Women Entrepreneurs Are On The Rise

Women entrepreneurs lead one in five startups around the globe. The ratio of female founders to male soared 30% over the last year and a half, reports Gust, the Manhattan-based global platform for early-stage investing, which collects data on more than 200,000 companies, angel investors and venture capitalists. In the U.S. the percentage is slightly higher than one in five (22.8%). Led byBelgium, France; and Spain, even sclerotic Europe is producing women-run companies, now 16% of the total but a 45% jump in the overall ratio during the last 18 months. What’s behind the surge? Largely technology across multiple industries, says Gust. It lowers costs and barriers to entrepreneurial entry–and, with the help of remote tools like the cloud and Skype, helps women reconcile the pulls of family and career. from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tompost/2013/03/27/around-the-world-women-entrepreneurs-are-on-the-rise/

10 Reasons You Should Work For Yourself

Imagine a life in which you can live on your own terms, have the freedom to choose how you spend your time and the projects on which you work. With enough planning, patience and determination, this situation can be yours. Check out these 10 reasons you should get started today:from the article "Why You Should Be Your Own Boss: 10 Reasons You Should Work For Yourself"

1. The flexibility to work anywhere
2. Do work that you enjoy
3. You have the opportunity to create jobs
4. Choose how much money you earn
5. You don’t have to answer to anyone
6. You will become more resilient
7. You will develop self-discipline
8. You can live a more meaningful life
9. You will develop business sense
10. You will leave a legacy behind

Read the full article here:
http://elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/why-you-should-be-your-own-boss-10-reasons-you-should-work-for-yourself/

Tips on Starting a Business in 2014

Here are a few things to think about when you are considering starting your own business:

• Get together a business structure with the basics of what you want to do with your business.

• Conduct market research to find out what people are interested in buying and what they think of your ideas. You can use questionnaires like SurveyMonkey.com to send surveys to your friends and family.

• Name your business something catchy and short so that people will have an easy time remembering the name.

• Find an investor who will help you fund your business or save your money to fund your own business because you have to start with some money in order to make more money.

• You will always need more money than you think. There are hidden costs and fees sometimes that you haven't known to account for until you get to the point of needing to pay for them.

• Set up your office space or area you will work in.

• Research your ideas and find out what is best for you and avoid quick "easy" seeming money making online scams. Nothing is free and it does take capital to start up. Putting your money into inventory to sample type businesses is ok, just be careful if it seems too much like a pyramid.

• Find out the business trends and competitors out there and decide who your market is, who you're going to be selling to and how much they're willing to pay for your products.

These tips will be helpful to think about before you get started. The more information you can gather the better off you will be.