Health & Social Care New plans launched with free sector-specific training Learn more

Guests

Guest Blog: How to tell the story of your business as a female entrepreneur

Why do we struggle with getting our message across in a clear, concise and well-communicated presentation? How can we share our story with other business owners?

 

Why do we struggle with getting our message across in a clear, concise and well-communicated presentation?  How can we share our story with other business owners? 

Are you, like me, a female entrepreneur and been brought up in the “have it all” generation, where having a family, the lifestyle, work and home life are allegedly all possible? Social media has been blamed for us needing to reaffirm our successes; whether that’s the photograph recording our amazing home, the lifetime holiday, a perfect family. But social media is just a platform, not an affirmation tool. We all have things that we are proud of, as well as things that haven’t quite worked as well as we wished.  Whilst validation is an intrinsic human need, unless we accept that we aren’t perfect and are prepared to show our vulnerability, acknowledge our weaknesses and work with them, we will find life pretty tough.

If you want some tips to learn how to balance your life as a working mum, I share my experience here.

An internal rewire may be needed as we look at the desire to be accepted as a female entrepreneur. Isn't it time that we told it as it is, warts and all, and embrace our vulnerability as Women? How about we take on-board and practice authenticity?

“Authenticity is not something we have or don’t have. It’s a practice — a conscious choice of how we want to live. Authenticity is actually a collection of choices, choices that we make every day. It’s the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” ~Brené Brown

International Women’s Day and the related celebrations is a time to think about our role as women in business and the chance to be authentic.  

During our International Women’s Day celebrations in 2015, we were privileged to hear the stories of She Who Bakes’ Britt Whyatt. Britt shared a very personal story of her struggle with depression and how she baked her way out of depression.

“If I hadn’t found baking, if I hadn’t found blogging, I honestly don’t know where I would have ended up. My passion has fuelled my career and will continue to do so. The days when I had nothing, I had my oven and my laptop and I felt like the richest girl in the world.”

Digital Marketeer, Caroline Balinska, has learnt how important it is, to just be you. She does a lot of video and webinar work and finds this way people get to know her personality quickly. “Whether that is loud, quiet, happy or monotone, bring out the best of who you are and you will find people who are attracted to you. You will never please everyone, so just please the people who want to work with you, and with a world of people out there, you will always find enough people as long as you are being true to your brand.”

As the founder of an international women’s community, I am often surprised that women don’t feel they have experienced anything unusual in their lives, or have anything of interest to say. 

Sarah Arrow founder of Birds on the Blog and profilic blogger agrees: “Women often wonder if what they have to say is worth saying. They don’t realise how inspiring it is for younger women to read and hear these stories, to know that there are successful women from all walks of life.

Each year, I train more and more women to blog as they want their story to be heard, they’re starting to realise that if they don’t tell their story, then there may not be someone who will.“

Jacqui Malpass, Book Coach and Author says it needs to start with a place of purpose and passion and then sharing your ‘why?’

“It strikes me that every woman who enters the world of entrepreneurship does so from a place of purpose and passion. Often never realising the powerful tale that she carries in her heart is one that needs to be expressed so that she can be a part of changing the world; the world in the context of which she finds herself. She is a domino and as her story unfolds and flows into another, she will touch the heart of another and another.

Many a woman who holds a story in her heart doesn't know where to start to tell her tale or how. The key is to know your big WHY. By understanding your values, passion, purpose and having a vision, our female entrepreneur has the foundation for her story. Her big WHY includes what I call her inspirational message; what has she come to share?

She may wonder which part of her story, because after all, we rarely slide into today unscathed. Again this is knowing what the vision for her future is. The part of what she has to share is connected to where she sees herself, not where she is.”

Did Clara Zetkin in 1910 have any idea what she started?  Now, 106 years later, we are still celebrating International Women’s Day on 8th March and more and more women are stepping up and showing other women the way forward.  Are you ready?

 

Learn to be bold, share your stories and talk about our experiences.

 

 

Written By: Guest Blogger, Ali Meehan  

Social Entrepreneur and Founder of award winning Costa Women, Ali runs the largest social networking community for Women living in, or planning on moving to Spain. 

Costa Women won Best of British Social Club by The Telegraph in 2012 and Expat Stars award from MyCurrencyTransfer. Included in Top 101 Feisty, Fun And Fabulous Women Bloggers To Follow in 2014 by Birds on the Blog.  

Ali was also highlighted as a top Twitter account for expat advice by The Telegraph and ExpatFocus. She has a social media reach of 15,000+. Ali is a founding member of Typical Non-Spanish, a group which celebrates all that is good about life in Spain. Spain is where Ali has now settled after travelling the globe over the last 20 years and working in Australia, the Middle East and Asia.

 

Use JournoLink to get your stories in the press

Easy-to-use, easy-to-learn publicity software built for small businesses.

We hope you enjoy reading our PR resources!

Want to see how JournoLink's PR software can create publicity for your business?

Book a demo