Statistics from the Institute of Fiscal Studies shows that women earn 18 percent less than men on average. The gap then balloons after women have children, but just because that’s the statistic, doesn’t mean we have to fall into it. In fact, millions of women are rising up and creating more success than ever before by starting their own businesses.
I know so many women building six and seven figure businesses, some of them are also raising children too, and some of them are so successful they’ve 'retired' their husbands (yes, that’s actually a thing).
One of those people is my friend, Kimra Luna. A few years ago she was raising her two children and living on government welfare, because her husband was out of a job. Fast forward to today and she’s the founder of Freedom Hackers, an online business which generated its first million in just over a year. She now lives in Manhattan, in a beautiful apartment and her business is thriving. It almost sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But it’s not.
Millions of women from all over the world are creating this reality for themselves – it’s all ours for the taking.
Here’s how you can do it too:
Step One: Condition Yourself For Success
We’re constantly being inundated with statistics about the fact that as women, on average we earn less than men. Do not be fooled into believing that this has to be you. It doesn’t. The first step in becoming your own boss and bursting through the glass ceiling of your success is to know that you can make it happen. Like Henry Ford once said, 'If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.'
Action to take: Right now, decide what success means for you: Decide what you want your life to be like, decide how much money you’d love to earn, decide to become a wildly successful entrepreneur.
Step Two: Learn All You Can
Once you’ve made the decision to become successful, immerse yourself in learning all you can about building your own business. Maybe you already have some ideas you’ve had in the back of your mind for a while or maybe you’ve never thought of running your own business before. Either way, set off on your adventure to learn all you can about business. I talk all about how to do this in my book She Means Business, but there are some amazing websites online that provide so much guidance and support, like the Female Entrepreneur Association. So join groups, soak up information, expand your mind.
Action to take: Write down a list of websites, people, books, events and podcasts that could help you. You’ll be amazed at how much help there is at your fingertips.
Step Three: Create Your Business Game Plan
Get clear on what you want to create and how you’re going to get it out there and make it a success. You don’t need to know everything, but you do need to know what you’re going to take action on. To make any business a success there are 4 key things you have to focus on:
So keep asking yourself those questions and get clearer and clearer about what action you need to take.
Action to take: Write down your answers to these questions: Why do you want to start a business? Sum your business up in one sentence? What does your business stand for? Who is your audience? How will you serve your audience? How will you get your business out there in front of your audience?
Ultimately, success is not an accident - it’s something we have to make happen on purpose. Every single one of us can do this, we just have to make the decision to do it and take action to make it happen.
If you want to build a wildly successful business you can, it’s yours for the taking, so take it.
Carrie Green, She Means Business, Hay House UK, £10.99, Amazon