Handling Risk – Page 2 – More from the Institute for Women's Entrepreneurship at Cornell

Quantity Breeds Quality

asian woman working on shaping a bowl on a pottery wheel

This article from Inc. highlights the concept of the 70-20-10 rule. The meaning behind this rule is that with whatever you are working to produce – be it something artistic or a product or a service – 70 percent of your attempts will be mediocre, 20 percent will be poor, and 10 percent will be amazing. The key takeaway is that the only way to get better at something isn’t to sit and stare at the blank piece of paper waiting for the perfect idea or to try to research every last thing before starting, but rather to roll up your sleeves and do it! The more you try, the more results you will end up having in that 10% amazing bucket!

Navigating Three Major Challenges in Entrepreneurship

In this piece in Entrepreneur from December 2016, founder and CEO of WordSmithRapport, Karima J. Mariama-Arthur (who is also an eCornell program facilitator!) shared three challenges of entrepreneurship. While the article is a few years old, her words still ring true to entrepreneurs today. Mariama-Arthur states that fear, distractions and work ethic are the three biggest hurdles. If anything, those hurdles are even more present during the past year of navigating COVID!

Survival Plan for Small Businesses Handling Impacts from Coronavirus

woman in white shirt with facemask applying hand sanitizer

While published in late March (which seems like *more* than only a few months ago) this article in Entrepreneur highlights ten important items to consider as your are navigating how to keep your small business afloat during this challenging time. While you may have already addressed many of these items, it is still a useful list to skim through.

Top 10 Mistakes That Prevent Women From Scaling Businesses To $1MM

Despite women owning 40% of all the businesses in the U.S., in 2018, less than 2 percent of women-owned businesses generated more than $1 million in sales (and that percentage is even lower when you only look at women of color). This article in Entrepreneur explores ten common mistakes that include: trying to do it all yourself, not spending enough time working with mentors and coaches, lack of a cash runway and not understanding the scalable aspects of the business.

7 Women Leaders on Mistakes That Changed Their Careers

In this 9/20/19 article in Fast Company, seven female leaders reflect on situations where the mistakes they made taught them lessons that influenced their leadership and their future careers.

Setbacks Don’t Have To Set You Back

Failure is all part of the entrepreneurial process. But how do we move forward after we stumble? This NPR TED Radio Hour podcast on “Setbacks” includes comments from entrepreneur Leticia Gasca who was a co-founder of the movement “F***up Nights” which provided a place for entrepreneurs to stand on stage, share stories of failure and find a community that understood the process.