Owning a business can be challenging. Even when you have employees, you still have to be good at many different things and are probably always short on time.
Being a woman business owner adds another level of challenges, especially if you’re a working mum. There just never seems to be enough time in the day to complete all the personal and business tasks on your plate!
Most women in business have limited time, energy, and other resources available to spend on personal growth. Yet, at the same time, they stand to gain the most from improving their knowledge and skills.
It’s a tough balancing act and one that must be managed well.
If you’re a woman in business, try these ideas to successfully undertake professional and personal development projects.
10 Professional & Personal Growth Ideas for Women in Business
1. Identify what you need to learn
Carefully assess your needs and weaknesses and make a decision about what you need to learn.
If you’re not sure or if your list is too long, ask yourself:
- What will add the most value to your life or business?
- Which areas are you struggling with the most?
- What are the skills you need to develop now in order to become a better person and business owner?
- Is there something that’s been on your to-learn list for some time that you can pick up now and get done?
- Looking at your long list, which is the easiest item that will also have a big impact on your life and business?
If you’ve answered the questions above and are still feeling stuck:
- Ask yourself, “What would benefit my life or happiness the most?”
- Then ask yourself, “What would benefit my business the most?”
Identify the item that answers both questions in one and start there.
If you’re really short on time and need fast results, it’s important to make a wise decision about how to spend your personal growth time.
2. Improve your selling skills
The truth is that it’s hard to succeed in business without a constant flow of customers or clients. So having great selling skills can be very valuable for any businesswoman.
If you don’t have the level of income you desire, enhancing your selling skills might be a logical choice for your self-development efforts.
Additionally, there’s a lot of personal growth that happens as you work on improving your selling skills. For example, you increase your confidence and become more courageous.
You may even find yourself having fun once you master selling…I know I did!
3. Become a master marketer
You’re also going to struggle to make ends meet if people don’t know about your business.
In case you’re wondering, sales and marketing are different but have the same aim, which is to get you customers.
- Marketing consists of letting people know what you do. So you’re telling your ideal customers what you do over and over again in a consistent way.
- Sales refer to turning your marketing efforts into income or purchases.
The challenge is that it’s possible to be great at marketing and poor at selling. So you need to beef up your selling skills too.
Unless you have a team that does the sales and marketing for you, you are the main marketer and salesperson for your business. And even when you have a team, you can’t delegate this totally because you’re the brand carrier of your business.
There are tons of inexpensive marketing choices available today for entrepreneurs. Look for a solution that matches what you need so that you strengthen this important skill.
If you’re a coach, trainer or consultant and you find sales and marketing a challenge, check out Kickstart Your Business. This is a 12-week coaching program that will help you start making more sales without feeling salesy.
4. Improve your social skills
Everyone can benefit from greater social skills, whether they’re an entrepreneur or not.
When it comes to business, networking is a big part of a business owner’s job. It also goes hand in hand with gaining and maintaining customers or clients.
Poor social skills will impact your business negatively, especially if your business relies on connecting directly with customers or prospects.
Work on your online and offline social skills so that you take advantage of all forums and events that are available to you.
5. Master public speaking
This can be a very useful skill depending on the nature of your business. It’s also a skill that helps build confidence and comfort when dealing with people.
Speaking at conferences and networking events can be a good way to market and sell your services or products to larger audiences. Additionally, you’ll find that most of the places where you network with peers and potential customers, are the same places where you can get speaking engagements.
In today’s world, you also need to be comfortable speaking online. So get training and practise on how to create and present virtually. You also need to learn virtual meeting etiquette so that you act professionally on screen.
6. Set and work on your goals
Do you have personal and business goals?
I find it interesting that many women in business operate without goals. I even have clients who actively resist setting goals. There are also others who set goals and don’t want to evaluate them for various reasons.
Many business owners would benefit from having a set of reasonable and applicable goals to work toward. Setting and working on your personal and business goals consistently are valuable skills to develop.
7. Acquire focus, discipline and perseverance
Every entrepreneur could use more of these three qualities.
Each of the qualities is powerful enough on its own. When you have all 3, it’s much easier to scale and become a powerhouse!
Other qualities to consider include:
- Having the ability to deal with stress.
- Confidence.
- Courageously going for your BIG goals.
- Self-motivation.
8. Become a pro at time management
Entrepreneurs are frequently pressed for time. The closest anyone can come to creating time out of thin air is to learn how to manage their time more effectively.
Here are some useful time management resources on this blog:
- How to Create Time for Yourself
- 10 Time Management Strategies to Get More Done Each Day
- How to Manage Your Time More Effectively
- 5 Time Management Tips for a Successful Home-Based Business
- Full-Time Job and a Part-Time Business? How to Manage Your Time
- 5 Changes That Helped Me Get Back My Time and Sanity
- Do You Work Smarter or Just Harder?
- 5 Resources to Help You Overcome Procrastination and Get Things Done
There’s a lot more to time management than just managing your time and schedule. So also find ways to carve out time for what matters to you and not just for work and goals.
9. Take care of your health
Most business owners fail to take care of their health properly.
- They have very little sleep.
- Meals are skipped.
- They eat poor quality food and fast food on the go.
- Lack of exercise.
- Too much time is spent sitting in front of a computer.
- They don’t have mental health practices such as meditation and journaling.
These are all serious impediments to your health. They can also lead to lifestyle diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, among others.
Make your mental, emotional and physical health a priority. Building healthy habits into your day is one of the best ways to spend your personal growth time.
I learned this the hard way when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2020. It’s been a tough journey reclaiming my health from a disease that I could have prevented in the first place.
I’ve since prioritized my mental, emotional and physical health. I eat healthy meals, work fewer hours, exercise, and sleep more hours.
10. Improve your relationships
Starting and growing a business takes time and a lot of effort. I guess that’s one reason why business owners are notorious for having troubled relationships.
The time commitment required when running a business and the stress that accompanies it can be a real strain on any relationship, including that of a mother and her child(ren).
Building strong personal and professional relationships is one of the best skills you can learn at any time in your life. You can also learn how to reconnect with people you had lost touch with or ignored as you working on your business.
Even so, you also need to be careful not to allow toxic people into your life. And if you do have these people around you, it’s time to weed them out!
I’ve found that most women have a hard time letting go of people, including employees, who are toxic. The sad thing is that having such people in your life or business will not only mess you up. It will also mess up the other people around you.
Here are some resources on this blog if you need to create stronger boundaries or let go of toxic people:
- How to Create and Enforce Strong Boundaries
- How to Create Strong Boundaries In Your Business And Personal Life
- The Most Important Word in My Vocabulary So Far This Year
- 3 Keys to More Success and Fulfilment in Your Life
- 5 Ways to Make Self-Love a Part of Your Self-Care
- How to Handle Difficult People and Reduce Stress
- 8 Toxic Relationships You Need to Detox From
Reconnect and spend more time with people who matter to you. Also, focus on building positive and empowering relationships while weeding out emotionally draining people and activities.
Over to you…
Being a businesswoman means that you’re also short on time. So you need to approach your professional and personal growth intelligently and efficiently.
Decide what area of growth will best serve your business or life.
- Do you mostly want to make more sales or to enhance your health?
- Is managing your time the best skill for you to learn at this time?
- Are there relationships you need to boost and others you need to let go of?
- What other skills do you need to learn or improve?
Evaluate your situation and allocate your professional and personal growth time appropriately. But most importantly, start by setting your personal, professional and business goals. Then identify what needs to be improved based on these goals.
When you’re ready, here are 3 ways in which the Biashara 360 team can help you get unstuck, get clarity and excel in your life, career or business:
- Break Free, Live Your Life: Personal growth can be a big challenge if you don’t have a plan for it. Break Free will help you get unstuck, get clarity, and gain the courage to step up to your next level. It doesn’t matter whether you know your next level or not. What matters is that you’re ready to move forward in a way that works for you, and you want to do so in a shorter time. We have 2 Break Free classes per year in March and September.
- Kickstart Your Business: Are you a Coach, Trainer or Consultant and you hate marketing your services because it feels salesy? Kickstart will help you get unstuck, get clarity, and start turning your prospects into paying clients with more ease.
- Work with me 1-1: This is for you if you’re already successful in your career or business and you want personalized support and accountability as you level up. I work with 6 women for a minimum of 6 months per person. Schedule a Discovery Call to discuss your needs and find out how we can work together.
