The Man’s World. It has been a long journey for women to become equals. Whether you talk about the emancipation of rights for women or getting over moral taboos, battles have been fought without any glory to be able to bring the modern woman into a board room. On some instances a woman taking over after a dead relative and on others a vengeful saga, the journey of a successful woman entrepreneur is seldom common.
Having said that, one has to understand that entering the boardroom was just the first part of the battle. The second part of the battle consists of surviving the man’s world. Believe it or not, regardless of how liberated we act or how ignorant we behave towards how much harder the women have to work at the corporate scenario, we know what the reality is.
Do you mean it
The biggest challenge that woman entrepreneur face in the corporate world today is that they don’t know whether they are capable of leading. They may be excellent at their jobs and they might know to do what, but what they don’t know is whether they truly believe they can do it.
This belief comes with confidence. Women have been told for too long that they don’t belong telling men what to do. This is why it has almost become a part of their DNA. To believe that they are beneath their counterparts.
Mean what you say at your work place. If you give an order it has to be fulfilled. If men aren’t listening to you, chances are that they don’t care because you don’t seem to value your own opinion. Get serious about yourself and you will see that everything will fall in place.
Avoid being the Stereotype
There are a few stereotypical opinions about women. Don’t reinforce them. People already believe that women always gossip. They also think that women can’t keep their mouths shut, they can’t keep secrets or hold their tongue when need be.
If you act these out, even ONCE, you will be marked as the same. In fact, here’s a thing. People believe that they KNOW these things about you. Now, you have to make them UNKNOWN these things by consistently opposite behavior. That is the only way you will beat the stereotypes. You must ensure that people ACTUALLY believe that you aren’t the bitchy back biting types if you want them to respect you and to confide in you.
Dress for the Job
Sloppy never works. There is no alternative to being well turned out. If you want people to take you seriously or respect you, then you have to be absolutely sure that your presence commands that kind of respect. Turn the tables and look at it from the other angle. Will you, as an employee, respect an unkempt, disheveled person? Or would you rather listen to a well dressed, well mannered person? You’ve heard about the saying, right: “practice what you preach”!
Know your Limits
There is a very fine line between being professionally polite and overly friendly. You have to make sure that you don’t come across as pushy and over friendly. Apart from the fact that females that come across as the friendly types are often typecast into a very negative role. Don’t fall prey to such speculation. The professional environment is not to make friends. Keep your professionalism so that people don’t take you for granted. Sometimes when you become too friendly with your juniors, they start taking advantage of the situation and taking you for granted. Don’t let it come to that.
Be practical
This one might be hard. Women aren’t pragmatic creatures. They over think everything. They put in a lot of heart and a whole lot of efforts when they are serious about something. This is the reason why they are so good at their work. They can’t NOT do a job right. If they are doing it, they have to go full bore and do everything with their heart out in the open. But when it comes to take decisions that may not be in someone’s personal interest but is better for the company by and large, women falter. They care too much about their employees and are continuously afraid of hurting their emotions.
The bigger picture for woman entrepreneur
When you look at it on the whole, the women are natural leaders. It is a part of how they were made. But years of oppression and discrimination on the basis of gender has changed them over the past hundreds of years. Now, however, they are back in the game, challenging every stereotype and breaking all barriers. More and more women entrepreneurs are breaking away from the conventional business practices. They are entering newer realms such as starting a taxi app like Uber or going all out and beginning an app like Gojek. The Gojek clone is a multi service provider app in addition to taxi and delivery features. Owning these apps can make them multimillionaires in no time! Women owe it to themselves. It is time for the women to make it large in their life.
