What are some tips you have for other women business owners when it comes to creating strategies or processes to help advance your company goals?
Andrea M. Bacon
Owner
Andrea M. Bacon M.D.
I’m a psychiatrist and I’m starting a wellness business with the goal to help people be physically, mentally and spiritually healthy through lifestyle changes. I’ve found taking mini retreats with myself to meditate on why this goal is important to me and brainstorm how to reach this goal is helpful. During retreats, I get into a gratitude state (spend 5-10 minutes thinking of things or people I’m grateful for), write down all ideas that come without censoring them and let myself dream big. Gratitude reduces stress, clears your thinking and helps you see possibilities.
After reviewing the ideas and making plans to implement them, I like to discuss them with a mentor and occasionally with a “fan.” Being a solo entrepreneur, mentors have been critical in my business developing and moving forward. A “fan” is someone who likes you and loves your business idea. “Fans” encourage you to keep going when reaching your goal seems far away. Celebrate the small steps on the way to reaching your goal.
Candance Chow
Co-Founder
NextGroup, LLC
Before launching NextGroup in 2019, I worked in strategy, business development and product management for several technology startups. This experience taught me a key strategy and go-to market approach that I have brought to my role as a business owner and entrepreneur, enabling us to grow our recruiting and staffing services with focus and speed.
In the tech start up world, I learned to test and prove new product and service ideas by creating an “MVP” or minimum viable product. This approach enables you to quickly introduce a new idea while not sacrificing the time and cost of fully “designing and testing” the product. In a service environment like ours that means we can pilot a new offering, get feedback and refine quickly and frequently. It also means we can take risks while mitigating the impact of “failures” along the way. The result for NextGroup has been that we are able to provide recruiting and staffing solutions that are adaptable and respond to their changing needs, and the rapidly changing dynamics of the workplace economy in which we operate.
Lindsey Evans
Managing Broker & Owner
Liberty Pointe Realty
When creating strategies and processes to advance your company goals, clarity and intentionality are key. Start by defining your mission and values—they act as your business’s north star. Align every strategy with these guiding principles, ensuring they reflect your long-term vision.
Break your goals into actionable steps. Use project management tools to assign tasks, track progress, and hold yourself accountable. Make time to assess what’s working and what isn’t, and don’t be afraid to pivot when necessary. Flexibility is a strength, not a weakness.
Building a reliable team is essential. Empower your team members by delegating effectively and providing them with the tools and resources they need to succeed. Remember, you can’t do it all, and you shouldn’t have to.
Finally, prioritize networking and mentorship. Surround yourself with a community of like-minded women who can share insights and experiences. Collaboration over competition will take you further than you imagine. Success grows when we grow together.
Lisa Greyhill
President
Firebrand Global Marketing
I, like many small businesses, started enthusiastically with creative ideas and a short-term focus. That strategy put me on my back foot when I realized that without a solid growth plan, I’d never get much further than where I was.
A critical change to our growth has been the use of an outside advocate for developing a roadmap with measurable goals and reviewing current systems & procedures. Today, I have two awesome women who provide different approaches and have different focuses. When we get together, we’re able to define the necessary protocols and align them with my vision for the future. We’ve broken down the business silos to establish critical processes for each, then assessed them against our defined growth strategy. From there, I can budget resources and set a timeline for completion.