"Finally! 💃"
That's my reaction when I see the buzz about women, especially minority women, getting attention on the entrepreneurship landscape. It's high time the world makes bets on us. Minority women's domination of the entrepreneurship landscape is only "suddenly" apparent because, for a long time, nobody was really paying attention to us, even though women are innately innovative thinkers and collaborative problem solvers. Women have always possessed a lot of grit, emotional intelligence, and have always been entrepreneurial. 
Case in point: growing up, my mum was a teacher at a senior high school. At the same time, she had a small-scale poultry farm at home, sold water and ice cubes, and ice cream. And so did the many other women and mothers around us, many of whom ran multiple small businesses to provide for their families! 
I feel like I'm following my mom even now as a head of marketing at a rapidly-expanding supply chain called Supplied, aimed at connecting a dynamic network of factories with even more female entrepreneurs! And I'm surrounded by strong, entrepreneurial women here as well: the Chief of Staff to the CEO, Sarah Cummings, is a Chinese-American who is just as driven to empower women as I am!
The rise of social media has significantly helped female entrepreneurs to build and grow their businesses. We now can sell live on Facebook and Instagram and even create storefronts on these platforms all from home — giving some women some flexibility to juggle multiple activities. 
Social media has also helped many women entrepreneurs build support groups for themselves, share ideas, and help others' businesses. There is a whole world of Facebook groups and Instagram pages that are just women supporting women. At Supplied, we started The Supplied Family Group on Facebook, and in less than a month and with little advertisement, we now have over 800 members. Most members are minorities. It's a pure joy to see women genuinely collaborating and supporting each other — it reminds me of something Sarah once shared with me, a popular saying by Mao Zedong: "women hold up half of the sky."
There's a reason minority women are becoming entrepreneurs at a fast pace: they've got true grit.
As a minority woman, you grow up having to truly fight for your place in society, be noticed, and be given equal opportunities. And what this does is build a lot of grit and perseverance.
You find ways to do things efficiently and effectively. These are the very skills that make great leaders and entrepreneurs! Given the right opportunities and conversations and support system, minority women truly dominate the entrepreneurship landscape. 
This is even more apparent to me, being a minority woman in an e-commerce business's leadership position. And I have had the luck to notice a few tricks of the trade from our most successful customers — tips I believe can empower any woman looking to start their own eCommerce business.

5 Steps For Starting Your Own Ecommerce Business

1. Identify your "why" and "what" you want to sell — they'll help you know your "who" you want to sell to. It's essential to know your motivation and short/long-term goals from the get-go. This will have an immediate impact on what kinds of e-commerce business you want to pursue, what kind of products you want to sell, what kind of suppliers you work with, and who your target audience will be. You can either start with just a social media platform or use a platform that allows you to easily build a storefront.
2. For products, start small and test, test, test. In the beginning, many wonder - how do I get enough products? How am I going to meet the minimum order requirements if I can't afford big orders? How do I find trustworthy and affordable suppliers? What if I buy a bunch of products and they don't sell? The answer is to purchase minimal amounts of the product first and go big only on the winners. 
Happily, more and more companies exist to facilitate this. For example, you have Supplied, where I work. Supplied is a wholesale marketplace with access to a network of over 2,000 factories, and our customers can buy inventory without a minimum order requirement and at factory-direct prices. This allows folks to start their online shop without the hassle or the risks — you might even buy 2 or two units of different products and test out in your online shop or your brick and mortar store. 
3. Build a marketing plan to grow your social following and get your brand in front of your target audience. So many of our customers ask: "How do I get visibility for my store?" This is where knowing your "why" and "who" comes into play; they drive all efforts to grow your social following. It allows you to create a persona for your ideal customer type and find ways to market to that audience. With social media, there are many interesting ways to start small without spending a ton of money. You can start with Facebook Live selling; you can also test Facebook and Instagram Ads with a small budget, to begin with. You can learn a lot with only $20 in your ad budget!
4. Fix your operations. Once you have launched your ads and have started gaining new customers, the next easiest way to get more customers organically through word-of-mouth is to ensure that your customer experience is impeccable. This is the best marketing tool for any business, especially a small business starting. Ensure you are communicating clear expectations with your customers about delivery timelines, product quality, et cetera — then meet them. Always keep your customers in the loop.
Contrary to what people think, customers can be very understanding — so long as they always know where their stuff is! Integrity is key for a small business and any business. 
5. Realize it's much less costly to retain existing customers than to gain new ones. Your existing customers could become your biggest marketing tool — and they're by far your most reliable source of revenue. So while you work hard to gain new customers, you must also ensure you treat your existing customers right. Give them little gifts with new purchases, encourage them to share their buying experience online with you. Run promotions and discounts to keep them interested and engaged. The little things go a long way! 
I wish you luck to all women entrepreneurs reading this piece, and I hope these pointers can help kick start your journey. The women at Supplied and everyone else at Supplied is rooting for you!