How to Make Your First (or Next) $100K

Denver was recently ranked as the best city for women to start a business, but this is a trend that is happening nationally. Female entrepreneurs are starting to make their mark on today's business landscape, and there are a number of stats and facts that illustrate their impact.

For example, currently women make up more than 40% of new entrepreneurs. Which is an important number, because according to the US Department of Commerce, 99% of all new jobs in this country created in the last decade were created by self-employed individuals.

As of Jan. 2017, women-owned businesses (those that are at least 51% owned by women) account for 39% of all U.S. firms and employ 8% of the total private sector workforce and contribute 4.2% of total business revenues. Since 1997, the number of women-owned businesses has grown 114%, compared to a 44% increase among all businesses.  

However, while women entrepreneurs have come a long way, there are still areas to improve upon  ̶  88% of women owned firms make less than $100,000. And, according to Financial Post, women-owned businesses make $68,000 less revenue than men-owned businesses.

While women are making great strides as entrepreneurs, more needs to be done to improve the economic impact and success rate of the individual businesses.

Here are a few key strategies that all businesses should adopt in order to grow revenue:

Tip No. 1

Create a Market Dominating Position statement for your business. For example, Domino’s Pizza built a billion-dollar empire on one sentence: hot, fresh pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less. Guaranteed. This position statement should communicate the valuable advantage your company has over your competition that your customers, clients or patients care about.

Tip No. 2

Price your products and service for profit, not based on what the competition is charging. Use bundled pricing strategies to offer more value. Today’s savvy consumer is looking for the best value. Value doesn’t mean that they’re looking for the cheapest price. Packaging products and services together to provide more value is a powerful way to sell more without discounting.

Tip No. 3

As the business owner, make marketing your top responsibility. Don’t fall for the trap of working “in” the business and not “on” the business. Many entrepreneurs suffer from burnout and stress from juggling it all. But the most important priority for any business owner is to focus on where the next customer, client or patient is going to come from.

Facts are facts. If entrepreneurs (particularly female ones) are going to thrive, more education and empowerment around how to drive revenue is needed.

Jen DeVore Richter is the CEO and founder of Boss Women Rock, an organization which helps women in business make their first or next $100K, as well as the editor in chief of Chief of Boss Women Rock magazine. She is also serves as strategic marketing consultant and keynote speaker for industry leaders such as The Ritz-Carlton and as a media contributor for PBS, HuffPost, NBC, ABC, Fox and CBS. Formerly, Richter was a marketing executive for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center.