First officially recognized in 2013, Women Entrepreneurship Day is celebrated internationally on November 19th. A day set aside to honor, celebrate and support women entrepreneurs is a great idea, but without solid information and intention, it can quickly pass as a day full of cute — but meaningless — memes and social media actions that feed algorithms but do nothing to actually support the women entrepreneurs in our community.
To really support these women, you first have to know them. Women entrepreneurs can be authors, independent physicians, attorneys, coaches, interior designers, artists, retail shop owners, stylists, furniture flippers and everything in between. They are confident, competent, creative and passionate about the work they do and the clients they serve. But most importantly, they are business owners who bet on themselves, took an idea of a product or service to market, and pay their bills based on sales. So, while others are sharing memes about how a “like” or a “share” helps their business, here are three things the women entrepreneurs in your life really need to help them build the success they are so capable of achieving:
The first thing most women entrepreneurs will tell you they need is simple: more customers, clients or patients. So, while it’s easy to “hit like” on a social post, consider going a step further.
🔥 Buy from them if you can. Many of these women are selling services or products you’re buying anyway. So, as you consider your Christmas list this year, reach out to the women entrepreneurs passionately filling your social feed with their products.
🔥If you can’t buy from them, share their products or services on your own social channels, but with intention. Tag people who you know are looking for that particular product or service. Or simply share why you think she’s so great! A private message with a “Michelle, you should check this woman out” will do more for a woman’s business than a public share with no context!
🔥 Make introductions for a woman entrepreneur. WED is a great “excuse” to pick five women entrepreneurs and introduce each of them to five people who may need their service or products. A simple group email introduction is best. “Hi! I wanted to introduce you to ____________, who sells ________________. I know {woman entrepreneur} from _________ and really love her work!” This gives the woman entrepreneur five warm leads that she can now connect with, and she will never forget your generosity.
Next, every woman entrepreneur needs more time. Often these women aren’t “just” entrepreneurs, but they’re also caring for young children or aging parents, and working to maintain their fitness and friendships. They’re wearing many hats inside their organization as well. So, consider supporting them with the gift of time or space. If you can babysit for them to get 4 hours of work done, they’ll love you forever! If you have an office that you can lend a woman to get in some dedicated work hours, it will be a gift she’ll never forget.
Finally, every woman entrepreneur needs fluff-free, nuts and bolts information about business success. One of the primary reasons that the statistics show only 20% of businesses actually succeed is because there is so much faulty information about what success actually requires of an entrepreneur. So, consider gifting the woman entrepreneur in your life a business success or sales book written — not by some shiny new author who recently catapulted to fame, but — by a battle-tested veteran of the entrepreneurial world. Consider books by Dan S. Kennedy, Steve Chandler Chet Holmes, Barbara Winter or Lee Milteer.
And don’t forget these women entrepreneurs in your feed until Women Entrepreneurship Day rolls around again in 2022. Keep these habits up year round to support these women and their businesses, because their success is our success. May our great community become known as one of the best places for women entrepreneurs to live and grow!
