It’s time.
I wrote this in 2016 but it’s still relevant in 2022!
Have you ever struggled with a product you bought and just wished they would add (or take away) this one thing to make it work better for you?
Do you look at your community and wish there was just one service offered locally that would make your life sooo much easier?
Will you go to work tomorrow wondering if your skills could create the type of income for yourself that you create for your employers?
Is there an experience you wish you could have? A book you wish someone would write? A message you feel is missing in your universe?
If you exclaimed “YES!” to any of those questions, what are you waiting for?
It's time to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams. Click To Tweet
PSA: if you do not have time to read this article, feel free to listen to it instead just belowÂ
Now back to reading…
You already have the talent and interest to get started. You will need a little help… any successful entrepreneur does. Believe me, no one does this well by themselves.
So what’s been holding you back?
Time? Money? Contacts?
Or you just don’t think you can get it done right now (whatever it is)?
These can all be quickly remedied in a multitude of ways. But let me backtrack… here are a few audacious reasons that 2016 is the time for you to go forth and officially become an entrepreneur.
Quick commercial break: As an Amazon associate, I will receive a small commission if you decide to click on a couple of the links below and make purchases there. It would be at no cost to you and would help me buy shoes for my growing boys 🙂 Now back to the program…
Reasons to Launch
Our Evolving World
On a large scale, the world is changing and it’s changing faster than it used to. It takes more money to have a comfortable lifestyle for you and your family, and yet it’s cheaper to run a business (financially and time-wise). Information technologies are increasingly changing the way companies operate, a fact that could affect your job security… but also affects how quickly and easily your business can scale up. It takes two seconds to connect via video, audio or text with anyone in any part of the world – a factor in considering communicating with customers, employees, partners, investors and other stakeholders… the possibilities are endless.
Technology is STILL changing the game.
The longer our world spins, the more our technology evolves in form and speed. It’s becoming more common to have machines in the place of people in spaces that are traditionally customer-facing roles. For instance, there is talk of companies quickly pursuing automated solutions for customer service. We already see self-serve machines in restaurants from McDonald’s to Panera Bread…
This happened before with gas stations and even before that in manufacturing… I’m certain it will spread to other industries and at higher levels (A.I. anyone?).
You know… speaking of self-serve… recently the boys and I went to visit our beloved Target on a weekday during the lunch period (their school had early release). By the time we were ready to check-out, this store had ONE regular check-out lane open, ONE express lane open, and THREE self check-out stations open (another self check-out was out of order). The regular line was so long it went past several closed check-outs while self check-out was getting people out quickly. It was so ridiculous it was hard to believe this was really Target since they are usually so much better at serving their customers. In the end, it felt like we were being conditioned to be less reliant on traditional cashiers anyway.
Really? Who does that during the lunch rush??
Anyway, with all that said…
This was a demonstration of how acceptable it is in 2016 2022 for you to automate different areas of your business including customer service. It doesn’t take much to do it better than that – a large company known for good customer service. You can stay in touch with and serve your current and potential customer base on a 24-hour cycle without losing a wink of sleep.
It's easier and cheaper to run a business now than ever before. Click To Tweet
You will find many tools to do this. I’ve shared my favorite tools in this free resource guide. Click below to download it now.
Wage Inequalities
You can work at your highest capabilities and constantly sacrifice your personal lifestyle for your employer but more than likely, you are not being paid what you are worth. You are not being appreciated for your value. On average, women receive 83 cents [up from 79 cents in 2016] for every one dollar men receive for the same work. For African-American women, it’s worse when compared to Caucasian men (64 cents for every one dollar FOR THE SAME WORK – a one penny increase from 2016).
As an entrepreneur, you will be able to better set your income. You will even have a chance to create income for other people in your family and community, exponentially affecting the lives of those close to them and their communities.
As an entrepreneur, YOU determine your value. Click To Tweet
We Need You
Minimum wage is a hot-button issue for women. There are different opinions about the purpose of minimum wage jobs but the fact is there are many ADULT women (62% of minimum wage workers in the U.S. are women) who work in these roles with the expectation of providing for their families. In those cases, many of them take on more than one job to better support their families but STILL may need government assistance. Minimum wage in the U.S. is very difficult to live off and provide for a family.
This situation really isn’t new. Families have experienced it for decades, especially in minority communities. Barbara Ehrenreich extensively captured the experience in Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
I highlight minimum wage to say – if you and the other women reading this article launched companies and hired employees, you would directly affect the level of poverty in your communities and likely even your country.
Hear me outÂ
Research in entrepreneurship and hiring has commonly found that African-Americans are hired by African-Americans more often than by people of other races. We also know that women hire women more often than men. If the number of companies owned by these groups increased, not only will wealth increase in their families, but more than likely there would be an increase in the wealth of these demographics (who, by the way, are more represented in low-income communities) and therefore, a reduction in poverty.
Imagine if you launched your company THIS YEAR and the lives you could change by:
- Putting your idea out there to the customers you want to target – how will your product make their lives better?
- Hiring people and paying them according to the value they provide your company – how will your company change their lives?
How many lives can you CHANGE just by you going forth to release your vision to the world? Click To Tweet
BONUS: When you hire employees to support your company’s growth, you set the culture and can treat employees with the respect and value you have always desired from your own job(s).
Women Who Have Done It
The number of women-owned companies are growing faster than men-owned with those owned by African-American women representing the fastest growth.
Janice Bryant-Howroyd founded ACT-1 Global, a staffing and HR consulting firm, in 1978. She has the distinction of being the first African-American female to own a billion dollar company. 
The nearly 40-year-old company now employs over 2,600 people and operates in 19 countries around the world. This entrepreneurial mother sits on several boards and has a spirit that gives.
She has established herself as an expert in her field by giving keynote speeches about work and business all over the country. She has given many interviews on her philosophy about work and business. She’s even written a book The Art of Work: How to Make Your Work, Work for You (Kindle)
She’s very transparent about how she got started in her business. She was working at one job and thought it could be done better so she made it her mission to do just that with very little money. I will say she’s not only person I’ve heard that exact story from and I’m positive she won’t be the last.
Jessica Alba, Judy Faulkner, and Sara Blakely are a few female entrepreneurs who have joined her in the billion dollar company club. These single moms shared their best business advice for entrepreneurs with a similar lifestyle.
I just wanted to show you a few women who launched their own companies and changed the lives of many in the process. I’m not saying you will do EXACTLY what they did, but I’m sharing the possibilities 🙂 Even though more women are going into business ownership, we still trail companies owned by men in number and size.
We need more women-owned companies. It's time to start one now! Click To Tweet
I’ve Been There…
There were so many days that I sat wanting to start a company but didn’t think I had the resources, aptitude, attitude, and more to actually make it happen. But I REALLY wanted to be an entrepreneur. I would see other people operate very successful companies and wonder “why not me?”
It finally took finding an idea I was passionate about and could easily share with others – even better than I shared myself – because I fully believed in it as a solution to a major problem.
Now I fully believe it’s time for you to take a serious step towards launching a company in 2022. You already have an interest in entrepreneurship and understand the benefits of it for your lifestyle and those connected to you… the FREEDOM it represents.
We live in a time and country that provides for freedom that women in many other countries are literally dying to have for themselves and their children.
It’s not always easy for us to see that loathsome fact but it’s the truth.
If you have wanted to start a business for yourself, there’s no better time than now. You know you have the knowledge to sell – you’ve already been prepared with it. Given an increasingly automated world, access to (virtual or otherwise) business mentors you can relate to, and a glimpse of the impact you could have, there’s very little that can stop you besides… you.
So what now?
First things first, get the tools you need to move forward in your path to launch your next project. You can see my favorite tools for building and managing my business here.
This freebie will give you a solid foundation to launch the doors of a new company or project, and take away the overwhelm you feel about all the things you need to do to launch.
Meanwhile, share in the comments below one thing you will accomplish BECAUSE you launched a business this year. This will be the space to courageously claim it!
P.S. Of course we’re not all called to be business owners, and that’s perfectly okay too. Take your strongest skills; rock them to the fullest for a business you know, trust and relate to; and be the best employee you can be. Entrepreneurs can not do it all and so need your talent to make it all happen for the greater good. We can all make the world a better place when we each do our part.
P.S.S. If you still feel a struggle to jump on the fence, contact me directly and let me know what you are struggling with.