How to Succeed as a Female Entrepreneur

By Angeliz Venter

As a 24-year-old woman, starting a clothing business while studying and working part time wasn’t easy. I’ve learned some hard (yet valuable) lessons along the way that have shaped me, and my business, into what it is today and what it will become in the future. Walking into different sectors of the fashion industry and experiencing people not taking me seriously— just because of the fact that I am young and female— made me think of all the lessons I’ve learned and how I can use my personal experience to help other young entrepreneurs achieve their business dreams. Here are my 9 tips… 

PERSONAL TIPS

1. Stop faking it for social media 

Stop trying to look successful for your followers, friends and family. This will ultimately mean your downfall before you even started. Social media has become such a big part of our day to day lives, with most people starting their day by logging onto Facebook and Instagram before they are even fully awake. Instead of building your personal platform in the beginning, rather optimise this movement by advertising your business and using the social media algorithms to your advantage by targeting the right consumers. 

2. The quick and easy way is the longer expensive way

When I started out as a female entrepreneur, there was so much pressure on me to succeed, that I sometimes made use of the easier (and cheaper) options, which ended up costing me double or more to rectify the damage in the end. 

3. Do it yourself first

By doing it yourself first (or at least attempting it) you realise the amount of effort that goes into the task and it will keep you humble when employing the correct person to do the job. If you know what the task or job consists of, it will be very difficult for someone to cut corners and you will be educated in every part of your business. 

FINANCIAL TIPS

1. Get a business plan

This is an important step when starting a business, it will keep you level headed by knowing where you are going, what is required and the potential obstacles to getting there. You can always revert back to your business plan as a guideline for future decisions. Saying that, a business plan isn’t set in stone from day one, add to it and edit it as you go along, because as most entrepreneurs would tell you; the journey you are on after 5 years in business is much different to what you imagined starting out. And that’s okay! 

2. Manage your inventory

Ensure your inventory is up to date at least every month in the beginning. Having too much stock on hand will kill your cashflow; and having not enough stock will impact your lead times and customer satisfaction. If you offer stock on consignment to different retailers, always ensure that a stock take is conducted regularly by yourself, or someone from your business. This will avoid slacking in control from the retailers’ side and keep your inventory up to date.  

3. Avoid debts and loans 

As far as possible avoid making debt (or too much debt) and rather try saving your money or investing your own capital into the business. Especially when starting out, I got so excited with new projects, that I would overspend and then struggle to break even and pay back debts. 

BUSINESS TIPS

1. Hire right 

After doing it yourself, hire the educated and experienced person for the job instead of trying to do it yourself indefinitely. This will save you time and money, by not having to correct mistakes all the time and creating more time in your day for more time-consuming managing tasks.

2. Stop funding friends

Don’t get me wrong, if your friend or a family member has a good concept and wants you to get involved, by all means have a look at their business and get stuck in if you want to. But business no matter with who or where, gets uncomfortable at some point. Very few people can keep their private relationships separate from their business, and it’s not uncommon to lose good friendships over small business matters. Experience has taught me to say no to business opportunities with friends or family that doesn’t suit me and offend them for 2 seconds instead of losing a relationship over a business deal gone wrong. 

3. Know your peak time of the day (or night) 

Knowing which time of the day you function best is critical to your success. For some people it’s before 7am and for others it’s after midnight. For me personally, it is early in the morning and definitely not after 7pm. Schedule your most important and attention needing tasks at this time of the day when you know you are awake and sharp. Then address the other tasks that don’t require as much concentration for times of the day when you are less productive. By doing this, you’ll increase your productivity and get more out of your day.

About Angeliz Venter

I started my small business KiCoco in 2016, as part of my studies for a Clothing Retail Management degree at the University of Pretoria. We had to do 200 production hours and I started making baby clothes as a part of that. People soon started showing interest outside of the university and I decided to take part in small markets and baby expos for extra money to travel and save to invest in the business further. I realised that this venture could be more than just a hobby and I used my savings to expand and stock small boutiques all over South Africa. We expanded to baby, toddler, kids and, now in 2020, adult ranges. We aim to empower all local communities by using a small CMT (cut, make and trim) factory in Thembisa (a township in Gauteng, South Africa) and also make use of ‘at home’ seamstresses that who get paid a fair wage per unit. Especially now with the economic environment and Covid-19, it’s been so beneficial for us and our employees that they can sew from the comfort of their homes, even if this makes quality control so much harder. KiCoco aims to keep production in South Africa and source most of our fabric here too.

Instagram: @angeliz_venter