A recent study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on female entrepreneurs, reveals there are five distinct types of women in business. Based on professional market research of more than 2,500 women in business, this study shows that each type of business owner has a unique approach to running a business and to handling the other details of her life – and therefore each one has a unique combination of needs. This article outlines two of the five types and provides tips for making the most of their relationships.

Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, and one who tends to be struggling with cash flow. As a result, she’s working longer hours, and making less money than she’d like. Nevertheless, Tenacity Jane is bound and determined to make her business a success. At 31% of women in business, Tenacity Janes make up the largest group of female entrepreneurs.

While Tenacity Jane’s passion is what will lead to her business’ strength and growth over time, it also may get in the way of her forming healthy relationships while she is working so hard at the business.

• In business: Tenacity Jane wants so badly for her business to succeed that she sometimes ends up bending over backwards for difficult clients, putting her own needs on the backburner. Not only will this habit drain her business resources (as she pours time and therefore money into clients that will take as much as they can get), but it also will drain her emotional reserves as she struggles to satisfy clients who simply will not be satisfied – to the point of her own exhaustion. Therefore, Tenacity Jane must set limits for herself with her clients. If she feels like a relationship with a client or colleague is draining, and she cannot satisfy the client or colleague, she must consider ending that professional relationship. Ending a draining relationship will provide Tenacity Jane with more energy and time resources to seek new, healthy clients that are beneficial for both parties.
• At home: Again, because Tenacity Jane has so much passion for her business, she runs the risk of neglecting her personal relationships. In addition, because Tenacity Jane often lacks focus and is working on several ideas or projects at once, she may believe she doesn’t have time for rest or relaxation – and that can be frustrating for the people who love her. By finding focus in her business, Tenacity Jane can better manage her time – and she can then challenge herself to make more time for the important relationships in her life.

Go Jane Go is passionate about her work and provides excellent service, so she has plenty of clients – so much so, she’s struggling to keep up with demand. At 14% of women in business, she may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and she often struggles to say no. Because she wants to say yes to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged and feeling guilty about neglecting herself and others who are important to her.

Go Jane Go, the epitome of a people person, is as generous as anyone could possibly be – whether it’s by offering her time as a volunteer or running a business designed to help people. So while it may seem like relationships should come easily to this fantastically people-oriented entrepreneur, her generosity may cause a few challenges.

• In business: Go Jane Go takes business very personally, which results in a double-sided relationship coin. The positive side: her employees and team members often feel valued, appreciated and listened to. The challenges: She may hire someone she really likes even if that individual is under qualified for the job. She also may work unceasingly to provide opportunities for an employee who always claims to be interested but never follows through. In cases such as these, Go Jane Go must work to think of business as business, so she doesn’t drain her own resources trying to help others.
• At home: Go Jane Go is committed to everything she does. She is committed to her business, her volunteer opportunities, and her friends and family. She undoubtedly will put others before herself, every time. Although this may work for a while, she eventually will end up feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. Plus, if one person in a relationship is always giving, the relationship is not built on a strong, two-way foundation, and will eventually risk crumbling. To remedy this, Go Jane Go must carefully examine her own needs – and then make sure they are met. She should schedule time for herself into her calendar (and honor it), and she also should take turns with her spouse, children and friends when choosing restaurants, movies or other leisure-time activities – and when making more important decisions.

Each type of female entrepreneur exhibits her own natural tendencies as she participates in relationships, just as she does in running her business. While some of those tendencies may result in relationship challenges, the good news is that with a little extra work, every entrepreneur can learn to create a balance that leads to harmonious, healthy relationships.

The idea for her first book, “Honey, I Want to Start My Own Business, a Planning Guide for Couples,” which was published by Harper Collins in 1993, came to her when she was a newlywed. She recalls, “My husband quit his job two weeks before our honeymoon, to start his own business in the spare bedroom of the house we would now share together. I was the new stepparent to his two sons, pregnant a few months after the wedding, working full-time in a busy career as a Human Resources Director, and trying to manage the pressures on a new marriage of a business working out of the home and not bringing in much money. It wasn’t easy. I went to the bookstore looking for answers, but back then the concept of ‘work/family’ was unknown and no one was writing about the pressures of entrepreneurship on a marriage and family. The writing bug bit me – I thought, ‘I should write this book!’ That was an Accidental Jane moment. I had never taken a writing course, didn’t know anything about publishing a book, but with a Go Jane Go attitude I took the project on with a vengeance. It was like therapy for me! I haven’t looked back, only forward, and I’ve continued to write about what interests me.”

Although Azriela started her business accidentally, there are many reasons for keeping her entrepreneurial ventures. “My three children were born within four years, and I really despised the restrictions of a corporate schedule,” reflects Azriela. “I wanted to be able to care for my children, and also do what I loved – write – without corporate politics dragging me down. I have enjoyed the benefits of raising my children with the kind of spoiling I feel good about – a warm dinner and a smiling mother waiting for them off the school bus. They are teenagers now and they still need that love and attention!”

Azriela asserts that the rewards for owning her business are too many to count, “but certainly one of the top five are the privately commissioned Holocaust memoirs that I’m currently writing. My client is typically a holocaust survivor, in his/her eighties or nineties, who has merited to see grandchildren and great grandchildren and wishes for future generations to know the full story of their life. I spend months interviewing them, gathering family documents and photos and then create a professionally published book for everyone to enjoy. It is incredibly rewarding to give this gift to the survivor and his or her family. In my family, the holocaust survivors have died and all of their stories are gone forever because they were never recorded. Writing books and speaking professionally, as well as working as a journalist for an International magazine, have brought me in contact with the most amazing, wonderful people – including Michele DeKinder-Smith!”

After taking the free Which Jane Are You? assessment at www.JaneOutoftheBox.com , Azriela discovered that she is a Go Jane Go. “In the heyday of the Internet, I was Jane Dough for about two years and making a lot of money writing for business Internet sites. It didn’t last though because I moved on to more rewarding writing that pays less in cash, but more in spiritual dividends. I started as Accidental Jane and I’m squarely in the Go Jane Go camp now and have been for many years. I fit the Go Jane Go profile to a T. At last count, I have seven jobs and I love it that way (working for Jane out of the Box Media ranks as one of my favorites of course!) I also teach English composition and public speaking to Orthodox Jewish college-age boys, am working on several book projects and am helping to shape and edit future books that will be published in the coming year by Jane Out of the Box media. I have been juggling so many balls for so long, it’s normal for me.”

Azriela’s advice for other Go Jane Go’s is inspired by her harried but satisfying Go experience. “Well-intentioned people might tell you that you are taking on too much, or that you should slow down,” cautions Azriela. “Only you know if that’s true. The real key is doing work you love, and working for and with people you respect and whose mission you believe in, so you want to support them in their work.”

Accidental Jane
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Let her tell you about accidentally starting a business.

Jane’s Got a Bag
See Jane Succeed – all the Janes got together to feature a tote! You can be green use it for groceries or for any big project you need to carry.

Tenacity Jane
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Let her tell you what makes her so tenacious about her business.

Go Jane Go
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Let her tell you about her drive.

Jane Dough
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Let her tell you about her vision for her business.

Merry Jane
Merry Jane has her own mug!

Let her tell you why she merrily is a business owner.

See Jane Succeed Mug
See Jane Succeed – all of the Janes together on one mug!

Now this is teamwork and networking at its finest.

A recent study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on female entrepreneurs, reveals there are five distinct types of women in business. Based on professional market research of more than 2,500 women in business, this study shows that each type of business owner has a unique approach to running a business and therefore each one has a unique combination of needs. This article outlines three of the five types and provides tips for tracking performance metrics and using the information to create future success.

Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and generally, she makes a nice living. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women entrepreneurs fall in the category of Jane Dough.

Because Jane Dough-run businesses often produce a large income, Jane Dough business owners are more likely than others to make large investments in their businesses. By tracking key performance metrics, then, Jane Dough can determine whether her investments are paying off – and if they aren’t, she can decide how to shift those investments so they do so.

Given the success of her business, Jane Dough is likely to use advertising systems, such as “pay per click” campaigns on Google or print and radio advertisements. These traditional advertising systems provide relatively simple tracking mechanisms by which Jane Dough can determine how her advertisements are working. For example, “pay per click” advertising allows a business owner to keep track of how many people clicked on her advertisement, based on a certain set of keywords, which she chooses. Jane Dough can figure out how many people visited her web site based on a specific set of keywords – and then she can figure out whether that “pay per click” campaign was worth the investment. Print or radio advertisements in certain markets can include special offers – based on how many people mention those special offers (whether they mention them during a phone call or while filling out an application or customer form of so me kind), and Jane Dough will know whether those ads are driving traffic to her business. For Jane Dough, diligence in tracking metrics provides a solid understanding of the company, and a good opportunity for refining goals, educating team members and selecting even more powerful strategies for growth.

Merry Jane. This entrepreneur is usually building a part-time or “flexible time” business that gives her a creative outlet (whether she’s an ad agency consultant or she makes beautiful artwork) which she can manage within specific constraints around her schedule. She may have a day-job, or need to be fully present for family or other pursuits. She realizes she could make more money by working longer hours, but she’s happy with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments.

Because Merry Jane needs to remain flexible so she is able to meet her various obligations and responsibilities, she doesn’t have much time to invest in tracking her company’s performance. Nevertheless, tracking performance will assist Merry Jane in establishing where her time is best spent – so it’s a critical investment. A few suggestions to consider on this information-gathering mission:

Studying existing customer relationships provides an excellent venue for Merry Jane to discover what is working. Usually, Merry Jane doesn’t have a large number of customers (and she prefers it that way!). It will be quite simple, then, to tally the results of an Internet survey, an e-mail questionnaire, or even a personal phone call or visit. A Merry Jane business owner can ask existing customers how they found out about her business, what attracted them to her business, and what they believe are the biggest benefits of the business’ products or services. By analyzing this data, Merry Jane can figure out what’s working. For example, if she advertises in three different magazines, but customers mention only two of them, perhaps she might stop advertising in the third. If she sells books, games and toys, and customers list the unique books and games as benefits, maybe she should cut her toy inventory and increase her book and game inventory ac cordingly.

Go Jane Go is passionate about her work and provides excellent service, so she has plenty of clients – so much so, she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and she often struggles to say no. Because she wants to say yes to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged and feeling guilty about neglecting herself and others who are important to her.

Because Go Jane Go is wildly successful in business (she has so many clients she struggles to keep up with demand), it may seem as though she doesn’t need to track performance metrics. However, one of Go Jane Go’s challenges is that she takes her work personally. Her work is a reflection of herself, and as a result, she goes above and beyond to ensure the message her work sends is a positive one. Tracking key performance metrics, then, is essential for Go Jane Go’s personal well-being because it provides her an opportunity to see what is working and what isn’t from a purely business perspective.

Already overcommitted and overwhelmed, Go Jane Go’s most practical choice for handling the measuring of performance metrics may be to hire an individual or a firm to do it. From measuring whether an ad campaign is working to interviewing customers and completing market research, professionals can take care of every aspect of performance measuring and then give Go Jane Go a report she can use to determine her best next steps. Although she sometimes has difficulty handing work to someone else, (for fear that person may not meet her exacting standards), most Go Jane Go business owners don’t have the time to perform in-depth research. She can alleviate the fear of delegating this task by getting references. By hiring someone to tackle this time consuming endeavor, Go Jane Go can focus on the work she loves. Once she gets the report, she can determine whether her energy is in the right place.

Determining which strategies are working is critical in creating a business’ path to success. Measuring performance metrics not only reveals whether resources are being spent as wisely as possible, it also reveals a path for the future.

A recent study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on female entrepreneurs, reveals there are five distinct types of women in business. Based on professional market research of more than 2,500 women in business, this study shows that each type of business owner has a unique approach to running a business – and therefore each one has a unique combination of needs. This article outlines two of the five types and provides tips for time management that ensure success as the various types of entrepreneurs define it.

Go Jane Go is passionate about her work and provides excellent service, so she has plenty of clients – so much so, she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and she often struggles to say no. Because she wants to say yes to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged and feeling guilty about neglecting herself and others who are important to her.

Of all the types of business owners, Go Jane Go is most in need of improved time management systems. She strives to give her all in doing the right thing and being a good person. She loves what she does and believes strongly in being of service to others while being the best at what she does. Often, Go Jane Go business owners are in denial about the amount of hours they actually work; for example, some reported working only 40 hours per week but still feeling overwhelmed and a bit frazzled. When we questioned them about it, they admitted that they worked only 40 billable hours per week but put in significantly more hours on other business-related tasks. Her desire to help others, coupled with her reluctance to turn down most requests leaves her feeling stressed and overcommitted much of the time. How can she rectify that?

• Park It. By creating a “parking lot” for goals of every type, Go Jane Go can stop worrying about what she hasn’t accomplished and set a schedule for accomplishing it. Create two lists. The first should include immediate goals and should be kept visible. The second should include more long-term goals and should be filed away and viewed every month to 6 months, to determine where goals stand periodically. By writing down goals, large and small, business and personal, this parking lot takes the weight off Go Jane Go’s shoulders – she won’t forget any of these important goals, and she won’t have to worry constantly about them, either.
• Overlap. It’s essential that Go Jane Go prioritize – after all, she has so much going on, she has to know where to start so she can check tasks off her long to-do list. Once she’s prioritized, Go Jane Go can make a game of finding ways to fit her priorities together. For example, if meaningful relationships, family time, helping others and managing time by hiring someone to do her less favorite tasks are priorities, Go Jane Go may consider hiring a family member to do some of the work she doesn’t enjoy as well. In this way, she gets to spend time with that family member, help that family member by providing a job, and work on the activities she enjoys.
• Accept Help. Go Jane Go doesn’t want to burden others and will take on loathsome burdens to avoid doing so. However, by asking for help, Go Jane Go may feel less overwhelmed and provide an opportunity for loved ones to return favors she’s done for them. She can ask her husband to pick up the kids or make dinner, or she can ask a friend to listen while she vents about a work problem. Getting help in completing even small tasks can significantly lighten Go Jane Go’s load.

Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business. Generally, she makes a nice living. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women entrepreneurs fall in the category of Jane Dough.

Like Go Jane Go, Jane Dough runs a successful business and takes home a large personal income. Unlike Go Jane Go, though, Jane Dough is adept at time management and sometimes delegates too much rather than not enough. Jane Dough moves quickly and decisively, and runs her business like a “natural-born entrepreneur,” meeting traditional standards of success, while striking a great work-life balance. Even with so much success, this type of business owner can improve her business’ efficiency and its productivity by keeping a few suggestions in mind.

• Document. System documentation maximizes efficiency because it reveals every step of every system, therefore revealing steps that may be obsolete or repetitive, and therefore unnecessary. It also provides a system by which a new employee can learn the ins and outs of his or her job in the case that a seasoned employee leaves the company. This will reduce learning and training time.
• Track Performance. By carefully keeping track of key performance metrics, Jane Dough can determine whether the efforts she’s putting into various aspects of her business are paying off. If they’re not, she can spend less time there and more time on aspects that are productive. For example, let’s consider a Jane Dough who has spent a considerable amount of non-billable time on developing a new web site. She tracks visitors and purchases, and discovers that although her site is receiving a lot of traffic, people aren’t buying after visiting it. On the other hand, she’s getting tons of calls from people mentioning a radio ad she placed, which promised listeners a discount if they mentioned the ad. By putting in place tracking systems (software for the web site and a discount on the radio ad), this Jane Dough will learn where her resources are best spent.

Managing time appropriately is absolutely critical in striking a satisfactory work-life balance, and in growing a business. Every type of entrepreneur can improve her time management skills, whether it’s to find more personal time or to maximize a company’s efficiency.

A recent study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on female entrepreneurs, reveals there are five distinct types of women in business. Each one has a unique approach to running a business – and therefore each one has a unique combination of needs. This article outlines three of the five types and provides some advice for continued success and satisfaction as they enter 2010.

Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.

Jane Dough’s success – both financially and in her satisfactory work-life balance – makes her what many consider “a natural born entrepreneur.” Her business brings in enough revenue to support her chosen lifestyle, and most Jane Doughs report waking up excited about running their businesses on any given day. For success on an even greater scale, though, Jane Dough may want to consider this New Year’s Resolution:

Slow Down. Because of her focus on sustaining high levels of growth in the future, Jane Dough often relies heavily on the systems she put in place to streamline her business, while she carries on with marketing the company and executing her own next steps. Here are some ways that slowing down to examine those systems and to put new ones in place can help her to reach her vision faster and more efficiently:

• Communicate the vision to the team. By scheduling semi-annual business planning retreats with members of her team, Jane Dough will be forced to analyze her vision and to map out her course of action for the next six months. Slowing down enough (even twice a year) to compare the business’ performance to the business goals is essential in keeping the business and the team on track.
• Ask team members to document each step of their systems. Getting everything down on paper – to the smallest detail – ensures that a business owner is cognizant of exactly how each task is completed. If Jane Dough can slow down long enough to analyze all the systems her team members use, she may find places to streamline or reorganize, creating better overall efficiency. Also, having systems documented makes them available to new team members if an existing one is out sick or leaves the company.
• Conduct regular performance reviews — especially if team members work from different geographical locations. It’s critical that Jane Dough take the time to acknowledge her team members’ hard work and accomplishments, and to uncover and deal with any team issues that go on while she’s working on the visionary details she so loves. Regular performance reviews in which a business owner not only acknowledges employees’ contributions and gives them advice on areas for improvement, but also asks for feedback, will add motivation and efficiency to a business that is already on the right track.

Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, and one who tends to be struggling with cash flow. As a result, she’s working longer hours, and making less money than she’d like. Nevertheless, Tenacity Jane is bound and determined to make her business a success. At 31% of women in business, Tenacity Janes are the largest group of female entrepreneurs.

Many Tenacity Jane business owners feel frustrated and dissatisfied with the way their businesses are performing financially. They spend long hours working for much less money than they’d like to earn. Tenacity Jane can make 2010 the year things turn around by combining the following advice with the passion that renders her admirable to all those who know her:

Get to the bottom of it. Five main reasons exist for why a business owner would end up in the Tenacity Jane category: she has limited business experience, the business started undercapitalized and isn’t currently making enough to make up for that debt, she doesn’t charge enough for her product or service, she wants to accomplish too much all at once, or something beyond her control has changed in her industry or cost structure. While examining the business concept and the business model and determining whether any changes there could produce more profit is essential, Tenacity Jane should also take a look at herself to determine what action she can take to see the results she wants in 2010:

• Examine mindset. While Tenacity Jane shows considerable courage, tenacity and wherewithal, she may harbor some (mis)beliefs about herself or the world that make it difficult for her to succeed or take action the way she wants to. For example, she may believe she has to keep her prices low or no one will hire her. She may feel afraid to sell her product or service because she believes nobody likes “pushy” salespeople. She may believe she has to do whatever a client asks her to, or she’ll lose that client. If these kinds of thoughts trouble a Tenacity Jane, she can use a replacement technique to change her mindset – and allow herself to take action that leads to success: rather than believing she has to keep her prices low.

For example, she can replace that thought with: “I am good at what I do, and my work is worth more than I’m charging. People will be willing to pay for the high quality of work they’ll get when they work with me.”

• Examine habits. Some habits can be harmful to a business and just as harmful to a business owner. These include procrastination of completing tasks that feel uncomfortable or unpleasant (paying the bills or making collection calls), doing everything alone without asking for help, or lowering prices when someone complains. Instead, a Tenacity Jane may consider concrete tactics to prevent these damaging habits. Create a schedule for completing unpleasant tasks – sit down with the bills, invoices or collection notices once a week, without fail. Measure customer satisfaction regularly, even if it’s with a monthly e-mail questionnaire.
• Examine environment. Both physically and emotionally, environment affects energy. It can be draining and exhausting, or it can be calming and revitalizing. Get rid of clutter in the workspace. Avoid spending time with people who create bad energy – and if that’s not possible, limit the time and topics available. Working in a clutter-free, positive environment can do wonders for mood, productivity and overall satisfaction.

Go Jane Go is passionate about her work and provides excellent service, so she has plenty of clients – so much so, she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle to say, “no”. Because she wants to say “yes” to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged and feeling guilty about neglecting herself and others who are important to her.

Because Go Jane Go is passionate about helping others, she often neglects herself. But everything – life, work and the business – will be more satisfactory with a little time built in to address her own needs and desires. While Go Jane Go is financially successful and loves what she does, she often feels overwhelmed, takes her business troubles personally, and demands exceedingly more of herself despite being in-demand, respected, and sought after as a professional. To make 2010 less overwhelming and more satisfactory, Go Jane Go can follow this advice:

Make her own needs a priority. Between striving to provide her customers with the very best service she can, giving hours of her time as a volunteer, and participating as fully as possible in family activities, Go Jane Go feels stretched thin. It’s possible to prioritize, organize – and feel satisfied! Here’s how:

• Get clear on personal desires and how they can co-exist with all other demands (self-imposed and customer-driven). Examine whether personal priorities align with current responsibilities. Take some time out to think about what life would look like “living the dream.” Create a vision board – a collage of images and words – that serve as a reminder of what is truly important, whether it’s family time, personal time, or providing exceptional customer service.
• Put “me time” and “unplug time” on the calendar. Literally. Schedule into the weekly calendar time to relax, or time to eat lunch with a favorite person at a favorite restaurant. Go Jane Go promises herself she’ll take “me time” when work slows down, but because she often adds more and more work to her calendar, that “me time” doesn’t happen. Similarly, Go Jane Go rarely takes time out, where she is completely unavailable for work-related issues. It’s important to force herself to do so, or she may burn out. Taking time out to relax and focus on herself can revitalize and invigorate Go Jane Go, making her work time more efficient and her work-life balance more satisfactory.
• Say “yes” – in her own way. Go Jane Go has a tough time saying, “no,” especially to long-term clients who she really wants to help. To gain a better work-life balance, though, she must start saying “yes” on her own terms. If her calendar’s full this week, for example, she can tell a client she can’t start his project until next week. If a new project seems like too much at the moment, she can recommend another great service provider. Clients will respect her for her honesty as a businessperson.

One beautiful aspect of owning a business is the excitement in looking toward the future and the exhilaration in making improvements year after year. By following the preceding advice, every business owner can strike a work-life balance that is rich in satisfaction and further opportunity.

Research by Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, has revealed there are five distinct types of women in business. Each of these five types has unique approach to running a business – and as a consequence, each of them has a unique combination of characteristics and factors. This article profiles three of the Jane “types” and the different ways they may handle cash flow issues.

Go Jane Go is a successful business owner with plenty of clients – but she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying “no”. Because she wants to “say yes” to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged or sometimes feel guilty about the list of goals not yet achieved.

Although Go Jane Go feels totally competent when it comes to running her business, a slowdown in cash flow can occur when Go Jane Go is not paying enough attention to money. She may be behind in sending bills because getting the work done seems more important. Or she may be reluctant to raise the money issue with clients who are late in paying, because she doesn’t want them to be embarrassed or to create conflict in the relationship.

Here are some things Go Jane Go should know when faced with cash flow challenges:

• Clients want to pay. Your clients value and respect you and they want to pay you well for the work you’ve done. In fact, as a Go Jane Go, you may have even had clients offer to pay you MORE than you asked, because they can see how much you go above and beyond. Relationships are a two-way street, and your clients want to help you succeed. So, give them the outlet by billing them in a timely manner so they can uphold their half of the bargain.

• Not billing and not reminding also cause relationship problems. By not sending invoices in a timely manner or by not following up on overdue payments, you may well be causing an internal problem for your customer as well. If they are corporate types, they may get in a tangle with their accounting departments if they submit bills from you too late. And, if they are smaller businesses or consumers, a forgotten invoice can cause cash flow problems on their end, as they scramble to find the money to pay you. Take good care of them by keeping your financial house in order and helping them do the same.

• You don’t have to do this alone. One of the easiest jobs to outsource is bookkeeping. And those experts are better at the task than you probably are. If your books are a mess, bite the bullet and admit it. And even if your books are in great shape – get help. You have a unique gift to share with the world and you maximize your ability to do so when you delegate other tasks. Best yet, your bookkeeper can follow up on late invoices too – just give them a system for how to do it so it is in keeping with your (probably gentle) values.

Merry Jane This entrepreneur is usually building a part-time or “flexible time” business that gives her a creative outlet (whether she’s an ad agency consultant or she makes beautiful artwork) that she can manage within specific constraints around her schedule. She may have a day-job, or need to be fully present for family or other pursuits. She realizes she could make more money by working longer hours, but she’s happy with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments.

Merry Jane usually has an income other than that her business provides, so business cash flow challenges may not be as difficult of an issue, per se. However, many Merry Janes do wish their businesses made more money. In order for that to happen, money has to become a focal point for Merry Jane, rather than simply waiting and watching how business growth evolves. Even as cash flow becomes a priority, however, it’s imperative for Merry Jane’s happiness that more money does not mean more work – her life balance is too important.

A few things Merry Jane should consider if she sees her cash flow slow down:

• A little attention could go a long way. Think about WHY cash flow is slow. Has there been a downturn in sales in the business? Have you invested in materials, equipment, or software that will help make money in the long run but are chewing up available cash in the short-term? Until you know whether the problem is slow revenue or high costs, you won’t know the strategy to fix it.

• If revenue is slow, leverage your connections, both on and offline. Finding new clients is often the toughest aspect of business for Merry Jane. Reach out to your existing customers with a plan that gives them more of what they want while also helps you grow your base. Think about the upcoming holidays – can you make an attractive offer that gets them to buy gifts from you? Or, maybe your business lends itself naturally to referral. If so, what “Thank You” gift can you give them when they find you another customer?

• If costs are high, it’s time to plan. Stop spending temporarily and map out how many sales you need to cover the costs of the equipment, materials, or software you bought and make it all worth it. Turn this into a game; play with the numbers. And as you calculate how many sales you need to make your costs pay off, keep in mind that you can also raise your rates! It’s fun to watch the number of sales go down as your price per sale goes up. Balance it all – the fair price for your product or service, the number of sales you need, and the amount of money you wish to have flowing in each month to arrive at a plan that works for your business and your lifestyle.

Accidental Jane is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business, but may have ended up with one due to frustration with her job or a layoff and decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have started making something that served her own unmet needs and found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Although Accidental Jane may sometimes struggle with prioritizing what she needs to do next in her business, she enjoys what she does and is making good money. About 18% of all women business owners fit the Accidental Jane profile.

Although Accidental Jane didn’t necessarily set out to start a business, she now finds herself full-swing into entrepreneurship and everything that goes with it. So she may feel unprepared to face cash flow issues.

Because Accidental Jane is successful, and overall has just the amount of work she desires, cash flow issues are most likely to result from marketing peaks and valleys caused by Accidental Jane herself. A typical pattern for Accidental Jane is to network her way to a sufficient amount of work. Then, when she’s happily working, she’ll stop actively marketing her business, only to realize as the work draws to a close, that she needs to start marketing again.

Therefore, Accidental Jane’s key to avoiding cash flow issues is to find ways to keep her marketing efforts running at a continual, low level. This will iron out the peaks and valleys so the work flow is more steady. Accidental Jane can get creative with this, making it a game to develop creative marketing approaches in her business that require little time on her part. This might include developing an effective referral system, launching a weekly “tips” email to keep awareness of her business high, running periodic “specials” during the off-season, etc. Best of all, with simple, systematized campaigns, Accidental Jane can recruit part-time help to make sure the marketing is happening even while she’s enjoying the work she loves to do.

Every business owner can learn from Go Jane Go, Merry Jane and Accidental Jane when it comes to cash flow problems. A variety of techniques exist for dealing with slowing cash flow, and each one provides some help for entrepreneurs who want to keep their businesses in the black.

A new study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, recently revealed five distinct types of women in business. Each of these five types – each Jane – has a unique approach to running a business. As a consequence, each of them has a unique combination of characteristics and factors.

This article profiles two of those Jane “types” and the ways they may respond to a new opportunity.

Go Jane Go is passionate about her work, and has no problem marketing and selling herself, so she has plenty of clients — but she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying “no”. Because she wants to “say yes” to so many opportunities, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. During the worst of times, Go Jane Go may tend to run herself ragged or feeling guilty about all the things on her “to do list” that aren’t getting done quickly enough to satisfy her exacting demands.

Although, as a Go Jane Go, you might be tempted to take on any new opportunity because you know you’re good at multitasking and you feel obligated to make it work, wait! Think about whether you really want to get into a new venture and all that comes with it.

• Because you’re so good at what you do and you know all the fine details of your business and how it runs, you have a hard time delegating sometimes. If you know you’re going to take on this new opportunity and then feel overwhelmed because you won’t feel comfortable assigning any of your workload to someone else, maybe this isn’t the time to do it.

• Because you’re such a hard worker and demand perfection from yourself, you work long hours. Do you have the time to deal with any new activities this opportunity will undoubtedly create? Before you accept this challenge, use some of your valuable time to determine whether the new opportunity is realistically feasible, given your time constraints. Especially, consider the cost to yourself in accepting the new assignment – will you push yourself to your breaking point? If so, it’s OK to let the opportunity gracefully pass you by – because of who you are, there’s undoubtedly another right around the corner.

• If it turns out that the new opportunity will work with your calendar, commit to delegating wherever possible – and make sure you’re also taking care of yourself in the process.

Accidental Jane is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business. Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have started making something that served her own unmet needs and found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Accidental Jane enjoys what she does and is creating a satisfactory level of income.

Taking on a new opportunity as an Accidental Jane may mean transitioning into a different Jane type (often Jane Dough or Go Jane Go). That means making your business more of a focus in your life. Before saying yes, determine if that’s what you really want.

• A new opportunity may mean putting more time into your business. As an Accidental Jane, your lifestyle is very important to you. Does this opportunity threaten that lifestyle?

• If the opportunity is very appealing to you, ask the question: How can you make it work on your terms? How can you structure the work so that it doesn’t impinge much on your time? Can you let go of something else or can you delegate part of this work?

• Further, ask yourself: Am I charging as much as I could? Accidental Jane may sometimes be a little out of touch with her industry going-rates. As workload and opportunities creep up, she should continually think about increasing rates to make the work more profitable.

• Finally, if new opportunities get you excited, start building your company for the long-term vision so that you can maintain your lifestyle while also taking on more work. Envision how your company might look in three years if you say yes to the kinds of opportunity you are facing now. If what you see in your vision excites you, begin building a plan that will help you manage that future business without letting it take over your life. If what you see doesn’t excite you, because you are simply happy and content with your business as it stands today, then be prepared to say no to opportunity at least occasionally.

Whether you’re a Go Jane Go or an Accidental Jane, it’s important to know what you’ll do when you’re presented with an opportunity. Explore all the implications and possibilities – then decide whether you want to take this opportunity and deal with the outcomes.

Ronnie’s company, Never Too Late for Love,helps women 35+ understand how dating works today to have greater success and find the love they want. She teaches workshops, coach one on one and in groups and has created audio programs such as I Believe in Love and I’m So Alluring. Ronnie has worked with over 1,500 people to successfully help them jumpstart or accelerate their search for love. She is a regular co-host of WNRI’s radio show, Networking Singles, and has been featured on FOX 61, Sally Jesse Raphael Radio, MSN.com, MORE.com as well as a variety of other print, broadcast and web articles in the US and the UK.

Ronnie began her business when she woke up on my 40th birthday – still single. “This made me depressed,” Ronnie says, “but I thought the best thing to do was to get used to the idea since I had no evidence to the contrary that I would find a mate. After a few months, I decided that there must be something I could do to change my status.”

Ronnie created a program to open her heart and to get on the path to meeting men – and she did – dating 30 men in 15 months. Her husband was lucky number 30. “We’ve been happily married for nine years,” Ronnie says. “No one ever thought I’d get married. Even two astrologers said it wasn’t in the stars. So I figured, if I could figure out the dating scene and find love, anyone can do it! I had many single girlfriends and thought I could really help other single women like myself to find the love they want and deserve.”

Ronnie’s biggest rewards are her clients who have found love and those who have even gotten married. She has learned that not everyone wants to marry, but getting a thank you note from them or a wedding invitation is “the biggest thrill” for her.

After taking the Which Jane Are You? Assessment, Ronnie has discovered she is a Go Jane Go. She says it fits her as, “Like my title, I go go go. I never stop having new ideas of where to promote myself and what to talk about. I love coming up with new programs, audio’s workshops, book ideas, blogging etc. This is a highly creative endeavor which gives me a wonderful opportunity for self-expression and to have a voice. I have opened for a theatre company, been on radio and TV, have been interviewed by magazines – even one in England. I want to reach as many women as possible who want to find love to help make their dream come true.”

For all Go Jane Gos, Ronnie advises to, ”Take time for you. I’m very good with setting boundaries, which helps me a lot. I take time off just to relax and think or not think. Also – plan, plan, plan. Know what you need to do to market yourself – write it down and follow through. I set monthly goals – it helps me keep going. And I’m in a couple of mastermind groups which is great for additional ideas and support. I was once an Accidental Jane. My other business, marketing consulting and writing, was started after a lay off when my colleagues who had taken other positions in consulting groups would call me in to help get their work done.”

This was the start of my long-term freelance business – I’ve been on my own since 1990.

As I’ve been thinking about honoring who you are as a woman business owner, I keep feeling my heart tugged back to Oprah’s Best Life Week show in January, in which she talked about having gained 40 pounds. (You can watch snippets of the show here)

Millions of people watched that show and were incredibly moved by it. As always, Oprah was authentic and very real, but she showed her vulnerability in a way she never has before. And this is a lesson for all of us – that “no matter where you go, there you are.” You can’t get away from the essential “you” – the “you” who came to this human experience and has faced certain challenges and who may have to overcome the same (annoying, maddening, frustrating) obstacle over and over again. So the best thing to do is to love and appreciate yourself and then commit to just keep climbing over it, going around it, breaking through it as many times as it takes to wrest your life back.

It was while watching this show that I realized Oprah is most assuredly a Go Jane Go. (Curious about your type? Take our assessment at www.janeoutofthebox.com.)

Why do I know Oprah is a Go Jane Go? Because Go Jane Go is the kind of woman who is so focused on taking care of everyone else (in her business and in the rest of her life too) that she can struggle to find time to take care of herself. As women, most of us have that caretaker inside of us, but Go Jane Go also has an insatiable drive to push herself hard and fast and far. She’s an amazing combination of qualities, but when those two characteristics of drive and giving get out of control, Go Jane Go can find herself in a very dark place. In the stress and the burden of having too much on her plate, she may even be mentally justifying why she doesn’t have time or doesn’t deserve to take care of herself.

Here are some of the clues to Oprah’s Go Jane Go-ness from the episode. In her own words:

• “I started getting overwhelmed.”
• “When you see me gain weight, it is not about me pigging out. It is always about, my life is out of balance. Anybody who struggles with a weight issue, it is about what you’re really hungry for. It’s not about the food.”
• “I took myself off of my own list and literally, if there was enough time in the week left over from everybody else’s appointments with me, then I would take that time for myself. And as it turned out, there never was any time left over.”
• “There was a time I was so exhausted, because I’m watching the clock all night long, not really sleeping, that you know, because many a day I didn’t want to come into work, because I’m so TIRED.”
• “Too much work, not enough play, not enough time to come down, not enough time to really relax. So, it’s about balance. So when I ask myself what am I hungry for, I am hungry for balance. I am hungry to do something other than work.”

For Go Jane Go, life may often be like this – the essential search for balance. You swing too far in one direction, and you have to keep bringing yourself back. Oprah is bringing herself back in a big, public way. She’s recruited the entire world’s support in helping her stay on track through accountability, and in doing so she has inspired anew so many women who need to lose weight or who just have created a life that allows no room for taking care of self. I applaud her efforts, I believe in her ability to succeed, just as I believe in all of us and our ability to do so, if we will just choose to take action.

If you’re a Go Jane Go, what’s the bottom line? Follow in Oprah’s footsteps. As she shared, “So one of the first things I decided to do to make myself a priority this year was to put myself back on my to do list. So the bottom line lesson for me, and I think for so many of you, is you’ve got to put yourself back on your own priority list.”

Do it. You’re at least as important as everyone else you’re taking care of. And the truth is, the more you take care of yourself, the more energy and love you have to give to the many other people relying on you, in business and in life.