Fueling Success: Reflection Questions for WOC Entrepreneurs
In the ever-changing landscape of entrepreneurship, it’s crucial for WOC (women of color) entrepreneurs to regularly pause, step back, and reflect on our businesses.
The unique experiences and challenges we face as WOC founders and entrepreneurs make this intentional, thoughtful, and deep reflection even more crucial so that we can do the important work of visioning, projecting, and realizing our amazing business goals.
This type of reflection also makes everyday decision-making easier because we can quickly tell whether a “yes” or a “no” is aligned with our ultimate goals.
Being clear on our business foundations and mission is also critical for weathering the unique challenges and structural barriers we face, like:
extra skepticism around our business or our business acumen;
imposter syndrome around our products, services, or pricing; and
outright discrimination in getting business loans, financing, and grants.
By taking the time to reflect, we can reaffirm our values, reassess our goals, and sharpen our entrepreneurial vision. Reflection also allow us to identify, acknowledge, and celebrate our achievements, acknowledge barriers overcome, and identify areas for growth.
Before we dive into some guiding questions, always remember:
It’s never “only” about you.
By investing in our businesses and ourselves through this kind of intentional introspection and discovery, we as WOC entrepreneurs step further into our role as powerful catalysts of change–which will forever alter the entrepreneurial landscape for countless peers and generations to come.
Let’s get into it.
If Your Business Is In The Ideation Stage
If you have a business idea and you’re in the stage of honing that idea, doing initial market research, solidifying your offers, etc., reflect on the following:
What is my mission with my business? What am I most passionate about and energized by when it comes to the “Why” behind my business idea?
What’s a problem in society that I can help solve with my business idea (whether product or service)?
What can I do to test out my business idea? Who can I talk to? What data can I gather before I launch?
If Your Business Is In The Initial Startup Stage
If your business is in the early phases of operation, and you’re getting the word out to establish you and your business in the market, reflect on the following:
Now that my business is post-launch, how can I stay connected, and connect on an even deeper level, to the “Why” behind my business?
What kind of early data, info, and feedback have I been receiving on my business and its offerings? How can I stay nimble, adapt, and integrate that data into my business as I solidify it?
Who do I want with me on this journey? 1 in 5 businesses fail in the first year. A whopping 8 out of 10 Black-owned business fail in the first 18 months. You can imagine what the stat is for WOC-owned businesses in general. Whose partnership, support, and community will I need in order to get my business solidly into a growth stage?
If Your Business Is In The Growth Stage
If your business is revenue-generating and you’re focused on growth and scaling through building out your business’ customer/client base or product/service offerings, reflect on the following:
How can we scale authentically? What guidelines, values, or other signposts do we need at this stage of business?
What systems, tools, processes would help us streamline business operations even further? What’s been working / not working so far?
Entrepreneur burnout is always lurking in the background. If I were to take a hard look at the numbers, where can we improve the business in terms of profitability, scalability, and sustainability?
If Your Business Is In The Maturity Stage
If your business is stable, profitable, with a strong customer/client base, and your focus is continuing to stay relevant, sustain growth, and adapt to changing markets, reflect on the following:
With so many business milestones behind us, how do we keep innovating and staying attuned to market needs and shifts?
How do we foster truly sustainable growth? Is there a need for further diversification, strategic partnerships, a shift in strategic direction, expansion into new markets?
What legacy are we leaving with the impact that this business has made and will continue to make? What was the initial career mission and our guiding values–have those shifted over time or remained the same?
If Your Business Is In The Continued Evolution Stage
If your business is considering exiting, restructuring, or shifting major overarching strategies, reflect on the following:
What can I learn from this major period of transformation / inflection? In times of decline and sea change, there are always lessons to be learned.
If an infusion of new energy is needed to take the business in a new direction, how can I galvanize the entire team in a challenging and uncertain time?
Transitions are always hard. What are 3 things that would ease the friction and difficulty during this particular transition and how can I make those a reality–for myself and for everyone in the company?
If You're An Intrapreneur
If you’re an intrapreneur, reflect on the following:
How can I optimally and maximally innovate within my current role? How do I best bring fresh ideas, creative solutions, and an entrepreneurial approach to lead change from within the company?
Who’s with me? One of the biggest challenges in intrapreneurship is the risk of things always feeling like you’re going against the grain. Who and where are my people–the folks who can help shore me up when the going gets tough? What networks can I tap into, what alliances can I build, what external relationships am I cultivating?
How do I amplify my intrapreneurial voice? How do I effectively communicate my vision at new levels, build broad-scale support, and inspire others to get behind the change I’m driving?