Over the last decade, women entrepreneurs have started twice as many businesses as men, employing 7.8 million people, Yet only 3% of women entrepreneurs reach one million dollars in revenue.
Last week’s Million Dollar Women Summit brought together 150 women entrepreneurs, 25 female founder coaches, and 5 compelling panelists, all with one mission: to help bring one million women to one million dollars in revenue by 2020.
ImageThink co-founder Heather Willems joined an incredible line up of entrepreneurs to discuss business ideas for women what it takes to start and run a business. Read on for highlights from the discussion.
Learn How You Work Best
When it comes to deciding whether to start a business start up solo or with a partner, take time to reflect on who you are. Are you a collaborator, or do you work best alone? If you do decide to work alongside someone else, be sure to find someone whose strengths and weaknesses balance your own.
Crystallize Your Vision— and Communicate it Clearly
To move from idea to action, you need to have a clear vision of your goals, your target audience, and the exact value your company will provide. Spending the time to map each of these out as clearly as possible will help you convince the world—and your team—that what your business start up is doing matters.
Use real-world data, visual analogies, and visual storytelling to communicate your point in a compelling, human way.
Having trouble crystallizing your vision? Check out Draw Your Big Idea and learn how visual thinking can help you make the move from inspiration to action.
Make a Connection and Close the Deal
You could have the most innovative ideas; your product could be the disruptor the market has been waiting for. But without a sales strategy, it won’t do your startup company much good.
Learn to ask the right questions of your clients, and truly listen to their responses. Are they signaling a need that you can address? Is there a way to tailor the way you speak about your work to their interests? What challenges are they facing that you alone can help them solve?
Finally, don’t forget to follow up. Don’t be afraid to use unconventional methods to reach out. Humor and physical mail can help nurture a long-term connection with your clients, and could lead to more work down the road.
Missed the Million Dollar Women Summit? Don’t worry! You can catch Nora and Heather at these upcoming speaking engagements:
- Professional Women in Healthcare, Friday March 31st, hosted by Matchstick LLC.
- LEAD: The Most Powerful Women In Banking, May 24th.
