Tips for Wanna Be Female Entrepreneurs

Written by Mary Welch Monday, March 22 2010

Women-owned businesses contribute nearly $3 trillion to our national economy and account for almost one-third of all privately owned businesses in the United States. Directly, they are responsible for more than 23 million jobs.

There are about 10 million companies owned by women.

Want to make it 10 million plus one?

That is the question facing thousands of women as the economy leaves them without a job, career, and, perhaps, a future. As these women do all the networking, go on job interviews, and see their bills pile up and the weeks left on unemployment and COBRA dwindling, a thought might come in their heads. Why don’t I go into business for myself?

Why not indeed?

Going into business is challenging in the best of times, but what about the worst?

There are several things a budding entrepreneur must do before opening the door. First off, if you are considering entrepreneurship, first consider this: Are you sure you’re cut out to be an entrepreneur?

Lydia C. Jones, metro Atlanta district director of the Small Business Development Center, Kennesaw State University, says to pick your business carefully and note that it may be in a field that was completely different from your previous career.

“If you have a passion for something – not just an ‘I enjoy it on the weekends’ type of thing – but a real passion that is constant in your life, then it might work and you should pursue it,” she says. “Then you put those blinders on and look for an excuse to do it. It’s got to be a force, and you end up telling everyone around you, ‘I’m going to do this and you can come with me. Or not, but I’m doing it.’ Once the decision is made, well that’s the big part.”

Ella Dyer is CMO and founder of the Abundant Closet, an online virtual closet and automated personal stylist that will go live in May. As a principal in JWD Ventures, she has provided marketing support, strategic planning, and assistance in the raising of capital for a variety of companies and was looking for an investment opportunity. CEO Jody Fennell was formerly with the Weather Channel and weather.com. The idea, Dyer says, “just spoke to me, and I knew it would speak to any woman who finds getting up and dressed a traumatic experience.”

Dyer agrees that a heart-wrenching commitment to the business is key. “I am passionate about Abundant Closet. I am willing to do anything in my ability – even wash windows – to make it happen. You are willing to go without a title and to hear ‘no’ over and over again, and you learn to love making cold calls. And [you get used to] doing more with less, like not taking a salary until the profits come. I think if you have that determination to make it – to do whatever it takes, then you will succeed.”

Once you’ve determined that the fire is, indeed, in the belly. The next step is to get organized and get a business plan.

Jones has a few suggestions on where to get the professional help needed for a business to start up and survive. “The business side can make or break you. You can have the vision to do something; that’s one thing. But the business side can bring you down. You’ve got to shore up the business operations; it’s a balance. You can’t like one side and ignore the other.”

She suggests going to a Small Business Development Center like at Kennesaw State. These centers are set up just to help budding entrepreneurs. Find your own personal network of professionals, such as your best friend lawyer-husband. She cautions about so many consultants in the marketplace willing to help you find the next career.

“There are a lot of consultants out there trying to help you become an entrepreneur. Some are really, really good; others are not. But if you think you’re going to pay for a seminar where someone’s going to help you make the decision to be an entrepreneur; that’s not going to happen,” she says.

Dyer says that building the business plan was “huge. We knew we were going to be in this for the long haul and have fun so we looked for ways to get it done.” She found the website startupchicks.net to be particularly helpful.

As Jones says, “You also need to have the right capital base and do the right planning. A good plan will tell you if you have the right amount of capital behind you. If you don’t, it’s not going to work.”

Both Dyer and Claudia Brooks D'Avanzo kept their eye on exactly why they were starting their businesses. For Dyer it was, “We are providing a service. We’re solving the problem for women who have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear.”

D’Avanzo is founder and president of Creative Communications Consultants, a marketing communications and public relations agency, which she started in 1998. For D’Avanzo, a veteran of international public relations firms, it was to have a flexible lifestyle. “Yes, I had children, but I didn’t leave Fleishman-Hillard because of my children. I wanted to have a professional life that was on my terms, and being a mom happened to be a part of that. I was doing it because I wanted to work, be a mom, and have a life.”

She also kept her eye on the bottom line, keeping overhead to a minimum. “I was very frugal. I didn’t lease office space, no assistant. It was definitely baby steps.”

D’Avanzo’s business plan didn’t go exactly as planned. “I came from the PR agency world, and I thought other agencies would be my clients; that I would take the work they couldn’t do. I set a real low bar. Instead, I got the corporate clients directly. Then a light bulb went off. I could really do this. It scared me but it was a boost to my ego.”

It was as a result of these corporate clients that D’Avanzo "went corporate" herself. She incorporated, rented space, and viewed herself as a businesswoman instead of a woman who has a business. “It was funny because my clients loved the fact that I was on my own, which kept costs down and gave them individual attention. But my clients’ bosses wanted the more traditional agency. Now, it’s back full circle. Corporations like the boutique.”

D’Avanzo made some discoveries, being on her own. “Well, I had a lot of work, and I found that I was just doing it – just zipping through – and by noon, I was done. I didn’t realize how much time at work is taken up not working – meetings, talking with colleagues, going to get coffee. When I got over that, I was able to keep everything in balance – my work, my children, and have a life for myself so I’d be sane.”

And, today, D’Avanzo says, she would do it all over again. “My clients are amazing, I love my work, my children, my life. It’s challenging, but it’s a blessing.”

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Mary Welch is Atlanta city editor of Womenetics: and a freelance writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Dawson Times, Plan Your Meeting magazine, and Atlanta Business magazine. She was editor-in-chief of Atlanta Woman magazine and editor of Business to Business and Catalyst magazines.