6 tips for budding women entrepreneurs

Almost one year ago we published this post with some inspiring Lifelong Learning Programme projects which looked at the theme of entrepreneurship. With such relevance for the Erasmus+ programme we thought we would re-post one of our most successful articles – please comment and share your tips if you haven’t done so already! We hope you find these tips useful!

Forbes recently published a report stating that in 2012 alone 126 million women worldwide were starting or running new businesses and an estimated 98 million were developing established businesses.

But it’s not easy starting a new business, especially if you have a family, are over fifty or come from a disadvantaged background. That’s why a number of Lifelong Learning Programme funded projects have focused on supporting female entrepreneurs from all backgrounds to develop the necessary skills to become self-employed. These are just a few tips from our projects if you’re a woman interested in setting up your own business:

1. Learn from other women entrepreneurs

Whether you’re confident about setting up your own business or a little hesitant, talking to other women entrepreneurs who can share their successes and challenges with you can help you learn from best practice and better understand the pitfalls of business.

Fe:male was a Grundtvig funded project that helped women across Europe connect in groups in order to mentor each other in business. Their website provides a wealth of resources and contacts if you’re interested in learning from other women entrepreneurs:

2. Don’t let age hold you back

There are plenty of women aged 50+ who start their own business so don’t let age hold you back. There are more start-up loans available now for micro-businesses in the UK and an increasing awareness that age is not a barrier to entrepreneurship.

One Leonardo Transfer of Innovation project, e5plus, supported women aged 50+ across the EU to understand how to set up and manage ecommerce to promote their products to a wider market. Owle50+, a Gruntdvig project, also supported female ‘olderpreneurs’ and the project website has a number of inspiring case studies from its entrepreneurial participants.

3. Become a mumpreneur!

Many women entrepreneurs juggle a family with starting a new business. There’s a lot of support out there and, dependent on the type of business you want to set up, it may give you greater flexibility in terms of child care. Mumpreneurs in Action was a Grundtvig funded project to support budding female entrepreneurs across Europe. One project participant stated:

I am sure that some time in my life (possibly quite soon) I will set up my own business. I will take inspiration from the women I met at the meeting and the issues we discussed.
Mumpreneur from the UK

4. Get your business online

One of the best ways now to promote your business to a wider market is to develop a website. It doesn’t have to be an expensive option for your business either as there are many cheap hosting and web design packages available if you search online. Or you could get in touch with your local school/college and see if there are any students that would be willing to develop a website for your business for a nominal fee or in exchange for produce in order to build up their portfolio.

5. Make the most of social media

Social media is a free way of promoting your business and engaging with customers as well as attracting new customers. Don’t worry if you don’t know a tweet from a post, there are a number of beginners guides to social media available online to help you get started.

She in Europe, a Leonardo Transfer of Innovation project, offers some guidance on starting a blog and using YouTube and other video platforms to promote your business.

6. Don’t forget about work/life balance!

Starting a new business requires a lot of hard work and dedication which often means that your work/life balance goes a little off kilter. But try not to let work completely take over your life!

We hope you enjoyed this post! Have you taken part in an LLP project which looked at entrepreneurship? Do you have tips you would like to share? Let us know your experiences by tweeting us @erasmusplusuk or by leaving us a comment below…

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