I listened to a story on Women Entrepreneurs, here are my thoughts:

Let me drop some stats real fast…

Black women are 52% of the total Black population compared to Black males who make up 48% of the Black population.
36% of African American women who worked full time all year in 2013 had median earnings of $33,780 in 2013 compared to $38,097 for ‘all women’
Black women are now the most educated group in US, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Thirty-six percent of all non-farm and non-publicly held businesses are owned by women. When broken down by race, the SBO finds that women of color are more likely to own businesses than women overall. –Kauffman.org

59 percent of black-owned businesses are owned by women.
44 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses are owned by women.
39 percent of Asian-owned businesses are owned by women.

5. Businesses owned by women of color are increasing at much higher rates than their male counterparts, according to the SBO results.

The number of black women-owned businesses has increased nearly 3.5 times the rate of increase compared to black men-owned businesses (68 percent and 19 percent respectively).
Hispanic women-owned businesses are also making gains at more than double the rate of Hispanic men-owned businesses (87 percent and 39 percent respectively).
Finally, while Asian women-owned businesses have increased by 44 percent since 2007, Asian men-owned businesses have only increased by 25 percent.

Ok based on that and other information… women are dope, have been dope and will always be dope. Tweet that exellence

women are dope, have always been dope and forever will be dope. -CicelyRenee of BougieBlackBlogger @CicelyRenee Click to Tweet

Question is… why are men questioning it and why are women questioning it?

People question what they fear, the harder the questions the more fear they have.

I listened to NPR the other morning and heard a story on how women and men entrepreneur’s access to financial funding journies are totally different. For example, if they are on a show like Shark Tank, women will get “interrogated” 10x as much as a man. Men’s questions are easy like Sunday morning and women’s questions are asked in pretty much a foreign language that they have never heard of. Why you ask? I am so glad you did,

According to the psychological theory of regulatory focus, investors adopted what’s called a promotion orientation when quizzing male entrepreneurs, which means they focused on hopes, achievements, advancement, and ideals. Conversely, when questioning female entrepreneurs they embraced a prevention orientation, which is concerned with safety, responsibility, security, and vigilance. We found that 67% of the questions posed to male entrepreneurs were promotion-oriented, while 66% of those posed to female entrepreneurs were prevention-oriented. Harvard Business Review

“When a man walks into the room it’s automatically assumed he’s competent. When I walk in the room, it’s automatically assumed I’m not.”

But don’t forget that questions like those… and anything that is thrown at a woman, women will destroy and slay the beast.

According to a new study, it’s this kind of gender bias which explains why women entrepreneurs get less funding than men. While venture capitalists invested more than $58 billion in startups last year, women only got 2 percent of that money. The study, published in the Harvard Business Review, says the problem is rooted in stereotypes.

My point of view comes from that of a black woman with a Master’s Degree and a career and a little side hustle.

I worked for an organization in St. Paul, MN where we helped minorities, immigrants, and low-income people start their own businesses and to think of it, many of the guys got far with ideas and the women who had progressed had already started businesses (alterations, restaurants, daycare, boutiques, and salons). This is not a fact just an observation.

It is like we have to prove our worth before you, (the man) sees the potential.

Ok, so enough b*tching and moaning, what are some solutions?

The only one I have right now is that:

Women, we are our biggest supporters and financers! We have to work together to go further. We have to invest in each other, buy from each other and support each other. Why not?

Ask yourself these three questions:

What am I doing to support my sisters business?
Are there women that I have pushed to the side because I don’t personally need their business or service but others may benefit?
Do I want my sister’s support?

There are 3 Tiers of Womaness or Women Entrepreneurs

As much as we need capital for women entrepreneurs we need the following to continue succeeding in our businesses:

To know our business in and out. We will have to reach out to investors that may not be women at the end of the table and they will challenge you. Know your market, the trends, the buying potential, projected earnings and how/why… Be able to speak that to them with confidence.
Shamelessness. Eff everything you may think that people think of you, eff your own personal doubts and fears… believe in yourself and why you are the best person to sell this item to them and own that ish
Each other. As much as we want to do it by ourselves, why? Why fund everything? Why learn everything? Why do everything? Why not reach out to people who are skilled in areas you lack in and collaborate.
Skills. Many of us don’t continue to learn and get stuck in the same thing ten years ago and people who need your services pass you up for someone who has installed their latest update. Don’t be that phone that is against updates that you begin to crash because you have updated to the latest version.
Money. Get your money in order so that you can continue to invest in your business when others cannot afford it. A lot of people fail because their finances are not a priority, get a system and grow people!

As the economy continues to shift, needs and skills change, be sure that you are on the leading side! Time to quit talking and do something about it.