Franchise Prospector » Franchising for Women
Women: Do You Have What It Takes to be a Successful Entrepreneur?
Are you a woman who's having trouble deciding if you're suited to the working life of an entrepreneur or franchise owner? Experts agree that successful women have tenacity and love business.
The working world for women isn't changing--it has changed. Facing the off-shoring policies of America's major corporations, the continuing rise in costs of living, and the glass ceilings imposed in the private sector, many women have opted out of the rat race--and opted into entrepreneurial success. So, how do you know if you're cut out for running your own company, operating a franchise, or just being a worker among workers?
Ed Pendarvis, who wrote The Family Business, The Family Farm, believes that some 90% of entrepreneurs hit economic ceilings that forced them into mastering their own business destinies. Hitting that glass ceiling moves some to take career risks they wouldn't have otherwise. The end of financial advancement is an issue that motivates many franchisees. In fact, many women who started new businesses did so because they topped out under $90,000 a year in their former jobs--and still couldn't make ends meet.
Whether to Lead or to Follow Is the Question
Businessman Tex Garner believes that the difference between a woman franchise owner and a woman entrepreneur is that the former prefers a working life with considerable structure. Success ultimately depends on whether you're suited for the work and like doing it, he says.
Author Doris Lee McCoy interviewed 1,000 entrepreneurs to find common traits. In short, she discovered that they were "decisive, disciplined goal setters" who worked "with a total involvement that seems to shut out everything else."
Entrepreneur Magazine reports that franchise owners share many common qualities. To be a successful franchisee, the magazine says, the woman must foremost be "a people person." Entrepreneur reported that 94 percent of franchise owners told them that if you're weak at interpersonal communications, you'd better learn quickly.
Another critical personal quality in running a successful franchise is being teachable. There are coaches available to help any franchise newcomer, but you'll need to know how to ask for help without getting your ego in the way and how to implement what you learn into the operations of your franchise. Franchisors want enthusiastic, hands-on managers.
Finally, you'll need basic business savvy and access to capital. There are tons of business classes out there as well as sources of small business loans, grants, and other start-up funds if you're willing to search for them. Women and minority entrepreneurs and franchise owners can qualify for unique federal programs designed to foster new business startups.
If you're committed to seeing your enterprise to maturity with stick-to-it tenacity, and if you're teachable, then you don't have to settle for working for someone else.
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