“I believe in businesses where you engage in creative thinking, and where you form some of your deepest relationships,” said Anita Roddick, creator of The Body Shop. “If it isn’t about the production of the human spirit, we are in big trouble.”

For more info about how Roddick started The Body Shop, read Finding the Right Timing in Life – Anita Roddick. And, click on The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business for specific tips for successful businesswomen.

When You’re Starting Your Own Business – What Successful Businesswomen Know

1. Believe in yourself. Your clients immediately know if you believe in your service or product, and they’ll assess you and your product or service accordingly. Tap into — and express! – your passion, integrity, and vision, and you’re more likely to be a successful businesswoman.

2. Gather a great team. When you’re starting your own business, don’t try to do everything yourself, even if you’re a freelance writer who works alone (like me!). If you can’t surround yourself with a smart, motivated team of employees or colleagues, then find a mentor. Soak up insight, feedback, and criticism from other successful businesswomen.

3. Leave your ego out of your new business. Your ego wants to keep you in control, make you look good, and manipulate people. Your ego wants to protect itself at all costs, and it doesn’t like vulnerability or rejection – which is part of starting your own business. Ignore your ego and focus on win-win situations for everyone. Speak up when necessary, even when you feel uncomfortable being in the spotlight!

4. Realize the value of failure. Successful businesswomen don’t escape failure. Successful businesswomen realize that success teaches more than failure, and that failing is a great opportunity to figure out how to do it better, or faster, or more efficiently. To learn more about what successful businesswomen know, read Turning Failure to Success for Female Entrepreneurs – Maya Angelou.

5. Don’t give up yet! Starting a new business can be hard, and many entrepreneurs quit because finding clients is harder than they thought, they feel discouraged, they lose hope, or they no longer believe in themselves or their product. The longer you persevere, the more you improve your chances of starting a successful business. “A writing career is nothing more than a long series of disappointments punctuated by occasional moments of success,” says Michael Bracken. Successful businesswomen know that this isn’t just true of writing careers!

6. Stay organized. Staying organized not only shows your clients what a great businesswoman you are, it makes you feel strong, motivated, and capable. If you get rid of clutter, do things immediately, learn to say no, stick with your routine, and prioritize your goals, you’re more likely to start a successful business.

If you have any tips on starting your own business, I’d love to hear from you! Please comment below…

Related posts:

1. For Female Entrepreneurs – Martha Stewart’s 10 Rules for Starting a Business
2. From Hobbies to Careers – 5 Ideas for Turning a Hobby Into a Successful Business
3. How to Make Your Business Successful: Find Your Personal Advantage

“You did what you know how to do. When you knew better, you did better.” – Maya Angelou.

Bouncing back from failure involves accepting that you did the best you could at the time. When you know better, you do better…and the key is to learn from your business failures! One of my favorite books on turning failure to success is When Smart People Fail – click the cover for details. And, read on for specific ways to turn failure to success for female entrepreneurs…

Turning Failure to Success for Female Entrepreneurs – Maya Angelou

“Failure is a cleaning of the house,” writes Linda Gottlieb, co-author of When Smart People Fail. “It’s an opportunity to reorient your career, to inspect it, to relabel it. You learn to keep all your options in play, be light on your feet. Surviving failure makes you bold…Failure liberates you and gives you the courage to risk in a big enough way to guarantee big success.”

Research shows that female entrepreneurs are risk takers and less cautious by nature. Female entrepreneurs are optimistic but not always resilient — which is a shame, because bouncing back from failure may be the biggest predictor of success in business, relationships, and life.

Get real about failure. Failure isn’t a fatal flaw or social disease that renders you helpless and unhappy. Female entrepreneurs know that failure is not a permanent condition. Failure doesn’t make you less worthy, less intelligent, or less capable. Failure isn’t who you are….failure is simply an event.

Stop, take a deep breath, and think. After you fail, figure out exactly what happened. Did your business location lead you to bankruptcy? Were you fired because you weren’t focused? Be honest and specific. To turn failure to success, identify your mistakes and take responsibility.

“If you don’t like something, change it,” said Maya Angelou. “If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

Regain control. When you know what went wrong, be deliberate not to make the same mistakes. Female entrepreneurs aren’t doomed to repeat history unless they’re oblivious! To regain control, determine what you did right and what worked in the past.

Also — remember that timing is everything. To learn how successful businesswoman Anita Roddick created the Body Shop, Finding the Right Timing — Anita Roddick.

Connect with other successful female entrepreneurs. Talk to women in business who have survived similar situations. Find out what worked. What would they do differently if they knew then what they know now? Compare stories. The more you hide your failures, the worse you’ll feel; so, be honest about your weaknesses and regrets. Not only is this emotionally healthy, it could open doors to new opportunities.

Adjust your perspective on failure. “I actually consider my failure to become a feature film director as the beginning of what I consider a saner and more successful life,” says award-winning Hollywood director Bert Salzman. “After winning the Oscar, I had visions of going right to the top, and when I didn’t get there immediately, I began to reconsider my life.”

Turning failure into success can be as simple as stepping back, looking at your life objectively, and realizing that failure doesn’t define you.

Work it, baby, work it! To turn failure into success, recycle your skills and talents. Reuse or re-label your abilities by breaking down the elements of your previous work into small, definable skills. Look at yourself differently – through the eyes of a stranger – and don’t be ashamed to share your hidden talents and abilities.

Failure can teach you compassion and humility. Failure can offer you a new sense of power and a different way to connect with the universe – if you let it. For more info on bouncing back, read 5 Ways to Build Resiliency – JK Rowling.

“Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: ‘I’m with you kid. Let’s go.’ ” – Maya Angelou.

If you have any questions or thoughts on turning failure to success, please comment below!

Related posts:

1. The Key to Success for Female Entrepreneurs – Coco Chanel
2. For Female Entrepreneurs – Martha Stewart’s 10 Rules for Starting a Business
3. When You’re Starting Your Own Business – What Successful Businesswomen Know

“As one goes through life, one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move.” – Katharine Hepburn.

For more inspiration and motivation, click on This is Not the Life I Ordered: 50 Ways to Keep Your Head Above Water When Life Keeps Dragging You Down by Deborah Collins Stephens, Jackie Speier, Michealene Crisini Risley, and Jan Yanehiro. And, read on for five steps to being a successful woman, inspired by quotations from Anita Roddick, Barbara Walters, Dorothea Brande, and Linda Ronstadt. See Jane Soar!

5 Ways to be a Successful Woman – Katherine Hepburn

You may be interested in reading The Definition of a Successful Woman – Eleanor Roosevelt.

1. Take back your power. You give away your power when you say or think things like, “Oh, I couldn’t do that!” and “I don’t deserve this,” and “How could anyone find me attractive, or hire me, or pay me that much money?” The first step to being a successful woman is to take back your power. Find the support and guidance you need; overcome your habit of being your own worst critic. Listen to Katherine Hepburn’s advice, and learn to paddle your own canoe.

2. Identify what’s holding you back.  “It’s not who you are that holds you back; it’s who you think you’re not,” said Barbara Walters. Do you think you’re not smart enough, not skinny enough, not pretty enough, or not strong enough? The second step to being a successful woman is to identify how you’re holding yourself back. Be aware of what you’re afraid of.

3. Tune in to your talents. “Have you let other people talk out you of pursuing something you’re good at?” ask the authors in This is Not the Life I Ordered. ”Have you bowed to pressure and abandoned a project that was meaningful to you?” Don’t let other people’s criticism or indifference quell your dreams. And remember — you are meaningful and valuable just the way you are.  “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito,” said Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop.

4. Clean up your “to-do” list. The fourth step to being a successful woman is to get rid of your emotional and physical clutter! Get rid of the things you don’t need to do, that don’t matter, that don’t create value, that don’t make a difference. Figure out if you’re taking responsibility for stuff that isn’t yours. Make sure everything takes you toward the your goals and dreams – not away.

5. Create an upward spiral. Successful women turn “woe is me” into action - and proceed confidently. Poet Dorothea Brande said, ”All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail.” No matter what you’re struggling with or how defeated you feel, take one step forward. Maybe that means calling for a college course guide or searching for grief support groups on the internet.

Maybe creating an upward spiral means that you have to accept change and take risks:

“So life changes and you have to change too. I don’t like change, but I’ve learned you just put your hands over your eyes and step off the edge.” – Linda Ronstadt.

What do you think about these steps to being a successful woman? I welcome your comments below…

Related posts:

1. 5 Signs of a Fearless Woman – Judge Marilyn Milian
2. The Definition of a Successful Woman – Eleanor Roosevelt
3. 6 Steps to Solving Almost Any Work Problem – Helen Gurley Brown

“Men were designed for short, nasty, brutal lives,” said Ramey. “Women are designed for long, miserable ones.”

She was kidding, of course…wasn’t she? Women do live longer, and maybe we are more miserable. We’re certainly subject to the whims of PMS and perimenopause, and fits of jealousy and insecurity. We hold grudges and compare ourselves to other women (both successful and not). Are we miserable? More importantly: are YOU miserable?

Here are few facts about the late, great Dr Estelle Ramey, with a special emphasis on her wittiness, sense of humor, and ability to lighten heavy topics. Plus, how lightening up makes you more productive and effective! And, if you’re serious about lightening up, click on Simple Happiness: 52 Easy Ways to Lighten Up by James Ryan.

How to Lighten Up and Get More Done – Dr Estelle Ramey

My sister always told me, “Lighten up – don’t take everything so seriously!” The older I get, the more I agree with her. This life lesson of lightening up and getting more done is important because I’ve spent far too much time being grim. Life’s too short to be mad or bitter! Or jealousy — read Making Envy Work for You – Helen Gurley Brown.

Dr Estelle Ramey earned her master’s degree in chemistry at Columbia University in 1940 and a doctorate in physiology at the University of Chicago in 1950. Ramey was a teacher, speaker, researcher, and writer. One of the founders and the second president of the American Women in Science, Ramey wrote an article called “Men’s Cycles – They Have Them Too” for the first issue of Ms. magazine.

Definitely not your typical well-behaved woman!

Lightening Up and Achieving More

There’s nothing less healthy, less attractive, or less appealing than a woman with a grim face and stone cold sober personality. Lightening up reduces stress and draws people to you, which can help you get what you want out of life (if you learn to delegate and accept that people do things differently than you).

Whether you’re aggravated at your boss or disappointed in your partner, “grimming and bearing it” doesn’t help. I’ve gritted my teeth through work meetings, bad situations, and traffic jams – and in hindsight, I wish I would’ve lightened up because I had to experience it anyway.

Irritability or a grim attitude isn’t going to make the situation easier or more tolerable – so we might as well tap into our senses of humor, wit, and cheer. For an immediate laugh, read Funny Quotations and Sayings by Women – Paula Poundstone.

Lightening up helps you get more done by:

• Making others feel more comfortable and relaxed – and more open to cooperating with you.
• Keeping your stress levels low, so you can see new solutions and opportunities.
• Making you appealing to be around, which means you’re less likely to be left shouldering the burden!
• Keeping your thoughts clear and focused, so you can work more quickly and efficiently.
• Making you more memorable to others…in a good way.

Developing a sense of lightness, wit, and humor is a habit that can take you further in your career and personal life!

One last quotation from Dr Ramey:

“Now, I like testosterone. Every home should have some,” she said. “But it becomes damaging as a man gets older. I’m trying to help men live longer, although I’m not sure all of them deserve it.” See how she is honest, light-hearted, and authentic? Now that’s a life lesson from a successful woman: how to be real and assertive.

Do you think women are more serious – grim, even – than men? I do, and I think it’s because we take on more responsibilities and burdens. By the way, Ramey said the female of every species is stronger in terms of stamina, longevity and performance under stress.

To learn more about this woman who wasn’t well-behaved, go to The Washington Post’s Estelle R. Ramey: Used Wit in Women’s Advocacy by Patricia Sullivan.

Related posts:

1. 5 Ways to Recharge Your Batteries – Oprah Winfrey
2. Living Lavishly in Poverty – Wangari Maathai
3. The Definition of a Successful Woman – Eleanor Roosevelt

How do we know Maathai wasn’t well-behaved? Listen to how her ex-husband describes her:

“…too educated, too strong, too successful, too stubborn, and too hard to control,” he said.

You gotta admire his honesty! Mr Wangari wanted a woman he could control – but you can’t control women who aren’t well-behaved. For Wangari Maathai’s biography, read Unbowed: A Memoir. And, here are her recent comments about Barack Obama and Kenya, two life lessons, and a dash from her past…

Living Lavishly in Poverty – Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai was the first woman in Africa to earn a PhD. She taught veterinary anatomy at the University of Nairobi, where she earned her doctorate. She also studied in Kansas, Pittsburgh, and Germany.

Maathai has won at least 20 international awards, prizes, and medals – from the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 to the Woman of the Year Award in 1983. She’s received four honorary degrees and is featured on the United Nation’s Global Hall of Fame. Maathai has been named one of the 100 heroines of the world – she’s currently into environmental and sustainability issues in Africa.

Life lesson: it’s okay to be the way you are. “African women in general need to know that it’s OK for them to be the way they are – to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and from silence,” says Maathai.

That life lesson from this woman who wasn’t well-behaved woman isn’t just for African women…it’s for women all ’round the world. It’s okay to be the way you are.

Living lavishly in poverty. “Power in Africa is not about serving or working for the people,” said Maathai in a recent speech to Japan’s Prime Minister at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama. “It’s about acquiring wealth and living lavishly, even when surrounded by poverty.”

How do you live lavishly in poverty – whether you’re living in the slums of Nairobi or the spiritual wasteland of Vegas? You focus on the good you have, whether it’s a soul sister or a car that gets you from Point A to Point B. You stay connected to your spirit, dreams, and faith.

You chase your dreams with dogged determination, and realize that setbacks, obstacles, and delays are part of the journey.

Maathai’s comments about Barack Obama and Kenya. In a recent interview with The Daily Nation (April 12, 2009), Maathai said Obama can’t help Kenyans if they don’t help themselves.

This is another life lesson from this successful woman: nobody can help you if you don’t help yourself. Some Kenyans see Obama as “Father Christmas” – and Maathai says that’s a mistake.

Can you live lavishly in poverty? It’s definitely a matter of attitude, not circumstance! And by the way – money can weigh you down (though I’ve never felt the weight of too much money!).

Related posts:

1. Living Your Own Life – Maria Shriver’s Advice to Michelle Obama?
2. Living With Diabetes for Women – Mary Tyler Moore
3. Lighten Up to Get More Done – Dr Estelle Ramey

The life lesson: success is often about finding the right timing in life. The successful woman: Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop. Here’s what she says about timing and business – and her thoughts on how age makes women radical!

“I am aware that success is more than a good idea,” says Roddick. “It’s timing, too. The Body Shop arrived just as Europe was going ‘green’.”

Her timing was perfect for The Body Shop – and for her hungry family. Here’s what inspired Roddick to start her business, and how finding the right timing increases your chances for success. And, click on Anita Roddick’s book Business as Usual: My Entrepreneurial Journey, Profits With Principles to learn more about how she succeeded.

Finding the Right Timing in Life - Anita Roddick

“I started The Body Shop in 1976 simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters,” says Roddick. “My husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas.”

Roddick says that entrepreneurship is survival – even though nobody talks about it that way – and being an entrepreneur involves creative thinking. I’d say creative thinking is essential to being a successful entrepreneur! So is resilience, flexibility, and determination.

Roddick started The Body Shop to feed her family – just like many women start writing, teaching, or selling their products or services. Out of necessity, to survive. And that’s what they say about invention — it’s borne of necessity (“Necessity is the mother of invention”).

The first life lesson from Roddick: Perhaps the more necessary your dreams and goals are…the more likely you’ll succeed. That is, if you want to be a writer or small businessowner – you may be more likely to taste success if you have to succeed to feed your family and pay your bills. If you’re writing or playing with your business on the side, as a hobby, you may not be as hungry to survive. Hunger that can bring successful women to life! If you need a little push into a new career, read How to Successfully Change Careers – Suze Orman.

The second life lesson from Roddick: Success is – in large part – all about timing. To build a truly successful business, we need to be in the right place at the right time. Here’s an example I’ll never forget: Michael Creighton pitched the TV show ER in the 1970′s – long before viewers were ready for that type of medical drama. ER finally aired in 1994; the first time Creighton tried to run with the ER ball, he was 20 years too early.

So, you need to find the right timing in life…but what if you don’t? Successful women are resilient, and bounce back when their timing is off or when they fail. Successful women can put their ideas on hold for a few months or years, until the timing is right. And, successful women keep their eyes open so they recognize when new opportunities knock! For more info about bouncing back from failure, read 5 Ways to Build Resiliency. 

“The most exciting part of my life is now – I believe the older you get, the more radical you become,” says Roddick. She quotes Dorothy Sayers, who said, “A woman in advancing old age is unstoppable by any earthly force.”

What are your thoughts about finding the right timing in life and taking risks? I welcome your comments below…

For more info about The Body Shop, go to Anita Roddick.com.

Related posts:

1. When You’re Starting Your Own Business – What Successful Businesswomen Know
2. Turning Failure to Success for Female Entrepreneurs – Maya Angelou
3. 5 Steps to Being a Successful Woman – Katherine Hepburn