What's Holding Back Women Entrepreneurs?

Being a woman entrepreneur and professional myself has given me a genuine hands on perspective of what it means to succeed in business and yet stay at the top of my game with my professional skills.

In my case, I was a practicing eye surgeon who right out of fellowship training took a corporate job for a couple of years, just long enough to get my practice up and running. After over two decades of owning and operating my practice (I had also acquired my mentor's large practice when he retired), I sold it to do what I am doing now.

I help women entrepreneurs and professionals eliminate the blind spots that limit their self-image and constrict their vision for business success and it should be noted that the two are definitely linked.

In fact, how we see ourselves also constricts our relationships, including our ability to network effectively, how we dress, the opportunities and risks we are willing to expose ourselves to and even impacts our overall health in a huge way. I just came across an article in the small business section of the Wall Street Journal dated Monday, May 17, 2010 on What's Holding Back Women Entrepreneurs? and I would recommend it. Here are two highlights that the author, Sharon G. Hadary, sited as being the answer to this question and I quote:

1. First, you have women's own self-limiting views of themselves, their businesses and the opportunities available to them.

2. But equally problematic are the stereotypes, perceptions and expectations of business and government leaders.

Now here's what I know from my own personal experience; number one is more powerful than number two. When you deal with number one, you are far better equipped to deal with negativity from others.

From my own life, I had many challenges from number two right down to being told to my face that I would not be able to get through college short of five years (well, I did it in three with honors), and that I would never be able to get into medical school as it was too competitive (my performance was stellar enough to have medical schools pursue me to apply).

Then when it came time to start my business, I was told by the "authorities" all of the horrible statistics about failure, blah, blah, blah. My conclusion?

While you had better prepare yourself, the most important element is how you see yourself as if you have the epidemic belief that you are "not good enough" or that you are unworthy, or that women can only do "so much", you will hold yourself back out the gate. If you do have strong will power like I had in those days, you can push through but later you will feel like "a fraud" (this is so common) when you become successful and start to self-sabotage.

To summarize, I made a commitment years ago to start breaking through these self-limiting stories and I have come much closer and continue to unfold the "real me". It is about using the powerful, practical information from neuroscience which addresses your human brain and nervous system and combining it with intuitive and spiritual aspects of yourself to breakthrough the fear that we as women are conditioned to believe about ourselves and our lives.

I have learned tools and processes that I use on myself and teach my clients that literally can cause a quantum shift in perception that allows for a new vision for business success, happier relationships and good health and to create these shifts fast - and they last as they come from the inside out.

With new eyes, you can see new opportunities and with a healthy self-image, you are able to act from your authentic self without the fear of the opinions of others or fear of failure. Developing your business alongside of letting go of those internal voices that hold you back goes a very long way toward lasting business success and living the life that is well lived, the one you know that you are really meant to live.

Have you noticed that having the marketing or business plan information and being able to take action and get results are two different things? Have you wondered what makes that difference?