Are Women Too Intimidated to Be Solo Entrepreneurs?
June 25th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Look at any traditional work at home mom site and you’ll see clusters of women connecting to support one another in a pre-made business venture. The owner of the site, of course, has carved her place out as a leader of female entrepreneurs, but is she sharing that same pioneering spirit with her loyal followers?
The work at home business opportunities being presented to women (moms or not) are pigeonholing them to some degree. Cookie cutter business in a box deals – like hosting parties for cookware, jewelry or lingerie, for example – are not your only option.
If that’s what you wish to pursue, then by all means, go for it – and learn how to increase your exposure to your target audience and perfect your online marketing techniques. But what if I told you that you could be your own boss – not restricted by product possibilities or promotional guidelines?
More women need to know that they can be information marketers – a career selection where you truly are your own boss. Work at home women don’t have to push products of a tangible nature – they can sell information in the form of digital downloads just like some of the most successful male entrepreneurs who aren’t afraid to brand their name and dominate a niche.
Women typically gravitate toward offers such as:
- Mystery shopping
- Transcription
- Virtual assistant
- Writing
- Party hosting (candles, crafts, candy)
What do each of those opportunities have in common?
You’re working with someone else at the reins. You either work for a company who pays you a salary for completed missions or projects, or you have clients who pay you for jobs completed.
Even with party hosting, your income relies on the quality of the product and your ability to build a downline and rely on other people’s efforts. Plus, there are certain hours you may need to work – whether you’re logging in as a virtual assistant or adhering to store hours as a mystery shopper.
Wouldn’t you like to break free from that?
Info marketing is one of the best ways to make money on the Internet for women and here’s why:
- It doesn’t require you to tap your contact list of friends and family.
- You set your own price points and keep 100% of the profits.
- There’s no stock to carry.
- It’s timeless in nature. No 1970s Tupperware stock to toss out – your info product can be readily updated as necessary.
- You’ll have a sales force of affiliates helping you make money.
Being a solo entrepreneur means you have to shoulder more of the responsibilities. It can be more stressful if you don’t know what you’re doing because you’re giving up the comfort of being able to turn to a company and get help or even direct blame at them.
With a traditional work at home women’s business opportunity, the product’s been picked out, they decide how much you can earn, and it’s their responsibility to show you the ropes on how to sell it.
Info product development, where men are primarily cashing in, provides you with no infrastructure for emotional support or training, but it’s one of the few online marketing options that knows no boundaries and lets you set your own hours.
Is this the reason women are reluctant to pursue a career as an info marketer? Do they feel more comfortable behind the scenes, or are they resting on their laurels because they believe they don’t need the glory and fame of being a “big name marketer?”
Being an online entrepreneur isn’t a turnkey overnight riches gig. It’s a real business that you build from the ground floor up, but if you’re ready to soar to great heights and be in total control of your financial destiny, it’s time you embraced the challenge and positioned yourself to become a pioneer on the path to unlimited info profits.
Tiff 
Posted in Internet Marketing
Hi I only started on line about 6 months ago. I didn’t know nothing so I downloaded everything free I could and read and learned. Its not easy theres a lot to learn. But I think that it can be done if you really want it, even if your a woman. We have more things to do in our lives than men do. We look after kids, work and the home. So we have less time to pursue different avenues and that includes working on line.
thanks fr Heather
Hi Tiff –
Nice post and provacative title! I agree that that’s what women tend to do and I think it’s to do with social conditioning and self belief.
It’s said that a man will have no trouble applying for a job and being confident in the interview if he feels he can do 80% of it on reading the job description (“WooHoo – I can do 80% of this). Women tend to be more cautious and would worry that they couldn’t do 20% of the job and so not apply or be a lot less confident in interview.
Particularly from my personal experience it takes a HUGE amount of reading, thinking, talking and planning before I actually “DO” online and I think it’s because I AM support system to my husband, sons AND ME – so I need to take care to make sure I can cope! And to be honest, I think women just think about things a bit more. Men can be spontaneous – women think about how they’re going to get back in time to pick the kids up!
I read recently a “rising guru” say he was willing to “fly around the world at the drop of a hat” to meet “gurus”. Anytime, anyplace. Fine for him. He obviously leaves his toddler with his (understanding and supportive) girlfriend/mum and doesn’t need to worry about doing an equal share of relationship work. If I tried that, there would be point blank resistance from my husband and accusations that I’m putting the “computer” ahead of my kids!
I think women make fantastic solopreneurs – but more of them would do it IF only, like the men, women had WIVES too! LOL!
I agree Susan! lol But from my experience even women who don’t have those restraints use inner fear and intimidation as an excuse not to go for the jugular in the business world. (matching what you said in the first part of your comment).
I don’t know how I overcame it like I did. It was HARD. When I launched that Squidoo eBook, for example – I had to openly brand myself as the Squidoo guru – and I DID – because no one else had done it at that time. But I wonder if I’d do it now that there are others if I were new to the marketing scene. It’s hard to go up against an already established group.
I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that I played golf with men all the time growing up and I kind of developed a cocky attitude (“My teeshot outdrove yours so bite me!”) I gambled for money, I trash talked with them. I learned a lot about being confident like a man through that period of training.
Tiff
Hi Tiffany,
I do agree that there are many women that are timid about business, however, my wife, Gina Sprenkle-Gunning certainly isn’t one of them.
My wife has worked online since 1997 and has mastered many of the skills necessary to be a top marketer. She is no stranger to self-employment, having owned several successful offline businesses as well.
The handful of online marketers that don’t know her are typically surprised at her copy writing, marketing, web master skills and overall knowledge when meeting her. It’s a rare day the she isn’t sought out for advice in those areas by both genders.
The days are long past where women can’t stand side by side with men in business on equal footing… and role models like you and my wife are there as proof.
Hi Pat!
Congrats to Gina for going after what she wants. I admire that
Tiff
A very interesting topic. I owned my own brick and mortar business for almost ten years. I am now getting started in the online world. So I am definitely interested in this topic. Do I believe that women can be successful entrepreneurs in the online world? Yes I definitely do. I have a feeling that there are a lot out there working under the radar…we must get together…with technology the way it is today…we wouldn’t have to fly around…we could get together online and meet each other online.
True Cyndie! And there are those of us who prefer the virtual scene to in person networking. I’ve been invited to speak in seminars in the UK, Japan, Singapore, MANY places here in the US but I always turn the offer down because I’m the primary caregiver to my kids. My husband works a normal job – he can’t stay home with them while i jet around to build a brand.
Tiff
Hi Tiff
I’ve worked with many female and male embryo entrepreneurs over the past 23 years both offline and online and I agree with all of the limitations mentioned in your post and responses so far. However, most of these liimitations are holding back both genders.
The population as a whole tend to prefer the apparent certainty of employment, either as the bread winner or support person. Only a tiny percentage of the population aspire to something greater. You and I, and all of us in business (or trying to get there) tend to mix more with the latter few than the many, so we get a ‘slanted’ view.
Within this few the same apparent imbalance of opportunity explains why so many high profile Internet Marketers are male. It’s partly conditioning from the world of employment, from the media and unfortunately from a mistaken and outdated belief that women have to be ‘more responsible’ for the family.
I hate generalisations because for every timid female there is an even more timid male somewere, and for every aggresive, risk taking male there is out there a female who could bring him down without breaking her fingernails. (I am addressing stereotypes here of course).
From my experience women are not so much risk averse as less likely to take stupid risks. They also tend by conditioning to be less confident than some males (many of which are way over confident!)
On the plus side women will take a more considered approach to risk, will research more carefully, are very much more in tune with the customer and tend to be more focussed & task orientated and less likey to be constantly distracted by the next ‘easy buck’.
This, IMHO, makes them ideally suited to internet marketing, especially as the distractions get bigger and more numerous. Their time will come, and very soon. Us guys had better watch out!
Good point John. I didn’t know men had the same kind of hesitation that we women feel. That IS a sweeping generalization though, isn’t it? I love this quote: “From my experience women are not so much risk averse as less likely to take stupid risks. ” LOL That made me laugh
And we thank you.
OK Tiff, since you asked for fresh comment from either sex on this earlier post…
I can only speak from a baby-boomer point of view really. (1) pc’s arrived in the mid-80s; the Web 10 years later. (2) typically even school teachers are not naturally computer-savvy in my country. (3) females are less inclined to be technically minded. So…
(4) in essence you’re challenging gals to become marketers of their own infoproducts. The reality is that it’s one very huge leap to set up such an online business from the get-go. Heck, they might not have written anything since school days, and even then they may not have seen themselves as creative. Sure I know all about the wisdom of easily turning your interest/hobby or expertise into a product. But few people would garner sufficient confidence even were they to be convinced that they had a product within them.
I’ll risk adding a point (5): motherhood, which you spelt out as a limiting factor in growing your own business Tiff. Yes, usually moms run the home and have so much to do in guiding their children’s lives. By the time the kids have left home maybe many a woman feels there’s no killer drive left. Time to back off and have some self-time.
Oh and I have no answer to the #5 dilemma. My kids have become adults and my wife still works a day job to help pay household bills. She’s never seen herself as being able to run her own business. Too risky, yes.
What’s happening in the newer generation(s)? I suspect not a lot of change is taking place. What do young women do with their PCs? Facebook, email, photo-sharing, shopping. Anything else? I suspect only a few of them see that they can eventually make a living off their laptop right from their own home. But somehow the young guys do. They quickly rise through the guru ranks, taking no prisoners.
Tiffany
I just HAD to comment on this blog. Very well written and to the point. I’m 60 years old and grew up in the “Leave It To Beaver” era. I was expected to be a nurse, teacher and/or mother….not to own a business or think outside the box.
Fortunately I was never able to accept that as my role…Yes, I love being a mother but I wanted something more. It was not the money that drove me but the expectation of DOING IT MYSELF. I have had my own businesses and tried to overcone the obvious stumbling blocks (like financing and time constraints). Being women and mothers we have the developed the insight to multi-task, problem solve and manage time extremely well. All of which are necessary to be an infopreneur!!
I applaud the young women today who demand their spouses share the housework and raising the children BUT how many of these do you see in info marketing? Just look at the sites with all the gurus listed..where are the women….this is a male dominated business but with leaders like you, Tiffany, I believe we will see some fabulous leaders in todays women.
I don’t believe its confidence in ourselves that we lack …its the lack of vision of others to see the amazing results we can have when we use our feminine gifts to better others AND ourselves.
This business is still in its infancy. It’s just a matter of time until there are more women starting their own IM businesses from a natural position of strength and professionalism.
Tiff,
I’m thinking this is a great niche opportunity.
I wonder if you would create a bunch of plr articles to address this? $5 for a set?
First, would be on self-esteem. How the genders deal with it, males no problem, females, ouch!
Second, it’s a male-dominated jungle! Females need not apply. Example, a recent challenge had 90% participation by females alone. Males wouldn’t stoop down to such a lowly affair. An article on how females cope with disappointment would be enough.
Third, self-esteem redux (whatever that means), how to get away from under your husband’s thumb. This is a doozy! Most women rule the home but they love their husbands to the point of slavery. It would be a tough one to write, I’m sure! Who wants to fight that? It’s definitely a lost cause but I’m sure you would be able to rise to the occasion. Remember Lincoln, though.
Fourth, business blueprint. Online businesses are clear cut and straightforward. “All’s” you need to do is read any old book at the library on business success and you are all set. Every one is doing it already so this should be another easy article.
Fifth, business networking. This is another easy one. Businessmen know women spend their time chatting up a storm when they get together so all this would need would be advice on where to go and what to wear. Maybe a little appendix on business etiquette, as in, don’t carry a business card, carry a DVD with a synopsis of your business plan and obligatory website url. And don’t mention laptops. They are so passe’. These days it’s a smartphone.
Last, but definitely not least, business attire. Make sure to write up something on what women should wear when they have to make the daily commute to the bank to deposit the millions of dollars they will be making once they become business moguls. And a short mention on what to wear when you have to put in long hours on your business after the dishes are done, the menfolk fed, and the dog is pampered. Sometime between midnight and midnight 01, if you don’t mind. After all, everyone knows we men work in our underwear, (how’s that for a charming picture to leave you all with?) making all those big bucks from our easy successful online businesses.
Let me know as soon as you are done with the writing, as this is sure to be a hot niche and I’m looking forward to taking advantage of it.
Also, what do you think will be a “hot domain name”? “freewomen.com”, “freewomen.net” or “freewomen.org”?
I’m really looking forward to your prompt response on this,
Very sincerely,
Joe
PS: Great post but … this could be said about either gender, as some “male” commenters mentioned. Seriously though, I do believe that if you were to do a serious survey, you would find more women are involved in online businesses than men and on an individual basis, more women are successful than men.
I have been using Wealthy Affiliate for over 2 years now and have purchased many other projects. Unfortunately I came within seconds of dying in the midst of marketing and it took me a year to recover from the lack of oxygen to the brain and other complications. I gave nursing to become a mother and I have raised, and still am raising, 6 children. They are intelligent well adjusted awesome kids. I have backed my husband for 11 years in his career often carrying the load when needed. This is something I want so badly for myself that I can taste it. I want to learn how to do marketing and then I want to pass it on to other women so they have choices in their lives. I have come a long way from where I started. I have some good tools to use and I know the terminology and mostly how things work but I have not earned that first dime. If I had one wish it would to have a program that led me to my first earnings and then I would put that learning into place and build on the income until I got where I wanted to be. I have fibromyalgia and it is very severe. I am lucky some days to walk down the hallway but I am lucky in a way that it provides me many hours a day to work, and that is what I am avidly doing and I will never give up!
Hi Jeanna! Thank you for sharing your story. There are a lot of women (and men) who have the same desire to learn and then teach – that’s what my goal was!
It was my (now) husband who got me into using the internet for work opportunities – I had been a battered spouse prior to that time and had next to no “social” skills – plus which we live in rural NZ so unless I wanted to milk cows or chop down trees for a living, I didn’t have many options.
But it is being online that has helped me grow as a person and as a business owner. I am slowly comming to understand that I should not go giving everything I do away – that my time has value and that I can delegate some things to others because my time is also valuable. I have come a long way in ten years but I have loved every minute of it.
I am also of the baby boomer generation so my kids have now left home. But for most of the years that I did work online, I had them home with me – they all chose to be homeschooled at high school level. I had to do a lot of bargaining (you leave me alone for an hour and I will take you to town this afternoon type of thing) and I also resorted to outright bribery in some cases (go and chop wood and you can play on my computer when you get back) and sometimes even “Wrath of God” impersonations (“leave me alone I am busy!!!) but as a family we got through it and my kids really respect me now because I did work all of that time, on the computer at home. They know it can be done, which is awesome.
I guess what I am saying is that if you want something badly enough, man or woman, you will find a way to make it happen. I started out with no confidence in my self, but with each success I had, my confidence grew. I am still on a learning curve as I move into residual income projects but I love the learning as well.
So my advice to anyone who thinks they can’t – when I first went online I was too scared to go grocery shopping by myself because I was that traumatized and run down by my previous marriage – but every little success counts. So get out there, do one little thing towards your own business and I promise you it will snowball from there.
To our success stories
lisa
Hi Tiff,
You bring up a point that resonates with me. It was a confidence issue. I am breaking out of it and recently made some tough decision. But I feel they will lead me to success. I just kept seeing my talents benefit someone else’s business. They sure could see the value I could offer. Why couldn’t I tap into it for my own business. Just a confidence point.
I do think this relates to the gender question. Men are raised to think of themselves as the supporter of the family. They develop that confidence from boyhood and it’s encouraged.
It’s more of a reach for a woman I think. Until we discover (however that comes about) that we do have what it takes. You do have to push out of your comfort zone in order to experience a little success. Which then leads to more success.
Debbie
Hi Tiff,
Let me start by saying that I have been trading time for money for the past 24 years. Ever since my husband bought out his boss and we became business owners of the brick and mortar kind.
Over the past 6 years I have been trying to build a business that we could “retire” on/to. (I’m in the baby boomer era also.) I too went down the road of selling vitamins, soaps and deodorants, and candles, none of which was really satisfying. And when I lost my downline in the candle business last year due to lack of meeting my “quota”, I had had enough of those businesses.
I have been working at the internet marketing thing for almost 2 years now. I thought about going the virtual assistant route, but realized that that was another business of trading time for money. I wanted something that generated passive income. I am excited to say I just finished my first gluten free cookbook, put it on clickbank on monday and made my first sale yesterday. It feels great!
I am also still working on my PLR site from your PLR-ATM and that will be my first project of the new year.
I feel I am more than ready to take the reins of my own life and business. I give most of the credit for my confidence to my husband of 34 years. Without his support I wouldn’t be where I am now.
I think I am well on my way to building my Info-preneur business.
Thanks for continueing to teach and encourage us Tiff.
Mary
Mary that is wonderful! Congratulations!
I started in the business by chance… my ex husband (at the moment we were still married) wanted a website and I needed a challenge. So I taught myself how to do websites, html and flash at the time.
Then a neighbor who was a chihuahua breeder came with the idea of doing a dog breeder directory, with some strings tied up so puppy mills could not enter.
There I noticed that html was not enough, so looked around and found Mambo (now Joomla). Again taught myself how to deal with it and we had our lil business up and running in about 3 months.
Then someone asked my friend about a web designer.. and she made the connection. I was in business.
it was not easy at all, and for years my income was only a second income, never able to support my family by myself.
At a point a client wanted promotion besides website creation, there I entered the world of internet marketing looking for info on SEO.
There are many challenges, and ups and downs… I did leave my business at a point and got into a retainer. it was a huge mistake. My business went through the drain.
Then the retainer ended and I started over… the same but different.
Didn´t come back to service, tried but didn´t work for me anymore.
So now I´m writing my own books, not others; creating my own websites, not others… and promoting my own stuff, not others.
Still have tons to learn and things not always go smooth, but still putting food on the table every day.
Sandra
Wow Sandra you’re what I call a go getter! You don’t wait for anyone to hold your hand, you just DO! Those are the ones who will rise to the very top!
Thanks!
the pattern though goes somewhere else… the motivation was always to help someone else to fulfill their dreams, not mine.
only now I´m allowing myself to run after my own dream.
looking at it in perspective, it makes sense and it is all part of the bigger picture.
I´m claircongnicient… some people see dead people, some see the future and I attract information.
All clair abilities work better when they are used to serve others. This one too.
Bit, there is a fine line between to serve and be used. To keep track of the bigger picture is VERY important.
I´m adding this here, as it might be an eye opener for someone. Sorry if it got too woohoo… If it hurts your or someone else´s sensibilities, just take it out.
I am single, and have no children. I have a full time job, but my evenings and weekends are free and wide open, so I have plenty of time to learn IM and create a product, launch it, etc etc.
For a stay at home mom or WAHM, the amount of time it takes to learn and ramp up a business until it makes real money in internet marketing is daunting, especially for women who may lack a background in basic web design, marketing, etc. For many moms, I think selling AVON might seem the smaller time commitment with the most immediate possible results in terms of income.
Starting an information marketing or internet marketing business is the real deal, and you have to be free to put in 110% at least initially, just to get up and running. Home parties and direct sales don’t have as much of a learning curve, and a smaller initial $$investment up front. To get an internet marketing business started and making money, if you don’t already have a background in it, you really have to be very persistent.
I’m not a Baby Boomer, but I’m a first wave Gen-Xer, so I’m somewhat comfortable with technology, although not as much so as my much younger brothers who had access to computers in high school and college (I didn’t get to play with a computer much until I was alread in my twenties and in graduate school!! At that point, I only needed it to write my term papers…). I was able to find enough information on the internet to figure out how to make a simple website. Chris Farrell’s Success Grenades really helped me out a lot with a few of the techie things I got hung up on.
For Boomers I think the technology might be the biggest hurdle. There are just so many ways to get bogged down with it.
I noticed too that there doesn’t seem to be much overlap between WAHM websites and internet marketing sites, and most WAHMs don’t seem to be aware of internet marketing as an option, or maybe are intimidated and confused by the amount of scam-oriented websites out there. They decide to stick to the tried and true: direct sales companies they already know about, and have purchased products from in the past.
One other point I would make: most women in business are NOT lurking on work at home mom sites.
A lot of women *are* running successful businesses online, as extensions of businesses they already have offline.
There are a lot of women in service businesses (counseling/consulting) who are building membership sites, creating infoproducts, etc etc and achieving multiple streams of income online.
Milana Leshinsky compiled a list of “Top 100 Multiple Income Streams Women” on her blog at milana (dot) com. That should keep you busy for a while!
Ali Brown is a woman who built an online business with just a small email ezine from scratch, and she appeared in the Inc 500 in 2009. I can’t think of a male internet marketer whose business has reached the point of recognition from the Inc 500, but I’ll admit I haven’t dug very deeply into the topic.
I have promised to reward myself with a copy of Ali’s Online Business Success Blueprint, once I get my diet ebook business to reach breakeven.
oops, I meant to mention Kendall Summerhawk. She has a product called Niche Breakthrough Secrets. The free teleseminar recording on her NBS website reveals a few niches that don’t work, and she warns women not to pursue, and one she mentioned being not good is the “work at home mom” niche. The reason being moms will spend money on their families, children, etc etc before they will spend anything on their businesses. So, while there are a lot of fearless women in business online, and many are also moms, most don’t wear the WAHM tag or market their products and services to WAHMs because it just isn’t a financially viable niche.