The Seven Biggest Challenges we Face as Women in Business

There was a lot of warmth, support, and friendship in the room as we explored the gallery and then enjoyed our delicious, COVID designed, individual food boxes. Eugenia Wilson, the Gallery Director and WCEI member, shared with us her journey from lawyer to creator and owner of this inspiring gallery.

Coinciding with International Women’s Day and we wanted to acknowledge that many of us have been juggling business, family, and very difficult times over the last year. Eugenia and Meaghan, WCEI Victorian co-president hosted a frank and engaging discussion around some of the biggest challenges we face as women owning a business in this current environment. 

Seven challenges we identified for women in business:

1. Play the long game, business is the long game, and you want to be healthy and happy to enjoy it. Be realistic with what you can achieve within a given time as family are a priority. If it doesn’t get done today that’s ok, it will get done tomorrow.
2. Time is gifted, enjoy it. You can do business in your own time frame. It may mean your idea of success may not come within your projected timeline; however, it means you are master of your business growth, maintain a balance and don’t compare yourself to others.
3. Be happy with what you have. A wise WCEI member keeps reminding herself, she is happy with what she has. This helps to manage her expectations of herself and her energy levels.
4. Be present and focused when you are with someone, whether a team member or family member. Put your phone down when you at home, your kids feel when you are not present with them.
5. Sometimes the challenges of business are overwhelming, breathe and seek support. Learn to delegate and let go while ensuring you have effective systems to monitor. 
6. You can’t do it all. Everyone agreed, do not try to do everything. Outsource what you don’t like to do. Focus on the things you are good at and enjoy. Quentin Bryce once said: ‘You can have it all just not at the same time’.
7. COVID taught us you don’t need an activity every night of the week. Trying to do it all, it just makes us feel exhausted.

Thank you to the women who joined us at LUMAS Gallery and shared their challenges and hard-fought wisdoms. We look forward to seeing you at our other events where we discuss topics like business culture and the latest strategies to ensure we create cultures that support our business’s biggest assets – our team’s motivation, competency, and commitment.

Thank you to Christina Chia for taking these beautiful photos