Member Article

Insights and advice from international women in business

Passion is one of the keys to creating a successful business. It’s the driving force behind the foundation of your venture, and passion is very contagious. It can be used to motivate your employees and create brand loyalty amongst your customers.

Office Genie has approached successful international businesswomen in order to get advice and insights for women looking to start their own business, or grow their existing venture.

Kim Flynn, founder of Kim Flynn Consulting (kimflynn.com), is a business consultant for female entrepreneurs. She teaches business owners how to organise, systematise, and automate their business. She is also the creator of the Plug & Play Business System, a business automation tool that helps entrepreneurs to structure their time, tasks, clients and employees.

Kim lends her business and women’s leadership expertise below:

What made you decide to start your own business?

I was 23 years old when I started my first business. I had worked for a small home security business, saw the guys that were running it had no idea what they were doing, and thought, “I could do this, and do this better!“ I started my first tutoring company six months later.

Did you experience any difficulties when setting up your business?

I had no idea what I was doing when I started my first business. I didn’t have a business license, and had workstations set up all over my home illegally. The neighbours complained (as they should have) because I had cars parked up and down the street. We moved to a business centre and I got legal.

What is your favourite thing about running a business?

I love creative problem solving. When a marketing campaign stops working, as they all eventually do, you have to go back to the drawing board and reinvent things from the ground up. I also love managing my team. Seeing people passionate about moving MY project forward is pretty exciting!

What advice do you have for women who want to grow their business?

Don’t overthink it. Don’t expect yourself to have it all figured out first. Just jump in and make some big, beautiful messy mistakes.

Only 1.8% of women reach the 1M-dollar mark in business. Compare that to 6% of men. There are some measurable, researched behaviours that cause this. Women are less likely to have systems, less likely to take out loans, less likely to have business partners, and less likely to have mentors. Start doing those things!

What is the one piece of business advice that every business, no matter the size, needs to remember?

It’s about the people you serve. Your company isn’t about you, isn’t about the bank account. It is about your customer. Learn how to serve your customer better.

Our second thought leader is former model Lizanne Falsetto. Lizanne is the founder and CEO of ThinkThin (thinkproducts.com). In her mid-twenties, Lizanne left the modelling world to follow her passion and create a business providing nutrition bars. She has single-handedly run this business from its inception into a multimillion-dollar empire.

Lizanne took time out of her busy schedule in California to share her experiences and insights with us below:

What made you decide to start your own business?

I created the bars from my grandmother’s recipes to fill my personal need for a snack that was high in protein, no sugar and gluten free. I started to share the bars with my colleagues and soon realised that there was a need for this type of product in the market place. 20 years ago there were only sport bars in the market place. We were before our time with incredible attributes that are trending the highest in today’s food world.

Did you experience any difficulties when setting up your business?

As with anyone who has started their own business, I have faced many difficulties over the years. Taking the bars from my kitchen to the next level, hiring a staff, manufacturing, building the team as well as a marketing plan have just been a few of the hurdles we have overcome. The biggest difficulty however was deciding when to bring on a partner and at what point the company was ready for it.

What is your favourite thing about running a business?

I love building things so I suppose I was born an entrepreneur. There is such a reward in knowing that the passion you have brought to a product is really making a difference in people’s lives.

What advice do you have for women who want to grow their business?

Identify the white space. Research the need and demographic for which you are trying to deliver a solution. Know your demographic and the ideal consumer that you are targeting. Be sure to build a team that is like-minded and understands the industry you are entering. The proper execution of these components will lead to a successful business.

What is the one piece of business advice that every business, no matter the size, needs to remember?

It’s all about timing. Know the timing and understand the marketplace and the trends leaning towards what you are building and you will be far ahead of the game. Most importantly, don’t lose the passion! That is what will keep you and the business moving forward.

These women are the proof that, no matter what your background is, with the right foundations anyone can have the ability to flourish in business. If you’re looking to turn your passion into a business venture, utilise this knowledge in order to make your dream a reality.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kat Kynes .