THE PRACTICAL STEPS TO BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS WOMAN

     Have you ever wondered if your business is going to be successful as a female? Or have you been pondering on what makes a successful business woman? Well, being a successful business woman means more than just having customers and money. Though the sole aim of establishing a business is to make profit out of the services rendered, it takes a lot of rigorous and frustrating work to be done in other to create a balance on how to make money and satisfy customers as well as satisfying self. Why do you want to become an entrepreneur? This is a very good question that you should answer to help you stay motivated and focused on your goal. Being a business owner comes with a number of challenges and responsibilities, and the road to success won’t be easy all the time.

Success in today’s competitive business landscape is highly dependent on having a strong mindset — starting from eliminating the thought that women are the weaker sex to being confident in your entrepreneurial skills.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS WOMAN?

This question has been thrown at me by a lot of female folks who are entrepreneurs. These ladies are excited about going into business; they want to know if they have a fair chance if there go out there trying to make money in the business world (a field dominated by men). Well, in answer to the question above it takes nothing special to become a successful business woman. Regardless of age, gender, race, religion or nationality; the principles for success in entrepreneurship remains the same.

      Establishing a successful business as a woman can be very tasking. Becoming a successful business woman like the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Jenny Craig, Arianna Huffington, Mary Kay Ash and a host of others will require a lot and I will be sharing a few practical steps to help you in your journey to attaining the status of a successful business woman.

1. PERSONAL ASSESSMENT!

Personal assessment is at the apex of things to be done before venturing in to business as a woman. Ask yourself questions like; what can I really offer as service that can bring money? Is this what I really want to do? How can I balance this business with my current job? Can I really cope with doing business and taking care of the family? When you have found convincing answers to this questions and you still want to do the business then it’s perfect to go on.

 2. LEARN ABOUT BUSINESS!

Being ready to learn and grow in business is pivotal to achieving success. As a female, learning about business can occur in different forms, it can be from a mentor, business schools or even from personal experience.

     Having a mentor who will offer constructive guidance is a proven form of learning about business. Your mentor should be someone you look up to, someone who has done what you wish to do. It is necessary to trust and confide in your mentor and also be humble and willing to take advice. This will help you get better view of the type of business you wish to establish and aid your self assessment to confirm if that is really what you wish to do.

  Aside learning from a mentor, a successful business woman must be willing to learn and ensure growth in various learning curves she will navigate.

3. DEVELOP GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS

As a business woman aiming for success, developing a good communication skill is very vital. it doesn’t matter how business savvy she thinks she is, Good communication skill should be developed in writing and speaking, this will enable you to be able to convince investors when writing proposals and customers to believe in what you are bringing to the table. 

Even though one can be represented in meetings and business calls or even write business proposals, no one does it better than the owner of the business so it is necessary to develop this skills even if it requires to hire a language coach to help improve vocabulary and grammar speaking. Naturally, females are blessed with a soft and calm tone, developing an even better communication skill helps attracts more customers to your business.

4. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

Naturally, women are known for underestimating their abilities, it is vital to believe in you as it is a fundamental key to success in business. Develop a self confidence as this will help you in convincing investors and customers on what exceptional services you have to offer. You must believe in yourself. Else, no one will believe in your product or services and in you.

Without self belief your employees will lack the motivation to carry out their duties effectively and convincing investors will be another problem. Lack of self belief leads to crumbling of many business establishments. 

5. HAVE A MINDSET ORIENTATION!

A successful business is dependent on the mindset, on which it was established. To become a successful business woman you must have a business oriented mindset, you must be ready to tackle everything that comes your way, not letting anything go as being too difficult. Find solutions to all problems surrounding your business.

 6. HAVE A MISSION

The question “why am I starting this business? Must be answered and the answer tend to be the mission of that business. All successful business women in the world today identified the mission of their businesses that’s why they blossom today. The mission of a business tends to determine if the business will prosper or fail so it is very necessary to state clear a mission of a business. For example, don't just jump into crypto because everyone is doing it.

Have a good knowledge about your business plan first.

7. EXPECT AND BE WILLING TO FAIL!

Don’t expect a smooth running in a business; business comes with a lot of ups and downs. Business itself is a risk, but a risk worth taking so whenever you fail trying to deliver, don’t give up rather try to improve and make sure you deliver better in the next opportunity. 

To become a successful business woman you have to be ready to fail because successful business women do not give a damn if they fail rather they keep failing and standing up to win.

8. READ ABOUT SUCCESFFUL BUSINESS WOMEN!

Reading stories of successful business women will arm you with inspiration to motivate you into utilizing your own abilities because, without believing you are capable you can’t be successful in business.

Many business men and women have attest to the fact that reading about successful business women like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey to mention a few have helped them in their journey. It is important to stay motivated always. 

At the end of this post I will be showing you a few business women who have inspired us greatly and I'm sure you will be inspired too.

9. TAKE THE STEP OF STARTING A BUSINESS!

It all boils down to this, starting a business is a step towards you successful business woman status. This step separates you from numerous women who wish to be the next Oprah Winfrey and her likes, you can’t be day dreaming of becoming a successful business woman and wake up to it actualization you have to start somewhere with or without resources, just start something with the minuets of resources available.

Don’t let those ideas of yours vanish make use of it and start something now.

10. MANAGE YOUR TIME!

Business women are faced with many responsibilities ranging from taking care of the family, their self and making sure the customers are satisfied, effective time management skill needs to be mastered in order to meet up with all this. Also the act of delegation can be effective in helping to overcome all time induced huddles.

11. DEVELOP THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE

Remember, your customers are the reason why you are in the business so whatever you do should be centered on satisfying the customer. Do not look down on any customer regardless of the amount of the product he purchase or consumes, be nice to every customer. It is in the nature of women in business to be nicer than the male counterparts so it is an advantage already so deliver a customer service that will make a new customer to want to come back to you next time.

12. APPLY ALL STEPS

All the steps listed here are practical proven, starting a business is the most important but applying all this processes will help your business last. Many businesses start well and along the way they fall because the dedication that the owner put in at the beginning faded so dedication is key to a successful business.

I want to assure you that if you are dedicated and you apply all this steps, you will reach the apex of successful business women.

LIST OF SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS WOMEN IN THE WORLD.

1. Ibukun Awosika

 

Ibukun Awosika is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, author, mother, and pastor. She is a survivor and has set a standard for young women in Africa! Ibukun has shown that “What a man can do, a woman can do even better” by succeeding in the furniture industry; an industry dominated by male folks. Ibukun Awosika has a few 1st’s, one of which is that she is the first female Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria.

Ibukun Awosika was born on the 24th of December, 1962 to Mr. Abdulmashood Adekola and Hannah Aduke Adekola. She is the 3rd child of seven children and hails from Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

She attended St. Paul African Church Primary School and Methodist Girl’s High School, Yaba, Lagos State. Ibukun Awosika has a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Obafemi Awolowo University and holds a post graduate certificate and MBA from Lagos Business School and I.E.S.E Business School respectively.

She is happily married to Abiodun Awosika and they are blessed with three children; Oludola, Olafusika, and Olamiposi. Her husband, Abiodun Awosika is the CEO of Excel Exploration & Production Company Limited.

Ibukun Awosika wanted to be many things while growing up, from an architect to a lawyer and an accountant lol. While studying chemistry at Obafemi Awolowo University, she desperately wanted to be a Lawyer and did everything to get into Law. When that did not work out, she decided she was going to be an accountant and started attending accounting classes while in the university studying chemistry.

After school, Ibukun Awosika started out as an Audit Trainee at Akintola Williams & Co (now Deloitte) as a corp member. She then discovered that she was not cut out to be an accountant; dusting and carrying files around. Her creative and hyperactive personality will not allow her to subject herself to a life of routine. For that, she left Akintola Williams & Co despite being offered a permanent employment opportunity.

She found a job as a showroom manager at Alibert Nigeria Limited. While at the job, she discovered she had a thing for architecture as she imagined all the things she could do to a space with furniture. This made her venture out on her own after spending a little over three months at Alibert Nigeria Limited.

~ ibukun Awosika's portfolio ~

Quebees Limited – a furniture manufacturing company established in 1989 was Ibukun’s baby. Quebees Limited has since evolved into The Chair Centre Limited and SOKOA Chair Centre Limited. SOKOA Chair Centre Limited is a merger between SOKOA S.A of France, Guaranty Trust Bank, The Chair Limited and Other stakeholders in the furniture industry. SOKOA Chair Centre Limited was created in 2014 due to the federal government’s ban on the importation of furniture items in 2014. She needed the merger which was successful to produce locally.

She is CEO/founder of The Chair Centre Group which have sub-companies. The companies are The Chair Centre Limited, SOKOA Chair Centre, Furniture Manufacturers Mart Limited and TCC System & Service Limited. The Chair Centre Group are involved in furniture manufacturing, retail and bank way system services. She has an estimated net worth of $18.6 million dollars.

Our renowned entrepreneur is a TV personality and hosts a programme on television “Business His Way.” She is also the author of “Business His Way” and “The “Girl” Entrepreneurs”.

We strongly recommend you read books by this courageous woman, that is why we have provided links to easily purchase her book:

Beyond her career success, Ibukun is a pastor at the Fountain of Life Church and she established the Christian Missionary Fund which is dedicated to raising support for christian missionaries across the country. She is undoubtedly a woman of many talents, she featured in the movie "Citation".

2. Mary Kay Ash

Mary Kay Ash started her own cosmetics company, Mary Kay Inc., in 1963, using incentive programs and other strategies to give her employees the chance to benefit from their achievements. Mary Kay's marketing skills and people savvy soon led her company to enormous success.

Business leader and entrepreneur Mary Kathlyn Wagner was born on May 12, 1918, in Hot Wells, Texas. Ash was a pioneer for women in business, building a substantial cosmetics empire. In 1939, Ash became as a salesperson for Stanley Home Products, hosting parties to encourage people to buy household items. She was so good at making the sale that she was hired away by another company, World Gifts, in 1952. Ash spent a little more than a decade at the company, but she quit in protest after watching yet another man that she had trained get promoted above her and earn a much higher salary than hers.

After her bad experiences in the traditional workplace, Ash set out to create her own business at the age of 45. She started with an initial investment of $5,000 in 1963. She purchased the formulas for skin lotions from the family of a tanner who created the products while he worked on hides. With her son, Richard Rogers, she opened a small store in Dallas and had nine salespeople working for her. Today there are more than 1.6 million salespeople working for Mary Kay Inc. around the world.

The company turned a profit in its first year and sold close to $1 million in products by the end of its second year driven by Ash's business acumen and philosophy. The basic premise was much like the products she sold earlier in her career. Her cosmetics were sold through at-home parties and other events. But Ash strove to make her business different by employing incentive programs and not having sales territories for her representatives. She believed in the golden rule "treat others as you want to be treated," and operated by the motto: God first, family second and career third.

Ash wanted everyone in the organization to have the opportunity to benefit from their successes. Sales representatives — Ash called them consultants — bought the products from May Kay at wholesale prices and then sold them at retail price to their customers. They could also earn commissions from new consultants that they had recruited.

All of her marketing skills and people savvy helped make Mary Kay Cosmetics a very lucrative business. The company went public in 1968, but it was bought back by Ash and her family in 1985 when the stock price took a hit. The business itself remained successful and now annual sales exceed $2.2 billion, according to the company's website.

At the heart of this profitable organization was Ash's enthusiastic personality. She was known for her love of the color pink and it could be found everywhere, from the product packaging to the Cadillacs she gave away to top-earning consultants each year. She seemed to sincerely value her consultants, and once said "People are a company's greatest asset."

Her approach to business attracted a lot of interest. She was admired for her strategies and the results they achieved. She wrote several books about her experiences, including Mary Kay: The Success Story of America's Most Dynamic Businesswoman (1981), Mary Kay on People Management (1984) and Mary Kay: You Can Have It All (1995).

We strongly advice you read books by this brilliant business woman if you wish to attain such level of success.

Here are links to easily access Mary Kay's books here

3. Diane Hendricks

Diane Hendricks is the co-founder and chair of ABC Supply Co. Inc. As of 2015, she was ranked number 159 on Forbes list of the richest people in America, and she has served on the boards of several charities and civic organizations. She has supported Republican candidates and officials such as Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker (R), Senator Ron Johnson (R) and Representative Paul Ryan (R).

Diane Hendricks co-founded American Builders and Contractors Supply (ABC Supply Co. Inc.) with her late husband Ken Hendricks in 1982. ABC Supply Co. Inc. is based in Beloit, Wis., and, according to its website, "is the largest wholesale distributor of roofing in the United States and one of the nation’s largest distributors of siding, windows, and other select exterior building products." In 2015, Forbes ranked Hendricks number 159 on their "Forbes 400 Richest People in America" list and she ranked second on their "America's Richest Self-Made Women" list. According to her profile at Hendricks Holding Co., Inc., her investment and business development group, all of her pursuits "are guided by her strong patriotic and conservative values."

4. Marian Ilitch

Marian Ilitch is a leading entrepreneur in the food, sports and entertainment industries. As a first-generation American, the daughter of Macedonian immigrants raised on grit and hard work, Marian has been recognized as one of the most successful businesswomen in the country.

Marian started out in the food business as a young girl filling napkin containers and salt and pepper shakers in her father’s restaurant. She graduated from Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan, and attended Dearborn Community College where she studied liberal arts and completed an accounting course.

Marian’s first paying job was at SS Kresge in Dearborn. Before marrying her husband and lifetime business partner, Mike Ilitch (1929-2017), Marian worked as a reservation clerk for Delta Airlines in Detroit – Mike’s hometown. She was captured by the hustle and bustle of working downtown during Detroit’s prime.

Marian was a full-time mother until after her and Mike’s third child was born. The couple then invested their family savings to open their own business – a single Little Caesars pizza shop in Garden City, Michigan.

Working hand-in-hand, Marian and Mike grew a single, family-owned Little Caesars pizza store in Metro Detroit into the third largest pizza chain in the world with stores in more than 27 countries and territories worldwide, including in each of the 50 U.S. states.

Avid hockey fans, Marian and Mike turned the downtrodden Detroit Red Wings franchise into a hockey powerhouse after purchasing the team in 1982. Under their ownership, the Red Wings have won 19 divisional championships, six President’s Trophies, six Campbell Bowls and four Stanley Cups.

Channeling the love she developed for Detroit as a young professional, Marian became a pioneer in the redevelopment of downtown Detroit when she and Mike purchased the Fox theatre in 1987 at a time when most businesses were fleeing the city. They restored the neglected theatre to its original 1928 splendor and a year later moved their business headquarters to the adjacent office building.

With a reputation as a dynamic force in the entertainment industry, Marian invested in Detroit’s MotorCity Casino in 1999 when the Detroit market introduced three temporary casinos. In 2005, she became sole owner of the casino and soon embarked on a $300 million expansion and renovation project to add a luxury hotel, spa, conference center, several new restaurants, an 1,800-seat theatre and a permanent gaming area. The expanded MotorCity Casino Hotel was completed in 2008.

Today, the Ilitch organization is developing The District Detroit, a dynamic urban destination that provides a dense neighborhood experience featuring a variety of developments alongside Detroit's premier sports and entertainment venues. This includes the new highly innovative and state-of-the-art Little Caesars Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons, and the recipient of the 2018 Sports Facility of the Year award, presented by Sports Business Journal. Before her death in 2017, her networth was estimated at $2.4 billion by Forbes.

5. Oprah Winfrey

You can't spell the words 'Successful business woman' without mentioning Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah Winfrey is a talk show host, media executive, actress and billionaire philanthropist. She’s best known for being the host of her own, wildly popular program, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired for 25 seasons, from 1986 to 2011. In 2011, Winfrey launched her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

Born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, Winfrey moved to Baltimore in 1976, where she hosted People Are Talking. Afterward, she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show. 

In 1971, Winfrey entered Tennessee State University. She began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville.

In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she hosted the TV chat show People Are Talking. The show became a hit and Winfrey stayed with it for eight years, after which she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show, A.M. Chicago.

Her major competitor in the time slot was Phil Donahue. Within several months, Winfrey's open, warm-hearted personal style had won her 100,000 more viewers than Donahue and had taken her show from last place to first in the ratings.

Winfrey launched The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986 as a nationally syndicated program that ran for 25 years, until 2011. With its placement on 120 channels and an audience of 10 million people, the show grossed $125 million by the end of its first year, of which Winfrey received $30 million.

She soon gained ownership of the program from ABC, drawing it under the control of her new production company, Harpo Productions ('Oprah' spelled backwards) and making more and more money from syndication.

In 1994, with talk shows becoming increasingly trashy and exploitative, Winfrey pledged to keep her show free of tabloid topics. Although ratings initially fell, she earned the respect of her viewers and was soon rewarded with an upsurge in popularity.

Projects with Harpo have included the highly-rated 1989 TV miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place, in which Winfrey also starred.

In 2004, Winfrey signed a new contract to continue The Oprah Winfrey Show through the 2010-11 season. At the time, the syndicated show was seen on nearly 212 U.S. stations and in more than 100 countries worldwide.

In 2009, Winfrey announced that she would be ending her program when her contract with ABC ended, in 2011.

IN CONCLUSION,

Today, gender equality is one of the most popular topics worldwide, and gender equality in the business landscape is no exception to the rule. The business landscape is still primarily dominated by men, which sometimes makes it difficult for women to stand out. However, the gender war is really something you shouldn’t let yourself be influenced by.

You want to become a successful entrepreneur because you have the skills and motivation to do it, not because you have something to prove to male entrepreneurs. No matter the gender, both women and men can achieve success in business, so you shouldn’t let yourself be distracted by gender stigmas. Check out this article on "business issues entrepreneurs face". 

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