Contrary to what society has taught us in the past, building relationships with other women is quite beneficial. This is especially the case in business. If I had to inventory my most valuable business assets, my network of women would be in the top 3 rankings for sure. I’m not just saying that because it sounds good now that we are in the “Female Empowerment” era. When I actually take a look back at my journey as a female entrepreneur the evidence is there. Sure, I’d been to networking events before and done business with women but it wasn’t until I joined forces with other female entrepreneurs to work towards a common goal that I realized the true benefits. As a solopreneur I often struggled with procrastination, comparing myself to others, and I rarely made much tangible progress. Surrounding myself with like-minded business women gave me resources and outlets to overcome those obstacles. I was finally able to make moves and accomplish things that I struggled to achieve in the past.
Here are three benefits that I gained from working with a team of women and why you need a tribe of your own:
1. Accountability
The beauty of having women like you around is that you can’t pull the wool over their eyes. They aren’t going to buy any of those b/s excuses that you give yourself. They know that you spent your Thursday night watching Love + Hip Hop instead of working on your website and they will call you on it. Having that level of real accountability is necessary to take your brand to the next level. Businesses require time to build and you won’t always be as excited as when you first started. Sometimes you’ll need that extra push from a business bestie. It's one thing to have women that you just call for casual convo or to update on what's going on in your life. It's a totally different benefit to have women that are proactive about reaching out to you in regards to your goals and checking to see if you're doing what you said you would do. The more you surround yourself with women in business the less likely you are to let your business goals fall behind.
2.Common interest.
There is nothing like working alongside people that get you. One of the reasons why most of us decide to become our own boss or create our own business is because we feel like the traditional way of earning money just didn't fit us. We're often working with people who we don't want to work with. We may even get stuck working for bosses that don't understand us. One thing that gives us a little excitement is have “another one of us” in the office too. Another brown girl that can relate. That same “silent’ law applies to business. When you have your own tribe of women around you it makes the lows of entrepreneurship a little bit easier to endure. You’ll feel less alone. You’ll have a group of women who totally understand and are a trusted ear when you just need to vent sometimes. You’ll also have a group of women that are looking for the same type of solutions as you. You are only one person with a unique mindset. Together you and your girl gang will have have more resources, more problem solving skills, and more energy to put towards solving issues that affect black women. There's not a lot of women that can relate to discrimination on both sides of gender and color. We as black women face adversities in multiple aspects of our lives that only we understand. It’s up to us to collaborate and figure it out. Many of us black women create businesses out of our passion. Some of us even create our business around a cause that we believe in or a change that we want to see in the world. Therefore it is common for us to share a target market with other black female entrepreneurs. More than likely, even when we are offering different products or services, our consumers are a single black woman or a young black girl that just graduated college and needs help finding a career that suits her. When we collaborate as black women we expand our networks, which is mutually beneficial to both parties.
3. Community Advancement
Most importantly, when we collaborate with other women, we demand respect from the industries that we do business in. There is power in numbers so when we work together we can’t be ignored. Unfortunately society has kind of pitied us against one another to make us feel like there is only room for one black woman at the table but the reality is that the more of us that pull up a chair for another black woman the more likely it is for us to advance in different industries. At the end of the day these gatekeepers and big decision-makers at banks, media companies and advertising agencies may be prone to discriminate or stereotype but more importantly they care about money and marketing. When they see a black woman making money and bringing money into their industry they have no choice but to ride the wave. When one small business in your industry gets approved for a loan that makes lenders more willing to lend money to you. When she wins, we win!
What is your take on collaborating for the greater good? What has been your experiences working with other female entrepreneurs? Share in the comment section.
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