Over the last 12 months Mentoring Dream Team have been in constant contact with one of Australia’s leading entrepreneurs Dale Beaumont. Dale is a leading author of the Secrets Exposed Series. Today Dale provides a summary of his book Secrets of Female Entrepreneurs Exposed.

Dale’s book takes people up-close and personal with seventeen of some of the most successful female entrepreneurs including: Sonia Amoroso, Joanne Mercer, Suzi Dafnis, Margaret Lomas, Sue Ismiel and others. In a surprisingly candid way each contributor shares their personal successes, business philosophies and unique insights into how every woman can discover her own entrepreneurial spirit.

All of these women express desires and passion in their area of business, and through their experiences they understand the factors that can determine the success or failure of a business.

The following five (5) points are the author’s perspective of how these entrepreneurial women improved their chances of achieving business success.

1. Have good customer relations

Without customers you have no business. They are the life-line of any business and to achieve success you need to ensure that your customers are satisfied with your service and/or product. Effective customer relations can give you that extra edge over your competitors, especially in an age of technology, where human contact and service are becoming ever important.

Kirsty Dunphey, co-founder of M&M Harcourts, regards excellent customer relations as a core value in her business success. She places a significant emphasis on building customers for life, especially the ones who rave and serve as great advocates for the business. She says, word of mouth is the best kind of marketing and will increase your success rate.

2. Do what you know and love

A path to success will always be impeded with obstacles. When faced with these obstacles you have the choice of: throwing in the towel or battling on. If you are doing something you love, this decision will not be difficult for you. People who are passionate about something will not let obstacles and challenges interfere with their business success.

Sue Ismiel, creator of Nad’s Hair Removal, believes people start different businesses based on their skills, interests and opportunities. While it makes sense to centre your business on you particular skill-set, she says that a genuine interest will always build a solid foundation for business success.

3. Educate yourself
Successful entrepreneurs are inclined to say that one of the most common mistakes made by new business owners is that they think they know everything about business when they don’t.

According to Suzy Yates, Bay Street Mediaworks founder, you need to keep moving. Once you’ve started a business, get educated. Join networks, find mentors, read books and magazines, find out as much as you can about your field.

4. Eliminate your competition

To eliminate the competition is easier said than done, and it often depends on the industry you’re involved in. One of the ways to eliminate competition is to choose something that is difficult for others to copy.

According to Elim Chew, founder of 77th Street, you should choose something that has a natural obstacle to being copy, whether it’s due to the need for highly-specialised skills or because it’s expensive to get into. If you can do this, you will be able to increase your chances of success.

5. Take the risk

Risk-taking is not always received positively by people, however, entrepreneurs do not take unnecessary risks. In fact, through research and well-thought out plans they are able to minimise real risk and know when they are required to take the plunge. To be successful you cannot be scared about taking risks.

Sonia Amoroso, creator of Cat Media, takes risks when she believes in something. One of her top ten tips for becoming a successful entrepreneur is to assess and/or minimise risk first. But understand that you need to invest in order to receive a return and that may require calculated risks.

One of Dale’s philosophies is find out what successful people do and follow their magic formula.

Make sure you continue to log and read or listen to a product at least every week.

Till next time,

Mentoring Dream Team