A to Z for the Woman Entrepreneur

I've heard of the A to Z Challenge but never given it much thought. Although today  I felt the need to start writing after a long time. As is evident from the blog history I've not done much blogging in the last two years. The reasons are many and I won't go into them. However, I will tell you about what I have planned for the next 30 days.

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For those of you who don't know me, I'm a person who loves to learn new things. I attend all the workshops that interest me, then try and apply what I learn, not always successfully, in my life. From bread making to jewellery to candle decorating, I've picked up quite a few skills from these amazing ladies who taught me.

I have also come in touch with many women entrepreneurs during this journey and some of them have amazing tricks to manage their home businesses. At the same time I saw others who were very talented but struggled to get sign ups to teach their thing. That's what got me thinking about what they were doing right, and wrong.

The Life Coach in me felt called to put this down in black and white for others who may be helped with this information. I speak of primary challenges and also give simple exercises that can help clarify your future course of action.

This series of 26 posts is an attempt to alphabetically bring my insights to you. Although it speaks to Women Entrepreneurs, I hope it will help anyone who is thinking of setting up their own business.

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A is for Ambition

Absolutely nothing happens without some ambition. There's a feeling of something missing in your life. Where you aspire to do more than the basic daily routine of looking after your family, especially if you are a woman who gave up her job to become a stay at home mom. For many women past the primary school stage, there is suddenly a whole six hours that they have to themselves. Time that used to fly by in looking after the children is suddenly crawling, even after doing all the household chores.

This is when the desire to do something productive with the spare hours arises. Not in everyone, just a few restless souls who feel that they need more. Think about what you can do. What your interests and talents point you towards. Thanks to the amazing access we have today due to the internet, there are so many options available for working from home. You can set up a small freelance business sitting at your dining table in a matter of a few hours, if you know what you are doing.

The process of working out exactly what you want to do is one of the most exciting phases.

Some of you will know right away what you wish to do. For instance, if you were into the IT sector and now want to go back after your sabbatical, you may decide to work from home as a freelance coder. In some cases what you did before may be nothing related to what you want to do now. For instance I know a lawyer who gave up practising after her marriage. Had her babies and now she works from home as a content writer for a couple of big websites. There’s another friend who is former HR recruiter who, post her marriage and baby, is into crocheting shawls and sweaters as a side business.

 The Exercise

What You Will Need: Paper, pen and some time.

As you can see from the examples I shared, there are no limits to what you can do. Just exercise your imagination and come up with a long list of things that you can do. Don't try and edit it at this time. It's just a brain dump of goods and services that you will be able to provide. Nothing is silly or too trivial. Silence that inner critic when it says you are thinking too grand.

Just put pen to paper and write down anything that comes to your mind. The reason to make the list with pen and paper and not the computer or mobile apps for typing is because the physical act of writing helps stimulate you to come up with more ideas. The feel of the paper below your fingertips and the pen in your hand actually make you want to write.

Keep the piece of paper handy for a couple of days. Things that didn't strike you in the beginning may begin to flow in after a few hours of starting this exercise. I will repeat, don't eliminate anything at this stage. It's all about exploring options. Give yourself the freedom to dream as big or as small as you are comfortable.

Once your list is ready, when you feel complete, sit down and read it. What are the ideas that are popping up at you? Take a second sheet of paper and write these down neatly. You may explore anything from five to ten such ideas. Now put the first paper away and focus on the ideas that transferred to the second sheet.

It's time to think about more details in each of these ideas. Work out what you intend to sell. If it's a service, what exactly will you offer? What are the add-ons that you may promote? Clarify what you will not be responsible about doing.

Similarly when you work on a product that you want to sell, work out exactly what you will be selling. Are there going to be any variations to the physical product? What about packaging and shipping?

Here the idea is to build up a list of goods or services that you can offer. Things that you know that you are capable of delivering. Make this list for each of the ideas that came through to the second sheet of paper. You will find yourself leaning towards a couple of options. Or you may be now clear about exactly what you want to try your hand at.

More about how to proceed in the next installment!