A Man’s World? (Don’t Ignore the Question Mark, It’s a Real Question)

Is it really a man’s world?

What would James Brown say about this question, today?

As a female business owner working in the male-dominated field of construction, I can say that I have faced and continue to face certain challenges when it comes to being the minority. Each time I face one of these challenges, I see solutions.

As female business owners, we are problem solvers, and we are here to answer this question.

What is it like being a female business owner? It is amazing and it can also be discouraging. Sometimes we have to work harder in order for our work to be acknowledged or appreciated. Or, we work harder because, we too, are extremely hard workers. Work ethic is not about gender.

However, what I can admit is that we women do spend a lot of time trying to find “our place” in the world of business. I think we spend time trying to find our place and make the space, looking for niche markets we can develop with less competition, spending extra time on how to differentiate ourselves while providing more value, and looking for gaps in an existing market that we can fill and conquer. 

WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

According to an article by Fundera on women-owned businesses, women are making quite the impact on business. It may be that our presence is finally getting noticed, but we are starting to integrate into the world of business and we are making a big boom! Here are some statistics about women-owned businesses that I found most interesting:

1. The US has 12.3 million women-owned businesses.
2. US women-owned businesses generate $1.8 trillion a year.
3. 40% of US businesses are women-owned.
4. Women started 1,821 net new businesses every day last year.
5. 64% of new women-owned businesses were started by women of color last year.
6. Latina women-owned businesses grew more than 87%.
7. There are 114% more women entrepreneurs than there were 20 years ago.
8. 62% of women entrepreneurs cite their business as their primary source of income.
9. Private tech companies led by women achieve 35% higher ROI.
10. Women-founded companies in First Round Capital’s portfolio outperformed companies founded by men by 63%.
11. Just 25% of women business owners seek business financing.
12. Women-owned businesses added half a million jobs between 1997 and 2007.
13. Women receive just 7% of venture funds for their startups.
14. Women have a 69.5% success rate of crowdfunding for their businesses while men have a 61.4% success rate.
15. 57.4% of the SBA Microloan program’s loan went to women-owned or women-led businesses.

If we are the 40%, making us the minority, does that mean we are outliers? Am I an outlier?

If you read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success, you know that this is not a bad thing. Though sometimes we are not seeking out ways to stick out. Sometimes, we want to blend in and fade into the background where we won’t be questioned, judged, or doubted.

If only it could be that easy…

In the male-dominated field I am in, I see the need for our women-given strengths.

Personally, I have found gaps in organization and communication between the client and builder, where I developed a solution by creating a builder binder that includes all project schematics and specifications. I have found another gap where the architects were not creating floor plans that appropriately fit furniture for each room, so we started doing furniture plans as a preliminary part of the process to cross-check all plans before the build started.

There are gaps across all industries, where we women are needed to not only fill them but also to improve them. I believe these are our strengths across all industries, although I do believe we are limitless!

MY PERSONAL FINDINGS (AND HOW THEY’RE SELLING POINTS)

Through the years, I have compiled a few personal findings about women in business— the women that I am surrounded by—that I want to share, along with what I believe to be the unique value or “selling point” of each.

1. Women are problem solvers and do-ers. We work hard to make things happen, especially when the odds are not in our favor. We do not like to disappoint people and we hate delivering bad news. Selling point: We excel at customer service and we thrive off going above and beyond to solve a problem with creative strategies. Playing hide and go seek with a solution, finding a loophole is something we seek out!
2. Women have elevated emotional intelligence, empathy, and love for people. We are people-focused, allowing us to build strong and long-lasting relationships.Selling point: We are able to retain staff and maintain trust by sympathizing, empathizing, and being relatable to employees and colleagues. At the end of the day, we care. We want to help and we want to make sure everyone around us is happy.
3. Women are organizers and communicators. Our goals are executed promptly and thoroughly due to our strong front-end organization and follow-up, while our ambition continues to be people-driven. Selling point: We are able to lead teams and bring teams together with our ability to plan, communicate and achieve.
4. Women multitask and do it well. As an entrepreneur or manager, it is important to quickly adapt, wear many hats, and handle at least 2 tasks at a time in order to make it home for dinner. Multitasking is a talent. Selling point: We can increase our efficiency throughout the day, saving our companies money and time, the two most crucial parts of any business.

According to Data from Korn Ferry of over 55,000 professionals across 90 countries and all levels of management collected between 2011-2015 using the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI), women have higher levels of emotional and social competencies in relation to leadership and management.

“The data suggests a strong need for more women in the workforce to take on leadership roles,” said Goleman, Co-Director of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University. “When you factor in the correlation between high emotional intelligence and those leaders who deliver better business results, there is a strong case for gender equity. Organizations must find ways to identify women who score highly on these competencies and empower them.”

Now I come back to the question…A man’s world?

I disagree.

As females, we are needed across all industries. We are in this business world, we play a major role, and we are just getting started.