Why don’t we see our value and not seize opportunities that are right in front of us? Working with a new set of women business owners reminded me that we are still growing in our understand of our value and worth.
Four of my new clients own great businesses. Two own established businesses and two own emerging businesses though they all have the same syndrome. I am not worthy! I discovered this when talking with them about working capital to grow their business and accessing new markets.
All of them started their businesses on personal money. Using personal assets to start a business is common. Then we started talking about how they would grow or scale. None of them could imagine raising capital. All four of them felt no one would invest in their business; a bank would not give them a loan, so they had to depend on family, friends and their personal savings. Frustrating. Not accessing capital is consistent with studies done annually on women-owned businesses. Far too many women do not see their value as a leader or the value of their business.
When we come out of that perspective and take the risk of asking there are so many options available to us including SBA loans, CDFIs, micro-loans, Crowdsourced funding, equity investors and more. The landscape on funding sources is growing by leaps and bounds. More importantly investing in women-owned businesses is the trend. Everyone is doing it because research has shown women are good at running businesses. We are more frugal, fair to our employees, support our communities and produce a strong bottom line.
So the change begins within. Change begins with stepping back, letting go of old concepts that do not serve us and seeing ourselves in a new way. We are not just running a company. We are successful. Our employees, our customers, community and the economic community at large value our success.
Our next step is to recognize our value within, get out of our comfort zone, and own being successful, feeling successful, acting in successful ways and seeing our businesses growing bigger. Being bigger means asking for the capital you need and being confident as a successful business owner. Ask.
Best wishes for your success, Kay