4 Major Challenges Faced as a Woman Entrepreneur in 2020 & How I Overcame Them

As generations pass by, the future is looking brighter than ever for females. Globally there has been a massive increase in the number of businesses owned by women that have played a huge role in curbing state-wide unemployment and revenue generation.

However, women-owned businesses are still in the minority, and the hurdles women entrepreneurs have to face are still plenty and different from their male counterparts.

Personally 2020 has been my year of growth in many ways, and I am only now able to confidently say I have grown after going through numerous challenges, and I am going to highlight those that stemmed from the corporate world.

1.      Defying social expectations

I am sure other fellow women entrepreneurs can relate to this. I remember walking into a crowded seminar and actually being able to count the number of women in the room within a jiffy. When put in a situation where as an entrepreneur you have to talk business with male executives, it can be quite discomforting.

I found myself adopting a stereotypical male attitude towards business; harsh, competitive and very aggressive. But after reading stories of successful women CEOs, I realized that remaining true to yourself, and making your own place in the corporate world are key to rising above anticipated expectations. At the end of it all, it sunk in that you do not have to conform yourself to a man’s idea of what a leader should be like.

2.      Difficulties in taken seriously in the corporate world

As a consultant in a male dominated industry, many at times I have felt like my leadership role is not being acknowledged enough. Getting that respect has been a task, especially when you are coming from a society that binds women to the reputation of their male family members/friends.

I was then driven to put in even more work only to build a reputation of myself, since I wanted to be known for being that hardworking business woman in my own right, only to realize that with that attitude it was getting even harder to reach my full potential.

To keep away all the negative energy, I started connecting with likeminded women entrepreneurs who inspired me with their stories and hit me with so many reality checks on my capabilities and successes. You know who you all are, so Thank You!

3.      Owning my accomplishments

The communal and consensus-building qualities encouraged in young women like myself sometimes left me downplaying my own worth. Sometimes I found myself in situations where I failed to pitch myself as a leader. I always found myself talking about my business as “we” instead of “I”. Using the first person to talk about my business always made me feel like I am bragging, and that if the opposite person feels like I am the driving force of the business, the value of what I do might go down.

However, over time as I grew my business and expanded, I am making an effort in owning what I have accomplished, to a point that sometimes I find myself giving away too much without a financial commitment from a potential client, all because I have started seeing the value of my knowledge and capabilities.

4.      Keeping up with the fear of failure

Failure is a possibility in every business. There have been days and weeks throughout this year where I have had my insecurities get the better of me which led me to losing purpose. Following up with a potential client over and over again, just to hear “no” can be difficult.

However, seeing other successful women around me motivated me to always dream big, keep away self-doubt and not wait for perfection. I took everything as a lesson and tried my best to stay on the course. I took in all the feedback, filtered out the noise, made mistakes that I learnt from with the hope of not making them again.

All with one thing in mind – whatever I do, I will not give up on any of my dreams.

Happy New Year!

Samiha