We have always had female entrepreneurs and we will always need them.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary an entrepreneur is:
“one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.”
Trying to understand what an entrepreneur is or does can be difficult and challenging.
Female Entrepreneurs are just as essential as male entrepreneurs and can be as successful, if not more in some cases.
Who can quantify what success is. Does it only count if they have made millions or billions in profit employing thousands of people or is success calculated from the viewpoint of the business owner. They provide an income to support themselves and their family.
Who were the first female entrepreneurs?
There is no way of knowing as they were not even recognised as entrepreneurs.
They have always contributed to their families and the communities they have lived in.
Women have always tended the land, grew fruit and vegetables and cared for the farm animals, subsequently feeding their family and having things to barter or sell to provide more for the family.
Whether it was tending their land and growing fruit and vegetables along with farm animals to trade for other goods or products. Baking bread or cakes to sell at local markets, making jam or preserving food to barter or sell.
They have consistently over time been resourceful, motivating and truly inspiring even to younger generations today. They have faced adversity, threats and intimidation, not gained access to conventional education, not allowed the same privileges or advantages as others and yet throughout history there are some amazing stories of how resilient these women have been. Personally, I would still love to see the women who played such pivotal roles in science and technology to gain the recognition they deserve. Many of them were written out of records or not acknowledged for their discoveries.
How many have heard about Ada Lovelace (Dec. 10, 1815-Nov. 27, 1852), the female mathematician who is considered to have developed the very first computer algorithm.
Even in today’s world the glass ceiling in the business world still exists for most women, The Me Too movement has only recently come forward and thankfully evolved into a strong successful one.
Women around the world should feel empowered and inspired to reach for the stars, learn who they are, what they enjoy doing, let their inner creativity and business savvy out and follow their dreams.
Starting out small is something we can all do. Who knows where that first step will lead to. A lot of successful business owners started out in one area and ended up pivoting or adapting to new market trends.
If you still need some motivation to make you think, yes I can!
If she could do it then so can I.
I have collected some of my favourite thought provoking quotes from successful female entrepreneurs. When you need that pick up and words of wisdom. Running your own business can be challenging, frustrating and equally exhilarating and fulfilling.
We don’t need a day or a month to celebrate them. We can remember them, think of them and be truly inspired by them every day. You may even have some successful female entrepreneurs in your own family past or present.
So if you are thinking about setting up your own business, in the start up phase or already knee deep in running your own business, I salute you! It doesn’t matter how small or how big the business.
You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone else. Challenge yourself and remember you are doing it for yourself. You are only comparing you to your goal.
Believe in you and what you can achieve.
It is also important to support and encourage fellow female entrepreneurs and girl bosses out there. Building a better work environment for all of us.
Motivational business owner quotes
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Estee Lauder
“The key to success is to start before you are ready.” – Marie Forleo
“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.” – Maya Angelou
“You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
“The comfort zone is a nice place, but nothing grows there. Take a leap today and start your business.!” – Caroline Cummings
“Starting a small business has been one of the best choices I ever made.” – Rawa
“If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking a risk, really amazing things can happen.” – Marissa Mayer
Inspirational entrepreneur quotes
“You never lose in business. Either you win or you learn.” – Melinda Emerson
“Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth.” – Julie Andrews
“Do what you love and success will follow. Passion is the fuel behind a successful career.” – Meg Whitman
“Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It’s the mastery of fear. It’s about getting up one more time than we fall down.” – Arianna Huffington
“There is no better personal development tool than running your own business.” – Ali Brown
“A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done.” – Marge Piercy
“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” – Maya Angelou
“You’re not in competition with other women. You’re in competition with everyone.” – Tina Fey
“If you are starting your own business, the best shortcut is to find a good mentor.” – Kim Kiyosaki
Girl Boss quotes
“If you’re too comfortable, it’s time to move on. Terrified of what’s next? You’re on the right track?” – Susan Fales Hill
“Know that you can start late, look different, be uncertain and still succeed.”
“When you learn how much you’re worth, you’ll stop giving people discounts.” – Karen Salmansohn
“Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – J.K. Rowling
“Stop telling yourself you don’t know what to do. Yes, you do. Listen to your intuition and trust yourself.” – Katherine Sullivan
“If you want it bad enough, you have to be willing to fight for it.” – Charlene Johnson
“A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows she has none.” – Marilyn Monroe
Short girl boss quotes
Starve your distractions, feed your focus.
“Act like a lady, think like a boss.” – Keita B.
“One day or day one. You decide.”
“Coffee in one hand. Ambition in the other.”
“Limit your always and your nevers.” – Amy Poehler
“sometimes you gotta be a beauty and a beast.” – Nicki Minaj
“Just a girl boss building her empire.”
“NO today doesn’t mean NO tomorrow.” – Yvonne Orji
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” – Nora Ephron
“There is no force more powerful than a woman determined to rise.”
“When she is mad; even the demons run for cover…” – Jordan Sarah
“My best successes came on the heels of failures.” – Barbara Corcoran
Supporting female entrepreneur quotes
“When a woman becomes her own best friend, life is easier.” – Diane Von Furstenberg
“Define success in your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.” – Anne Sweeney
“Don’t give up, don’t take anything personally, and don’t take no for an answer.” – Sophia Amoruso
“No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up, and never give up.” – Regina Brett
“A woman’s best protection is money of her own.” – Clare Boothe Luce
“Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.” – Maya Rudolph
