She Made It

The Toolkit for Female Founders in the Digital Age

Angelica Malin

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781789666847
• eBook ISBN: 9781789666854
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Want to be the next Ella Mills? Award-winning rising star entrepreneur, Angelica Malin shows you how.

For a new generation of fiercely independent and ambitious career women, going at it alone and even thinking you could launch your own successful business remains a pipe dream. The business world, and the start-up scene in particular, remain ruthless, unwelcoming and scary. She Made It is the secret weapon you need. With honesty, practicality and a helping of epic and successful women in business, this book offers you a voice of reason and encouragement that will allow you to square up to the big players in Silicon Valley or any of the tech entrepreneur scenes of the world.

She Made It is your go-to guide to launching your own business, as well as to finding your feet and voice as a woman in business. It details the practicalities of being an entrepreneur and your own boss, guiding you through the day to day running of a start-up with lessons in hiring a team, raising investment and backing yourself and your ideas. It also addresses the challenges of being a female founder and businesswoman, with sections on stress management, finding your voice and style and building a personal brand. Angelica Malin has been there. An award-winning rising star entrepreneur, she tells the story of how she has overcome some of the barriers to success and tapped into a wealth of knowledge from fellow women founders. You can absolutely break out of the 9 to 5 - get your inspiration from She Made It and change your life.

Part One

All about you

CHAPTER ONE

How to own your career

If you cannot name your dreams, you cannot fulfil them.

The primary product of a business is, and always will be, you. Let’s start by discovering more about you – your goals, ambitions and the kind of founder you want to be. So often, I find, women focus on the product they want to create, but forget to ask crucial questions about themselves. Find a business style that suits your personality; we forget that, at the end of it all, we are our business.

Women often struggle to articulate their ambitions, experiencing self-doubt and low confidence when it comes to starting their own business. I’ve hosted dozens of talks to roomfuls of women where they’ve gingerly held up their hand at the end and asked: ‘But how do I believe in myself more?’

We have more barriers to overcome, perhaps, in living boldly and bravely with our business. I personally grew up in a male-dominated school environment where ‘CEO’ was seen as a typically male role, and girls were encouraged to pursue degrees in the arts, over business or science. Things are changing, but I still think we have some catching up to do in terms of confidence and self-belief. So, let’s begin the journey by examining your own personal ambitions.

It all starts by looking inside and being honest with yourself. When it comes to business, I am a slow, steady and sustainable person. I like to do things step-by-step, building my business one day at a time, and allowing the bigger picture to gradually present itself. I can be easily overwhelmed by rushing into decisions, taking on too much commitment or having big financial pressure. Understanding this helps shape the business I run.

I know, in my heart of hearts, that running a huge company with offices all over the globe, a massive payroll and a board of directors wouldn’t be right for me. I like to keep things flexible and scalable, allowing my business to work around my lifestyle and priorities. If it means working in a lovely co-working space, with a team of five people and part-time assistance I can pull in when needed, then that works for me. Don’t be afraid of doing business in your own terms. Don’t let other people’s definition of success affect yours. There’s no singular, right way to do business.

In business, we’re often sold on the concept of ‘hard’ expansion – going global, million-pound profit or an aggressive exit strategy – but, as you’ll see in the case studies ahead, business can often start small. There’s a softer side; one that’s about creating a business that works around your life, gives you deep fulfilment and a sense of purpose. Ultimately, the reason for starting your own business is to create something that you connect with on a deeper level, that you can pour your heart, soul and creativity into.

So, work out what kind of founder you want to be – do you dream of having a six-figure business? Do you want to be able to work from home? Do you want to have a job where you can walk the dog during the day? Get specific about your dreams. Let them live and breathe through you.

Don’t get me wrong, none of this is easy. Learning how to focus your energy, refine your concept and articulate your vision takes lots of introspection. Let’s unpack some of your personal desires when it comes to building your business. I’m going to help you iron out some questions before launching your own venture. It’s time to grab a pen and paper and dig deep.

Visualizing your future

Everyone’s business vision will be different. It all depends on your personal desires and the kind of company you see yourself running.

Let’s start by playing a game – take a few minutes for the below:

Shut your eyes and imagine the perfect work day in your life. What does it look like?

Where are you working – is it a big glass office in central London, are you working from home in your comfiest clothes? How many people are with you? What’s the content of your day? What does your working day look like? What kind of tasks are you doing?

Positive visualization is powerful – if we can’t see our dreams, then we can’t achieve them. Make your dream technicolour in your head. Let the future you become hyper-realistic. Imagine your future life in bright colour and 4D clarity, as if watching it on a big screen. This is the film of your life, and you’re the main star in it.

You might not get there overnight. You might not get there at all. But the point is, by getting clear about what your perfect work setup looks like, you’ll start making changes in your life to get closer to that point, every day. You won’t even have to work at it that hard; you’ll just connect more with your intuition and feel what’s right in your gut. That’s the beauty of having dreams – they’re there to guide you.

Women can often lack the confidence to name their dreams. Imposter syndrome – defined as a mixture of anxiety and persistent inability to recognize one’s own success – is high among women. A recent NatWest campaign found that 60 per cent of women dreamed of starting their own business but didn’t have the confidence to start.¹ Launching your own business begins by giving yourself permission to dream big. As women, we can often hold ourselves back, living with limiting beliefs that we’re not capable, don’t have enough knowledge or aren’t ready to take the plunge. Let’s be honest: the perfect time was probably yesterday, so you might as well start today.

During the course of this book, I want you to get into the habit of day-dreaming. You might be surprised what your subconscious throws up when you allow yourself to. Next time you’re on your morning commute, before putting on music or scrolling through Instagram, take a moment to pause.

Are you blocking your thoughts from being heard? Are you trying to drown yourself out with distractions? Instead of filling your mind with other things, just let it wander. Get comfortable with silence. Guide them, listen to them. You’ll be amazed how clear your thoughts are when you allow them to come to the surface.

In the next chapter, we’ll be looking at ways you can form the building blocks of your dream career, from thoughts to action. First, take a few moments to answer the following questions and be as honest as possible when answering.

WORKBOOK

• Q1:When you get really clear about your dreams, what do they look like?
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• Q2:Where do you get your energy from? What makes you feel most alive?
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• Q3:What does your ideal day at work look like? Imagine it in technicolour.
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• Q4:What kind of company do you see yourself running? What company size, location and culture?
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• Q5:What’s stopping you from pursuing that dream? Name three things you feel are in your way.
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CASE STUDY She Made It: Tania Boler

• Name: Tania Boler
• Job title: Founder and ...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• PART ONE All about you
• 1 How to own your career
• 2 How to build a business you love
• 3 How to think like an entrepreneur
• 4 How to define what success means to you
• 5 How to maximize your skill set
• 6 How to boost your productivity
• 7 How to find your inner boss
• 8 How to manage stress, burnout and founder fatigue
• PART TWO All about your business
• 9 How to start the right business
• 10 How to structure and finance your business
• 11 Problem-solving businesses
• 12 Making your business stand out from the crowd
• PART THREE Your toolkit for success
• 13 Creating a personal brand
• 14 Social media to supercharge your business
• 15 PR strategy for your business
• 16 Supercharge your community with events
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Index