Not so secret steps make for successful women

A wise women once advised her older brother, who was going through some tough times with his sole proprietorship business that, “You need to define success for yourself.”

In other words, success is not about living up to the expectations of others or keeping up with the Joneses.

Defining success for oneself is a lesson that women have learned much faster than men, although their equal status in the world of corporate enterprise continues to develop.

Women in business today studied the lives their mothers lived and have been characterizing their own achievements differently ever since. Their accomplishments do not necessarily display the traditional emblems that defined getting ahead when men monopolized the boardroom.

There was a time that women who did not want to limit their lives to 24 hours of domestic activity were considered an oddity if they ventured beyond the careers of teacher or nurse. Time passed, and the battle of the sexes commuted from home to office where a female was viewed as a threat to male careers. Today, it is hardly noticed when the boss man is not a man at all.

“I wanted to be able to do business using my own beliefs,” Cajunland Logistics owner Terry Brignac said as she explained how in 2009 she decided her 14 years of experience working in the shipping industry, under somebody else’s logo, was long enough and set out on her own. With a staff of five people, Cajunland Logistics is a growing third-party provider that offers trucking, logistics, warehousing and distribution services. This career definitely does not convey the stereotypical image of a teacher or nurse.

“The first thing you have to do [to be a successful woman in business] is to step out of your comfort zone,” Brignac said. “That to me was the hardest thing. Then you have to start with small steps, and you have to have a support system [like] family or an organization like the Women’s Business Alliance.”

In 2002 Lori Davis and her sister, Penny Molina, bought out RIG-CHEM, the family business their parents had owned for more than 20 years as a support service to the offshore oil industry.

Davis said the secret to being a successful woman in business has nothing to do with being a woman. “I think [it is] just the fact of being in business and having the desire to be an entrepreneur,” she said.

According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, in 2009 there were more than 10 million firms nationally that were owned by women and employed more than 13 million people. Three percent of women-owned firms at that time had an annual revenue exceeding $1 million, compared with 6 percent of men-owned firms.

In Louisiana alone, more than 27 percent of all businesses are woman-owned or women carry a majority interest, which was basically in line with national averages at the completion of 2010.

Blanca Robinson is president of the Women’s Business Enterprise Council South and has revealed that there are three basic traits that successful female business owners have in common.

First, they have passion. “They are very passionate about what they do,” Robinson said. “They believe in their product or service. That is an absolute necessity because to be successful in business you have to live and breathe what you are doing. You are focused, dedicated, living your dream.”

Second, a successful woman in business has perseverance. “Regardless of what risks come their way they persevere. They don’t surrender to obstacles. They keep plugging away,” she said.

Third, they are persistent. “There is a fine line between being persistent and being a pest, [but] they are persistent in what they are doing, whether it is securing a contract opportunity or a client,” Robinson said.

Other traits of success offered by women in business include being appropriately trained or educated, being creative, being organized, being genuine, and knowing the significance of networking.

“I think women are good multi-taskers and are able to take care of a lot of things at once,” RIG-CHEM’s Davis said.

“Because of what I do I have met some incredible women business owners,” Robinson said. “Especially those that create and run a business from a dream.”

Being passionate, dedicated, genuine and smart appear to be the qualifying elements women hold to define their success more than image, influence or assets. It seems to be working for them. Little sister appears to have been right.