8 Pieces of Advice for Unconventional Entrepreneurs from a Minority Female Founder 

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8 Pieces of Advice for Unconventional Entrepreneurs from a Minority Female Founder 

By Jacqueline Samira | Edited by Micah Zimmerman | Entrepreneur Magazine | August 28, 2024

Extractive Summary of the Article Listen

Are you an aspiring business owner who doesn’t fit the traditional mold? Don’t let a lack of stereotypical leadership qualities keep you from taking the head seat at the table.  According to the author she was shy and accommodating — not exactly traits that suggested I had a future in entrepreneurship.  She made up for what she lacked in entrepreneurial qualities like assertiveness and risk-seeking with hard work and tenacity. Her strong work ethic was instilled in her by her mother. An engineer who fled Iran after the fall of the Shah, her mom taught her the values of determination, recognizing opportunities and maintaining a positive mindset in the face of setbacks.  

Her knack for solving problems, empathy, and a talent for rallying others led her to take on leadership roles in school projects and activities. Eventually, these qualities would help her start up a company valued at over $100 million. It’s one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States and the fourth fastest-growing business in Central Texas.  Her fundamental tips for unconventional budding entrepreneurs are:

1. Eliminate unnecessary risks.  Any entrepreneur worth their salt will tell you that starting a business requires taking risks. However, you can improve your odds of succeeding by eliminating the unnecessary ones.  For her part, she decided to remove the variable she found scariest: running out of funding. She spent 10 years skipping vacations and forgoing fancy dinners until she had saved $150,000 to devote to building her company. Armed with capital, she felt more confident taking a leap of faith.
2. Uncover the unknown unknowns.  In the early days of starting her global company, she quickly discovered how mistakes can be our greatest teachers.  Painful as it was, her oversight taught her a powerful lesson: the importance of uncovering “unknown unknowns”. The most dangerous errors are often completely unexpected because you never know how to look for them.  To reveal your unknowns, seek advice from those with firsthand experiences. Imagine a project that has failed and try to determine the possible causes. Question your assumptions and — above all — stay humble.
3. Identify a problem.  Her company was born after she spotted a rare opportunity to tackle a real-world problem. Working to solve a personal problem she had experienced firsthand was uniquely fulfilling and motivated her when times got tough. However, pulling from personal experience isn’t the only way to hunt down problems — you can also conduct customer feedback, perform industry analysis and brainstorm with others to generate ideas.
4. Understand your audience.  Solving real problems for real people.  As a founder, you set yourself up for success by gaining an intimate knowledge of your target customer base. Understanding your audience helps you learn their wants, requirements, and frustrations and determine how best to connect and cater to them.
5. Get comfortable with rejection.  Rejection is painful. The way you respond to it matters. Considering how 90% of startups fail, bouncing back after rejection and failures lets you move on to bigger, better endeavors. Every disappointment yields lessons and growth if you have the resilience, courage and humility to embrace it.
6. Believe in your idea.  As a startup founder, you have to deal with setbacks daily. Having a firm belief in your product makes it easier.  Need help finding a business idea you believe in? Ask yourself: What communities matter to you, and what problems do you feel passionate about solving?
7. Team up.  Seeking help from people with experience is essential. Your co-founder, teammates and mentors can help you with the ins and outs of starting a business — from the logistics of setting up a company to the marketing tactics you’ll need to get your startup off the ground — and contribute new perspectives and unbiased advice.
8. Celebrate unconventional strengths.  Leadership is often associated with stereotypically masculine qualities like dominance, independence and assertiveness. However, in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, feminine qualities — like empathy, good listening, emotional intelligence, inclusion and patience — are gaining recognition as a mighty force for fueling innovation, collaboration and creativity.  It’s not that one leadership style trumps the other — both are needed in a well-rounded founder. Entrepreneurs who can fuse traditionally masculine and feminine traits will be better at problem-solving, decision-making, empathizing with clients and employees and identifying growth opportunities.

2 key takeaways from the article

1. Are you an aspiring business owner who doesn’t fit the traditional mold? Don’t let a lack of stereotypical leadership qualities keep you from taking the head seat at the table.  According to the author she was shy and accommodating — not exactly traits that suggested I had a future in entrepreneurship.  She made up for what she lacked in entrepreneurial qualities like assertiveness and risk-seeking with hard work and tenacity.
2. Her fundamental tips for unconventional budding entrepreneurs are:  Eliminate unnecessary risks.  Uncover the unknown unknowns.  Identify a problem.  Understand your audience.  Get comfortable with rejection.  Believe in your idea.  Team up.  And celebrate unconventional strengths.

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Topics:  Entrepreneurship, Startups, Idea, Resilience, Decision-making