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Interview Patty

Business Tips from Two Female Millennial Entrepreneurs

Two millennial women offer their perspective and insight after starting their own business.

No matter how many rings you may have around the tree, starting a business is not easy.

If you are a veteran entrepreneur Mark Cuban, say tasks like finding funding and hiring a top-notch team might not seem daunting. But, as millennial women and newly-minted entrepreneurs who aren’t, alas, billionaires, we knew it would take a lot of hard work to launch our company, Zady.

The Pros and Cons to Being Female Entrepreneurs

It’s a great time to be a female entrepreneur; we’re surrounded by support. Our first female role models were our mothers: a doctor (Maxine) and a professor (Soraya). Both had a fierce can-do attitude about the challenges they tackled. Our mothers were our first role models, though over the years we’ve learned how important it is to have professional mentors too.

There have, of course, been challenges. As millennial female entrepreneurs, we’ve encountered bias, so we work doubly hard to demonstrate how deeply we understand the landscape we work in. When we’re presenting before investors, we adhere to our career counselor’s tips that help us feel strong: to sit up straight, keep both feet planted, speak slowly and without upward intonation and make steady eye-contact. These are behaviors any woman can benefit from practicing.

Last August, Zady launched to critical acclaim. Over the past six months, we’ve built a community of enthusiasts who are championing our idea and our brand and because of this ample support many young women reach out to us asking for best practices or tips for starting a mission-driven business of their own. Below are our top five tips:

1. Pick a Cause You’re Truly Committed To

We were taught early on to take care of our planet, so working in sustainability was important to us. Added to that, our commitment to global human rights issues another lesson handed down by our “Baby-Boomer” parents informed our desire to elevate products crafted by people who are treated well, and who work in safe conditions.

2. Do Your Homework

Seriously, do as much research as you can. It took us a long time to hone the idea for Zady. We researched the sustainable fashion landscape for ages to learn what’s working, what’s not, and to find out where the needs are. Take your time, talk to authorities in your field, and figure out how you can create something fresh and original before drawing up a formal business plan.

3. Choose Your Co-founder Wisely

Yes, we were friends in high school. However, we don’t advocate starting company with a best friend, nor do we recommend starting one with a stranger. When you’re going into business with someone, it’s nice to share a common background, but trusting and respecting your partner is also vital. Before founding Zady, we hadn’t spoken in ten years, but we followed one another’s careers on social media and were impressed with each other’s accomplishments. Does it help that, after a bad day, we can open up a bottle of wine and laugh over goofy high school photos? Sure. But what makes our partnership work are our complementary skills, real-world experience, and shared vision for Zady.

4. Pick Your Core Team Just as Wisely as Your Co-founder

Investors, advisors, early team members: It’s really crucial you don’t just work with the first people you find. We at Zady are a lean staff, and we work hard. There are four of us who are full-time, and everyone basically has three job titles. It’s not uncommon for us to pull all-nighters. But, we’re also a family. We genuinely like each other, and that makes going to work fun.

5. Be Brave and Believe

In the beginning of his career, Whole Foods founder John Mackey, one of our heroes, was turned down by investors. Come up with a clear mission, build a team that will stick by you and then, as a staff, live your core values. You’ve got to believe to succeed.

Read the full article at:  women2.com

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

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