Women in Business: Why putting yourself and your business first is the key to success.

Transcript

good afternoon everyone my name is stephanie garces donat owner of garces law firm welcome back to pink mic legal confessions today i hope you're all doing well and enjoying the nice weather um i know in chicago it's been really nice recently so i'm just happy that you're all joining us today um i wanted to talk a little bit today about something that's kind of uh not so much the legal stuff it's more so really just unconventional questions um about how does how do women in business particularly um need to start putting their self first and their business first to really get a key to success and so um this is a topic that came up with a lot of my colleagues that have been doing um their own form of putting themselves first and putting their business first in in many ways and i wanted to talk about this because i think a lot of us don't talk about it enough and are always looking for ways we can do more so always interested to know uh you know what the audience thinks about our topic so if you have any questions during this this live please feel free to mention it below so as i was mentioning to you just a second ago today's episode is women in business by putting yourself and your business first is the key to success now there's a number of women and entrepreneurs in general and this has actually been growing substantially at a really really great rate um i think more people are working for themselves now more than ever and so over the past decade you've really seen a growth in that regard um but when it comes to success rates for women owned businesses which by the way we are because a lot of people will say oh are you actually um you know a woman-owned business like certified well there is a certification by the way but in general i do own my own business and some of you viewers know that but some of our women colleagues and uh friends do own their own business and um the success rates are not great they actually have a little bit less than um i'd say less than average success rates um for many women-owned business so it's very important to talk about these topics because female founders specifically uh we and i say this personally too face different challenges um when it comes to business um especially compared to our male counterparts and this is not just in the world of law firms or corporate businesses it's also in the world of entrepreneurship people that have come up with something unique and maybe there's competitors in the field because there almost always are there is simultaneously this idea of women business owners also being expected to raise children start a family run a household and care for others and so it's really a big juggling game and i know that a lot of us um are probably thinking well you know maybe this is not something that um you know we want to discuss openly all the time because i think with now the movements that we've had it's kind of like overkill but i have to say that i think this is something that um more people should be talking about and we should really just take the time to fully understand some of the challenges that are faced by women especially women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs so as i mentioned before i own my own law firm and being a female business owner really comes with its own unique set of challenges so today we're going to be talking about um some of the most important factors that go into running a business successfully as a woman and a woman in business so there are two typically two key areas that we're going to cover today the first one is going to be statistics of women-owned businesses many don't make it past the two-year mark which is really really well to think about because i um i feel for those people because i know that it's hard when you're doing a startup or you have this idea that uh requires time and energy to really launch it and so um putting yourself first in your business will increase your chances of success i really i really really believe that so for our social media mavens out there women in business and wib are the hashtags and you are welcome to quote and repost this episode anytime so we're going to get started because there is a lot to discuss today so just in general in case you're wondering while the number of women owned businesses is higher than ever before which is amazing to even say because we've come a long way um success and funding rates are far and few uh between and really far from where it could be now there is a lot of growth to be in this area there's actually a lot of resources too that exists currently in today's world with regard to how to fund your business specifically if you're a woman so that's just something i wanted to discuss today um along with that we're going to be talking a little bit about business longevity so as i said um a minute ago there are statistics out there and the numbers don't lie as is what i always say so um did you know that less than two percent two percent of female founders ever break the one million dollar in revenue um this is actually very striking because if you think about the way that businesses grow and plenty of people will tell you that if you're in business long enough no matter what you're doing you can always bring in more revenue now if it's less than two percent that's a little bit alarming but that is what the statistic shows there's another statistic that also says that less than 18 of women ever pass the six mark figure which is very very uh crazy because a six figure mark really shows you that okay um for example when you're running a business and you're trying to hit six figures obviously the changes have to take place you have to hire people and fire people and make business decisions and do a lot of things that really challenge you in ways that you wouldn't imagine and so only less than 18 ever pass the six figure mark and uh that's something we're going to discuss today um another thing we're going to talk about that i think is actually great to discuss and i think quite frankly it's a little bit of an unknown to most of us entrepreneurs is that there are funding opportunities out there specifically venture capital funding um and also you know other types of say there's actually the loans but there's also grants and that sort of thing um but out of all the venture capital funding that's out there less than seven percent is invested in women-owned businesses less than ten percent percent seven percent is so little compared to uh where it could be so that's something to discuss uh today and did you know that only 20 20 of newly funded businesses have a female founder so that is um not a lot um so it's really really great to look at these statistics as we're talking through this today the other thing we're going to be covering outside of funding is motivation and goals so 58 of women entrepreneurs started a business to have more control over their schedule now a lot of people will tell you that working for yourself is great because you get to work around your schedule but the truth is is that while you do have control over your schedule you also are constantly working so um that's just a side note but the 58 of people have said that as women they started their own business to control their schedule now another statistic that comes up is that 28 um wanted to start a business so that they can be passed on to their families so this is really interesting to me because when you think about uh a business right at least the ones that we're thinking of that have been around for years these are companies that event well initially should say started very small and now they're being passed on to generations of generations and so only 24 of women started the business to actually pass it on to their families so that's very interesting to discuss now as i mentioned before numbers always tell a story and the best part about numbers is that they're just matter of fact and for me uh the data doesn't lie it never does it never will so it's abundantly clear that women who go into business are determined they're diligent they're motivated to make things happen and the fact is that often life gets in the way and now until now i should say we're now discovering that there were fewer communities for female entrepreneurs to join or seek guidance from that to address the challenges that they face every day and specifically ones that we're going to highlight today but but again unless you're you've been in this before as a female owner you do understand some of the challenges that are always faced and not everybody wants to talk about these things because they're personal but you know we are going to be diving into why self-care and structure are really a key to success now for any business owner we all can agree that consistency is key now that's in everything by the way that's not just your routine that you get used to it's not just marketing or that's not just doing the same thing um with your business every year to make sure it's growing that sort of thing but being a woman business owner is very complex because it's accompanied by many of the challenges um of sticking to a set routine schedule enforcing that routine really enforcing boundaries and putting boundaries that really keep you focused and on your game and quite frankly one of the things is that you want to make sure you have enough of a boundary along your personal life so that you don't actually stray away from what you're focusing on so it's really important to discuss these things as i think we don't talk about it enough and one of the things that we always discuss and is really important to talk about is burnout burnout is really really common and you'll see in some previous episodes where i've talked about um burnout and how we can address it so make sure you check that out because there's a whole episode on pink mic legal confessions about that but when you have a chance that's what it's about um but it's not just burnout right it's stretching yourself extremely too thin really expecting so much out of yourself and it's not really getting you anywhere um not charging enough for services i think is really important and i think a lot of entrepreneurs can actually relate to that where you're undercutting yourself uh from a financial standpoint and then scaling up when you take on more clients is also really big and making adjustments and having people that support you along the way is really important missing that workout class or yoga class whatever you do um skipping a workshop or putting your own needs behind everyone else's i know i'm guilty of doing that sometimes so these are all things that come up and are really really um key factors into why a lot of us have issues and challenges along the way as female business owners so here are three proven ways to increase your chances of success the first one is to create a schedule for client work for building and personal care and i'm sure that a lot of you out there have your own routine if any of you you are big readers i always talk about the book atomic habits that i loved and i probably will start reading again because it talks just about this talks about the routine and things that you're doing and how do you build time to do everything you know when many times we recognize the difference between working in your business and um working on your business those are two different things and i think knowing the difference is very important um both things have to happen by the way for your your success in your business because you have to work on the clients that you have and still generate new ones and also keep in contact with the past clients or past reform partners uh colleagues that help you along the way um systems and procedures that are documented will also help you scale um really investing in technology and putting down uh a process really on paper but also a game plan of how am i gonna work smarter and not harder right so i always talk about that in my office because i think there's a lot of things that you can do to kind of be more time efficient so getting a schedule on paper and organizing yourself is a great way then you have to make sure to decompress right the decompression part i think is one of the hardest because you're forced to essentially get out of the office close up the computer um turn off your phone if you need to your apple watch whatever and really decompress and think about yourself and make room for yourself to think about something other than work to relax to be creative those are those one of the the great ways to really develop personal care and i always was told and i got some good advice along the way um from a family member that says you should basically make sure you take care of yourself before you take care of others because otherwise you can't do both so you have to take care of yourself and really put that personal care as into your routine and it'll and it'll work out another thing that is really helpful for success is setting and enforcing actual boundaries that your spouse or inner circle support and so um basically having a support system is vital vital vital vital to the outcome of any business especially as you're starting it or you're the founding founder of it and you're just kind of trying to scale or you're trying to take on more and have more success so what i mean by that is just communicating your office hours and the need for dedicated workspace and time for your family um there is no shame to the word no i can't answer your call right now or no i cannot get to your email when you're putting time aside for other things that matter um and specifically when we're talking about boundaries i think setting the expectation with who whoever it's going to be whether it's friends whether it's clients whether it's colleagues that you only are working during this hours and these are the hours that you're expected to answer emails and text messages and all of that now i know what some of you are thinking you're probably thinking well you don't understand because i have to work around the clock or else that client goes to the next one okay that might be true that they may be upset you didn't answer but at some point a boundary has to exist and that's what we talked about about burning out to avoid the burnout you have to have boundaries and family and inner circle and anyone else in your inner circle really to support it is the way to go because if you were going to go all in and build a thriving and sustainable business in the long term everyone around you has to be on board and for those of people that are not on board well i think that speaks for itself right you don't want to get around negative energy only positive energy and those people that believe in you will really help you take your business to the next level i promise you that is one of the biggest biggest takeaways i've learned this year the other thing we're going to be talking about is um as a key to success is really reducing and eliminating distractions and i think this is the one that everyone challenges um kind of are the same in that regard because it's a challenging topic to say eliminate distractions as we're sitting here you're probably being distracted by this video that you're watching um instead of doing some of your work but that's okay um but i'm just saying reducing or eliminating him eliminating distractions are a good idea so for example taking every single call that comes in when it's not scheduled um that is is bad it's really it is good to take calls as needed but keeping them brief people doing email response policies to let clients know when you check and respond to emails i have seen people do this a couple of times although i have to admit i have yet to employ it myself but i've seen people do this thing where they're basically doing um i guess you could say give you like a foreshadow if you will of some of the stuff that you'll expect from them like phone calls and emails and what times it is not realistic or sustainable to be on calls 24 7 or even on call meaning people could just call and buzz you in all times of the of the night and you should not feel compelled to answer or give out your cell phone all the time and i think that's just personal um preference because sometimes people will bother your cell phone after hours so i think it just depends i mean you can answer calls but i think putting a boundary is really important so just something to think about if you're discussing this with yourself when we are talking about um by the way uh boundaries i also want to discuss social media a little bit too because um taking breaks on social media during the day is good for example you could try to have um facebook off your let's just say your work computer don't even have it logged in and put your phone kind of far away so you can't just grab it um social media is a really really big distraction as we all know with like the tick tocks of the world and instagram and facebook we have just about everything at our disposal right now and so one of the things i want to talk about um is just social media as being a distraction because a lot of times you're better off putting that as a eliminated distraction at least on your list of things so just to recap for those of you that are just joining me i'm stephanie garces i'm the founding partner of garces law firm in palestine illinois where we help individuals couples and parents create their legacy plans secure their financial future and build wealth through real estate today's topic if you haven't heard already is women in business putting yourself first and your business first is the key to success now we welcome you to join us on tuesdays at one o'clock central time where we share tips and legal guidance for parents entrepreneurs and investors now one of the questions our viewers uh actually just sent a couple of minutes ago regarding this topic um we're going to address it just a second but i do want to tackle a couple of the questions that come up a lot today um just to make sure that we're answering all the questions that this topic is about so one of the questions we had was what is the best way to reset yourself after a frustrating day this is an excellent question because occasions we just are frustrated with work and you're feeling overwhelmed the best thing you can do to reset is do something that really makes you i don't know exercise active like not sitting so much i think the best way is just to get up and move at least that's what works for me if your style is more let me read a book let me um you know call my mom and see how she's doing those are great ways to really just do something that's not work related so really resetting just taking time even if it's 30 minutes of just doing something that could be fun um that could be active and requires you to get away from your daily tasks of work so if that means spending time with your significant other or a friend or family maybe go to a workout class maybe do something outside of your routine those are great ways to tackle those frustrating days and really reset i know people that will basically take a day off too maybe you would take half a day on friday if that's possible and you go for a walk or something like that i mean there's an infinite amount of ways to reset and everyone is different but make sure you're doing it so that you're actually doing in a healthy way and really pushing yourself to do something that is enjoyable and not work related another thing that comes up a lot as a question is how much time do i spend working on my business compared to serving clients you know it's hard to say because i think there's no perfect answer to this so there's no perfect time slot but you certainly want to weave in in your schedule or your routine on a weekly basis working on the business and serving the clients i know a lot of times it seems like a 99.9 percent of the time is serving clients because those are the clients anyway and to provide the best service you have to be there but working in your business i think is equally as important and it's putting time slots throughout the day like time slots are great like one hour of the day i'm gonna do my facebook live video like i'm doing right now um one hour of the day i'm going to go meet someone for lunch who's a potential um you know referral partner someone that i can do business with or whose business i support and they support mine that sort of thing there is a lot that you could do to work in your business if you're thinking about um you know isn't it all in the same and and how do you make time for all that i think having a calendar i have a calendar that has time blocks every hour you know every you know half an hour we have meetings we have something set so that we can get through it in that day um there's so many things that you can do and i think now to kind of make sure you're spending time working on the business which is really i would say almost half of the time that you should spend with clients because they're equally as important so i think weaving in both and making sure it's more than just once a week is good because you'll see the results faster the other question that came up is uh when will i know if it's time to hire someone you know i've asked myself that many times and the answer that i've always come up with is typically i know that i need to hire someone when i am feeling like i'm doing um two people's jobs at once so that means for example when i started in my firm i didn't have anyone answering my phones and if i was answering the phone all day and not actually getting to my work and my work and clients were suffering that would be a good time to hire someone really when you feel like you just are stretching yourself too thin and you could use the assistance so that you're not you know on the phone 24 7 that is probably a good time um one of the questions um that comes up with that is you know how much do you pay someone and those types of things those hiring things before you even answer that i think knowing when the time is right and just making the decision and overthinking it is the best thing you can do obviously you need to know your numbers so i never said you don't need to know your numbers but i think it's a personal decision when it is to hire someone um i think if you want to delegate and you want to do a little bit more business maybe spend more time on working on your business as opposed to serving the clients or vice versa it is a good time to hire someone whether that's an assistant whether that's a marketing coach whether that's um it could be anything it could be a law clerk i don't know it could be a thousand and one things but that's really when you would know um another question we get is do you help entrepreneurs navigate taxes through strategic estate planning uh yes we actually do we help a lot of business owners when it comes to protecting their business and their legacy a lot of people have built a great legacy or a great business already and i really wanted to make sure that goes and stays within the family it doesn't actually fall apart if something were to happen to them so we definitely help and there's a lot of tax issues that can arise from businesses so we really do try to guide our clients as best as possible when it comes to that question we get is what is the best way for me to transfer business i build to my children well the best way to do this is to actually have a proper estate plan put in place to make sure that your business interests are protected so if something happens to you or sometimes you have a partner if you have a business partner partnerships that could be a whole conversation for another day but you definitely want to get something in place to make sure that everyone's interests are protected in the event one of the partners dies or somebody gets sick it can't continue the business there are litany of items but definitely when it comes to passing into your children having their proper estate plan is is vital to that outcome so if you're looking for that please feel free to call us because we can definitely help you with that and do i offer um virtual appointments is always a question we get absolutely we meet with people all over the country to be quite honest and in today's world it's just a click of a button just like you're watching me here so we do offer virtual consultations that are free um in english and in spanish if you're looking for in person we are also doing on-site visits if you are interested and those are also something you can set up by just giving us a call so pretty easy if you're interested and if you want to contact me as always you have my number you can call and text us to set up an appointment to ask questions we always like to make sure that everyone can contact us so again if you see this video you want to message me on facebook i will answer and make sure that we get you on the calendar so i do want to thank everyone and other viewers for watching today specifically for your excellent questions and asking the questions about women owners and really listening to the statistics i think if you took something away from this please give it a like or share because i really appreciate everybody listening to one of the challenges and really um the not so talked about things that women owners face and by the way if you are watching this and you're interested in some of the options and for funding specifically um or even resources of how to build a business and you are a female owner feel free to reach out to me because i do have a couple of contacts with people that would be a great asset to helping you build your business that have helped me build mine so i invite you to join me here again next week on pink mic legal confessions same time same place and please feel free to share your recordings with your your family and friends i really appreciate all you guys watching and take care of yourselves until next time