6 Tips to Ease a Woman Entrepreneur's Journey (With Bonus Information to Soar High!)

In the fast-paced corporate world that is largely male-dominated, women often find stumbling blocks on their way to success. In order to ensure that their journey as an entrepreneur turns into a smooth ride, women have to continue to stay one step ahead from competition. Regardless, through initial struggles and hardships, a woman can fulfil most of her entrepreneurial ambitions by keeping her approach simple - stick to the basics.

As always, the success of their business will eventually depend on the product and its market acceptance, the way your marketing campaign is received and so on. These things are not always in your control. Here we have tried capture smart hacks on ‘how to start a business’, control the control-able factors, and ensure that that your start-up remains on the right track and you avoid potential pitfalls.

1. Making definitive roadmaps
 

While starting a business, you must have a business roadmap in place which can serve as your guiding principle for a 3-5 year horizon. Think about where you want your business to be and by when. Trace an outline of how you will reach your goal to put the spotlight on the key business objectives and the strategies adopted to achieve them. This, in turn, will ensure that the employees and departments in your business work in collaboration. Their and their department's role in business growth gets clearly defined by business roadmaps. Specific roadmaps in an entrepreneur's journey will help achieve short- and medium-term goals. For instance, you may design a roadmap to achieve Rs 10 crore in sales during the financial year 2023-24 and work towards it.

2. People management
 

A start-up founder must build a strong team around her to get the best out of the proposition and ensure the vision is brought to light in the most effective manner. Rather than getting a bunch of yes people, go for those who challenge and improve you. Encourage your employees to do tasks independently rather than spoon-feeding them everything. This will make them more productive, which is often one of the biggest challenges in organisations. Along with this, listen to what your employees have to say. It is the key moment to drive a culture of  innovation and get out-of-the-box ideas from the talent pool you have within the organisation. 

3. Funds for rainy day
 

Start-ups and small businesses are most vulnerable to cash crunches, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when many businesses couldn't withstand the lockdown. Women business owners like yourself must manage their cash flow better to build a rainy-day fund. IDFC FIRST Bank’s FIRST Wings is a banking program specifically designed to help start-ups grow and reach the coveted unicorn status. The FIRST Wings Program essentially starts with a startup current account, but also offers cash management solutions, amongst other benefits. While it takes care of your collections and payments, you must set aside a portion of your reserves into the emergency fund.

4. Taxation
 

The last thing you need in your entrepreneur's journey is a notice from the tax department. Take the counsel of a tax or financial consultant to understand your tax liabilities, compliance requirement, and the records that you need to maintain to file tax returns.

5. Loans
 

As a startup, you are less likely to have business assets or investments early in your journey. So, producing collateral for a loan may take a lot of work early in your entrepreneur's journey. However, your business may still need a cash inflow to accept bulk orders, pay off creditors, or for working capital during a bleak spell in business. In such situations, a female business loan from IDFC FIRST Bank can come handy. This loan is offered to SMEs and startups, approving quick loans of up to Rs 50 lakhs based on the borrower's current account statement or GST returns. Self-employed individuals, proprietorship firms, partnerships and private companies can borrow IDFC FIRST Bank business loans of up to Rs 1 crore through a quick and seamless loan approval process.

6. Accounting
 

The use of online accounting software or platform is almost a no-brainer in today's business world. These solutions will automatically update your purchases and sales, keep the inventory status updated through the SKU details that you enter, and the tax deductions and GST figures from the purchase and sales invoices that you prepare using it. Your accounts personnel should be aware of the numerical information you expect, whether for a financial snapshot or tax purposes.

IDFC FIRST Bank FIRST Wings Program - Soar High With It!
 

The FIRST Wings Startup Banking program by IDFC First Bank is a tailormade program for Startups to support them throughout their lifestage. FIRST Wings program offers solutions to  every women in their entrepreneurial journey.

• Start with a fully loaded Startup Current Account that powers you with zero balance for three years, no transaction charges on NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, top of the variant VISA Signature Debit card and more.
• You also get a Visa Signature Debit card with zero annual fee and Rs 1 crore personal and air accident insurance. You can withdraw or shop for up to Rs 6 lakhs using this card and avail of a host of other benefits, accesses and discounts
• Working capital solutions for pre profit startups that provide them with the right support to scale to the next level.
• A dedicated relationship manager that understands Startup needs and assists with solutions for your complex banking needs including Fund raise compliances, Regulatory reporting s, Remittance and forex solutions and more with a specialised structured solutions desk.
• Corporate salary solutions without any minimum employee requirement which offer employee with a Salary account with monthly interest credits, lifetime free credit card and more.
• Cash management solutions to efficiently manage your paying and payouts with the right solution including Escrow, virtual accounts, multi-currency payment gateway solutions, app based NACH collection solutions and more.
• FIRST Wings Program ensures same-day processing of remittances and trade transactions received before 3 pm while guiding you on RBI reporting requirements under FEMA as and when required.
• The FIRST Wings Program cash management solutions offer escrow management suites, multi-currency and multi-lingual payment gateway solu-tions, mobile-based cheque scanning and deposit kiosks, and app-based NACH collections. Its deep analytics features capture multiple details of customers during payments.
  
• Payroll processing becomes easy with FIRST Wings Program. There is no minimum employee strength requirement, thus accommodating startups of any size under the program.
• You may not expect a bank to offer this service, but the IDFC FIRST Bank FIRST Wings Program has a founder success program that offers mentorship programs with access to incubator cells. You get access to investor and startup connects and boot camps, and an expert team at your disposal to accelerate your startup growth. Be ready to receive rewards and recognition, including media coverage, as your startup continues to scale higher growth and excellence. You may not expect a bank to offer this service, but the IDFC FIRST Bank FIRST Wings Program has a founder success program that offers mentorship programs with access to incubator cells. You get access to investor and startup connects and boot camps, and an expert team at your disposal to accelerate your startup growth. Be ready to receive rewards and recognition, including media coverage, as your startup continues to scale higher growth and excellence.

To sum up

The success of an entrepreneur's journey is about facing the biggest challenges with minimal means at her disposal. And as we have elucidated, the foundation of good preparation lies in covering the basics of the journey in the most meticulous manner and with the right partner by your side. The IDFC FIRST Bank FIRST Wings Program goes beyond banking and stands behind its startup business account holders as a lighthouse - as female entrepreneurs like you sail through the high seas of the business world. 

Disclaimer

The contents of this article/infographic/picture/video are meant solely for information purposes. The contents are generic in nature and for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for specific advice in your own circumstances. The information is subject to updation, completion, revision, verification and amendment and the same may change materially. The information is not intended for distribution or use by any person in any jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or would subject IDFC FIRST Bank or its affiliates to any licensing or registration requirements. IDFC FIRST Bank shall not be responsible for any direct/indirect loss or liability incurred by the reader for taking any financial decisions based on the contents and information mentioned. Please consult your financial advisor before making any financial decision.