities help her stay consistently focused on the big picture.
5) Putting in the hours—but leaving work at work
Jane Dough is the type of entrepreneur who’s willing to put in the hours it takes to make her business successful. However, unlike some other types of female entrepreneurs, for whom business can be intensely personal, Jane Dough understands that work is work and that tomorrow is another day. Because she’s supported herself with systems that give her the flexibility to problem-solve when she needs to, she feels confident that she can and will be able to manage things during the hours she has designated for work. Yes, she might check her email in the evening after she’s home, but she’s not going to consistently find herself spending her personal time as a slave to demanding customers. Her ability to mentally keep work and personal life reasonably separated and her perspective and confidence that she can solve any problems tomorrow contributes to her higher-than-average work/life balance.
6) Confidence in marketing and selling
While many women in business express concerns about their ability to successfully market their business for profitability, Jane Dough is highly confident in selling both herself and her business. This confidence (which can be learned!) is a major factor in her financial success.
7) Perspective
When the going gets tough, Jane Dough stays focused, and doesn’t let doubt creep in. She tends to view challenges and setbacks objectively rather than personally, and keeps focused on her big picture goals. Jane Dough loves her business and she keeps it in perspective, as well.
About the Author:
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com.
Month: December 2009
This article is by our guest writer Sandra Hajda, a freelance journalist, publisher and avid investor. Sandra resides in Melbourne and can be contacted at hajdasandra@hotmail.com.
History shows that a bad sales run is not the end of the world. One clever marketing move can pull a company out of a slump and back into business.
1. Bauer Hockey
The Challenge:
Bauer should have had it made – in 1927 they were the first company to begin producing hockey skates in which the blade was attached to the boot!
Like any company that produces a jaw-dropping innovation, Bauer enjoyed a brief, initial dream run. It lasted until the 1930s, when the legendary George Tackaberry boot arrived on the scene. The Tackaberry boot (with its own, admittedly less dramatic innovation: the CCM Pro-Lite blade) was worn by all NHL scoring champions between 1939 and 1969.
The Move:
Bauer rose to the top through innovation, and innovation would get them back there. The company returned to prominence after paying superstar Bobby Hull to promote their products.
These days we’d call it ‘good old-fashioned celebrity endorsement’. Back then it was a revelation – this was one of the first companies to pay a superstar to endorse their product. It paid off enormously, ushering in a new era for Bauer.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Today:
Bauer are still innovating – they’ve just released the Vapor X:60, a revolutionary new stick that’s ‘great news for goal scorers’.
2. Guess Jeans
The Challenge:
During the 80s Guess was one of the most popular brands of jeans. When the nineties arrived, so did some stiff competition (Calvin Klein, Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, and Gap started rising in popularity) and Guess’ stock dropped dramatically.
Guess was also taking a beating in the press. Awareness of sweatshop expolitation was rising in America, and they were recognised as a major offender in this area. Guess contractors were facing litigation for failing to pay their employees minimum wage or provide adequate overtime – a nasty kind of company.
The Move:
By the 00s the sweatshop controversy of the 1990s was largely forgotten. Guess seized the opportunity to execute its own revival, the only way a fashion house knows how: a dramatic new look and style.
Marketing ads grew increasingly sexier – the Guess girl as we know her today (pouty lipped, shiny-skinned, luxuriously attired) emerged. Sales skyrocketed, a new market was tapped, and provocative billboards became a Guess mainstay. Many a male driver probably came close to his end ogling an 8-foot tall Guess girl.
Today:
Guess are making moves into the menswear market. In 2006 they introduced the Marciano men’s line, available exclusively on the website Guess.com. A line of men’s shoes (from sandals to dress shoes) is also beginning to enjoy success after a slow 2006 start.
3. The Body Shop
The Challenge:
In the early years Body Shop founder Anita Roddick had it made – she had a talented cosmetologist (Mark Constantine) who helped her create ‘natural’ (by the standards of the time) products with fashionable colours and fragrances.
When Constantine left in the 80s (the cosmetologist had entrepreneurial dreams of his own – he went on to found Lush Cosmetics) he left Roddick directionless. What would she do? How could the fledgling company make its mark?
The Move:
In 1986 the Body Shop began to do something very curious with its promotions. The marketing started to sound less like ‘marketing’ and more like activism. Educational posters about social causes appeared in shop wondows. Local charity and community events were sponsored. The company’s ‘No Animal Testing’ policy was emphasised at every turn. A ‘Body Shop Foundation’ emerged, and an alliance with Greenpeace was secured.
Every new product promotion was tied to a social cause. Jojoba Oil, for example, would help ‘save the whale’ (it was a substitute for whale spermaceti).
Roddick built a reputation for innovation, integrity and social responsibility, and the alignment with social causes generated massive free publicity.
When the Body Shop’s stock was floated on the London Exchange its price increased by 500%. Body Shop shares earned a nickname: ‘the shares that defy gravity’.
Today:
The Body Shop is now owned by the L’Oreal corporate group. This has attracted criticism (L’Oreal has a history of animal testing) but L’Oreal claims it has not tested on animals since 1989 – around the time it joined forces with Roddick. Roddick has told reporters she sees herself as ‘a kind of “trojan horse” who by selling her business to a huge firm will be able to influence the decisions it makes’.
Article Contributed by Kendall SummerHawk
While a rosier global economic forecast may still be a few months away, smart entrepreneurs are taking control of their cash flow now, and wisely implementing simple strategies to increase how much they make and how much they keep.
Good news is, it’s surprisingly simple to take control of your cash flow right now. And, what’s really cool is that once you put these strategies into place, your business will thrive even during times like these, which positions your income to soar once the rest of the economy emerges from this cycle.
The trick is to take an active role in how you create the income you want, as opposed to sitting back and passively waiting for “your luck” or “things” to change. Creating more money flowing into your business has nothing to do with luck, and everything to do with knowing the right actions to take.
Which is why I’m sharing five simple tips to help you get a handle on your cash flow now, so you’re sitting pretty in the “money driver’s seat.” (These tips are excerpted from my Certified Money, Marketing and Soul™ Coach training program.
1. Where’s The Money Coming From?
Now is the time to take a look at how many income streams you have and discover where you have untapped opportunities to offer a wider selection of services. For example, if you offer 1-on-1 services and maybe the occasional teleclass, then now is the time to plan the launch of a new teleseminar series, a 6-month high-end program or begin to offer 1-day intensives. This will dramatically increase your cash flow with very little additional effort on your part.
2. Raise The Value — And Your Pricing — Of What You Already Offer
If you haven’t changed your services in a while then chances are you’re not only significantly undercharging, but you’re probably also giving away too much for too little. The first thing I do with my clients is help them redesign their current service offers so they’re offering greater value to their clients, at a much higher price. Everyone wins because your clients get a better package and you’re leveraging your time so you make more money in less time.
3. Start Tracking Your Income…Daily!
Every day I write down the total amount of money I’ve brought in. At first you may think you don’t have enough coming in to bother with this type of tracking. Trust me, by paying attention to money in this way, more of it will flow towards you, faster and faster. Every client I’ve coached to take this action has reported making more, faster!
4. Know What Your Money Bug-a-Boos Are
Money is a highly emotionally charged topic so you may have unfounded beliefs, old values or unsupportive behavior regarding money that no longer serve you. This is normal so don’t sweat it; just do something about it. For example, if you assume people won’t pay more for your services or you frequently offer discounts, this tells me your money bug-a-boo is being too quick to judge what your clients value.
I recommend checking out one of my programs or home study courses. These resources will help you make dramatic mindset, and behavior shifts, regarding money so you’re no longer held prisoner by the past.
5. Consider This Popular Way To Even-Out Your Monthly Cash Flow
My monthly income used to spike and dip like a roller coaster, until I added membership (continuity) programs to my business model. Once I did, I had steady, reliable money flowing in. Since then, I’ve redesigned my entire business to be 75% membership based. Every business has the opportunity to create a membership program of some sort.
There’s even a company that offers horse vitamins on a monthly, auto-ship basis (to the tune of several hundred million dollars per year!). So get creative or get coaching on how you too, can add continuity to your business.
Solving Cash Flow Issues Simply Means Being Creative
Keep your approach to solving your cash flow issues simple. Most of all, be willing to look at what is working, and what is not working so you can let go of old habits that are costing you too much in terms of your time and potential revenue. This may mean refocusing how you spend your time but the results will be well worth it!
About the Author
Kendall SummerHawk, the Million Dollar Marketing Coach, is an expert at helping women entrepreneurs at all levels design a business they love and charge what they’re worth and get it. Kendall delivers simple ways entrepreneurs can design and price their services to quickly move away from ‘dollars-for-hours work’ and create more money, time, and freedom in their business. For free articles, free resources and to sign up for a free subscription to Kendall’s Money, Marketing and Soul weekly articles visit www.kendallsummerhawk.com.
Article Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith
Launching a product can mean lots of things to a business. It can mean branching out and snagging a new buyer in a different market. It can also mean creating residual income for a service-based business. And it may be just the thing needed to turn a struggling business into a cash cow. This article examines things three of the five specific types of female entrepreneurs (also known as “Janes”) should keep in mind as they plan for (and launch) new products.
Go Jane Go
She is passionate about her work, and has no problem marketing and selling herself, so she has plenty of clients—but she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying “no”. Because she wants to “say yes” to so many opportunities, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. During the worst of times, Go Jane Go may tend to run herself ragged or feel guilty about all the things on her “to do list” that aren’t getting done quickly enough to satisfy her exacting demands.
If you’re the Go Jane Go type, you should think long and hard before deciding to develop a new product or service right now. Yes, you may have come up with something truly innovative that will help the market you serve. But remember that not everything needs to be done at once. Sometimes, when you have a great idea, you don’t need to say “no” – but you DO need to say “not right now”.
Create a special file for yourself to house all your fantastic ideas. Before allowing yourself to put another item on the “active projects” list, first require of yourself the discipline to make room for it! This is especially important if you are feeling like your plate is too full already.
When you truly feel ready to commit to the new product or service launch, several things can make it easier for you to experience success without frustration:
1. Find something you are doing now that you can remove from your list or delegate to someone else. This will give you time to work on the new project. Alternatively, hire someone (even part-time, virtually) to design and implement the new product for you, under your direction.
2. Estimate how many hours of your personal time the new project will take. Then triple your estimate. (As a Go Jane Go, you’re excellent at what you do–but you may not realize just how much effort you’re putting into tasks. To preserve your sanity, you need to give yourself plenty of cushion for the inevitable unexpected events.)
3. Don’t just put it on your list–actually put each step on your calendar. This way, you are assured of reasonable timelines, rather than falling behind and feeling like you have to do a major crunch at the end.
Merry Jane
This entrepreneur is usually building a part-time or “flexible time” business that gives her a creative outlet (whether she’s an ad agency consultant or an artist) that she can manage within specific constraints around her schedule. She may have a day job, or need to be fully present for family or other pursuits. She realizes she could make more money by working longer hours, but she’s happy with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments.
As a Merry Jane, when you come up with a new product or service idea that you are considering launching for your business, you want to make sure it really makes the most of your time. Before you begin, make sure you put in a step to research your market’s interest in the product first. A simple way to do this is to reach out to some of your current customers today to find out if they are interested in the overall business idea. Using your blog, you can ask provocative questions about the topic and see if it generates response. You can also send out a quick survey or even call some of your most trusted customers on the phone. Choose the method based on the size and type of customers you have.
By putting this step in place, you can feel confident the new idea is worth the investment of your time to develop. And, by reaching out to your customers first, you will likely gather information that will help you refine and strengthen the idea even further, ensuring yourself a successful launch.
Accidental Jane
She is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business. Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have created something that served her own unmet needs and later found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Accidental Jane enjoys what she does and is creating a satisfactory level of income.
If you’re an Accidental Jane, you love where your business is right now, so you may feel uncertain about whether to launch your new product idea or not. The key to making this decision lies in visualizing the various scenarios that could play out if you did decide to launch it. By creating a “pros and cons” list for each of the scenarios, you can determine which path is most likely to create results you desire. Below are some probing questions to ask yourself about your new product idea before taking the additional steps to create it:
* Will doing this be something I really enjoy? Will it give me “job satisfaction”?
* How much time will it take to create this new product the right way? Am I willing to add that many more hours to my plate? Are there things I can give up to make room for it, without diminishing my income or happiness?
* What if this new product really takes off? If there’s more demand that I can serve right now, what will I do? Will I feel comfortable hiring people to help me? Will I feel comfortable letting go of other work I’m doing today to make room for it? If it really took off, how would it change the financials of my business and how I spend my time?
* If this new product doesn’t work out, how will I feel? Will I be willing to invest additional time required to fix it or market it to make sure it works? Will I feel like a failure or do I see this as an important opportunity for personal growth, even if it fails?
Since Accidental Jane is generally happy with the way things are right now, using these questions as filters to determine whether or not to launch a new product will help her make sure she doesn’t “accidentally” create results that take away some of her joy or income.
Even though all three Janes– Go Jane Go, Merry Jane and Accidental Jane– have distinct ways of doing business, each can benefit from the launch of successful new products and services. The key to doing so lies in appreciating herself and her own business needs, and pursuing new opportunities in a way that will really serve the life she wants to live.
About the Author:
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com.
Each of us is born with a unique set of natural skills. The challenge we all face is recognizing and developing those skills to their fullest potentials – thus, creating our Talent Advantage. An unused talent is just potential, nothing more. A talent that is recognized and applied is a true TALENT – something at which you excel, receive recognition from others and is satisfying to do. It’s your Talent Advantage.
Have You Found Your Talent Advantage?
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is easy to lose sight of your Talent Advantage and get caught up in pursuing activities that are not supported by your natural skills. How is this possible? Doesn’t it seem that we would gravitate to careers, environments and relationships that use our Talent Advantage? The truth is we are often unaware of our talents, or we dismiss them as “nothing special.”
Ask yourself the following questions:
* Do you truly love what you do?
* Did you consciously choose what you do without consideration of money or benefits?
* Do you find the environments where you function (work, home and play) supportive and encouraging?
* Are the people around you helping you get what you want out of life?
If you answered “no” it is very possible that you have lost sight of what your Talent Advantage is, or you don’t recognize how to apply it in your life. Consider the following.
A Lesson from Nature
In the 1940s George Reavis wrote a fable titled The Animal School that told of a time when the animals of the Great Forest decided to organize a school. The school adopted an activity curriculum consisting of swimming, running, flying and climbing. All the animals took all the subjects.
As you might expect the ducks were excellent in swimming, but they made only passing grades in flying, and all of them were very poor in running. Since they were slow in running, they had to stay after school for remedial running practice, and they had to drop swimming in order to practice running during their swimming class time. This continued until all the ducks’ webbed feet were very sore and they were only average in swimming. But average was acceptable, so nobody worried.
The rabbits started at the top of the class in running, but did not do so well in swimming so they had to come in early every day for special practice. The teachers were concerned about the rabbits’ high activity level so they were made to walk everywhere instead of running or hopping.
The eagles were definitely problem students. In climbing, the eagles beat all the others to the top of the tree, but they insisted on using their own methods to get there and were quite stubborn about it. The eagles said clearly it was the goal that mattered, and it was quite right for eagles to get to the treetop by flying. They were diagnosed as having oppositional-defiant disorder and put on a strict behavior modification plan.
At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well, and also run, climb and fly a little, had the highest average and was valedictorian.
How We Lose Our Talent Advantage
Because the animals described in the story were not practicing and utilizing their natural skills they lost their Talent Advantage. Giving up natural skills in order to acquire other skills is clearly a silly pursuit for the animals.
Yet, there are times when many of us do just that – lose sight of our Talent Advantage:
* Like the ducks, we are sometimes forced to focus on what we do poorly. In the process we forget what we are really good at doing.
* Like the rabbits, we stop developing our natural skills so that we can fit in with others.
* Like the eagles, we don’t always understand the environments where our natural skills shine, which makes us appear contrary.
* Like the eel, we’ve all probably accepted high praise for average behavior a time or two.
Each of us has talents and skills we know we are naturally gifted at doing. When you put aside your natural skills in order to focus on acquiring other skills, you lose sight of what makes you excel. Like a duck trying to survive on its running skills, living life outside your Talent Advantage is possible, but results in average-to-mediocre performance, frustration, a sense of purposelessness and physical exhaustion. You can do it, but why would you want to?
Claiming Your Talent Advantage
You have a natural birthright to our Talent Advantage. You have abilities for which you have innate potential that are just waiting to be used. Sure, they may require a bit of development, but you will find that efforts spent on your talents are productive, meaningful and rewarding
Why not start today? Claiming your Talent Advantage begins with consciously choosing to do more of what you do best. Give some thought to what you do well. Then look for opportunities to do those things more often!
About the Author:
Lynda-Ross Vega: A partner at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., Lynda-Ross specializes in helping entrepreneurs and coaches build dynamite teams and systems that WORK. She is co-author of Vega Role Facilities Theory, a revolutionary psychological assessment system that teaches people how to unleash their deepest potentials for success. For free information on how to succeed as an entrepreneur or coach, create a thriving business and build your bottom line doing more of what you love, visit www.VRFT.com