The Importance of Pursuing Your Passion

No matter what you do in life, the key to achieving success and happiness is passion. There are people who have all the money in the world, but they feel unfulfilled. You may set out a list of goals for yourself, achieve them, but find you still feel unsatisfied. When someone feels this way, it’s because they did not find and follow their true passions in life. Unfortunately, many people are discouraged from following their passions because they’re told they’ll never be successful or financially stable. While it’s important to make sure you provide for yourself and your family, you shouldn’t let what someone else tells you stop you from following your passion and achieving fulfillment.

How to find your passion

One of the saddest things is that far too many people never find their passion or are too afraid to pursue it. For a long time, I’ve known that I’m passionate about music, animal rights, and cosmetics. Fortunately, I’ve been able to pursue these passions through Malmsteen Management, the April Malmsteen Foundation, and Medusa Cosmetics. While not everyone can immediately start a business revolving around their passion, you can certainly find a way to pursue it. If you aren’t sure what you’re passionate about, take time to discover it. Think about the causes and hobbies you love and that bring you genuine happiness. What do you enjoy doing that doesn’t feel like work? Your passion is the thing that makes you excited; you want to talk about it and don’t mind putting a lot of time toward it. Once you find your passion, you’re on your way to reaching fulfillment.

The benefits of passion

You’ve likely heard people discuss the importance of passion before, but has anyone directly told you the benefits of finding and following your passion? I know I mentioned that you’ll feel as though you’ve lived a fulfilling life by following your passion, but there are plenty of other benefits as well. By living your passion, you’ll push yourself to do better. Any job can wear on you, but if you’re doing something connected to your passion, it will seem much less like work. Your passion gives you determination to keep working hard and also makes what you’re doing fun, since it’s something you’re invested in. The people you work with will also feed off of your passion and be pushed to achieve more.

How to measure success

Passion is what gives your life meaning. You might be passionate about something that you cannot make your livelihood, but that doesn’t mean you’ll lead an unsatisfactory life. Find work that provides you with time outside of work to pursue what you’re passionate about. Maybe one day, you will be able to turn your passion into your job if you steadily work toward it. Do not feel as though you have to measure success in following your passions by whether or not you’ve made money from it. Simply spending time on your passion is enough to find fulfillment, as long as you regularly take time for your passions.

Best Books for Women Entrepreneurs

When you decide to pursue your dreams of starting your own business, it can seem daunting. You need to break into an industry and compete with lots of other businesses, while also working on the financial, production, and administrative aspects of your business. Fortunately, with hard work and the right amount of research, you’ll certainly be able to make these dreams a reality. A great resource to use in your journey to be a successful entrepreneur is books by other entrepreneurs who have the experience and record of success that shows they know what they’re talking about and have valuable advice to give you. Here are some of the best books for entrepreneurs, especially female entrepreneurs, that are available today.

Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

One of the most popular books for working women, Lean In was written by the CEO of Facebook and discusses what you’ll need to be a leader and truly successful. Sandberg writes from a personal perspective, but also includes data and other information that backs up her points and ideas. This book focuses on the various challenges and choices women must make throughout their professional and personal lives. It’s refreshing having someone discuss the topics as candidly as Sandberg does.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

While not explicitly focused on entrepreneurship, this book helps you learn the best ways to communicate and interact with other people. Carnegie gives powerful insight into being an effective leader. This advice can seriously help out entrepreneurs, because every business needs incredible leaders who work well with other people.

Shark Tales: How I Turned $1000 into a Billion Dollar Business by Barbara Corcoran

Corcoran discusses her own story in this book and how she went from working as a waitress to launching a billion dollar business. She started with a loan of $1000, eventually worked her way up to appearing on Shark Tank, and finally became the huge success she is today. She gives straightforward advice and makes you feel as though you can achieve anything as well.

The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Start, Run and Maintain Her Own Business by Emira Mears and Lauren Bacon

Many books for entrepreneurs focus on growing a small business into a multi-million dollar company; Mears and Bacon acknowledge that maybe not everyone wants to create a huge corporation. This book focuses on starting small and then slowly growing in a more manageable way. Check out The Boss of You if you want a fresh look at starting your own business.

Girl Code: Unlocking Secrets to Success, Sanity and Happiness for the Female Entrepreneur by Cara Alwill Leyba

Girl Code focuses on how you can become the best female entrepreneur possible, but Leyba also highlights the importance of working with and raising up other women who work in business. She believes that together, we can accomplish many more goals and help one another achieve greater success. The book will definitely motivate you as you read about personal stories of powerful women working toward success.

How to Be a Successful Female Entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur can be incredibly difficult and even more so if you’re a woman and are trying to break into an industry that’s predominately male. Instead of feeling discouraged, know that there are lots of women before you who have accomplished the same goal and there will be plenty of people cheering you on toward your dream. Many ways exist to be a truly successful entrepreneur, but there are also some vital traits you should possess in order to reach your entrepreneurial dreams.

Take risks

If you’re embarking on your own business venture, you won’t get anywhere without taking measured risks. Avoid being too timid to take risks, because your business will either stagnant or fail entirely. While you shouldn’t be afraid of failure, it’s important that you learn from it and do better the next time around. Decide what risks your business can handle and could provide a benefit to your company.

Assert your worth

Because you’re attempting to start your own business, you’ll be dealing with people wondering whether or not you’re worth the investment. You might face even more skepticism because you’re a woman. Know your own worth and do not be afraid to show it. Talk about your skills and areas of expertise and do not be afraid to show off what you know. The more confident you are in your own value, the more likely other people will see it too.

Find a female mentor

This tip is especially important if you’re young or just starting out in your industry. Find a female mentor you respect and has lots of business experience and then ask her to mentor you. A woman who’s been in your shoes will be able to give you valuable advice and support that can help you achieve your goals.

Be knowledgeable

Since it’s likely people will question how much you know about what you’re doing, it’s vital that you are knowledgeable about the industry and topics you’re working with. While you can’t know everything, you must understand the basic facts of your industry and what it takes to run a business. Read as much as you can and talk to lots of different people for advice.

Always improve

No matter how much of an expert you are in a specific field, you can always improve the amount of knowledge you have. If you feel you’ve reached the pinnacle in one area, move onto something else that can enhance your business skills and take your company to the next level. Always strive toward the next level and make yourself continuous goals in various areas.

Have faith in yourself

Finally, female entrepreneurs often face more self-doubt than men who are pursuing the same goals. If you begin to feel discouraged, remember that you’ve been working hard and preparing yourself for being an entrepreneur and it’s normal to have some doubt or questions. Learn to have faith in yourself and you’ll be able to accomplish your goals!

Importance of Social Media to Entrepreneurs

The use of technology is widespread and a part of everyday life. Incredible developments have been made in the last couple of decades, leading to technology becoming a staple for businesses. Large companies are completely reliant on technology and using social media for marketing. Because of these developments, social media can make or break the success of a business and the same holds true for entrepreneurs. The use of social media provides entrepreneurs with access to resources they might not have otherwise. If you’re looking to launch a new business, it’s vital you understand the importance of social media and how you can use it to benefit your company. 

A recent study showed that the use of social media for business increases traffic to websites. While this benefit is incredibly useful for a business, another study by the Social Media Examiner found that most marketers use social media, but the majority of them do not understand how to use it as effectively as possible. These results show that entrepreneurs must make an active effort to become well-versed in social media in order to achieve success in their business ventures.

Low cost

For an entrepreneur that’s starting a brand-new business, cost is usually a major consideration when it comes to marketing. Small businesses usually limit the amount of marketing they do in order to save costs and put more funds toward perfecting their product or service. Social media allows companies to get exposure they’d otherwise pay for and a simple Instagram or Facebook ad can lead to new customers. You can spend money to reach a larger audience, but these costs are usually low. With careful planning and research, an entrepreneur can make the most of social media resources for free, designing and sharing logos, news, and images.

Increased traffic

A great aspect of social media is the ability to embed and share links. Entrepreneurs can simply add a link to a post and watch the traffic increase to their website or other social media pages. Having a small giveaway or something that draws people in goes a long way on social media. Just make sure your website and company can handle it.  

Brand recognition

Using social media allows entrepreneurs to get the word out about their new business venture and starts making the brand known to people. By regularly posting on social media and sharing quality posts, entrepreneurs create brand recognition amongst their target audience. A strong social media presence also increases the authority a brand has in their industry, because people recognize the brand and what it provides to consumers.

Understand the consumer

One of the best benefits of using social media as an entrepreneur is the opportunity to understand and connect with the consumer. Before launching your business, you need to identify your target audience. Once you know who you’re marketing to, you’ll be able to research what social media networks they use and how they interact with their favorite brands. Watch what successful companies do to market on social media and take tips from that!