10 Secrets of Successful Female Entrepreneurs

NO MORE TALKING AND DREAMING, ONLY DOING!

Secret number one comes from Miki Agrawal, (co)-founder of three successful companies. Her concept is simple: Be who you are and question the things that don’t seem to make sense. Her advice is as easy as her attitude: Just do something!

Even when it sounds simple, we know that it is not. Actually, it is hard to shut down your doubtful mind and stop dreaming of your future life. But this is the secret how Miki Agrawal reached her goals – by doing one or two things every single day and reaching her aim step by step.
 

OBSERVE THINGS WITH A FRESH (CHILDLIKE) EYE!

This is again a meaningful advice of the successful female entrepreneur Miki Agrawal. Exactly this habit helped her to come up with a unique and at the same time simple product idea like her “Tushy”.

She just thought about the effectiveness of the worldwide habit of cleaning the butt with paper and realized that this is not clean enough. Therefore, she invented the “Tushy” that can be applied in every toilet and cleans the butt with water.

Observing things with a childlike eye means questioning common things in life that no adult would ever think about (and create a business out of it).
 

SUCCESS IS MADE BY MANY, NOT ALL BY YOURSELF

This secret comes from Delia Fischer, co-founder of the successful German online company Westwing. Together with her colleagues, she created the opportunity to buy luxury and affordable interior online.

During an interview, Delia Fischer admitted that her biggest mistake with entrepreneurship was to think that she has to do everything on her own. In fact, it can be better to just ask someone who has more knowledge in certain business fields to take over responsibility.

Persisting on doing all by yourself can lead to a lack of quality and professionalism, which can further harm your success. Therefore: Ask for help if you need it!
 

UNPLUGGING, RECHARGING AND RENEWING YOURSELF IMPROVES PERFORMANCE

The female entrepreneur Arianna Huffington is one of the most successful women in the world. She founded the online magazine “The Huffington Post” in 2003 and sold it for more than $300 million in 2011.

Her major secret for success is to take a step back, unplug, recharge and renew yourself if it is necessary. In fact, she says that this behavior can improve performance even more than hard working.

Arianna Huffington generally thinks that a healthy lifestyle is key to success. She sleeps around 8 hours every day and emphasizes the positive impact of sleep on her daily productivity.
 

EMPLOYING THE RIGHT PEOPLE IS THE KEY

This secret comes from Claudia Helming, founder of the German E-Commerce for handmade products “DaWanda”. She emphasizes that as an entrepreneur, you don’t have to know everything. Even if you want to establish an E-Commerce empire, you don’t have to know how to write a software program or build a webshop.

The key is rather to come in touch with the right professional people who are able to do these tasks for you. You decide what you can and want to do! Therefore the secret is to not be afraid of founding a business that you cannot start all by yourself!
 

PERSISTENCE ATTRIBUTES MOST TO YOUR SUCCESS

Probably you expected that one because everyone in the start-up industry keeps saying it – so actually, it is not a secret anymore. Still, we do not want to withhold this important advice, which comes from such a successful female entrepreneur: Kathryn Minshew, co-founder and CEO of the career platform “The Muse”.

After the establishment of “The Muse” in 2011, the business turned quickly into a professional-development empire that has raised $28 million in funding.

During an interview, she admitted that persistence and the ability to find a way around any obstacle mainly contributed to her success. Her secret is to always find a way to make the things work that you are passionate about.
 

DO NOT TRY TO BE SOMEONE ELSE’S VERSION OF WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

This advice (rather than a secret, but still important) comes again from Kathryn Minshew. The behavior of trying to change your style, image or personality, just because you think this is how you should be if you want to be successful, is contra productive.

Kathryn Minshew herself doubted that her strong intuition is a strength in entrepreneurship because everyone was telling her so. It took her years and a career switch to recognize that this strength makes her unique and contributes to her success.
 

BEST INNOVATIONS ARE A LITTLE WEIRD

The female entrepreneur Morgan DeBaun is the founder of “Blavity„, an online platform created by and for black millennials. This secret means a lot for her because she had to face many critics at the beginning of her project.

People said that the target group is too small or that the name sounds weird. Even experienced people criticized the idea and predicted its failure. These comments unsettled Morgan DeBaun at the beginning, but soon she realized that best innovations are often a little weird and that this should not be a reason for stopping the project. “Blavity” proofs that weird innovations can be successful if someone truly believes in them.
 

DEBATING AND COLD-CALLING TEACHES YOU THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE LIFE SKILLS

This secret seems to be weird at first sight because cold-calling is often seen as lower-class work. Thus, the youngest self-made female billionaire in America Sara Blakely believes that debating and cold-calling should be a basic skill for everyone doing business.

Why? Because you learn how to sell. It teaches you perseverance and to keep going, especially when people are not kind or friendly to you. Debating makes you see both sides of an issue, speak quickly and articulate yourself clearly. All of these soft skills contribute to your business success when you use them for selling products.
 

WHEN YOUR COMPANY IS GROWING FAST, THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS TO RECRUIT FAST ENOUGH

The last secret comes from Natalie Ellis, founder of the “Bossbabe„, which is a platform for female entrepreneurs and a community of ambitious millennial women. Due to her fast-growing business, she herself has made the mistake to hire someone really quickly just because she thought she should.

Having the patience to find the right people coming on this amazing journey with you is hard but at the same time highly important for your success. Keep that in mind when you reach that point!