Every March, as we celebrate Women’s History Month, we are again reminded of the endless contributions and accomplishments women have made throughout history. We relish in the idea of uplifting one another as we spotlight the women in our lives and support their endeavors now more than ever. But what if we could support other female business owners not just this month, but all the time?
It is no secret that female entrepreneurs face numerous barriers on their road to success – funding being one of the most difficult to overcome. In fact, as of only 2020, Crunchbase data revealed that funding for female-led startups fell to 2.3% after having only reached its peak in 2019 at a meager 2.8%. While progress is undoubtedly being made in society, more work needs to be done beyond the month of March.
As the CEO of pH-D® Feminine Health, a company that serves the exclusive needs of other women while being female-run, female-owned, and independent, it is my belief that joining together and raising each other up is the best and most successful path forward.
From one female business owner to another, here are 5 tips to supporting female-founded brands and businesses all year round!
1. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is – Shopping female-owned brands is the most obvious way to support women-owned businesses, but it isn’t the only way to make a lasting impact. As female entrepreneurs, we have the opportunity to support our fellow women in business not only as consumers, but as partners. Over the years, pH-D Feminine Health has partnered with several female entrepreneurs to help elevate their brands and agencies. Groups like Women Business Collaborative (WBC), The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), and The Female Founder Collective (FFC) are committed to spotlighting, empowering, and establishing a network of women-owned and women-led businesses in an effort to help women support women. As a member of each of these groups, WBC, NAWBO, and FFC continuously prove to be valuable and essential resources.
As female entrepreneurs, we have the opportunity to support our fellow women in business not only as consumers, but as partners.
2. Mentor More Women – Women encounter enough hurdles navigating male-dominated careers, especially when it comes to accessing opportunities that can impact our ability to grow as leaders and scale our businesses. However, offering mentorship to aspiring female entrepreneurs is a great way to utilize your knowledge and expertise to help guide women towards success in their entrepreneurial endeavors. As a working mom myself, offering mentorship to women with HeyMama, a community that serves to connect working moms, felt like the perfect fit. It allowed me to leverage my personal experiences to help support inspiring, hardworking women who would naturally face similar challenges that I have as they juggle their businesses and motherhood, among other responsibilities.
3. Share Your Story – When it comes to sharing our story with the intention of inspiring other women, it’s important that we’re open and honest about our failures and struggles as much as we are about our accomplishments. As women, we need to take advantage of every opportunity to share our voice and our story, whether that be speaking at events or sharing tidbits via social media, podcasts, articles, interviews, or blogs.
As a single mother launching a business in her 40’s, I felt as though the odds were stacked against me. Looking back, there were countless times where the stories of women like myself encouraged me to keep going, and it is through sharing my story that more women can see my path to success and perhaps leave some of their own self-doubts behind. If there is one lesson I want women to learn from my story, it’s that learning to control self-doubt is critical to one’s success.
If there is one lesson I want women to learn from my story, it’s that learning to control self-doubt is critical to one’s success.
4. Spread the Love – Know of a great female-owned business or brand? Then spread the love by spreading the word! One of the simplest ways to help female business owners is to get their business in front of as many eyes as possible, and this can be accomplished in a multitude of ways. You can share their content across social media, tell your friends and families about their products or services, leave reviews on their site, and even create your own content about their business that they can repost to increase their credibility. Supporting female-led brands and businesses does not always require time and money. Spreading love can be a daily or even weekly effort that we make to spotlight the trailblazing women around us.
5. Share Resources – Knowledge is power, and that is why sharing tried, true resources and tools is essential towards supporting women in business. This can mean recommending a class, podcast, mentor, organization, service, or even a program that can strengthen another woman’s ability to lead her business down the road to success. Although it may be tempting to hold onto resources like a treasured family recipe, it’s important that we level the playing field for all women and be transparent about the tools that have helped us in our own journeys.
WRITTEN BY
Deeannah Seymour