The Top 3 Challenges Every Female Founder Faces
I chose to specialise in coaching female founders as there are challenges specific to being a woman in business which, naturally, I have experienced and therefore can help others through.
I decided to retrain in personal performance coaching through The Coaching Academy, develop my business, and ultimately leave my employed role in IT sales when I started my family, as I knew I would need the freedom and flexibility that comes from being able to manage your own time. When I had a promotion that was promised to me retracted, I knew it was time to be my own boss and take charge of my own destiny.
Initially, I juggled my employed role part-time whilst studying for my diploma (and looking after my toddler son). Then, late in 2019 at the end of my second maternity leave I finally took the leap, handed in my notice, and launched my business. However, we all know what happened during March of 2020… There I was, suddenly a full-time mother to my little boys, who were four and one at the time, with my dreams of growing my business slipping away.
In hindsight, the pandemic forced me to slow down, enabled me to hone my business niche, and to do some further training. It also helped me to understand what I now believe is the most important skill or attribute in business – resilience.
Now, over nine years since starting my training, I have been reflecting on the main challenges that I see with my 1-2-1 clients, during my group workshops, and in my WIBN (Women In Business Network) events, and I see the same issues come up time and again, so I thought I would share them here with you in the hope that they will help you to get unstuck and enjoying your business again!
So here they are, my ‘Top 3’:
1. Overwhelm
I see this all the time, whether the founder has been in business for eight months or 18 years, the feeling that there is simply too much to do and not enough time, strikes us all.
In the beginning, we always try to ‘wear all of the hats’ – we’re the Sales Director, the Marketing Director, the IT Director, the Finance Director, so when are we actually “in” our business doing what we do best – serving our clients?
And then, there’s what to prioritise and how to know what’s most important. And then you have everyone on the Internet shouting about their quick fixes and the fastest way to £10K months, but who’s to know who to listen to?!
My Tips:
Create space – slow down in order to speed up
Write things down – there is no more effective a tool than a mind map for ordering your thoughts, so grab those Sharpies and a big piece of paper and get those thoughts and ideas out of your head!
Begin with the resources you have available to you now – use your strengths, start with what you know best, and niche your business as soon as you can
2. Time
This is a big one. I haven’t met a business owner or working mother yet who feels like they have enough of it. We move through life saying things like, “There are just never enough hours in the day!” - dashing from one thing to the next, never feeling like we’re on top of things, and often at the mercy of other people’s demands.
My Tips:
You need to get clear on your goals, clarify the major milestones you need to hit to reach them, and then break those down into small steps
Work on developing your confidence around filtering your tasks down, only working on activities that support the achievement of your goals, and delegating or ditching the rest
Create time by removing unnecessary busywork from your day-to-day and block time in your calendar for the important things
3. Mindset
You can have all the strategy in the world, but if you are holding yourself back or getting in your own way, you can’t make progress!
Lacking confidence? Feeling like you’ll never be as successful as others in your industry? Or that you don’t have enough skills or knowledge yet? Struggling to stay motivated? Join the club. Every business owner will feel like this at one time or another, but you can get past it!
My Tips:
Confidence is gained by taking consistent action, so follow the tips in the section above to break down your goals into smaller tasks and move forward with purpose and JFDI!
Develop self-awareness and watch out for that cruel inner critic. Learn to spot this voice and work on reframing the message to something more positive
Build in time for daily reflection – what’s working? What’s not working? What can you do differently tomorrow?
The truth is that we have all experienced these challenges in our business, whether we are at the beginning of our journey or further down the line. The difference with more tenured business owners is that they learnt from their many failures and have gained the resources they need to quickly move past setbacks.
They have typically developed a supportive network of peers and service providers and will be working with a coach or mentor to help them to get to where they want to go quicker than if they were to go it alone.
Would you like some support in working through the above challenges? Would you like to clarify your goals and learn how to prioritise? Would you like to feel less overwhelmed and back in control? Would you like to feel less like an imposter and more like the passionate, motivated business owner that you are?
I will be teaching all of this and more at my upcoming ‘Get Set for Success’ group workshop – follow this link to find out all the details, including how to book.
In the meantime, good luck and, above all, enjoy the process!
Vicki Messenger helps empower aspiring and early-stage female founders to confidently create, launch and grow lasting and fulfilling businesses. You can find out more about Vicki’s services, along with more articles and heaps of complementary resources at www.vickimessenger.com.
Have you grabbed your copy of my FREE e-book: “What I wish I knew…” – Pearls of Wisdom from 10 Incredible Women in Business yet? It’s packed full of insider secrets, outstanding advice, and pure business gold that will help to inspire you on your business journey, whatever stage you are at.
Interested in networking locally in the Thames Valley or online with like-minded women in business? Take a look at my events right here: WIBN (Women In Business Network)
