The Challanges and opportunities of beeing a women entrepreneur

I do not want to take the hopes out of all of you thinking you want to start up something, continue with your dream but try to be realistic. You need to consider the following actions to get you pass the roadblocks that will try to hinder your dream.

1.Sell, sell and sell. First of all get clients/customers to your idea. Never forget to sell and learn from the best. Who do you admire, observe them. Take an online course in selling or read books and go out and try it. Remember that a no is the second best thing to yes. Remember good sellers have 2 ears and one mouth.
2. Get an office, do not think that beeing an entrepreneur from home is a great idea. Office space is available from excisting networks, also funded by government funding or investment fund. An Office enhances yourself impression that you are a business women and fills your calender with a mandatory task.  Then consider carefully what kind of office-space you are looking for. Should it offer access to money, market, advisors? How about commuting distance? And finally do also have an office-space at home offering you the flexibility.
3.Build a brand. In todays business climate, a brand is everything. Abrand is a name with a visual expression (colors and fonts), and you must protect your brand both by legal ways but also by using it in your signature, presentations and through this leaving traces.
4.Get mentors and advisors from the start. You should always register your company as a real company, and this gives you tools to put together a formal network of advisors to your company. You need people to the board, and ask the best, most will accept sharing your sucess through small owner stakes as their fee. Also requesting mentorship from people you admire is often returned postive if you ask for an advice over lunch.
5. Get a role in networks. All industries have their networks and they are looking for women. Do not wait to be asked, offer yourself as an available resource with capabilities.
6. Keep your household in your company tidy, and buy help for this. Your accountant is also your best advisor.

Att välja Väg, or why make a choice that matters

I have the opportunity to in a frequent manner attend conferences focusing on the opportunity or challenges for women. When the domain of researchers are present, it is ok to focus on the challenges and be honest but not discuss so much actions and solutions. Researchers leave that to the politicans or us in the industry. When the conference domain is women in industries or students, the guiding is to focus on the opportunity and the benefit of choosing different. However right now (12th and 13th of august) I am attending a conference  Att Välje Väg http://www.fanny.ax/, with a mixed domain, and hence and interesting conversation is building up.
1. You do make choices, even if you don't.
2. Genus matter, and in entrpreneurship the male genus is dominant, even if women have been entrpreneurs always.
3. If your mother has  been a positive strong role model, making her choices, you will tend to do the same.
4. If your environment is expecting of you as a women to choose, you will make a choice.

Reflecting on my present homebase beeing Accenture, I can see the same pattern. The few women making it to the top I tend to observe have often strong mothers and environments from their families expecting.  Then we in Accenture still have a road to travel to set straigth our expectations, not only the outspoken one but the once communicated in our environment through the informal channels.

And I do believe expectations are everything. So request expectations from your environment to move upwards and building business. Then make your choices that matters for you and the one you care for.