Give Women Business Owners What They Need

Covid-19 has exposed the deep inequities women business owners continue to face, despite the economic dynamism they contribute to our country.

Women-run businesses make up 40 percent of all businesses in the country and their revenues invigorate our local economies. Last year alone women-owned businesses generated $1 trillion in revenues.

Winter has come and the crisis is far from over.  Let's give women business owners what they need.

Draw On Your Backup Plan

The U.S. recently broke a single-day record, with more than 160,000 new coronavirus cases. California became the second state with more than one million confirmed cases, joining Texas. And perilously, more Americans are now being hospitalized for Covid-19 than at any other point during the pandemic.

What's in store for small businesses?  A lot of uncertainty continues in the weeks and months ahead.  Draw on your backup plan:  new product or service launch, different strategy, more competitive pricing.  Whatever it takes to finish strong, do it.

Plot Your Company's Strategy in COVID Era and Beyond

Christian Stadler writes about strategy for Forbes and says, "If companies take an honest look at their strategic plans last year, how many factored in COVID-19?"  He goes on to say, "AI and forecasting work well for existing customers and markets in stable environments. Regardless of whether we get a vaccine or not, the era we are entering now is not one of them."

Read on to learn 3 ways Stadler believes a world characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) calls for new ways to plot the future.

Build Resilience

A recent report by the Entrepreneurs Network, in conjunction with Barclays, shows that female-founded equity-backed businesses were twice as likely to have faced significant disruptions — such closed premises or a delayed product launch — than businesses founded by men.

"If we want a complete recovery from this recession, we need to see as many entrepreneurs as possible innovate and create new jobs,” says Aria Babu, author of the report. “This means we cannot afford to keep barriers which prevent female entrepreneurs from realizing their full talents.”

Read more how startups by female founders are the most affected by the pandemic. 

Stay Positive

Stay positive.  Why?  Because negativity can have toxic effects on you and your business.

In fact, Christine's [Porath's] research has shown over and over that we falter when exposed to negativity or rudeness. Witnessing rudeness interferes with our working memory and decreases our performance. Mere exposure to rude words reduces our ability to process and recall information. We tend to shut down, stop communicating, and cease being helpful to others. Dysfunctional and aggressive thoughts (and sometimes actions) skyrocket.

Learn more about how to thrive when everything feels terrible.