Successful Blog

3 Challenges Faced by Women Entrepreneurs

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By Kayla Matthews

two women seated at laptop

 

Entrepreneurs always face a plethora of challenges when they’re trying to make their way in the world, from funding to building a customer base and creating a business that can grow and thrive while thinking outside of the traditional commercial box.

While we’re not discounting any of those challenges, working as a women entrepreneur in today’s world is even more difficult. What are some of the most common challenges faced by women entrepreneurs and what can be done to overcome them?

A Lack of Venture Capital

Starting a new business or an entrepreneurial venture — regardless of industry — requires one major thing — funding. Studies have found that businesses that are run by women see less investment than those run by the opposite sex.  In fact, one study found that between 1997 and 2000, women entrepreneurs only received 6% of venture capital funds invested. You can deduce where the other 94% went.

Sometimes the problem is that these women entrepreneurs are creating products, services, and technology that are designed to make a woman’s life better — and male investors are hesitant to invest in things that make them uncomfortable like organic tampons or other similar improvements.

The recently coined phrase FemTech might start to change that because instead of investing in a female-centric product that makes them uncomfortable, venture capitalists can simply say they have a FemTech company in their investment portfolio.

Creating a Healthy Work/Life Balance

Creating a healthy work/life balance is challenging for everyone.  You need to be able to find that middle ground between working too much and not working enough, and for entrepreneurs who are often throwing everything they have at their new venture to see what will stick, it becomes even more challenging.

Throw in the traditionally female responsibilities of homemaking and child-rearing and you’re left without enough hours in the day to even scratch your nose.

Female entrepreneurs need to take the time to build their work/life balance to ensure that they are thriving alongside their new ventures.  Creating a successful new business doesn’t mean much if you’re too burned out to enjoy your success.  Create distinct boundaries between your work and home life and, outside of an emergency, enforce them.

Fighting Gender Discrimination

Being a woman in a man’s world is a constant fight to be taken seriously, and sometimes it feels like you’re constantly having to play the game to gain an inch at a time.  If you’re polite and quiet, you’re ignored, but if you speak up and demand to be heard your bossy and aggressive — and those are probably the nicest things they’ll call you.

Gender discrimination manifests itself in every aspect of the entrepreneurial process.  You even make less – as of 2016, women made 81.9% of what their male counterparts earned in the same industries and positions.

There is no easy fix for this challenge.  You’ll find yourself having to fight for every accomplishment, but that makes each one mean that much more.  Don’t give up, keep pushing forward.  You’ll find that once you’ve fought and clawed your way up, that they’ll respect you more for it. We won’t sugarcoat it — it’s going to be hard, but it’s something that needs to happen to pave the way so that it will be easier for female entrepreneurs

Looking Toward the Future

Being a woman entrepreneur in today’s world is not an easy task.  If this is the path that you’re thinking of following, be prepared for the challenges that you will face.  It’s a worthy task but not one that should be undertaken lightly. If you decide to start down that path, just remember why you started and don’t give up, no matter what they say. You can do this.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

What is Workplace Personalization?

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By Kayla Matthews

If you traveled back in time and picked up an office worker from the 1950s, they wouldn’t recognize the modern office space as somewhere that you’re supposed to work. The cookie-cutter cube farm is a thing of the past, in favor of open spaces, natural lighting, and workplace personalization. What is workplace personalization and what are the benefits of personalizing your workspace?

What is Workplace Personalization?

If you’re not familiar with the concept, what is workplace personalization?  This is one question that if you ask 100 different people, you’ll receive 100 different answers, but most of them agree on one point — that personalization is all about comfort.  That can mean different things to different people.

Some might be more comfortable in a private office with a set of noise-canceling headphones while others might be at their most productive in an open-floorplan office where conversations mingle with business discussions.

To us, workplace personalization means making your workspace your own, so it’s a place where you want to spend all your time.  The average worker spends upwards of 90,000 hours working throughout their lifetime.  What sounds more appealing — spending 90,000 hours in a stark office space or spending that time in an office that you’ve customized to make it your own?

Benefits of Workplace Personalization

What are the benefits of workplace personalization? It can vary from office to office, but in general, workplace personalization can:

  • Encourage Productivity — People thrive in different environments. For some that noisy open-floorplan office is ideal, while for others it’s detrimental to their productivity. With that in mind, employees can bring noise-canceling headphones or even take steps to diminish noise in the office so they can be as productive as possible without interfering with others.
  • Improve Communication — It can be tricky to stay on task while you’ve got people walking past your desk or talking to you all day long.  Allowing employees to personalize their work space gives them the tools to communicate more effectively, whether that means putting a sign up that says “E-mail Only” or restricting communication to specific times during their scheduled workday.
  • Creates a Staff-Led Office Culture — Workplace personalization helps to foster a relationship between employees and employers that makes the employees feel special, creating an office culture that’s led by the employees rather than by management.
  • Keeps Costs Down — In some situations, personalization means bringing in your own tech and equipment from home, as long as it works with workplace security. This can be an incredible benefit for small businesses and startups that might be looking for a way to cut costs since they won’t need to provide expensive equipment.
  • Makes People Want to Come to Work — Finally, while it isn’t the only thing you can do as an employer to make people want to come to work, it definitely helps.

How to Personalize Your Workspace

If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few ideas to help you personalize your workspace so you’re comfortable in the office.

  1. Make it feel like you. Add knick-knacks to your desk, hang pictures on the walls, whatever it takes to personalize your space and make it feel like part of you.  What you bring might depend on how secure your space is and how well you trust your coworkers, but you get the idea.
  2. Make it work for you. If you can’t stand being interrupted during your day or ambient conversations bother you, soundproof your office or invest in some noise-canceling headphones and hang a sign on your door telling people to email or message you.
  3. Encourage others to do the same. If your employer is encouraging people to personalize their space, they might be hesitant to be the first to jump on that train.  Blaze the trail and others will follow.

Looking Forward

Office personalization is a new and emerging trend but it is one that will likely gain more popularity in the future.  However you look at it, those cube-farms that were so popular during previous generations are a thing of the past. We won’t be seeing them again anytime soon.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash

How Entrepreneurs Can Build a Stronger Personal Brand

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By Michael

While your company’s brand is key to its success, building a strong, personal brand around yourself is just as vital.

Since the modern consumer trusts people more than corporations, personal branding is more important than ever. Many people believe organizations and companies speak and act with only profits in mind.

When employees share content, it receives 8 times more engagement than the content shared by the brand’s social media accounts. Considering that we are bombarded by advertisements everywhere, this may not be so surprising.

Personal branding allows you to build an identity within your industry and gain a reputation that will benefit your business.

To establish a personal brand, you need to find a recognizable voice of your own, a signature image, and a standard that your customers, readers, and fans will recognize—just as with traditional branding.

Assess What You Already Have

Which of your skills do people need? What do people already know you for? What do you want to be known for?

Begin by evaluating what you have already done. For instance, if you have published some content, see which posts have performed the best. If you haven’t written anything yet, think about what people ask you about the most.

Your specialty doesn’t have to be the same as that of your business, but it should encapsulate something you want people to associate your business with.

For instance, Richard Branson, a master of personal branding, is famous for being adventurous. Because of this, many see Virgin as an exciting, risk-taking brand.

Keep in mind that quite a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs are devoted to personal branding. If you want to stand out, it’s best to develop a personal brand within a specific niche.

Choosing a general field like “human resources” or “marketing” isn’t enough, as they are far too competitive. So, for instance, if you are a marketer, you could focus on a very specific niche such as print marketing for small businesses, where the competition is lower.

You’ll have a better chance of proving your expertise with a niche focus. Even though your target audience will be smaller, it will be much more relevant.

Build Up Your Online Presence

Sophomoric Facebook activities, unprofessional Twitter feeds, and incomplete LinkedIn profiles are a strict no-no. One survey found that 70% of employers screen social media profiles of candidates.

As a self-employed entrepreneur, you don’t have to worry about HR checking out your Insta feed, but you do have to consider what impression you’re leaving on your customers and clients. Think of them as your employers.

Social media is the engine of personal branding, so one must treat it with respect.

Your audience will want to know more about you as a person. Social media gives you a chance to present yourself as a relatable individual, but still a professional.

LinkedIn has proved to be an excellent platform for personal branding, thanks to its organic reach. It’s a great place to share problem-solving strategies and personal success stories.

Short, 200 to 400-word posts with captivating headlines and interesting openers will grab people’s attention. By regularly posting content, you can increase your brand awareness.

You can search Medium and similar content-sharing platforms to check what topics are hot at the moment. Then, you can use those topics to jump-off your next video or blog post. You can stay relevant by offering your personal take on a current topic.

Get Others to Promote You

While social media is your greatest ally, you must exercise restraint while using it. You don’t want your audience to see you as a self-promoter. Jeffrey Pfeffer, a Stanford Business School professor, wrote about how self-promoting behavior can turn people off in his book “Power.”

Too much self-promotion will damage your reputation. Pfeffer suggests asking others to help you develop your personal brand.

For instance, if you are an SEO specialist who has helped a buddy with their business site, ask them to give you a LinkedIn recommendation or to share a story on how you helped them rank better.

Make a Business Plan

Treat your brand like a company asset. You need a 3-month plan with concrete steps that lead to your goals. Be as specific as you can. For instance, you can aim to have your first guest post published within the next 3-months or to create 2 pieces of content every month.

Just like with any other type of plan, accountability is key. You can find an accountability buddy who will help you stay on track.

Building a personal brand takes time. You’ll have to publish quite a few blog posts before you become a keynote speaker at a conference.

But, if you put enough time and effort into personal branding, you can expect a great ROI. You owe it to your business to start.

 

Author Bio:

Michael has been working in marketing for almost a decade and has worked with a huge range of clients, which has made him knowledgeable on many different subjects. He has recently rediscovered a passion for writing and hopes to make it a daily habit. You can read more of Michael’s work at Qeedle.

 

Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash

A Guide for Starting a Private Foundation or Philanthropic Business

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By Kayla Matthews

Today’s consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of their spending habits and keep close tabs on where their money is actually going.

This has led many companies to reconsider their philanthropic efforts and begin supporting charitable causes. And, if you’re one of these businesses looking to boost both your revenue and your giving, investing in a private foundation or philanthropic businesses may be the move.

The Benefits

There are a number of advantages to becoming a philanthropic business or starting your own private foundation. One such advantage is an improved reputation. The public will likely notice the goodwill your company generates and will form a favorable opinion of your brand. This may lead to increased sales and even create a new market, especially in impoverished communities or those without prior knowledge of your products or services.

Moreover, if you donate to a local cause or organization, you’re taking company profits and reinvesting them into the same community that invested in you.

Another benefit of becoming a charitable business is your efforts will likely attract top talent. Younger workers are looking for more than just a paycheck — they want to make a difference. So, naturally, they wish to work for a business that values charitable giving. In fact, 79% of employees want to work for a company that contributes to society. And 55% would choose to work at a socially responsible company, even if it meant a lower salary.

Are You Ready?

So, if you want to attract both customers and employees by giving back to the community, it’s time to seriously consider whether you’re ready to start your own private foundation. Of course, one of the most important things to think about is the amount of money you can dedicate to such efforts. If you’re going to create an in-house volunteer team or commit to donating to a certain charity, there is no minimum cost requirement. However, you must still determine how much you can afford to allocate to philanthropy efforts.

And, in regard to starting a private foundation, traditional guidelines suggest a $1 million to $2 million investment. However, this amount may differ depending on your company’s size and monetary situation. And your initial investment will likely not amount to this large sum. Rather, your business and fellow donors will donate to work toward this goal over time.

It is important to note, though, there is a payout requirement for private foundations. This requires non-operating foundations to distribute 5% of their fair market value of investment assets to charitable efforts each year.

Starting Your Own

Once you’ve decided how much money you can afford to invest in philanthropic efforts, it’s time to begin putting your plan into action. Here are a few important things to keep in mind when creating a charitable giving initiative.

Decide on a Foundation Type

One of the first steps to becoming a philanthropic business is deciding what kind of giving you’ll be taking part in. There are a few options to choose from — partner with a non-profit, start a private operating foundation or a private non-operating foundation. These are three very common avenues your business may choose to take.

Partnering with a non-profit may be the simplest since you’re simply joining a cause instead of creating your own. However, this still entails a fair amount of time, planning and organization. For example, you’ll want to dedicate time to find an ideal nonprofit with which to partner, recruit and manage volunteers, — and willing employees — define volunteer roles, develop an orientation program and actually go volunteer.

Similar to a nonprofit partnership is a private non-operating foundation, which grants money to charitable organizations. And, as previously mentioned, regulations require these foundations to pay out a certain amount of money each year in grants. A private operating foundation, on the other hand, distributes funds to its own charitable programs. This type of foundation must either spend at least 85% of its income, or its minimum investment return, on direct charitable expenditure — excluding grants.

Know the Tax Requirements

The IRS requires all private foundations to submit an annual 990PF tax return since your business won’t be considered a public charity. However, you’ll still be tax-exempt as long as you donate the minimum required amount according to your foundation type.

In order to receive your tax-exempt status, you’ll need to file the correct paperwork and fill out Form 1023 which will inquire as to your foundation’s financial information, grant-making guidelines and other details. Additionally, the IRS may have questions about your application, so be well-organized and prepared to thoroughly answer any inquiries.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

How to Conduct a Productive Employee Evaluation (And Why You Should)

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By Kayla Matthews

Employee evaluations can be one of the best ways to get reliable data on your team’s strengths and weaknesses. They also build regular communication between management and staff. However, these meetings are often stressful and unproductive — without the right methods, it can be hard to conduct an evaluation that everyone benefits from.

Luckily, there are techniques you can use to get the most out of sit-downs between management and staff.

Here’s how you can conduct a productive employee evaluation — and why you should.

 

The Benefits of Employee Evaluations

Traditionally, employee evaluations occurred on an annual basis. Today, however, more than one-third of U.S. companies perform frequent check-ins between managers and employees.

One of the most significant benefits of evaluations is how they build communication between managers and employees — especially in organizations where the two may not have regular opportunities for extended conversations. These meetings allow managers to remind employees of workplace expectations and clarify any misconceptions they may have held about their work.

Evaluations are also a chance for employees to show off and demonstrate to management some of their biggest accomplishments over the past few months — or year, depending on how often an organization is hosting evaluations.

 

How to Hold Employee Evaluations the Right Way

 

When it comes to evaluations, you’re not likely to find any one-size-fits-all solutions — instead, you’ll need to conduct meetings using the methods that work best for your organization. Discovering these techniques may take some research and experimentation that will let you see which provides the best results.

Nevertheless, there are some basic evaluation techniques and planning methods that can work for just about any business.

To start, be prepared. In most traditional employee assessments, managers will begin by drafting a written evaluation for each employee they oversee, being sure to include successes and failures — what the employee is doing well and where they could strive for improvement. Be sure that the written evaluation stays specific, actionable, and relevant to the employee’s work.

The employee will look over the document, and then, when it’s time to sit down, they’ll have a chance to go over the comments with their manager.

Some organizations will also ask the employee to write a self-evaluation they can compare with their manager’s during their meeting.

These techniques are generally effective at structuring the meeting and making sure that everyone involved gets the most out of the time they spend sitting down.

Not all traditional evaluation techniques are useful, however. For example, uniform or standardized grading methods — like a five-point scale that tries to quantify every employee’s performance by the same metrics — are good at providing easy-to-follow data for higher-ups. However, these methods are not so great at helping managers understand employee performance.

During an evaluation, employees should be encouraged to bring up both the praise and criticism that they’ve received from people who aren’t in the room — staff from other departments, clients, team members or anyone who doesn’t regularly speak to the manager holding the evaluation. These notes can sometimes provide a helpful counterbalance to the comments the manager brings up.

This method can help make meetings less one-sided — a common criticism of employee evaluations.

Likewise, managers should pass on relevant comments and compliments that employees might not have received. This way, the evaluation can be used to remind employees of how their work fits into the goals of the entire business, while also emphasizing what stands out about their work.

Managers should be careful about how criticism is framed — worded poorly, even well-meaning criticism delivered at top performers can crush confidence, damage productivity and encourage employees to quit, according to research. Keep feedback constructive — and positive, if possible.

 

Building Communication With Employee Evaluations

 Employee evaluations can be a great way to relay feedback to team members, build stronger communication between management and staff and provide goals for employees to strive toward.

However, when handled poorly, evaluations can do the opposite — causing communication to break down and making employees less confident in their abilities.

For this reason, it’s essential to design your evaluations to be as effective as possible. Ensuring that each meeting is a two-way conversation that frames criticism constructively can help keep assessments productive and useful for both parties.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured image: Photo by AllGo – An App For Plus Size People on Unsplash

How Businesses Can Create an Ethical Culture in the Age of Technology

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By Kayla Matthews

In a world where big tech companies like Google can store more data on its users than most can imagine, technology seems to change faster than we can ask the right questions. When businesses rely on technology to get work done, the lines about what’s right, what’s efficient and what’s safe can get blurred.

There’s no question that technology impacts work culture. It can mean good things, like automating monotonous tasks so employees can spend more time on creative and meaningful work. Without good ethics in place, technology can also mean risking privacy and cutting corners. So, how can employers develop an ethical work culture alongside modern innovations? Here are some things to consider.

Privacy

The question surrounding employee privacy at work does not yet have a definitive answer. Is it ethical to ask for an applicant’s personal social media account and password during the hiring process? Is it okay to fire someone for a questionable off-duty post on Instagram? Should we access our employee’s browsing history on company equipment?

Many state courts uphold employer’s rights to monitor employees, but not across the board. The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy when checking their personal email, even on company equipment.

One issue surrounding privacy is how we monitor our employees. Most companies restrict access to specific sites on their premises, as well as view the online history of their employees. These tactics can help prevent members of an organization from doing illegal or unethical activities, but they can also raise issues of privacy.

Some workplaces also use video monitoring. Recording video communication can be a great tool to improve workflow and ensure your consumers are getting top-notch customer experience. But employees may feel like it is an invasion of privacy without the right structure.

What Ethical Privacy Looks Like:

When choosing to view employees’ browsing history, it is critical to set a policy. Employees should know how you’ll access data, why you collect it and what you will do with this information. A good system can also prevent managers from misusing this data.

If you’re monitoring communications to prevent workplace harassment, most employees will see supervision as a way to keep them safe. When you’re open about your practices, ethical employees won’t have to worry.

You can also watch your customer support team or sales reps’ video conferences with customers. We’re all used to getting the “to ensure quality service, this call may be recorded” reminder whenever we dial the help desk, and this can work with video calls, too. If you do monitor video conferences, it’s critical to do so ethically:

  • Be honest with your team: Let them know their video calls are being recorded. It can feel like an invasion when employees are monitored without their knowledge.
  • Limit use: Your employees expect a reasonable level of privacy. Don’t record their activities when they’re not on a customer call, or don’t have their camera on.
  • Use videos to improve: Make sure recordings are used as a tool for employees and something that can help them grow. Utilize video recording to test out new sales pitches, or to model great service in training videos. As long as you frame it properly, you can also use videos for performance reviews and to offer advice.

Software

One ethical dilemma surrounding software is how we access it. Now more than ever, anything from Adobe Photoshop to word processors can be pirated. For cloud-based services, it’s tempting to give the entire team access to a single paid membership when you only pay for a limited number of people.

Software as Service providers, or SaaS, have unique ethical questions to answer. The pressure to be the first-to-market leads many software developers to rush product development.

In this case, they may not question if the software might be damaging to the public or misused by consumers. Software can also collect a lot of data on its users. When companies host this data insecurely, they risk data breaches.

What Ethical Software Use Looks Like

  • Use proper licensing: Some software requires you to buy a different license for commercial use than for personal use. Some have a set number of people that can use a specific license. When using software for your business, make sure you have downloaded it legally and are using the proper license. Also, buy as many memberships as you need for the number of users who will access it.
  • Create a code of ethics: With the emerging SaaS market, software companies need to think about the work they do and how it affects others. A solution for the tech industry is to develop an ethical code.A company-wide policy can encourage honesty and respect in the software development process. Whether you’re a tech company or not, fostering a culture where employees can speak up when they feel something isn’t right creates a better workplace for everyone.

What an Ethical Culture Means for Your Business

We are more connected than ever before. Electronic devices and innovative tech make our lives easier in so many ways, whether it’s faster communication or transforming industries.

As an employer, keeping ethical questions in mind as you make decisions for your business creates transparency with your team. It shows you trust your employees and builds a better workplace where collaboration and innovation can thrive.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash