Hiring a Winning Team: How Three Types of Women Entrepreneurs Put it Together

As a business becomes increasingly successful, an entrepreneur must examine her business’ changing needs and implement a system for meeting them. Booming success often means hiring a team of people to see to the details so the entrepreneur has time to run the business. Creating a winning team is a bit more complicated than just asking a bunch of people for help – is there a right way to do it? Is there a way to go about it that will leave members of the team, as well as the owner, feeling fulfilled while the business thrives?

 

A new study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, recently revealed there are five distinct types of women in business. Each of these five types has unique approach to running a business—and as a consequence, each of them has a unique combination of characteristics and factors. This article profiles three of the Jane “types” and the different ways they may handle hiring a team.

 

Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.

 

To Jane Dough, business is business. In her world, systems and efficiency share the throne. When hiring a team, she is likely to choose members based on their specific skill sets and how those skill sets and their exacting implementation will affect the system she plans on using.

 

Pros and cons:

Pro: Because Jane Dough is a pragmatic business owner, she’ll choose team members who know what they’re doing, and do it well. Con: Because Jane Dough is so focused on pragmatism, she may hire team members who don’t get along well with each other – personalities aren’t as important to her as efficiency and a job well done. But down the road, conflicting personalities may negatively impact the system she loves. Pro: Jane Dough’s fast pace means she gets a lot done and doesn’t waste too much time waffling on decisions about whether to hire someone. Con: That fast pace is enough to make anyone’s head spin, and if Jane Dough isn’t careful she may overlook a candidate with better long-term potential in favor of someone who fits the bill right now – putting her future self at a disadvantage.

 

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 she makes beautiful artwork) 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. 

Because Merry Jane is “freedom-focused,” she’ll need a team that allows her to continue working as many or as few hours as she wants to, which means that she’ll have to be flexible with their schedules, too.

 

Pros and cons:

Pro: Merry Jane loves her freedom, so she’ll hire dependable people who can do their jobs without a ton of direction. Con: Loving her freedom can come at a price – Because her business may not be her first priority, communication may slip from time-to-time.  If her team is unclear in what they need to do or if they take too much accountability, this can create problems for Merry Jane.  Pro: Hiring people means that Merry Jane can delegate some of her work and therefore have even greater flexibility. Con: Creating a team also adds responsibility, of which Merry Jane already has plenty – she’ll need to face payroll, meetings, e-mails and phone calls that she didn’t deal with before – and this may mean more administrative work than she anticipated.

 

Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, but who is struggling (a little or a lot) with the business’ financial performance.  As a result, she’s working longer hours and making less money than she’d like. Nevertheless, Tenacity Jane is bound and determined to make her business a success. At 31% of women in business, Tenacity Janes are the largest single group of female entrepreneur.

 

Tenacity Jane’s greatest asset is her attitude. She may feel overwhelmed at times but she keeps on keeping on because she truly believes in the business she’s building and she wants to make it work. As she seeks to hire a team, Tenacity Jane will seek people with great attitudes like her own.

 

Pros and cons:

Pro: Tenacity Jane feels like she can make this work, despite having faced many business challenges – she has a positive, “keep chugging” attitude. Con: When hiring a team, attitude isn’t enough.  Tenacity Jane may be drawn to people who are also enthused about her business, but does she take the time to (and does she know exactly how to) evaluate their skills, experience, and preparedness to do the work at hand? Pro: Tenacity Jane loves her business concept and can see the big vision of what it can someday be, which may include a large team sometime down the road.    Con: Because she is focused on the “ultimate” vision, Tenacity Jane may not map out the path to get there step-by-step.  If this happens, she runs the risk of hiring too many people too soon (and then not being able to retain them) or hiring them in the wrong order to maximize business growth. 

 

Whether hiring a team is strictly business, or it’s a small part of a grand scheme, it’s a big deal. Women entrepreneurs shouldn’t go into it without a solid idea about who to hire, what they’ll do and how they’ll do it – and how all of that will affect the business in the short- and long-term. From Jane Dough to Merry Jane to Tenacity Jane, business owners must get a plan in place before hiring to ensure the step from one-woman-band to marching band sounds great.

 

Interested in learning more about the five Jane types and which Jane you are? Check out www.janeoutofthebox.com

 

Women Entrepreneurs: 5 Tips For Starting Your Home Business

Women entrepreneurs are on the rise despite the rocky, uncertain economy. The Center for Women’s Business Research says that the number of woman-owned businesses continue to grow. If you talk to most of those women they will tell you that being a woman in business is an asset.

Starting a home business is really a great way with which to make your business startup more affordable. Bootstrapping your startup, which simply means financing it yourself, is the quickest way to get your idea off the ground.

Here are five tips to inspire you as you contemplate starting your own small home based business:

1. Create a business plan.

Even if you are not seeking traditional financing, writing even a bare bones business plan will give you a blueprint from which to work.  It will direct you with your planning and help you to manage your expenditures. Taking the time to sit down and map out your ideas will help you to set goals, focus your energy and manage your time.

2. Manage Your Money.

As soon as you launch your business make sure that you have a separate business banking account. If you are not good at handling the books, hire an accountant to set up and handle your business recordkeeping for you.

At the outset look at your expenses and decide how much money you need for the business to generate. Set realistic goals and work towards shattering those goals then follow up by setting even bigger ones.

3. Mentor Coach

If you want your business to grow quickly while avoiding some of the pitfalls that can affect many start ups, seriously consider hiring a coach or finding a mentor. The advice and counsel that they give you should make the expense of hiring them well worth while. Most successful business people have mentors that they can go to for guidance because they have already achieved similar goals and earned the income that you are aiming to achieve.

4. Network like your life depends on it.

Network online using social media websites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to get lots of good exposure for you and your brand online, but don’t neglect the power of in-person networking. Get connected to local small business networking groups in your area and attend their meetings.  

5. Promote, promote, promote!

Use lots of creative ways to promote yourself and your business so that you are in front of your ideal customers every chance you get. A marketing and promotion plan is an integral part of your overall business plan. Don’t indulge in thoughts of being a shy, retiring wall flower because you’ll never attract customers and clients that way. Show the value that you add and be a resource so your ideal customers will seek you out. Constant promotion makes it easier for interested parties to find you.

Women entrepreneurs tend to be resourceful, so try to find a women’s business group to get involved with where you can share ideas and resources with other business women. Take action on these tips today because the world needs what you have to offer right now.

Government of Canada Supports Women Entrepreneurs

Government of Canada Supports Women Entrepreneurs
EDMONTON, ALBERTA– (Marketwire – June 5, 2010) – Women entrepreneurs in Western Canada seeking to grow or expand their businesses will benefit from a federal investment of $544,000 towards an initiative that will facilitate access to domestic and international supply chains.

Read more on Marketwire

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN THE ECONOMIC SCENARIO-CHALLENGES AHEAD

INTRODUCTION:

Women Entrepreneurship is both about Women pose in society and the role of Women Entrepreneurship in the same society. Women are faced with specific obstacles (such as family responsibilities) that have to be overcome in order to give them access to the same opportunities as men. Also, in some countries, women may experience obstacles with respect to holding property and entering contracts. Increased participation of women in the labour force is a prerequisite for improving the position of women in society and self-employed women. 

 The role of Women Entrepreneur needs to be considered in the economic development of the nation for various reasons.

   Women Entrepreneur has been recognized during the last decade as an important untapped source of economic growth. Women Entrepreneurs create new jobs for themselves and others and by being different also provide society with different solutions to management, organization and business problems as well as to the exploitation of Women Entrepreneurial opportunities. However, they still represent a minority of all Women Entrepreneurs. Thus there exists a market failure discriminating against Women possibility to become Women Entrepreneurs and their possibility to become successful Women Entrepreneurs. This market failure needs to be addressed by policy makers so that the economic potential of this group can be fully utilized. While without a doubt the economic impact of women is substantial, we still lack a reliable picture describing in detail that specific impact. Recent efforts initiated by the OECD (1997, 2000) are responses to this lack of knowledge and have focused the attention of policy makers and was on this important topic.

    Women Entrepreneurship has been largely neglected both in society in general and in the social sciences. Not only have women lower participation rates in Women Entrepreneurship than men but they also generally choose to start and manage firms in different industries than men tend to do. The industries (primarily retail, education and other service industries) chosen by women are often perceived as being less important to economic development and growth than high-technology and manufacturing.

    Furthermore, conventional research, policies and Proposals tend to be “men streamed” and too often do not take into account the specific needs of Women Entrepreneurs and would-be Women Entrepreneurs. As a consequence, equal opportunity between men and women from the perspective of Women Entrepreneurship is still not a reality. In order to realize the benefits of policy changes it is important to incorporate a Women Entrepreneurial dimension in considering all SMEs and growth policies (e.g. meeting Women financing needs at all stages of the business continuum; take-up of business development and support services; access to corporate, government and international markets; technology access and utilization; R&D and innovation; etc.). Moreover this means periodically evaluating the impact of these measures on the success of women-owned businesses and exchanging good models and best practices, through cooperation with leading international organizations such as the OECD, European Union, APEC, UNCTAD and the ILO, in order to continually improve policies and Proposals.

Better qualitative information and quantitative data and statistics are required to profile Women Entrepreneurs (demographic information, barriers to start-up and growth). This would also assist in promoting awareness of the role of Women Entrepreneurs in the economy. Using a frame of reference such as that developed in the report could be valuable for the analysis of this information.

It is observed that Women Entrepreneur networks are major sources of knowledge about Women Entrepreneur and they are increasingly recognized as a valuable tool for its development and promotion. Policy makers must foster the networking of associations and encourage co-operation and partnerships among national and international networks and facilitate Women Entrepreneurial endeavors by women in the economy.

The challenge of world class competition and the attempts at globalization and Liberalization has tremendously altered the business environment of firms in India. In contributing to the working of any firm in India, be as a policy maker or as a person doing business with a firm in India or as a marketing practitioner or as an academician, it is important to understand how practically the firms have taken measures to combat the onslaught of these challenges.

What new turns have been made in the actual working system of Women Entrepreneur? In other words, an understanding of the exact nature of the paradigm shifts in small and medium enterprises.

That is, from the point of view of an individual firm in India, how the challenge of the shifting economic environment been perceived and what new efforts have been adopted towards managing these challenges?

From the above passages, it is worthwhile to mention the major recommendations contributed by the researchers from the wide-ranging study about Women Entrepreneur were summarized below:

Increase the ability of women to participate in the labour force by ensuring the availability of affordable child care and equal treatment in the work place. More generally, improving the position of women in society and promoting Women Entrepreneurship generally will have benefits in terms of Women Entrepreneur. Listen to the voice of Women Entrepreneurs. The creation of government offices of Women business ownership is one way to facilitate this. Such offices could have programmed responsibilities such as providing Women business centres, organizing information seminars and meetings and/or providing web-based information to those wanting to start and grow a business. Incorporate a Women Entrepreneurial dimension in the formation of all SME-related policies. This can be done by ensuring that the impact on Women Entrepreneur is taken into account at the design stage. Promote the development of Women Entrepreneur networks. These are major sources of knowledge about Women Entrepreneur and valuable tools for its development and promotion. Co-operation and partnerships between national and international networks can facilitate Women Entrepreneurial endeavors by women in a global economy. Periodically evaluate the impact of any SME-related policies on the success of women-owned businesses and the extent to which such businesses take advantage of them. The objective should be to identify ways to improve the effectiveness of those that should be retained. Good practices that are identified in this way should be disseminated and shared internationally. Improve the factual and analytical underpinnings of our understanding of the role of Women Entrepreneurs in the economy. This requires strengthening the statistical basis for carrying out gender-related cross-country comparative analyses and longitudinal studies of the impact of important developments and policies, especially over time. Women Entrepreneur is dependent on both demand side (political and institutional framework, family policy and market sources) and supply side factors (the availability of suitable individuals to occupy Women Entrepreneurial roles). Women Entrepreneur depends on both the situation of women in society and the role of Women Entrepreneurship in that same society. Both the factors that affect the gender system and the factors that affect Women Entrepreneurship in society are involved.

 

CONCLUSION:

In a nutshell, the Specific obstacles to Women Entrepreneur are: type of education, lack of role models in Women Entrepreneurship, gendering of Women Entrepreneurship, weak social status, competing demands on time and access to finance. Hence ,Women Entrepreneur must be examined both at the individual level (i.e. the choice of becoming self-employed) and at the firm level (the performance of women owned and managed firms) in order to fully understand the differences between men and Women Entrepreneur, since they play an effective role for contribuing a mite to the economic development of the country.

 

 

 

 

How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business Success

Product Description
Redefining power and the nature of success for the 21st century.

The numbers are staggering. Between 1997 and 2004, privately held, women-owned businesses grew at three times the rate of all American privately held firms; women’s companies are creating jobs at twice the rate of all firms; women’s companies are growing profits faster than all firms. Five-time CEO and contributor to Real Business and Fast Company Margaret Heffernan asks, Why are these women so successful?

In How She Does It, Heffernan finds a striking congruence between the things that women excel at and the demands of the new economy. After interviewing hundreds of women running businesses of all sizes and in all markets, she discovers a few attributes that hold true across the board. Women have a tremendous need to achieve. Women don’t feel they have a safety net or can turn back. They are smart about markets and timing. They practice diversity. They place values at the heart of their business and take culture very seriously. And women work from a different concept of power than men. The result is a unique style of leadership that challenges conventional wisdom: Soft skills are getting hard results. This is an inspiring workplace manifesto that reveals a new standard of excellence, a new way for any company to get from good to great that is fast becoming the new norm.

Buy from Amazon –> How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business Success

Next Page »