Push Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zone

This is a very wild, run-on article!  The key points made within it are based on the recent Women in Technology Leadership and Entrepreneurship Forum RISE (Relationship & Information Series for Entrepreneurs).

Women entrepreneurs must stop hanging back, letting fear win, believing that being partners and parents precludes them from being successful business owners.  They must push themselves to create businesses with scaleable ideas that can grow into multimillion or billion dollar companies.

Read the entire article:  Women in Tech Must Push Relentlessly to Succeed

Photo courtesy:  Wolfgang Lonien

Eric Chats with Sheryl

Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.
Author Sheryl Sandberg in Conversation with Eric Schmidt

Related article:  Leap In!

Building Beyond the Glass Ceiling

In this post, find out the top U.S. cities for women entrepreneurs (San Francisco and Seattle, for example) and catch a wonderful infographic that includes seven tips for future women entrepreneurs.

Two important steps to successfully starting up are finding a mentor and building a network of fellow female entrepreneurs that you can turn to for advice and referrals. Launching a business in a city with a thriving community of women entrepreneurs is a good place to start.

Photo courtesy:  ericskiff

Leap In!

I just love the article below by Dr. Candida Brush, professor at Babson College.  It's about Cheryl Sandberg's new expression, or book, if you will, "Lean In," which inspires women leaders to move forward in their careers, pursue opportunities and actively accept responsibilities.

Dr. Brush challenges the theory of "leaning in" for women in the workforce by saying it may not be enough for women entrepreneurs.  She goes on further to say:

In fact, they need to “leap in."  It is impossible to be an entrepreneur by leaning- you have to commit, take risks and take action.

Read the entire fabulous article:  "Leaning In is Not Enough:  Women Entrepreneurs Need to "Leap In"

Photo courtesy:  Foxtongue

Easily Bored? Try Entrepreneurship!

Successful entrepreneurs are often a lot alike. Some characteristics of an entrepreneur include being ambitious, outgoing, creative, enthusiastic, energetic and yes, easily bored.  Is that you?  Then you might be wired for entrepreneurship.

There are some characteristics that specifically describe a personality type which many entrepreneurs have (e.g., Bono, John F. Kennedy, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Steven Spielberg and Donald Trump).  It’s called the Davinci personality type.

Read the entire article (including a neat infographic):  9 Characteristics of an Entrepreneur:  Recognize Some of Them?

Photo courtesy:  Noise Photography

How to Pitch Your Ideas

Let's say you came up with a new idea for paint that is temperature resistant and environmentally safe (the ladder in the photo could use it).  How would you pitch your idea to VCs?  According to Ivo Lukas's article, "Women Entrepreneurs:  Pitch Your Idea:"

Whether you are bootstrapping or pitching to get VC/angel investors, you must keep in mind two things about your business pitch: keep your story simple and sweet. I've been asked lately about what the top "must haves" for women are when pitching their businesses and/or ideas. There have to be some formulas for success, right? As women in a male-dominated industry, we should be sharing these trade secrets with each other!

Read the entire article here.

Photo courtesy:  ©2013 Laurel Delaney.  All rights reserved.  "Chicago lakefront 4/13/13"

Steady As She Goes

According to "The Slow and Steady Approach to Entrepreneurship," you don't need to be an overnight success to become an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship requires a more slow and steady approach.  Start with building a solid skill set early on.

Is that what you have found works too?  I welcome hearing from you!