Image Credit: Courtesy of Love, Lexxi
“I love a good challenge,” Love, Lexxi founder Meg Smith tells Entrepreneur. “I’ve always been that way. So if there’s something that feels so out of reach, it makes me even more determined to find a way to get it done.”
Amanda Breen
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
With the holiday season upon us and the end of another year quickly approaching, it can cause frenetic feelings about wrapping up final projects. On the other hand, it may offer a chance to reflect on how far we’ve come since January.
Most of us fall somewhere in between, and it can be easy to lose focus as December 31 approaches. However, this holiday season, carve out time to tackle a few to-dos that will set you up nicely for the year ahead, give you space to think about what you’ve already achieved and prepare you for 2023.
Related: 5 Things Entrepreneurs Should Focus on During the Holidays
Whether you have ongoing monthly or quarterly goals, it’s wise to set three larger goals you want to accomplish in the new year. Consider if you want to switch direction come January or build upon what you’ve already created. Start big. Then, create a strategy with individual milestones to get you where you want to be.
In business, most goals are attached to revenue but consider alternative perspectives as you plan for the future. What kind of client or service growth do you want to achieve? Do you want to attract a different type of audience? Do you want to add a new skill or certification to your repertoire? Perhaps a goal is to speak at an event or become an influencer in your industry. Whatever you want to achieve, attach your motivating “why” to each goal and map out tangible steps to make it easier to envision.
Related: This Simple Brain Hack Will Help You Achieve All Your Goals
Adding new goals and plans to 2023 means you must make room by decluttering your current schedule. The end of the year is an excellent time to review your ongoing meetings and commitments and evaluate where they can be trimmed or deleted altogether. Every entrepreneur knows time is a precious commodity, so to avoid getting burned out, make sure your calendar is full of things that help your growth.
Simple changes may be to change a weekly meeting to twice a month or shorten regularly scheduled hour meetings to half the time. Take a look at all the organizations — both online and in-person — which may be taking up time with little to no return on investment. Also, consider areas that limit your productivity. Social media is always a common distraction. Although, for many, it’s necessary to maintain a presence online. To keep it a helpful tool (rather than a place for mindless scrolling), schedule specific times when you’ll post and check your channels. Then, step away from social media for the rest of the day.
Related: 10 Ways to Declutter Without Going Minimalist
As with decluttering your schedule, take a look at your budget and consider areas that can be eliminated. Are there programs or tools you’re no longer using? Have you put off canceling the free trial on apps or subscriptions that can be better invested elsewhere or budgeted in another way?
Additionally, auto-pay makes it easy to forget where we spend our money. Take stock of all business auto-payments and see if any can be deactivated. Also, consider other business expenses like online courses, educational or networking events and client meetings. Where do you receive the most value? Weigh each individually to determine if all the resources you’re currently using are still as helpful as they once were. If not, get rid of them and know they’ll always be there should you need them again.
Related: 5 Ways to Build a Business Budget for Maximum Success
Gratitude is the free, quiet booster to success. Plus, it’s easy to obtain. While waiting for your morning coffee to brew or before you dive into answering emails, jot down three things you’re thankful for. Take extra time to reflect and expand your list during the holiday season. Creating a daily gratitude habit isn’t just something to make you feel warm and fuzzy; it can help you focus, increase efficiency and create an abundance mindset.
Numerous studies illustrate the positive effects of gratitude on the brain. It changes the brain’s makeup and can help us feel more engaged and appreciative, leading to greater productivity, optimism and overall better mental health. Consider the benefits of what starting your day with gratitude could do for your outlook, especially compared to the frenzy we often find ourselves in first thing in the morning.
Related: Cultivating Gratitude and Happiness Will Boost Your Business
There’s been a cultural shift over the past years from the hustle mentality to a state of self-care. However, for entrepreneurs, sometimes it’s not so easy to slow down. Many times there is no one to delegate work to, which means there’s a difficult balance to sustain a steady workload. Nevertheless, it’s always necessary to take time for yourself. It can seem overwhelming for some, so you’ll have to be intentional in how you want to use the time. Put it on the calendar. Make it a priority.
Good physical and mental health are two things that are easy to take for granted until they start to fail us. When taking time for yourself, these areas should be at the top of the list. Plan it out, whether it’s a workout at the gym, a walk around the block or a few minutes for stretching and meditation.
Putting it last on the list means it’s not likely to happen, and burnout could be around the corner. Add time for play and enjoyment into your weekly schedule as well. Essentially, time for yourself, planning or relaxing, must be part of your daily list of to-dos, and what better time to start than the holidays?
Kelly Hyman
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“Success leaves clues.” Terry Rice, a business development consultant and writer for Entrepreneur magazine, is not channeling Sherlock Holmes — he’s offering a surefire method for newbies in the business game to unlock success. “Jot down the names of competitors and similar companies and see how they are making it happen. Look how they use social media, find out who they are partnering with. Then put your own spin on those methods that are proven to work.”
In this week’s episode of 5-Minute Mentor, Terry talks with Julia Cuthbertson, co-founder of Las Chingonas Imports, a Brooklyn-based company that imports high-end Mezcal from Mexico. Julia and her co-founder Tiffany Collings launched their company with two products a year and a half ago, and are looking for ways to expand not just in New York City shops, but online as well. Terry breaks down strategies and tactics for the team to reach a wider customer base while keeping things manageable within their time and resource constraints.
Watch the above conversation and in just five minutes get actionable tips for:
Terry Rice
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Back in 2018, Taylor Character, aka HoneyLuv, was operating drones for the Navy at a base in Malibu, California.
“Being in the military made me a lot more organized,” the Cleveland native told Billboard. “I would also say being more diligent, not allowing myself to slack, and to be on top of everything — a self-starter and motivator.”
She used her newfound discipline to teach herself how to DJ, a skill that would pay off big time. In just two short years, HoneyLuv has toured at EDM festivals around the country and produced remixes for such artists as Diplo and Lizzo.
“Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t possible. Anything in this world is attainable,” HoneyLuv said.
Related: DJ Khaled Just Rented Out His Sneaker Closet on Airbnb for $11
After leaving the military, HoneyLuv made her first debut by spinning Hip Hop and R&B music on Dash Radio as a Guest DJ for celebrity trainer Corey Calliet’s “Issa Lifestyle” radio show. She also began regularly spinning at Flamingo Deck, a club in San Diego.
Her sets caught the ear of a former talent agent who booked her at The Day Trip Festival in Los Angeles. Her career began to take off from there.
HoneyLuv hired a business manager, which she said is one of the wisest moves she’s ever made.
“To have someone there to help guide you business-wise makes it so much easier,” she told Billboard.
Her manager booked HoneyLuv huge tours, such as Desert Hearts and the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, where she was the only Black artist in the entire lineup.
In July, HoneyLuv dropped an impossibly-titled tech house single called “Thr33 6ix 5ive.” The song has been streamed on Spotify more than 5 million times.
This month, HoneyLuv will release a remix of Lizzo’s song, “Everybody’s Gay.”
“I’m a huge Lizzo fan. Just what she stands for,” HoneyLuv said in a profile in The New York Times.
She hopes her success will inspire more Black female DJs to join the party.
“It’s up to us to continue the legacy in hopes we can inspire more and more people to join this community and enjoy the music.”
Jonathan Small
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Entrepreneurs can be impatient. When we have a great idea, we want to make it happen now. But I’ve learned that patience — taking time to convince resistant customers, or to prove your concept to dubious investors — can create an outcome much truer to your vision.
Courtesy of White Noise Coffee Company
Seven years ago, I began trying to open a coffee shop in New York City. I had long worked as a barista, and imagined a café that treated coffee like a performance — the bar acting as a stage, where baristas would pull the espresso shot, weigh it, and heat it to a precise temperature, all while telling the origin story of the beans. I wanted the shop’s sounds and smells and visuals to envelop each customer. I’d call it White Noise Coffee Company.
Vanesa Kim
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Elena Rosa is a Los Angeles-based artist who wanted to create a lesbian story world where people of all genders, sexualities and identities could learn about lesbian bar history. She drew from photographs, writings and interviews with former bar patrons and bar owners to bring L-BAR to life. Rosa sat down with Jessica Abo to talk about her interactive online bar and salon, and her advice for anyone trying to create a sacred experience.
Jessica Abo: You’ve spent years working as an actor and artist and say you’re really passionate about creating different worlds. What is it about creating environments that lights you up?
I love building environments. I like thinking about our architecture and how that frames our identity. I have a particular fascination with Byzantine churches, the way the masses can walk into this dome, this heaven on earth and everyone has one focal point. Straight ahead is the focal. It’s one truth, one belief. And if you look to the left or to the right or above you, there are depictions of saints mirroring that truth and confirming that truth. I love thinking about how that informs us in those spaces.
In contrast to the lesbian bar, which were our saloons and taverns, they’re usually pretty dark. And they might be down an alleyway or they might be down a flight of stairs, but they’re dark. In the beginning, there weren’t any windows, and where there were windows, they were covered with curtains, so you couldn’t see what was going on inside. I think that encourages experimentation and walking into the unknown. It’s full of mystery, and I believe in that space is where agency can be explored.
Why did you want to create a space dedicated to lesbian bar history?
I wanted to celebrate and honor lesbian bar history. I think that these bars, especially pre-Stonewall, were bars that really allowed women to frame feminism and ideas of desire and ways of being in the world. So, I wanted to honor that history and also honor the trailblazers, all the people that crossed the street to go into the bar when it wasn’t okay to do that.
I think about my own lesbian bar history, and I landed in San Francisco and I’d just come out and I would go to this bar on Sundays and it was Ladies’ Day on Sundays. I don’t recall it being about consuming alcohol. It wasn’t about that, the bar for me. But, on an unconscious level, I suppose there was this other aspect and I couldn’t wait to get to the bar. There was this other aspect of walking into a place, walking in somewhere, and the people that you see mirror who you are. I think that unequivocal understanding that someone else is like you. It’s a lifeline, really. I was raised very religious, and to me, this was everything. This was everything to me. But, I don’t know if I realized it at the time, but I needed it. I needed that mirror to myself at the time, from people, from those women in that bar.
What’s the state of lesbian bars today?
Well, there aren’t many lesbian bars left. According to the Lesbian Bar Project, which raises money to fund the remaining lesbian bars in the U.S., there are under 25 lesbian bars. I believe that in order to understand why they’ve disappeared, we need to understand why they existed. The lesbian bars are very different today. They are far more inclusive with language. I think when I was going to bars, there were many different identities and ways of being there, but they just weren’t spoken about. Or, if they were, it wasn’t foregrounded by that. I think bars were more foregrounded by desire, at least when I was coming up. Now, language is there, and inclusivity is there at the forefront, and I think that’s really great. I think that’s wonderful. Sometimes, I wonder if we need the term lesbian bar anymore if we need lesbian bar anymore.
It’s interesting to think about. I think also, I’ve noticed that the intergenerational aspect of bars when I was coming up is not there anymore. I remember going to early bars and I would talk to the older dykes about how to shoot pool and how to be and whatever, and there was a lot of communication between generations, and that’s not the case anymore. That’s to do with the online world. A lot of my older friends have wonderful, amazing relationships online and they don’t need to go to the bar. So, it’s not a bad thing, it’s just different. The bars are very different today.
What will someone experience when they enter L-BAR?
Inside L-BAR, you will be presented with a world, I call it a lesbian story world. That world has loads of cities that you can click into, and when you do, you’ll find bars, lesbian bars, presented to you. These bars all actually existed. They’re from 1925 through 2005. Now, I made these bars, they’re digital art interpretations, I made them based on oral histories from former bar owners and bar patrons. So, you can also hear those interviews inside the space. You can meet friends there or make new ones, sit at a bar stool and listen to people like Joan Nestle, Jewelle Gomez, Lillian Faderman to name a few. You can actually hear them inside the bars.
What do you think this project represents now?
I think this project represents a living archive. I think it offers a way to look at history differently by being inside of it, by occupying that history, by hearing the stories where that history took place and sitting inside of it and sharing your own story inside of it. I think it’s another way to document and another way to experience one’s self through history.
I think it also shows how important and sacred lesbian bars were for a lot of people, and sacred to our history in terms of identity building and shedding and ways of being in the world.
What’s next for you and L-Bar?
I’ll be moving off of this platform that I use, which is called ohyay, which is amazing. They are shutting down on December 31st, so L-Bar will also shut down. I’m currently applying for grants and looking for funding to move the project somewhere else. I’m also making a documentary about lesbian bar history.
What advice do you have for someone who is trying to create a sacred experience whether it’s through the metaverse or through a brick-and-mortar environment?
I think it’s important, in whatever you do, whatever you create, to make it personal, make it full of your heart, because I think people are going to disagree with you and they’re not going to like what you have to say, and that encourages conversation. I believe in the conversation. I believe in difference, and I think that is what sustainable business is. I don’t think it’s pleasing everybody. I think it’s actually a conversation.
Jessica Abo
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This year’s World Cup has been rocked by restrictions due to strict rules in the predominantly Muslim country of Qatar.
Just days before the tournament began, FIFA and Qatari officials announced that the sale of alcohol would be banned, a huge detriment to Budweiser and parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is now facing a surplus of beer that was meant to supply fans and spectators during the duration of the tournament.
The decision came as a surprise — and a major upset — to the company as the month-long alcohol sales ban will most likely mean quarterly revenue will take a hit.
Budweiser seems to be making light of the circumstances, however, by posting a photo of the surplus beer cases inside a warehouse.
New Day, New Tweet. Winning Country gets the Buds. Who will get them? pic.twitter.com/Vv2YFxIZa1
— Budweiser (@Budweiser) November 19, 2022
“New Day, New Tweet. Winning Country gets the Buds,” the company wrote. “Who will get them?”
The cheeky Tweet might have been a nod to a now-deleted Tweet by Budweiser over the weekend which reportedly said “Well, this is awkward” following FIFA’s announcement that beverages would no longer be sold.
“We tried until the end to see whether it was possible,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said to press about the decision to instate the ban. “If for three hours a day you cannot drink a beer, you will survive. Maybe there is a reason why in France, in Spain, in Scotland, alcohol is banned in stadiums.
Fans will still be able to purchase alcohol during the FIFA Fan Festival which takes place at night, though there will be restrictions on how much people will be permitted to purchase.
The World Cup kicked off on Sunday with a match between Qatar and Ecuador.
Emily Rella
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If you need help aligning your talent with your motivation so you can grow your business, Lauren Maillian is here to help.
Marta Skovro
Lauren is the definition of an innovative entrepreneur. She co-founded her first business, Sugarleaf Vineyards when she was just 19 years old. That made her the youngest self-made winery owner in the U.S. (before she was even allowed to drink).
At the same time she was working as a model in Paris and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since then she’s gone on to become a founding partner at Gen Y Capital Partners, an early-stage venture firm focused on investments in mobile and consumer-facing technology-enabled companies.
She’s also founded digitalundivided, non-profit leveraging data, programs, and advocacy to catalyze economic growth for Latina and Black women entrepreneurs and innovators. There’s more but you get the point by now.
She provides more details – and how you can develop the confidence and strategy needed to thrive – in the latest episode of the Launch Your Business Podcast.
I’ll share a few of my favorite takeaways below.
Many entrepreneurs start a business based on something they’re passionate about. And while that may sound like a foolproof plan, it’s easy to mistake your passion for a hobby. Lauren gives the example of her friend that enjoys doing hair and is considering opening a hair salon. She then asked her friend how she’d feel if 100 people showed up the next day wanting to get their hair done. Would she feel excited or overwhelmed?
So what does this mean to you and your business?
Lauren goes on to say, “If you had a whole bunch of clients, if you could make a lot of money doing this, would you continue? Would that light you up and motivate you? If not, that’s not what you’re passionate about.”
She also shares why it’s so important to do the deep work required to find your passion. “When life affords us the opportunity to chase our passions while achieving success in doing something that is enjoyable for us, then we get to that point where the timelines don’t matter because you’re just being yourself. And that’s when you can actually really say, I get paid to do what I love.”
Realted: 4 Reasons Following Your Passion Leads to Success
I often say self-limiting beliefs will take your chances of success much faster than any external obstacle. Lauren provides more context and shares the impact of not being confident in your abilities.
“Have the faith that you deserve to be there. Have the faith that your skill is enough to get you through. Have the faith that you are qualified to get yourself out of whatever situation you’re in. Because when you feel uncertain it’s seen and felt and reverberates to people around you. They will then begin to doubt all of who you are because they don’t know why you are acting insecure. So make sure that your confidence is unwavering in yourself and your skill when you are in these difficult situations.”
And, it’s important to note there’s a big difference between having confidence and the “fake it till you make it” approach. Let’s say you’re currently on level three out of ten when it comes to your expertise on a subject. That’s fine, just be the most confident and honest level three out there. You’ll earn trust, gain experience and continue ascending.
How do you define success for your business? The most common answers typically include a combination of time, lifestyle and financial freedom. However, Lauren’s response to that question stood out to me because of the empowerment referenced.
“Success to me is being able to decline opportunities because they don’t align with what you want, and knowing that declining does not change your circumstances in any way. Financial, environmental, in terms of the opportunities that you’re gonna get in the future, any of that.”
She continues, “It’s when you can say to yourself does this align with who I am? Do I wanna do it? Does it make sense to do it? You don’t feel like you’re required to, or have to in order to maintain a relationship. There’s no prerequisite anymore for the next opportunity, other than is it something I wanna do? And ultimately, we know that we are successful when we have the power, the ability, and the autonomy to say no on our own without getting the approval to say no from anyone else.”
Related: 3 Keys to Entrepreneurial Success
Ready to get more tactic-level detail on how to find your zone of genius and scale your business? Here are a few more ways to learn from and get inspired by Lauren.
Listen to the full podcast episode
Follow her on Instagram, and LinkedIn
Join her newsletter to stay up to date with her projects and events
Terry Rice
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
I remember having classmates over for a playdate once in elementary school. My friend walked by my parents’ room and peeked in. “What are those funny looking dolls? Why are there flowers in front of them? Why is there smoke burning from that stick?”
Itsy Bitsy Memories Photography
I explained that it was my mother’s prayer area. As a Hindu, my mother prayed every evening after bathing, offering flowers and lighting incense. And those were not dolls; they were our Hindu gods.
Mita Mallick
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
My mother is the most amazing cook I know. Whether she’s frying, grilling, stirring, flipping or baking, anything and everything that comes out of her kitchen is incredible. So when my mom told me how obsessed she was with Dalci’s lemon coconut blondie, I knew it had to be incredible. And as someone who is pre-diabetic and watching what she eats, my mother is very particular about reading what’s on the label and what she puts into her mouth.
Katelyn Perry
“During the pandemic, I found myself making compromises to my health by trying to eat convenient, on-the-go treats. I couldn’t find clean desserts in the marketplace,” says Najwa Khan, founder and CEO of Dalci “I was tired of bars and “gut healthy’ snacks made with chemical alternatives, natural flavors, bad oils and sugar alcohols. That’s when I founded Dalci, to create brownies that are real, delicious and always clean.”
The idea of “clean eating” is prevalent on social media now, but it was originally made popular by Canadian fitness model Tosca Reno with her book The Eat-Clean Diet. With clean eating, you focus on a natural form of nutrition. Pure, fresh and unprocessed foods; cutting out artificial preservatives, colors and flavorings and sweeteners and names of ingredients you can’t even pronounce. Although many of us aspire to eat a more healthful diet, it’s not always the easiest or most convenient option.
According to a recent NPR survey, 75% of Americans say they eat healthy. Yet the statistics reveal otherwise: Many of us tend to overeat refined grains and sugars and don’t control our portion sizes. Before the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that about 40% of Americans qualified as obese. According to a new study, 61% of adults experienced undesired weight changes during the pandemic due to stress, not eating healthfully and having a less active lifestyle.
Enter Dalci. The bars are individually packaged and portioned. You can warm them up in the microwave to get that gooey, fresh-baked brownie experience. You can also freeze them and eat them later. They are easy to toss in your bag and have as an on-the-go snack. Flavors include dark chocolate brownie, almond butter dark chocolate blondie, and my mom’s favorite, lemon coconut blondie. They’re gluten-, dairy-, grain-, soy-, refined-sugar, sugar-alcohol, lecithin-, natural-flavor, and preservative-free.
Image Credit: Birdhill Studios
“I believe Dalci is in a category of its own,” Khan says. “Our first product line, the brownies and blondies, are true desserts that are disrupting the sweet category. Ultimately, we want our customers to say, ‘Hell yes, I can have a brownie anytime I want!’”
Here’s what starting Dalci has taught Khan.
Read More: How This ‘Accidental Entrepreneur’ Is Taking on Legacy Floral Companies and Disrupting the Industry
In her previous roles as a product manager, Khan learned how to pilot, test and try ideas and quickly pivot when needed. She credits those early years in her career with teaching her how to be nimble. “I allowed pre-sales for Dalci even before I knew how the product would be manufactured and shipped to customers,” she says. “Some might think that was crazy, but I was confident I needed to test the viability of the business before attempting to accelerate growth.”
Khan says that her ability to launch before everything was perfect has been critical to the brand‘s success. It was the best way for her to learn how to improve Dalci’s recipes and messaging. It also helped Khan continue to find and build relationships with her customer base and be strategic about how she wanted to build out her product lines.
Read More: Learning to Embrace Her Culture Led This Entrepreneur to Found a Jewelry Brand Loved by Celebrities
Kahn launched Dalci during the pandemic. She wasn’t working full-time, and she found herself disinterested in jobs she was finding in the marketplace. With only a trademark and an idea, she bought the domain dalci.com, built a cheap website, spun up an Instagram and decided to see if people wanted indulgent-tasting, clean brownies. Khan’s husband helped her bake, pack and fill orders in the evenings. “I went ahead and self-funded and skipped over the steps most commonly taken by CPG brands,” Khan says. “I loved the grind. I learned so much about food science, production, supply chain issues, and branding and marketing early on.”
Image Credit: Birdhill Studios
Despite her early success, Khan regrets not building a team from the get-go. “One person alone cannot build a business. A team is so critical,” she says. “I know I took the risk to start Dalci, but I did it with guardrails where I kept telling myself 2020 was a ‘test.’ That limiting belief prevented me from building a team at the very beginning.”
Read More: How This First-Generation American Founder Is Taking on Fast-Food Giants
The name Dalci is derived from dalchini, the word for cinnamon in Bengali. Khan spent countless hours cooking South Asian treats with her family on weekends when she was growing up. Dalci is a reflection of her upbringing, representing home, love and the importance of treating yourself.
Khan is proud to be a woman of color founder. And on her journey to build her business, some have said to her, “You should use the fact that you are a woman of color to get that investor check.” Khan’s response is clear: I am not a diversity quota.
Image Credit: Katelyn Perry
“Raising money is tough, with less than 3% of venture capital funding going to women of color founders,” Khan says. “That has to change. And I just want to be me, Najwa. I want allies who sign on with me for all of the right reasons. Because they ultimately believe in me and Dalci and how we are on a mission to ignite change.”
Read More: This Founder is Starting a Breakfast Revolution by Reinventing One of America’s Favorite Foods
Mita Mallick
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
There are partners who do the work and partners who create the strategies behind the work. As entrepreneurs, we tend to do it all because we’re establishing our business and building our revenue pipeline. But there are inherent problems with this approach.
Case in point: In my first full year working for myself, I landed a huge client. I had the experience, the knowledge and the skills for the assignment, but I was just starting out on my own and didn’t have a budget to hire help. Wanting to prove that I could handle the project, I did it all myself, serving as a marketer, copywriter and account manager.
What I didn’t leave time for was strategy. My desire to please the client took over, and I ended up throwing myself into the tactical work at the expense of my strategic expertise. As a partner, I was doing myself a disservice. When the client didn’t see my vision, they mentally put me in the “doer” category.
There are two inherent problems with being an order taker: Firstly, the work you’re ordered to do may not align with your vision and likely won’t earn the results they’re looking to achieve. Secondly, sooner or later, they’ll move the tasks in-house.
Related: If You Want Your Clients to Truly Value You, You Need to Be Their Trusted Advisor. Here’s How.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who has fallen into the people-pleaser trap. Women are apparently at greater risk of manifesting this self-sabotaging trait. According to a recent study, 56% of women are more likely than men to describe themselves as people pleasers.
The results of another study concur — 54% of female participants exhibited people-pleasing behavior, while the minority of men at 40% showed similar tendencies.
The pressure that women feel to please others is real. It’s a “gender norm” historically reinforced by society, making us more susceptible to related behaviors, such as difficulty saying no or arguing our case. As Caitlyn Collins, a professor of sociology at Washington University so aptly put it, “Women have been socialized into understanding that what is most important is that they be perceived as likable and agreeable.”
We’re more likely to nod in agreement and dive into the work than we are to disagree or say we know better. And by and large, we’re invaluable as workers because we want to please.
We tend to work harder than necessary to over-deliver, according to multiple studies, including Hive and Ponemon Institute. But just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. I eventually learned that establishing yourself as a strategic partner sets the stage for more rewarding work and greater profit margins.
Fortunately, I was able to break free from my people-pleasing ways. Fast-forward 30 years, I am a CEO and an award-winning marketer. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have without learning these four critical lessons as a strategic partner to my clients along the way.
Related: How to Protect Your Career From Those Who Try to Undermine You
Your vision is what got you here, and while you have the know-how to handle a dozen tasks, your job isn’t to execute someone else’s vision but to create your own vision and teach others how to implement it. Set the stage upfront by kicking off every project with a discovery phase. This initial stage of the project allows you time to perform background research and gain an understanding of your client’s history, their competitors and their target audience so that you can plan your strategy. As simple as you think it might be, present your findings to the client along with your strategic recommendations and the metrics by which you’ll measure success. And don’t forget to include the hours you spend on this discovery phase in your estimate — you should absolutely be compensated for this.
Remember those research papers you had to write in school? You’d have to tell the reader what you were going to tell them, then tell them and then tell them what you told them. In this case, show the client where they are, then show them where they want to be and finally, show them how you’ll get them there. Position yourself as the partner that can empower their team to execute your strategic vision.
Have you ever listened to a speaker at a professional event that just blew you away? The most prolific orators follow a simple mantra. Instead of trying to say too much, they focus on a single message. Think of your favorite consumer brand‘s tagline. They use it in every ad spot and every creative campaign. A mantra is your personal tagline of sorts that ties back to everything you do. That simple mantra can help steer your pitches and presentations and keep you on track.
Related: How Investing in Strategic Partnerships Can Help Grow Your Business
Early on in my career, I suffered a great deal of imposter syndrome. What if the client asked a question that I didn’t have the answer to? What if I was just dead wrong? I watched veteran strategists seemingly breeze through pitches and presentations and wondered how I’d ever be that confident. Years later, I was offered a chief strategy officer role. I breezed through pitches and presentations, too. But it certainly wasn’t because I was always right. It was because I was always curious. Yes, I did my research, I questioned thought leadership, I studied statistics and prepared for every meeting, but I was also genuinely curious, and that gave me the power to listen, really listen, to the questions clients asked and the arguments they surfaced. Sometimes, they changed my mindset, and other times they solidified my resolve.
Not every prospect you talk with or present to will be the right fit for your agency. When you’re starting out, you might be keen to say yes to any and all work that comes your way to ensure revenue. But there comes a point where you’ll need to turn down work that doesn’t further your own purpose. Establish the goals, the metrics, how long you think it will take and what other work you have that will eat up hours of your day. Don’t agree to their timetable — and if you must, add rush fees in order to get it done.
Enterprise clients can be intimidating, but they’ve come to you for a reason, so make sure you get what you need from them to be successful.
Let that confidence drive you to focus on crafting your strategic perspective. Being a strategic partner doesn’t mean you can’t ever be wrong. What it does mean is that you’re willing to test new theories, question the status quo and offer a unique perspective. And that’s exactly what your clients will come to value.
These are the four lessons I learned (the hard way, in most cases) in my first three decades of business. I hope they inspire you to position yourself as a strategic partner.
Beth Newton
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Growing up, I spent a number of summer vacations in India with my extended family. I would get gifts of dangly gold earrings and bright-colored jeweled bracelets that I would bring back home to Boston. I remember wearing the pieces to school and being teased for how gaudy, sparkly and odd they looked, so I stopped wearing Indian jewelry. Even as an adult, I struggle to pair Indian jewelry pieces with my Western clothing.
“I also remember being teased for the Indian gold chains my mom would put on me before I headed out to school,” says Rekha Brar, founder and CEO of Blossom Box Jewelry. “I was reluctant to wear the chains, but my mother would remind me that they were passed down from my grandmother and how beautiful they were. Despite how different I felt in school, my parents always encouraged me to embrace my individuality, not blend in, and to never forget where I came from.”
Mita Mallick
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We’ve heard the future is female, and when it comes to franchising we’re seeing that shift. According to Franchise Insights, women, especially Gen Z and millennials, outnumber men in seeking franchising information, and today a third of franchises are owned by women.
In the 50 years the U.S. Census Bureau has tracked women-owned businesses, they have grown by a staggering 3,150%, with women owning more than 13 million businesses today. When I first got involved in franchising 30 years ago, I can’t remember a woman-owned franchise brand, and there were very few women franchisees. Today there are examples of both, and their success is helping drive more and more women to make franchising a career.
Related: Here Are the 7 Traits You Need to Get Rich in the Restaurant Industry
Many of the reasons franchising appeals to women are the same as the reasons it attracts men. Franchising gives women the opportunity to be their own boss while having the support and systems offered by a franchisor.
For women, franchising is also a way to reduce the gender pay gap that still exists in corporate America. In 2022 working women earn 82 cents for every $1 working men make (the gap is wider for minority women). Women franchisees earn 90 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make.
Franchising often affords women a better work/life balance than traditional careers offer. Women can select a franchise that has hours that coincide with school hours, for example, or brands that have no weekend hours. With a general manager onsite, owners are also free to set hours that work for them. The franchising model gives women much more flexibility over their schedules than working as an employee for another company.
“So many women left the workforce during Covid and are looking for something that offers the flexibility of franchising,” Pamela Fazio, a 20-year franchise veteran and current CEO of Duff’s CakeMix, says. “I expect more women to turn to franchising. It lets them be successful while also having the time to focus on themselves and their families.”
Related: Now Is a Better Time Than Ever to Land This Type of Financing for Your Franchise
Today examples of women franchisors and franchisees are everywhere in the industry, and their success is fueling a new generation of women to join the franchise ranks.
Back in 1997, friends Dena Tripp and Debbie Shwetz started operating Nothing Bundt Cakes out of their Las Vegas kitchens. Today the popular dessert franchise has more than 430 locations in the United States and Canada. Shwetz exited the company when a private equity firm invested in 2016, but Tripp stayed on until this year when the company sold.
Stacy Brown created a great chicken salad recipe then figured out how to make new versions of the classic recipe, and in 2008 the Chicken Salad Chick was born. Today the franchise has more than 285 locations. Brown is passionate about helping other women achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. She helps mentor and train employees, helps women develop business ideas and created the Chicken Salad Chick Incubator.
The success of these women and others like them is inspiring a new generation of franchisors. In 2022 Christine Cutlip, founder of Savannah Seafood Shack, started her franchise journey, and she now has one of the strongest unit economics in the restaurant industry. In 2019 Ghazal Quershi began franchising her Idea Lab Kids International, and today it has 93 locations. At just 29 years old Toastique founder Brianna Keefe has four corporate locations and 37 franchises of her health-conscious cafe either open or slated to open by 2023.
Although many women entrepreneurs are expanding their businesses through franchising, even more are attracted to becoming franchisees. According to a 2020 Women in Franchising report, from 2018 to 2020 women comprised 41% of new franchisees.
Related: Are You an Ideal Franchisee? Here’s How to Find Out.
One of the most difficult hurdles for franchisees to cross is finding access to financing. There’s a gender financing gap just like there’s a gender pay gap. Entrepreneurs who are men are 20% more likely than women owners to get approved for a business loan.
To encourage more women in franchising, several programs like the SBA Loans for Disadvantaged Business Owners and the Office of Women’s Business Ownership can help women obtain capital. There are also national grant and loan programs to help women obtain financing, and more people today are using crowdfunding platforms to help fund their franchises.
Lauren Fernandez, who was a Chicken Salad Chick franchisee and general counsel for FOCUS Brands, is now helping other women succeed in franchising with Full Course, a company that offers education, counsel and investment for women looking to grow a business.
Since 1996 The International Franchise Association has helped propel women into franchising with its Women’s Franchising Committee, and in 2002 launched the Women’s Franchise Network, which helps women learn from other women in the industry. With restaurants being a huge part of the franchise industry, the National Restaurant Association helps women through its Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance.
With the resources available to women today, coupled with a path paved by the first generation of successful women franchisors and franchisees, the future for women in franchising is bright.
Disclosure: I am the CEO of Fransmart, a franchising group partnered with Duff’s CakeMix and Savannah Seafood Shack.
Dan Rowe
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Growing up, my mother never wore makeup. I remember a jar of Olay face cream on her dresser nestled next to a bottle of Beautiful perfume. From time to time, she’d paint her toenails red or occasionally put on lipstick for very special events. My mother’s simple beauty regimen is the reason why, to this day, I’ve never embraced wearing makeup. And the truth is, even as an adult I don’t know how to wear makeup. No one ever taught me how.
Kulfi
“Growing up in South Asian culture, I wasn’t allowed to participate and use makeup,” says Priyanka Ganjoo, founder and CEO of Kulfi. “We weren’t supposed to attract attention, and we were actively discouraged from focusing on anything beauty related. My mother never showed me how to use makeup either.”
As an adult, my relationship with makeup has slowly evolved. I’ll use a little bit of blush, a touch of eyeshadow and maybe a dab of lip gloss. But never eyeliner — it requires too much precision for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.
Enter Kulfi. Its award-winning kajal eyeliner has made me love eyeliner. It’s easy to use, and the intense, long-lasting color doesn’t budge, sparing me of raccoon eyes. Nazar No More (black) is my absolute favorite, although I hope to try some of the bolder colors like Rain Check (blue) and Purply Pataka (berry).
Although the beauty industry was hit hard by the pandemic, marketers like Ganjoo have been resourceful, coming up with innovative ways to sell to customers. Many direct-to-consumer brands like Kulfi found success when consumers had no other choice but to shop online. In 2020, the global beauty industry spend was $483 billion, and by 2025 it’s expected to be $716 billion. And where those sales are coming from is rapidly changing: Online sales will make up 48% of spend by 2023.
“While we had to delay the launch of Kulfi due to the pandemic, it ended up working out for the best,” Ganjoo says. “It gave our team a chance to really grow our community of Kulfi fans in a digital-first environment and made the launch a huge success.”
Image Credit: Kulfi
Here are three of the biggest lessons Ganjoo has learned in building Kulfi.
“Growing up, I wasn’t one of the pretty girls,” Ganjoo says. “I was extremely curious, excelled in school and spent my summers in Delhi eating kulfi, a type of Indian ice cream. I named the company Kulfi as an ode to that little girl, now that I have the power to reclaim beauty for myself and so many others.”
Ganjoo remembers starting her career at Boston Consulting Group and being told by coworkers that she looked tired. She didn’t wear makeup at the time, and she felt pressured to go and purchase concealer to cover her dark circles. “I’ll never forget that visit to the cosmetic counter. They told me my nose was too big; it needed contouring,” she shares. “They told me I needed to groom my eyebrows. They sold me over 20 products I didn’t know how to use, some of which didn’t even match my skin tone. I left feeling even more insecure and didn’t feel like myself.”
With Kulfi, Ganjoo is focused on her why and her purpose for building this brand. She wants women to unlearn the toxic expectations that are set for us when it comes to beauty. “When I was younger, I wasn’t supposed to wear makeup because it might attract men, and I would be attracting the wrong attention,” she says. “Then I entered the workforce, and I was pressured to wear makeup so I didn’t look unprofessional.”
Now, with Kulfi, Ganjoo wants women to wear makeup for themselves. She wants them to play with makeup and have fun with it. She wants it to bring them joy and be a way to express themselves. And finally, for all women to feel fierce and confident using Kulfi.
Though her first foray into makeup wasn’t a positive experience, Ganjoo later ended up in the beauty industry herself, first at Estée Lauder and then at Ipsy. After years of building beauty brands for industry titans, she left Ipsy to build Kulfi. At the time, the marketing playbook was running Facebook and Instagram ads to create awareness, and hiring a celebrity was another quick fix to building a brand.
“From the beginning, I challenged that playbook, and that made people uncomfortable,” Ganjoo says. “I knew I wanted Kulfi to be a community for all the people who looked like me, who had been excluded by beauty brands for far too long.” She drew inspiration from Glossier and Glow Recipe, both of which built strong followings. The products they continue to launch are all community driven.
Originally, Ganjoo wanted to launch with a concealer to match her undertones. But the Kulfi community she was building had other ideas. “Every woman I talked to wished she had a better kajal eyeliner in her makeup kit,” she says. “No one was excited about this product. It was our opportunity to reinvent it.”
Image Credit: Kulfi
Historically, kajal is one of the most popular beauty products in India. It was originally applied as a form of protection, used to shield the eyes from harsh rays of sun and to ward off the evil eye.
“With the launch of the Kulfi eyeliner, we wanted to celebrate South Asian beauty, accentuating beautiful dark eyes and eyebrows and giving women an easily accessible, no-hassle product,” Ganjoo says.
For Ganjoo, the road to fundraising hasn’t been easy. Before Kulfi launched, investors told her “the market is too small,” and “South Asian beauty is not aspirational” and “using dark skinned models won’t sell.” She didn’t listen to them. She was determined to build a brand that celebrated and centered South Asians in its narrative.
After a successful pre-seed fundraising round, with a majority of women of color investing, it has changed her perspective on who will continue to be on her cap table. “To the extent I can pay it forward, I want to do that,” she says. “I want as many women of color building Kufli with me as possible.
Ganjoo will never forget what one investor said to her. “You need a visionary co-founder, that was the feedback,” she says. “Despite all of my credentials, I still continue to face bias as a South Asian woman founder. Why do I need a white man as a co-founder sitting next to me to bring me credibility?”
Here’s what Ganjoo knows for sure. Countless customers have told her that Kufli looks and feels so fresh and so different from what’s in the beauty marketplace. “That’s because Kufli has shifted the perspective to center the people who have been left behind.”
Her advice now to all entrepreneurs listening: “Remember that you are the visionary founder. Don’t let anyone else convince you otherwise.”
Mita Mallick
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Trauma may sound like a strange starting place for comedy, but then, Lenny Bruce once said, “All my humor is based on destruction and despair.” The ladies behind the sex, dating and relationships podcast Girls Gotta Eat are no strangers to this truth. When Ashley Hesseltine found herself in a relationship she badly wanted to work, but kept hitting road blocks, she did a deep dive into the psychology of relationships. That knowledge became the foundation for Girls Gotta Eat, which she started in 2018 with Rayna Greenberg, who’d experienced her own romantic traumas, including a broken engagement. Now, the podcast gets 2.5 million downloads a month, is a top 20 podcast on iTunes and Spotify, and after 50 live shows last year, Girls Gotta Eat is going on tour in Australia.
Dylan York
It’s easy to write off entertainment successes as tales of pure talent, but Hesseltine is not starry-eyed about that: “We treated the podcast like a business from day one,” she says. Being an entrepreneur has always been a goal for her, given that, “I’ve had quote-un-quote “problems with authority’ my whole life.” Greenberg agrees that the greatest gift of building their brand from scratch has been the independence that comes with it. “I’m in control of my own life and all the success and failure is my own.”
Frances Dodds
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Ann Mukherjee is a born change agent. As the first industry outsider and woman of color to assume the position of Chairman & CEO for the North American arm of Pernod Ricard – the second largest global wine and spirits distiller and maker of Absolut Vodka, Chivas Regal scotch, Jameson, Malibu Rum, Kahlua, and other spirit brands – she has used her professional and personal experience as motivation to reinvent the company since joining in December 2019. Within two years, she achieved a major milestone; leading the U.S. market to hit the highest YOY growth mark of 16 percent, surpassing the $2B mark for the first year ever.
In the this Leadership Lessons episode, Mukherjee will chat with series host and Comparably CEO Jason Nazar about the biggest lessons she learned throughout her 30-year career in executive positions at the world’s most recognizable brands, from Kraft and PepsiCo to SC Johnson. Topics include:
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About The Speakers
Ann Mukherjee joined Pernod Ricard North America as Chairman & CEO in December 2019, following her executive roles at SC Johnson (first global CMO, Chief Commercial Officer), PepsiCo (President of Global Snacks, Frito Lay CMO), and Kraft. Ann was recognized among Forbes’ Top 50 Most Influential CMOs; named Marketer of the Year by Brand Week; and earned an ADCOLOR Legend Award. She was recently nominated for Wine Enthusiast’s Person of the Year and PRWeek’s Most Purposeful CEO. She holds two degrees from the University of Chicago – a double Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Religious Theology as well as an MBA in Finance from the Booth School of Business.
Jason Nazar is co-founder/CEO of Comparably, a leading workplace culture employee review site. He was previously co-founder/CEO of Docstoc (acquired by Intuit). Jason was named one of Los Angeles Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs and appointed the inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence for the city of Los Angeles in 2016. The Los Angeles native received his BA from the University of California Santa Barbara and his JD and MBA from Pepperdine University.
Jason Nazar
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