Article by Gemma Williams
Female entrepreneurs face unique challenges, such as societal pressures, childcare demands, sourcing funding, sexism, and lack of mentors to help them succeed in a cutthroat landscape. So, how can women succeed in business? In this article we will be sharing the top 5 tools you need for success and how to utilise these for growth.
As a business owner, one of the best ways you can ensure success is by accepting client and customer feedback. It’s how you grow, both as a person and a professional, and it ensures your business remains relevant and valuable.
As a business owner, you have so many responsibilities to juggle that sometimes it can be difficult to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. For many entrepreneurs, much of the working day is spent in survival mode. However, if you want to grow your business you need to know what’s working and what isn’t so that you can optimise your processes for the best results.
You should ask for feedback from your team, your clients, your customers, and your mentor. All of these people will provide invaluable insights into numerous areas of your business so that you can make the right changes. Feedback is the best business tool you could want and the greatest thing about it is that it’s completely free!
If you want to achieve success as a woman in business, you need to take control of your finances. We know it can feel overwhelming trying to stay on top of payroll and business expenses, all while ensuring that you have a healthy cash flow. For many, managing the financial side of the business can feel like a full-time job. Thankfully, there are tools that can help.
One of the best ways you can measure the growth of your business and avoid bankruptcy is by setting up an online business account. Fundsquire reported, over 29% of UK startups fail because they run out of money and this is often the result of poor financial management.
An online business account gives you control over your finances. It allows you to monitor cash flow so that you can see exactly how much money is coming in and out of your business and make changes accordingly.
It allows you to make payments with ease and also set aside tax for those all-important HMRC self-employment payments. With an online banking account you can take control of your finances and set up your company for sustainable growth.
It goes without saying that your business needs a website. One of the biggest reasons for this is so that people can find your business online.
In order to make your website findable online, you need to produce high-quality content. So, you need to invest in a content management system such as WordPress or Squarespace. A CMS will allow you to write informative blog posts, product pages, landing pages, and downloadable documents (to name a few) that will both inform and inspire your readers to engage with your company.
The better your content, the more your company will grow. In fact, according to The Content Marketing Institute, content helps to increase sales, save on costs, increase business profits, and encourage customer loyalty. And you need all of these things to grow your business. So, it’s fair to say that content marketing is one of the best tools you can invest in for the success of your company.
Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to business owners today.
Launching your brand on social media is a great way to promote your business, increase brand awareness, reach new audiences, and grow your business. Over 53% of the world’s population actively uses social media on a regular basis, so your potential reach as a business owner is significant.
The best thing about social media platforms is they provide the opportunity to connect with your audience on a whole new level. You can communicate with individuals, promote your business more widely, learn what kind of content your audience resonates with, and utilise this information to promote further company growth.
As you discover what resonates with your audience and what drives the best results for your business, you can optimise this to ensure continued growth for the long-term.
In order to grow your business, you need to manage projects effectively. The day-to-day running of a business requires spinning multiple plates and it can quickly become overwhelming if you don’t have any tools in place to help.
Project management tools help you keep track of your projects, to-do lists, who’s working on what, and whether projects will be delivered on time. Tools like Trello and Slack ensure your team are all on the same page, your clients are kept up to date, and the work you do always goes above and beyond expectations.
Say goodbye to email chasers, hectic phone calls, rushed meetings, and computer screens covered in Post-It notes. With the help of project management tools, you can keep on top of all your projects, manage your employees, and optimise your processes to achieve company growth.
Being a woman in business can feel like a lot of pressure at times. From keeping on top of the administrative tasks to managing employees effectively, sometimes it can feel impossible to keep everything running smoothly.
Thankfully, the 5 tools above will help streamline the most important aspects of your business so that you can improve your productivity, better your processes, and motivate your employees to grow your business.
