Got a lot of questions about running your business? Who do you turn to? Business can be tough and getting the right solutions can be really time-consuming.
At Females in Food we speak to a lot of women in business who are all at different stages of their business journey. Some are at seed stage, whilst others are at build and grow. One thing they all have in common is, they find business overwhelming!
***Running a business is hard work but (this is the good news)… Don’t give up, this is the era for female entrepreneurialism.***
Did you know startup teams that include women have substantially better returns than male-only ones?
Try some of these simple measures to help you make your business life just that bit easier.
- Plan your year; from the outset, if you know what your main priorities are, despite the likelihood of you getting off course, remind yourself of the big ticket items you want to work on this year.
- Plan your week; start the week with a plan that is realistic. Write it down in a place that you easily access.
- Know your vital signs; Measure key metrics in your business from the beginning and refer to them often. Share these with your team so they know what they are working towards. Measuring vital signs, or key performance indicators will help with the overwhelm. Coming out of vagueness is an indication of a healthy work practice.
- Use the pomodoro timer to time yourself. For those who tend to work for too long on a project (perfectionists), the pomodoro timer will help move you on from over investing in tasks and for those of you who are easily distracted, the pomodoro timer will keep you focused.
- Know your customer from your client. Who do you sell to? Who do your customers sell to? You must know the difference and you must know where they all look for information so you can ‘hang out’ in those places!
- Pay yourself a wage; does this one scare you? As women, we often put others before ourselves. We give and give and give until we’re burnt out and resentful. Don’t do this anymore. Pay yourself, no matter how small, but do it as soon as you can even if it means accounting for a wage on paper that you may not actually receive, at least that way you know how much the company has to turn over to support you.
Business and entrepreneurialism is not for the faint hearted, but it can also be very rewarding. Women in business are shining more brightly than ever before right now and that means you can too. March on sister and let your light shine brightly.
Share your comments below, we’d love to hear how you are growing your dream business.
The Females in Food team