The feminine touch

Tips for women business owners on how to stay healthy

By Dr. Patricia K. Laino

Laino
Laino

Staying healthy while operating your business is especially stressful for anyone.

The stress doubles or triples if you are a woman business owner who assumes the roles of running a house and caring for the family, while juggling the role of the key decision-maker in your own business venture.

The female business owner must juggle all of her home, business, personal and professional problems, issues and concerns that happen everyday.

Through the centuries, men have been the designated breadwinners and sole providers for their families. These roles have been passed down through time whereby men are taught specific survival skills needed in the business world.

Many women have difficulty because they have not been conditioned to do this. Most men let things roll off their backs, whereas many women tend to be emotional and have fear of making someone angry. I believe that you can’t be powerful if you never engage in conflict situations that frequently arise when you go into business.

Successful women are willing to address conflict as it arises because to avoid conflict means giving up power to their opponents.

As a woman, going into your own business is one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your lifetime. I know because I’m one of those females that chose to enter the world of entrepreneurship.

I have trained and coached hundreds of women who wanted to open their own businesses. More than 83 percent of my female students have gone on to start up and operate robust and healthy businesses today.

As a longtime business owner and an entrepreneur coach, I have found that most women lack the “old boys” or women’s network to help them cope in their business.  This still remains true to a certain extent even in today’s entrepreneurial world.

Some women wear too many hats to really get serious about starting their own businesses. They are very caring individuals who put their families first and this takes up a great deal of precious time. While this is acceptable, starting a business requires long hours and complete focus. In order for a woman to succeed, she must search her soul to be certain she is ready to make the sacrifices that need to be made to launch her business.

Many times, I meet women entrepreneurs who are reluctant to make money and I call this the fear of financial success. It took me many years and a great deal of research to determine that some women think being poor is noble and giving away their product or service relieves the guilt they feel of becoming prosperous.

Early on in my career, I was one of those women, but a six-week course called “God in Money” changed my direction and ultimately enabled me to succeed in making money. I came to realize that the more money my company made, the more people I could hire and the more wealth I could spread around. Six-figure women believe that money buys us freedom and independence.

For a woman to successfully reach the American Dream, she needs to begin by saying “no” to money-conscious poverty. When we make money, we can hire more people, grow the economy and spread the wealth around.

Never before have we seen so many women become successful in business. You too can discover how to become a healthy and wealthy six-figure woman by following some of my inner secrets.

I highly recommend that you do everything in moderation such as eating, drinking and exercising. There is a saying that hard work never killed anyone. I think this is true because I’ve seen many of my entrepreneurial students work hard and thrive.

Never sweat the small stuff in your business operations. Most stressful situations are small stuff in the eyes of women who are successful in operating their business. If your business is not bleeding profusely (losing money) and is still breathing (still able to make money), then anything is possible. Find a good business mentor or coach and get help before stress kills you.

Six-figure women are constantly raising the bar higher and higher and reaching for more. When woman entrepreneurs stretch their limits, they begin thinking outside the box for other ways to achieve whatever they want in their business venture. Successful businesswomen have a strong desire to create something new and introduce things that they think the present world lacks and needs.

Successful businesswomen know that money is, in fact, a sign of success and they go all the way to make it. They focus on profits, always keeping this in sight and they measure their success by their profits.

Winners keep their operations simple and uncomplicated so that they can make changes swiftly. They are the women who dare to reach for and achieve the American Dream.

Keep following my blogs on drpatlaino@aol.com if you want to succeed in your own business or purchase my book called “Unlock the American Dream” or “Women & Wealth” from Amazon or Barnes & Noble for more of my secrets and business advice.

• Dr. Patricia K. Laino is the executive director of the Women’s Business Center of New York State.