Hi! I’m Stephanie Breedlove, Co-Founder of Care.com HomePay, Author and Angel Investor.
I absolutely adore taking an idea and giving it life in the form a business, then leading it to its full potential. Nothing is more fun. (Seriously!) I’d love for every woman who wants to start her own business to say the same thing, so here I am, mentoring millennial entrepreneurs. When I’m not working, I like to recharge and head outdoors to hike, bike, or stand up paddle board!
Is that list of business news and trending articles you’ve tagged still unread? I get it. Allow me to help. Take a couple minutes to read my summary of articles serving the most pertinent, actionable business topics. Or, take 10 minutes to read the full article, and put another brick on the foundation of your growing career.
This Week’s Must-Read:
6 Ways Women Entrepreneurs Can Leapfrog Past $1 Million in Revenue
Who it’s for:
Women entrepreneurs stuck below $1M, women thinking about becoming entrepreneurs, and even women beyond $1M working on scale.
Why it’s important:
The number of $1 million, women-owned business grew by 42% between 2007 and 2018. A stat to be celebrated, but it doesn’t share the full story. Although women have been entering entrepreneurship at record pace, only 1.6% of women entrepreneurs leap past the $1 million marker. Businesses owned by men are almost 4 times more likely to cross this coveted threshold. It’s time to change this!
Nathalie Molina Niño, co-founder of the Center for Women Entrepreneurs at Columbia has been studying this troubling stat, and she agrees with other experts that lack of capital is the core issue. However, only a small percentage of businesses receive angel and venture capital investment. Even though the media leads us to believe that you won’t make it without equity financing, less than 3% of all startups will actually receive equity funding. Quite the conundrum, and this is where Molina Niño is focused.
How do we help women entrepreneurs break the $1 million marker in the real world, where scale is achieved without equity financing? Here are 6 of Molina Niño’s 50 tips for making it happen:
- Play Your Woman Card: Smart progress has brought numerous resources exclusively for women. Take advantage of them.
- Worship the Franchise: Even if you don’t want to be a franchisee or franchisor, making a profit via a repeatable process designed into the business from the get-go is a successful model.
- Show Me the Receipts: If you want to be credible to funders, show them the hard evidence. Learn to communicate about your business in terms of the numbers. Get comfortable with the money.
- #$@! Your Friends and Family Round: Most Americans can’t afford to write checks for tens of thousands of dollars to a friend or family member, and so 90% - 95% of entrepreneurs do not have this funding option. Crowdfunding, bartering, and bootstrapping are your best options in the early stage.
- Worry About Success, Not Failure: Most entrepreneurs don’t plan for that first big order. You need to be prepared.
- Do Good AND Make Money: Give back in time or money to the community you care about. Let your customers know, and they will become raving fans.
Top Take-Away/Final Thought:To get ahead in the business world, the school of thought has been that women must play by the rules. But getting past $1 million in revenue actually requires us to break the rules.
Want a deeper dive on resources for scaling past $1M? Check these out for a start:
-A Woman’s One Stop Resource for Starting and Financing a Business, by QuickBooks
-From Skill Building to Funding, a Vetted Resource List by Stephanie Breedlove