Good afternoon blog readers! This is my final blog post required of the course I’m taking at Brandman. I’d love to say that I’d continue writing about this topic but I feel after finishing the research, there isn’t much left to say. In the beginning I was wondering who had been successful, how they did it and the problems they faced. In the end my focus became how women in small business can achieve success.

I organized my resources with an annotated bibliography. This was great in having a go-to document I could reference quickly, to get information. My final paper was a literature review. Basically, one document that encompasses a summary of the resources I collected, which pertain to my topic. This literature review was an excellent way in organizing my thoughts and getting everything in order. I fear my review was far too long than what was required. However, I wanted to make sure I had included a thorough review. The subject of success and small business ownership is a personal topic for me. Having a thorough literary review I was learning as I went along. I’m not sure I would do this if it wasn’t required in the future, just because it was extremely time consuming.

In the end I think I’ve answered my research question, “How can women in small business be successful?” The research concluded there were two main categories, we as women, must focus on: our actions and our mindset.

With actions I’ve found marketing your business should be a priority. For both women and men, implementing a marketing plan, or lack thereof, can make or break your small business. Take action on marketing, make it happen, find a way and find a budget for it. The next action we must take is with networking. Don’t be shy or intimidated! Everyone started somewhere. Get out there, get your business name and product out there. Meet other business owners, male and female. Swap stories and find comfort in numbers. The final important action to take is seeking a mentor. This I’m still trying to do. Everyone starts somewhere indeed. So, don’t create a mentality of, “I know what I’m doing,” when in fact you probably don’t. Find someone to teach you the ropes. Share and bounce ideas back and forth.

Mindset is equally important to achieving success in small business. Have the mindset that, “I can do this!” Believe in yourself. Don’t let self-doubt take over. Reach out and create a support system, let others be a part of the great things you are trying to do. Don’t keep the mindset, “So long as the bills are paid, that’s success.” It’s not. Success comes from growth. Find a potential for growth and have the mindset, “There’s always room for growth.” Paying the bills isn’t a goal…reaching the top of the mountain is. Finally, be willing to trust and take advice. Open yourself up to failure. There are times you will fail. Accept that and know it is a lesson to learn from. Take advice from those who’ve been there before. Be kind to yourself, find balance and believe success is just around the corner. Let’s break that 90% stigma that we’re in it alone!

Good evening blog readers! This week I felt as if I was summing up all the information I have learned in my research. In the beginning I addressed who women entrepreneurs were, what setbacks they faced and so on. In my more recent posts it has been the focus of my attention to find out what women can do to be successful in small business. Obviously these steps are relevant to the earlier posts of what the setbacks were.

In my college course we were required to do an annotated bibliography. I completed this assignment with the mindset I was creating an outline to my research on how women can be successful in small business. I used only a couple of the peer reviewed journals from earlier research b ut only because I felt they were the most helpful in moving forward. I have found it much easier to find credible information on the internet. Using the Brandman library is a great source but the most helpful tool I’ve come across in this research is the advanced google search.

I feel there isn’t anything missing from my research and I look forward to posting the information I’ve collected. Being a small business owner myself I find it helpful to read information pertaining to being an entrepreneur and being successful. It has been fairly difficult to locate every aspect of being a woman and entrepreneur. I think my research encompasses a guideline of sorts on how to be successful in the world of small business. I plan on using the research and information I’ve collected and I think my audience reading this blog will as well.   

Good afternoon blog readers! This week we have gotten further on our research for women in small business. While I’ve researched and pointed out the setbacks women are faced with it has been difficult to find how these setbacks can be overcome. The funny thing about the internet is you can’t trust everything you see and read. This is why it has been the focus of my course at Brandman to conduct thorough research that can be trusted.

This week I found an article in an open access journal that pointed out several resources women can turn to for assistance with their small businesses. Although the article’s main area of focus is Canada, it listed several resources for women in the United States and Europe. The article was centered on a Canadian program called, “Lead to Win for Women.” (Dexter, 2011) This program outlines a direct path to overcoming the setbacks women face. It helps women in realize growth potential and then assists them in achieving that potential. The Canadian based article also mentions the lack of women in the forefront of business, not only in Canada but all around the world. (Dexter, 2011) I think programs like, “Lead to Win for Women,” are an ideal way to support women in small business. I believe, encouragement of this sort will be contagious for other countries and communities around the world. Listed below is the link to the article along with links to the resources that were listed within.

Dexter, J. S. (2011). Building an Infrastructure to Support Women Founders: Lead to Win for Women. Technology Innovation Management Review, 30-36

http://timreview.ca/sites/default/files/Issue_PDF/july11_osbr.pdf

Women 2.0

http://women2.com/

Springboard

https://sb.co/

Centre for Women and Enterprise

http://www.cweonline.org/default.aspx

Like I mentioned before, the internet has a funny way of listing untrustworthy, if not untrue information. However, one thing that was presented in my course at Brandman was academic integrity. With the internet being so readily available, one rarely stops to think of intellectual property. We constantly share, revise and reuse information on the internet. I think it’s important to understand the difference between public domain and intellectual property that has been copyrighted. This has greatly influenced my college career. I think the best practice is when in doubt cite the source, whether it’s just an idea or text. This practice makes me confident, leaving no doubt, in my academic integrity.

Good evening blog readers! This week I wanted to focus on how women in small business can find resources to help them be successful. Unfortunately, I was in search of an empirical article. Thus, I was unable to focus my attention solely on finding resources for women in small business. I was not introduced to any new ideas in my search for an empirical article. I actually got to feeling like I’m beating a dead horse. Once again I found myself having to minimize my search to the very broad topic of Women Entrepreneurs. It is absolutely amazing how there just isn’t much research that has been put into American women in small business.

My research is aimed at finding the answer to how women in small business can be successful. I do not intend to change the focus of this question but I am getting generally tired of reading about the same setbacks presented in different research avenues.

This week’s empirical research article makes me want to look further into what government resources are available to women in small business. I did find a great article with a “toolkit” for women entrepreneurs but was unable o use it because this week’s assignment was to specific on empirical research.

I am confident in my research abilities. I am finding I lack the patience that is sometimes required of the research.