advice Archives - Emerging Women

The entrepreneurial waters are getting more crowded by the day, and it’s a blessing in disguise, especially if we take into account the rising number of businesswomen swimming valiantly upstream and writing their names and legacy proudly as they go. As we pause to applaud the growing female presence in business – a world which has up until recently been considered a male dominion – we might as well pick up a few lessons from ladies who know how to carve off a piece of the corporate cake for themselves and make most of their resources.

If your eyes are set on sustainability and success in the business arena, it’s a smart move to pick up the cues from the best – and the fairest – of world’s top-rated entrepreneurs of the 21st century.

1. Take Every Chance, Drop Every Fear

“Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it, the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me.” – Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and Thrive Global

Arianna Huffington built a global brand from scratch, and she says she wouldn’t have pulled it off had she allowed her fears to hold her back. If you have a business idea you think might just work, don’t think about the negatives: take initiative and see where it leads you. You’ll be able to tweak your strategy as you go, but unless you hit the road, you’ll be robbing yourself of a chance at success.

2. Don’t Be Ashamed to Ask for Directions

“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” – Oprah Winfrey, actress, book author, producer and host of The Oprah Winfrey Show

Face it: you’ll never know all there is to be known about business, but not asking for directions is the safest way to get lost along the way. World-famous female entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey knows just how important it is to do industry-related homework in advance and not be ashamed to ask questions and seek help or guidance when you need it.

If your eyes are on peak business results, research and hard work will get you on the right foot – but it’s the answers that will keep you on the right and fast lane.

3. Quality Is As Important As Quantity

“Those who believe in quality produce quality goods.” – Lailah Gifty Akita, founder of Smart Youth Volunteers Foundation

In a world that revolves around quantity, quality is what makes a brand stand out in the crowd. Lailah Gifty Akita is a shining example that excellence is the road to success – but quality takes time, commitment, and long-term investments. Money spent on first-rate office equipment is an investment in employee comfort, wellbeing, and work motivation and as such has a hand in quality of both workflow and output. Fortunately, entrepreneurs are starting to appreciate the benefits behind ergonomic workstations and seating and are no longer averse to investments in quality office equipment.

4. You’ll Make Mistakes – Learn from Them

“It’s important to be willing to make mistakes. The worst thing that can happen is you become memorable.” – Sara Blakely, Spanx founder

Sara Blakely is America’s youngest self-made female billionaire for a reason: she made mistakes, and she grew from them. According to her, failing is a sign that you’re pushing the limits of your comfort zone and taking risks; as such, errors are an integral component of the path to success. Mistakes are a source of valuable lessons on how you can tweak business strategy and approach to ensure best results in the long-run, so make them – and learn from them, too.

5. Find Your Passion and Go After It

“Ambitious people have a spark that sets them apart. They don’t just accept their lot. They’re fighters and grafters and they claw their way out of often difficult circumstances.” – Karren Brady, English author, columnist, TV personality and vice-chairman of West Ham United F.C.

The path to success is covered in thorns, but ladies like Karren Brady aren’t fazed by obstacles, which is why they eventually rise to industry top tiers. When going gets tougher than usual, it’s the passion about your line of work that will keep you in the right lane and heading for top-notch performance metrics at full speed. For this reason, the spark is every businesswoman’s best friend: find your passion beyond fame and money, and let it guide you on days when the entrepreneurial waters grow murky.

Swimming in the business shark tank requires courage, constant learning, endurance, and skills – but these successful women have shown that success is attainable and worthwhile. We can all learn a thing or two from those who know business like the back of their ladylike hands, so pick up the cues listed above and put them to practice in your own industry, and laurels will hit home soon.

Who inspires you as your leadership story unfolds? Let us know in the comments.

I recently interviewed Elizabeth Gilbert for our Emerging Women Podcast on the subject of Creativity and Fear (the focus of her newest book, Big Magic, due out in September). The fact that this wildly successful woman still struggles with fear gives me hope! The insights Liz shared in our conversation are not just for artists and writers. They can apply to any of us who are working on our passions, whether in business or at the writing desk.

Liz’s key to embracing fear: “It’s really about working with your fear and around your fear, without denying it and without attacking it.” But how? Check out these excerpts from my most recent podcast conversation with Liz: Creating Big Magic – Part 1.

5 Ways Elizabeth Gilbert Deals with Fear:

1. Remember that fear has no toggle switch

“Fear is so old and so important that it’s not subtle,” Liz says. “It’s a toggle switch—it just goes on and off.” It lacks nuance, which is so important to creativity and authentic leadership. Its only function is survival.

But she respects fear. “It’s a viable and important human action,” she says. “But it also can get in your way when it comes to creativity, because creativity always asks you to enter into realms with uncertain outcome, and fear hates that. Fear always tries to shut that down.”

There are times and places where fear is very valuable. But when it comes to creativity, we need to put fear into perspective.

2. Start a conversation with Grandfather Fear

It starts with this wise advice Liz gives: “Without trying to get in a war with fear or pretend that it doesn’t exist or be ungrateful to it, we have to have a conversation with Grandfather Fear every time we begin a new creative project.”

Pretending that you have no fear is crazy. Hating fear is reactive, because we’re here as a human race because it helped us survive. It’s important to bring a healthy respect to the conversation, but have the conversation nonetheless.

How does Liz do it? She says to Grandfather Fear: “I know you’re scared because I’m going to expansively do something with an uncertain outcome, but we’re going to do it anyway.”

3. Bring Kid Sister Curiosity into the conversation

Liz talked at Emerging Women Live 2013 about how helpful it is to personify all the different emotions inside of her. In the podcast, she brought up the usefulness of that same technique when dealing with fear.

“I’ve got Grandpa Fear with the hand on the hand brake being like, ‘No one leaves this house!’ and ‘You kids get out of my yard!’ but I’ve also got the really reckless kid sister – Curiosity – who has no sense of consequence and wants to say “yes” to everything.”

Can you recognize those different parts within you? Now that you’ve said “hi” to Grandfather Fear, can you introduce him to Kid Sister Curiosity? Liz says that if you can, and you let them talk to each other, you can begin to approach wisdom.

4. Trust your Central Self to moderate

“Somewhere in me there’s a self who, if I’ve gotten enough sleep, if I am eating well, if I am in a relationship that’s nourishing, if I’m taking care of myself, and if I’m calm and still, can effectively moderate between all of these modalities,” Liz says.

You can tell Kid Sister Curiosity that you love her free-spirit, but to remember that someone has to pay the bills. And tell Grandfather Fear that you appreciate him looking out for you, “but you can put the shotgun down – those are just trick-or-treaters.”

She stresses the importance of recognizing the YOU that is in charge. And if you’re taking care of you, then you can trust yourself to hear all sides and move forward.

5. Keep doing the work

“Inspiration doesn’t owe you anything,” says Liz. Once you’ve found a balance between fear and creativity, you still have to do the work. She gets the good sleep she needs to start fresh. She sits down at 7am to write. She invites Inspiration to the table and then she gets to work.

“But it’s not like the Annunciation where suddenly an angel comes into the room,” she says. “It’s a drag, but I don’t sit there thinking, ‘Hey, you didn’t come to me! I asked you!’ I put the message out. They know I’m there. And I’ll just sludge through it.”

But the beautiful part? She says, “I’ve got one ear open, ready for the unexpected thing.”[inline][/inline]

She’s “ready for the sentence that I didn’t know I could write. Ready for something to change. Ready for something to grow.” And she’s teaching me to bring that open conversation to business, too.

Want more ways to deal with Fear? Get a free download of Power Practices Vol. 1 – Women Who Are Changing the World, and tune in to women’s leadership expert Tara Mohr’s “When You Don’t Feel Ready.”