{"id":40724,"date":"2023-10-20T15:09:37","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/why-this-question-irked-a-successful-entrepreneur-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:09:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:09:37","slug":"why-this-question-irked-a-successful-entrepreneur-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/why-this-question-irked-a-successful-entrepreneur-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why this question irked a successful entrepreneur – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"melissa_browne\"<\/div>\n

Recently I was asked a question I was incredibly surprised by.<\/p>\n

I was attending a workshop with some other highly successful male business owners I\u2019m in a forum with and one of their employees asked me a question that left me speechless (and that doesn\u2019t happen that often).<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t stunned by the question itself but rather because when I wondered whether she would ask any of the male business owners that were around the table the same question, I knew the answer would be unequivocally no.<\/p>\n

The questions she asked was whether I ran a home-based business.<\/p>\n

Now if you run a home-based business I applaud you and I\u2019m certainly not deriding that. I know some highly successful business owners who are running businesses from home.<\/p>\n

However, I was stunned that this girl knew I was part of the same successful business forum as her boss but presumed that because I was female, I must be running a home based business.<\/p>\n

What was even more puzzling to me is that I knew she not only hadn\u2019t asked the same question of the male CEO\u2019s at our table but she wouldn\u2019t dream of asking it.<\/p>\n

Plus when I brought up the subject with the my male colleagues a few days later they were all stunned and a tad incensed that the question was asked of me.<\/p>\n

What I wondered that day and days later is whether the questions we\u2019re asking each other as females are designed to keep us thinking smaller rather than thinking bigger.<\/p>\n

And what questions we could be asking instead?<\/p>\n

Better questions could be around what target market we\u2019re reaching, whether we\u2019re doing something different as a result of being female or how we\u2019re embracing technology?<\/p>\n

Better questions could be around cashflow and pricing, or how we\u2019re delivering on purpose and profits and perhaps questions relating to outsourcing, capacity and hiring employees.<\/p>\n

Better questions could be what it\u2019s like to run a business in an industry where the businesses are primarily owned by men and how we\u2019re differentiating as a result of that.<\/p>\n

Questions that are designed to get us talking, thinking and challenging rather than simply asking if we\u2019re home-based.<\/p>\n

I mean, really.<\/p>\n

So the next time you meet a female business owner at a function, a workshop or a networking event, don\u2019t lead with whether they\u2019re a home-based business or not because whether you mean to or not you\u2019re making a judgement call.<\/p>\n

Instead, ask curious questions, challenge assumptions and let\u2019s make the dialogue an interesting one.<\/p>\n

Melissa Browne is a money and business strategy expert and founder of A&TA<\/a> and The Money Barre.\u00a0She is also the author of More Money for Shoes and Fabulous but Broke.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on Women’s Agenda<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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