The Three F’s Every Woman Entrepreneur Needs

More than ever before, women are stepping out and rising to the top in business. The number of women CEO’s and entrepreneurs are growing exponentially, especially millennial entrepreneurs. If you walked in the door of a thriving corporation, you should expect to see a woman as a part of the leadership team, if not running the entire operation. Along with handling responsibilities at home, women are juggling the role of entrepreneur as well.

So what does all that equal? SHE’S A BOSS! Well, there have been several articles written lately about the word “BOSS” becoming the new “B” word. The accusation is that women in leadership/executive roles are found to be bossy.

In my opinion, this is not the case and I believe it is a double standard since men with the same behavior i.e. drive, decisiveness, passion, and business smarts, are just considered to be doing their job.

Because a woman is handling her business, being assertive and not backing down, does that mean she is bossy, or is she embodying what the position calls for? These discussions inspired me to think about some qualities that I believe women entrepreneurs need, based on my experience. So I thought I would offer the three F’s that every woman in business needs to be successful:

1. FAITH – Making the decision to step into entrepreneurship requires faith. You must be able to believe in what you can’t physically see and walk like you see it. Faith is also the ability to believe in your dreams and move forward, even when the odds are stacked against you and others think you are absolutely crazy. You can’t unleash your greatness and BE if you don’t operate from a posture of faith.

2. FEROCITY – Confidence, Confidence, Confidence…yes I said it three times because as a woman in business, you must be confident if you desire to succeed. Being fierce is all about knowing what you bring to the table and being confident in it. You can have your hair done, nails done, a great outfit, and a beat face, but score a 2 on the “fierce meter.”

In business, being fierce is not just about the external, but it is about possessing quality, value, and knowing your stuff! You must be a woman who is about her business, decisive, firm, and balanced in order to be fierce.

3. FEMININITY – One of the greatest assets you have is that you are a woman, so there is no need to show up in the boardroom if you left your femininity at home. It is true that in business we must be concise and effective, but it doesn’t mean that we as women should lose our femininity in an effort to be aggressive and shrewd. It is important to embrace all of the wonderful things that come with being a woman and let it work for you.

So, to sum it all up, you must have faith even when everything around you suggests that you should give up, you must be fierce and own what you know, and you must be feminine at all times. If you carry these characteristics, people will take you seriously and respect what you have to offer.

I hope these tips helped. Please comment and tell me what you think!

Latoya A. Benson is a visionary by design. She has a passion to empower women to not just recognize their full potential but to reach it. She believes that good things come to those who wait, but GREAT things come to those who GO GET IT! Latoya is the CEO of Inner Visions Professional Vision Consulting Services, Editor-in-Chief of Kingdom Voices Magazine Online, a sought-after branding expert, and the author of The New You Revolution: A 40 Day Journey to Discovering and Becoming the New You. She is a woman of God, mother of two, a daughter, sister, and a friend. You can connect with Latoya via Twitter & Facebook.