Women entrepreneur’s cheat sheet to beat the blues

Having read so many women-centric success stories, it is easy to assume that these super powerful, duper successful ladies have strolledacross to their throne on a bed of roses. But like every rose has its thorn, every success story has its ups and downs. To achieve what you have set out to do, you must not forget to get up when down, and not drift when you are up. The story doesn’t end till you have reached your goal.

Often, the problem is not that the goal is not achievable, or there are too many bottlenecks orroadblocks, it is that we abandon our dream mid-way or we cut them short and settle for something less. Most of the time, we are too afraid of the dark and we quit just before witnessing the dawn of our dreams. The reasons can be plenty and range from personal to professional to social, but we must remember that we are the architects of our life, and we are the only ones responsible for all our decisions, their outcomes, and all the successes.

We need more women entrepreneurs. It is essential not just for economic welfare, and that it makes business sense, but also from a social perspective.

Life is tough for entrepreneurs but to be a women entrepreneurs is a different ball game all together. Here are a few tips to beat the entrepreneurial blues:-

1. Know your calling and build a business around it – Incorporate your own personality in the business.Love your work and love your business. Steve Jobs once said: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and to feeltruly satisfied,do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”Your passion will fuel your motivation, commitment and will help you sail through the tough times.
2. Fit your business to your personal goals – As an entrepreneur, you and your business are going to be one. To be successful,it is very essential that your personal and professional goals are aligned and are in synergy and not conflicting.
3. Be optimistic–Believe in your business. Every successful entrepreneur is extremely optimistic about the future. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, said “If you want to be successful in business, you must be extremely positive about the market, the future, and your business. It is when you believe that things are good that you will take more action and work harder to achieve better results.”
4. Be determined– It is impossible to be a successful entrepreneur without determination. Most people fail to accomplish their goals and reach their dreams because they lack determination and often get side-tracked, distracted, and jump from opportunity to opportunity, and they end up failing. Be focussed and determined to work long enough to see the results. It takes a lot of time to build a business, and it doesn’t happen in a day;it takes a lot of years. With strong determination, you can build successful businesses despite all the impedimentsyou face.
5. Be confident– Be comfortable with building your business by your own rules.Have full confidence in yourbusiness skills. Don’t lack confidence due to lack of previous entrepreneurial experience. Think of inexperience as an opportunity and not a handicap.
6. Ask for help–Successful people recognise the power of asking for help, and they never hesitate when they need help. There is nothing wrong withasking for advice and help. It is impossible to live in a no man’sland. Build a genuine support circle, find a mentor or join a women’s support group to share your ideas, ambitions, and problems.
7. Celebrate – Set small goals as well as big ones, celebrate when you achieve eachone. Don’t just celebrate your achievements only within your company, brag and let the world know.Think back to where you startedand take stock of how far you've come and feel accomplished and motivated.

And when you cross these hurdles,and reach the top orattain the goal, realise that it’s not the end of the journey, it is the beginning. It is then that the real job starts, to inspire, to motivate and to create an ecosystem of value, growth, and empowerment.