During today’s BlogHer sessions I attended one facilitated by two entrepreneurs: Susan Mernit and Patricia Handscheigel. They’re both savvy and a touch sassy - and I mean that in a good way. Susan has been developing a software product that will be beta-tested soon. Patricia founded stylediary.net and sold it late last year to stylehive.com. They were well-suited to lead a discussion about the lives and thoughts of women entrepreneurs.
Whether you're a full-time entrepreneur, serial entrepreneur, or simply watching from the sidelines, you can benefit from the nuggets of wisdom these women have gleaned from both triumphs and setbacks. I wrote their observations down as quickly as my pen would write. Hearing what they’ve learned in their life stories was like discovering the keys to the queendom. Except everyone gets the keys, and everyone gets to be the queen. If not of her world, at least of her own life.
Inner challenges are the hardest to overcome. You shouldn’t ask, “Who am I to do this?” but rather, “Who am I not to do this?”
A great entrepreneur is someone who can live in chaos and uncertainty. Entrepreneurs say, “I think there’s a better way.”
Follow your passion.
Sometimes what holds us back is not the glass ceiling but the sticky floor.
Don’t let anyone discredit your value.
Success is about persistence. Keep fighting your way through.
Figure out how to keep going no matter what.
Your recovery strategy is what’s important; avoiding mistakes is not.
Know that you need help. Ask for mentors.
Combine believing in what you’re doing with riding through the absolute fear.
You must have three things: 1. Passion about your interests. 2. Truth – be real, be honest about what’s going on. 3. Belief in yourself. The ones who fail stop believing in themselves. (Note: these words of wisdom came from a male participant in the group whose name, I believe, was Mikhail.)
I keep moving.
Play to your strengths. I’m not good at everything and I don’t have time to learn everything. Find someone at a price you can afford who can help free you to focus on what you have a track record of being successful at.
Stand tall within yourself. Define what success means and stay true to your entrepreneurial vision.
Entrepreneurship is like a soccer game – sometimes you’re running, sometimes you’re kicking, sometimes you’re sitting on the bench.
Failure is in the eye of the beholder. You’re in charge of how you’re going to view what’s happened.
Balance is great but balance doesn’t make you great.
2 comments:
Sounds like it was a good panel!
Thanks for including my comments. Its a honor to be included among all the great things said during that session. I learned a ton (which has been the rule through the entire conference!).
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