Women Entrepreneurs Must Tell Their Story
Posted by Vicki Donlan on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 @ 03:27 PM
Every individual has a story - where they started, what they did to move forward and how they see the future playing out. We envision our lives with definite relationships and economic lifestyles. Often we talk a lot about wanting more - money, comforts, personal relationships, power. Most often we do nothing about taking the necessary steps to produce the change we say we want.
Women entrepreneurs, particularly, need to write and tell their story. Why? Because every time a woman speaks up about how she did it, another woman has the opportunity to relate and think about how she will walk in her shoes. The stories of women in business aren't talked about often enough. Many women's conferences provide the opportunity for women to share their business stories and I have personally witnessed the power that comes from women being honest about their successes and failures. Yes, telling the story of how you failed is a big lesson learned for a budding woman entrepreneur who has been told that women have earned their way to the top and have all the advantages to get there. The truth is every women entrepreneur will make mistakes just as entrepreneurs of both genders have made throughout history. Making mistakes, suffering failures is all part of the entrepreneurial experience. If you never fail you haven't tried hard enough or risked enough.
But the purpose of telling your story goes beyond mentoring the next generation of women entrepreneurs. Telling your story allows you to focus on how you envision yourself in your own script. Think of it as your movie -- you are the star - a woman in small business working each day to move ahead winning one new customer at a time and building the type of company you want to lead.
Please -- don't dismiss this idea of creating a vision of who you are as a leader in a small business that provides products and/or services to people waiting to be served. The story of how you build an organization that matters and has an impact on the community you serve is valuable to YOU and to other WOMEN who are lucky enough to learn from you.
In small business, we all need to believe that we can succeed. Having role models and mentors and examples of stories that inspire us is what keeps entrepreneurs of both genders going. For women entrepreneurs, the stories are limited so it is up to those of us who have done it to keep telling our stories for others to follow.
I hope you'll share your story with me in a comment below. I salute women entrepreneurs every day and believe that we each have a story to tell.
