International Women's Day: Lessons from our startup journey
This week, Lorna and I were on the panel at Courageous Leaders 2019, an event featuring some brilliant, inspirational women and their achievements in business.
The reality is that women are half as likely to start their own business, and just 1 in 5 British businesses are run by women.
A report released today has revealed that closing the entrepreneur gender gap could generate an extra ￡250bn for the economy. So, as it’s International Women’s Day, I thought I'd share some of the key lessons myself and Lorna have learnt on our journey from the corporate world to setting up Digital Radish, to help those who are thinking about starting something up to take the next step...
- Make the most of your current network - you’ll be surprised by how many people want to help you.
- Find a mentor - someone to guide you and bounce ideas off.
- Invest in your people, and create a strong culture from the start.
- Challenge your own imposter syndrome. 9 times out of 10, it’s only you that thinks you can’t do it.
- Try to spend as much time with people that bring out the best in you, just as you would in your personal life.
- Be kind to yourself. Of course, we can always do better, but recognise when you’ve done well.
- Have a strong purpose and a sense of what you want to achieve.
- Prove the concept, before setting up the printer and ordering 3,000 business cards.
And if you'd like to chat, drop me a message on LinkedIn. Let's change the stats surrounding female entrepreneurs.