How Women Can Find Success In A Male Dominated Business World

How Women Can Find Success In A Male Dominated Business World

By Business Desk

Tuesday, October 4, 2017.

It’s no secret that the business world is a boys club. Only 21 of the companies in the Fortune 500 are run by women, and that’s dropped from 24 the previous year. A tiny 4.2 percent of the biggest companies are being run by women. While gender equality is improving in the workplace, there’s still a huge discrepancy between the number of men and women in top business jobs.

Fortunately, it looks as though the situation could be improving, albeit very slowly. The number of new companies being started by women is increasing by a fair amount. There are more funding options available like business loans for women with bad credit which helps women to get the startup cash that they might struggle to get from traditional business lenders who are swayed by gender bias. We’re also beginning to see a change in attitudes toward women in the workplace so, although there are still a lot of people out there that hold sexist views, people are generally more accepting of female CEOs. As a result, more women are deciding to start their own business, unfortunately, that’s not the full story.

While the number of women that are starting businesses is growing, the revenue that they bring in is not. In fact, the average revenue of female owned businesses has only grown a mere $5000 since 1997. So, things have got a little better but if you’re a woman entering the business world, you’re still going to have to fight inequality. But that doesn’t mean you should give up, just follow these handy tips to help you break people’s gender bias and walk the road to success.

Over Prepare For A Pitch

When you’re pitching to investors or potential business partners, you’ll have to over prepare. If the potential investors have outdated views about women in the workplace, they’ll be looking to trip you up and prove that you don’t have what it takes. Don’t let them. Make sure that you know every single detail of your pitch and your product inside out. Having a good handle on your finances is also vital, they’re likely to ask you lots of tricky detailed questions about your accounts so you need to make sure that you’ve got an answer for everything.

Don’t Be Afraid To Use Connections

A report by the National Women’s Business Council found that women are far less likely than men to network and use personal relationships to get ahead in business. Of course, you want to prove that you’re good enough to do it all alone but that’s not good business sense. Using connections is a part of the business world and all of the men are doing it, so you should be too.

Don’t Stick To ‘Female’ Products

Proving that you’re just as qualified as all of your male counterparts is the key to navigating the business world. Choosing a product that you know better than anybody else is the best way to do this, but don’t think that means you have to choose a product that is traditionally considered ‘female’. Instead, choose whatever product you’re passionate about and prove to the rest of them that you know your stuff and you’re better qualified than anybody else.

There are a lot of people out there that want to put you down and make you believe that you don’t have what it takes to run a successful business but you can’t let them win.