Being a female entrepreneur, I loathe having to play the gender card. And to be perfectly honest I have rarely found that the fact that I am a woman has held me back from being promoted, securing investors or furthering my career. What I have noticed however, is that female entrepreneurs can be very quickly underestimated. This is not only by men, but it actually comes from other woman too, I can even admit to being guilty of this myself. Once, I was invited to write for a well-known site that was catered towards mothers and my first thought was “Ugh, no go. I would have nothing in common”. How entitled of me to put myself on a pedestal as though one media outlet is lesser than another despite equal traffic and impact. Fortunately, now that I am aware of it, I endeavour to think like that less and less.
Unfortunately, not everyone is aware of their biased mentality, and many also don’t care to be corrected in their wrong presumptions. In fact, you can see both men and women becoming uncomfortable when someone in their midst is riding the wave of success, even if that is perceived success. Whilst other entrepreneurs are receiving some sort of accolades; many are struggling with the next phase of the business, next funding round or just internal pressures. It is part of the game regardless of industry, gender or phase of your start-up. [tweet_quote hashtags=”#womeninbusiness” ]One thing I have discovered as a female entrepreneur [/tweet_quote] in a sea of preconceived notions is that this allows a sense of flexibility when it comes to creation. The work is the same, the pressures are on par but you tend to be allowed a bit more of an opportunity to explore. This is because, quite frankly, many of us are underestimated.
Whether it is the assumption that we run a business as a ‘project’ to have for the years one apparently endures between University and marriage, or as a way to make money from home, it is ridiculous to assume that one is not committed to the lifespan of their company nor to be able to deal with the pressures of a start-up simply due to gender. I have heard many woman lament over this, and I myself have been told dreadful things when meeting with Venture Capitalists who think it’s ‘cute’ that some lady is running around pitching to investors. But you know what I wasn’t told? I wasn’t told that my business and financial models were flawed – that is something I actually would pay attention to. No, instead, many women are dismissed for the sole reason that they dare play in the male dominated world of start-ups. Yet another totally foolish assumption. [tweet_quote hashtags=”#entrepreneurs” ]Some of the hottest start-ups have been female founded[/tweet_quote] by female entrepreneur. The Big Smoke was founded in 2013 and I continue to lead this digital platform encompassing both crowd-sourced content, e-commerce and expansion into the US in 2015. Karen Cariss co-founded the successful technology company PageUP, Gen George founded recruitment start-up OneShift and of course Shoes of Prey founder Jodie Fox is fabulous. There are many of us disrupting not only industries but also old-school mentalities.
It is an exciting time, and I have always encouraged both men and woman to found their own start ups whether it becomes a full time role or something passionate on the side. The idea of creating something from nothing is inspiring. If the fact that I am a woman means I am slightly underestimated then I am happy to take that, and prove people wrong. Because, at the end of the day, regardless of gender, proving the noise as ‘wrong’ is a completely entrepreneurial thing to do.
