Sharon has been preparing to own this business for much of her life. Since the age of 14, Sharon has developed her passion for healthy living and has continuously developed her knowledge in integrated wellness. “I felt that the current health care system was not benefiting the public on ‘How to stay well’ but were only providing sick care,” said Sharon. “My philosophy is that healthy living is something you should never give up.”

To encourage her clients, she asks them to reward themselves by taking one day at a time, and every day at sunset, enjoy the success and celebrate each step the take towards their goals. She finds a similar reward for owning her own business. “I feel great at the end of every meeting I have with a clinic, and I smile at the end of every phone consultation,” said Sharon.

After taking the Which Jane Are You? free assessment at JaneOutoftheBox.com , Sharon discovered that she is a Merry Jane. “I MUST be very excited and always have clarity on what I am doing simply because of the subject matter which is your health,” said Sharon. “Unfortunately people don’t care about wellness they come to me after being diagnosed with illness. My ultimate goal is to develop and maintain wellness camps around the globe.”

Her advice to other Merry Janes? “When you find your joy declining, step back and analysis when and why it changed,” said Sharon.

A new study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, recently 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 hiring the wrong person on a team and all that comes with it.

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 to say “no”. Because she wants to support 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.

Because Go Jane Go takes her work very personally, she may let herself obsess over her bad hire. Here are some of her possible reactions to hiring the wrong person, and some things she can think about to make the best of the situation:

• Guilt. Go Jane Go is a people person, and wants her team to be happy. If she hires the wrong person, she may feel guilty about letting him go and wonder what she, herself, has done to contribute to the difficulties.

• Tips for dealing with Guilt: In this case, Go Jane Go needs to separate the personal from the professional. She has a responsibility to the long-term health of her business – and herself! Having a team member who just doesn’t fit often brings morale down, so removing that team member often will get everyone else back on track. And in the long run, the terminated team member may even feel grateful for valuable lessons learned.

• Harder Work. Because Go Jane Go tends to avoid confrontation, she may start working harder to make up for whatever her new team member lacks, even taking back some or all of the work that she delegated to him.

• Tips for avoiding Harder Work: Conduct a thorough analysis of whether the new team member will be able to do the job. If the problems are attitude, mindset, or competency, the situation will not improve with time. Have a thorough, objective performance review with the team member. Although this may feel confrontational, by keeping the conversation focused on objective job performance criteria, Go Jane Go will help her bad hire see what is lacking and put him on notice that performance must improve. Following this conversation, Go Jane Go may be surprised to find herself feeling lighter – and with more time on her hands.

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 overall with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments.

Although Merry Jane values her relationships, both with her clients and with her team members, she also values the fun she’s having with her business and the time she spends away from it, fulfilling other responsibilities. Therefore, if hiring the wrong person becomes a distraction for Merry Jane, she won’t have a problem letting him go. Here are some of Merry Jane’s possible reactions to hiring the wrong person:

• Lack of Awareness. Because Merry Jane has so many other priorities in her life, she will hire team members who can do what they need to do without much guidance. She probably won’t be hovering while they’re working, so she may not notice she’s hired the wrong person until the situation has snowballed.

• Tips for dealing with Lack of Awareness: When Merry Jane hires someone, she should provide very clear performance expectations and check in periodically to see how the new team member is doing. Ask them to provide weekly status updates on progress that can be quickly and easily read and check regularly to ensure things are on track. If they are not, course corrections, including replacing the team member, are easily done early in the process.

• A Clean Break. Merry Jane loves her business because she’s set it up for maximum efficiency, using systems to get the work done well. If a new hire is not performing well, it’s important for Merry Jane’s precious time that she make a quick, clean break.

• Tips for making a Clean Break: Upon receiving weekly status reports, determine whether course-correction is needed. If so, meet with the team member to explain the gaps and notify him of the corrections that need to be made and in what timeframe. Reaffirm the objectives of the position and schedule time to meet again for another review. Timing will be dependent on the nature of the work, but convene in the shortest possible time period during which performance can be expected to have improved (typically 1 week to 1 month). If improvements are insufficient, part ways by clearly articulating the importance of the missed objectives and the areas where expectations were not met.

Accidental Jane

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. 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.

Tired of corporate politics, Accidental Jane relishes the opportunity to be on her own, and therefore, is slow to hire outside help. When she does so, she may find that a lack of documented systems may trip up her ability to bring someone on board effectively and quickly. Although she knows exactly how she likes the work done, the process steps may not be as apparent to someone new. Here are some of Accidental Jane’s possible reactions:

• Frustration. Accidental Jane may have hired a person she considered ideal but may feel frustrated with the results because the team member is not executing the work the way Accidental Jane does.

• Tips for Dealing with Frustration: Make sure it’s the person, not the process. Have a candid conversation with the team member, focusing the discussion specifically on whether he feels clear about the tasks at hand. Have him describe his perceptions of the assignment. This will often give Accidental Jane an excellent opportunity to uncover miscommunications and misunderstandings regarding the work.

• Managing effectively. Sometimes team members need more guidance to improve their performance.

• Tips for Managing Effectively: Schedule regular check-ins with your team members. If you have more than one, consider a group call where you can meet with the entire team at once. Further, have team members document their own systems. Whenever performance challenges occur, review the documented process first to uncover any flaws. If the process is correct, Accidental Jane can then easily and professionally release a team member who is not following the agreed-upon process.

Once a business owner has gone through the entire hiring process, from advertising to interviewing to hiring to training, it can be disappointing if it’s just not a good match. Whether the chemistry isn’t there, the team member misrepresented their skills or the job turns out to be different than he expected and it just isn’t working out, sometimes a business owner needs to be the one to end the relationship before it causes too much damage to a business. Although Go Jane Go, Merry Jane and Accidental Jane may handle the end differently, every business owner can learn from their reactions so the end is as painless as possible.

After taking the Which Jane Are You? free assessment at www.janeoutofthebox.com , Sherry discovered that she is a Tenacity Jane. “Wow was this so accurate,” said Sherry. “It is my situation in a nutshell. I wish I would have had the chance to take this assessment earlier in life as it brought to light a few things that I did not realize are not really my fault. It has to do with who I am! I am struggling with cash flow and other concerns in my business because of the fact I often forget about the money end of things. I have so much passion for what I am doing and building and so many ideas I want to implement that the money part does not seem to take front seat. It affects my stress level because the cash flow is not there and I cannot do all the things I want to do and make available to my clients.”

“The best piece of advice I have for other Tenacity Janes,” said Sherry, “would be to realize your strengths and find people to help you with the other tasks that may not come as easy to you, especially getting organized. Use the talents you have with passion. The only other Jane that I have been is Accidental Jane. I had an idea and ended up sharing with someone because it just came up in conversation. We ended up going for it and I ended up in the perfect business for me and now run it fulltime!”

A new study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on female entrepreneurs, recently revealed 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 characteristics and factors.

This article profiles three important Jane “types” and the ways they are likely to respond when opportunity shows up on their doorstep.

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.

Opportunity is a guest Jane Dough will carefully consider. Sure, she’ll open the door, but she’ll give Opportunity a good once-over before letting it in. Because she’s business-minded and pragmatic, she will look at all the angles before deciding whether this particular opportunity is one she wants to be closer to.

If you’re a Jane Dough, you should think about a few things while making your careful assessment:

• You’re a big picture kind of girl. You might see an opportunity and know it will fit in, in the grand scheme of things. But before you give the go-ahead in your quick and business-like manner, be careful to analyze exactly how it will fit in to the rest of your system.

• Ask yourself, “Even if this opportunity will make my business even more successful, will taking it allow me to continue to focus on what I want to focus on at work?” In short, evaluate not just the opportunity, but the timing as well. Jane Dough works best in a very focused manner, so it’s important not to allow a new opportunity to become a distraction for you and your team. If you’re already working on a big project, it might be best to re-negotiate timing so you can maximize your effectiveness with both opportunities.

Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, but who tends to be struggling with cash flow. As a result, she’s working long 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 single Jane type.

Tenacity Jane LOVES Opportunity because she is seeking the key(s) to helping her financially struggling business become more profitable so she can rest easier. That said, it’s important to realize that not every gift horse should be allowed in the door. When faced with a new opportunity, Tenacity Jane can consider the following:

• Sometimes what looks like Opportunity is just trouble in disguise. Before you proceed with something new, take the time to analyze whether the opportunity has significant potential to deliver the income you’re looking for, and what will be required for that to occur. Map out your plan and examine feasibility before diving in with both feet.

• Consider your current projects and workload. How will the new opportunity fit in? Will it disrupt fledgling efforts you have underway already to improve the finances in your business? If so, it might be better to put the new opportunity on hold until the work you have currently underway begins to bear fruit.

• Finally, consider the costs of the opportunity. What will it cost you in terms of time, and importantly, money? Before pursuing any new opportunity, make sure you have sufficient resources to fully take advantage of it. If it would require an investment in building a new website, for example, and you don’t have the money to do so, the opportunity will not pay out the way you hoped. Again, it might be worth postponing slightly, until you can marshal more resources to truly make the most of it.

Merry Jane. This entrepreneur tends to be “building a business on the side”—in addition to a day-job, or a focus on family or other pursuits. She doesn’t have a high personal income from her business, but she also tends to be working less than 40 hours a week, and she loves the freedom her business affords her.

For Merry Jane, being a successful woman means multi-tasking well and having a smoothly running life. It also means having the freedom and flexibility to do what she wants when she wants. Merry Jane is enjoying herself and her business overall due to the freedom she enjoys so she will want to examine any new opportunity to decide whether it threatens her work/life balance or whether it will deliver sufficient profitability to allow her to make even better money while preserving her time freedom. When opportunity comes knocking, Merry Jane can as herself the following questions to ensure she chooses her course wisely:

• How much time will this opportunity take (in hours per week and overall duration)? Is this an investment of time I am willing to make? What might I be able to let go of to free up more time?

• Will this opportunity fit into my existing systems or am I going to have to invent new ways of doing things to take advantage of this? If it will take a change in the way I work, is it worth it?

• Will I enjoy this work? Overall, Merry Jane loves her work and her business and any new opportunity should be equally or more enjoyable than the work she does today to ensure her continued happiness.

• If the answer to all of the above results in a continued desire to pursue the opportunity, Merry Jane can then ask herself … What can I do to make this new opportunity even more profitable? A key opportunity for Merry Jane is to increase her personal income through her business, so this is always a great question when embarking on a new project.

Whether you’re a Jane Dough, a Tenacity Jane or a Merry Jane, deciding whether to invite a new opportunity in requires quite a bit of consideration. Each type of female entrepreneur should identify the myriad ways the opportunity may affect her, and then make the decision about whether to accept it. One of the greatest joys of owning your own business is the freedom to choose – so choose what’s right for you!

The reason she started her business was “simple,” said Angela. “I wanted freedom, flexibility and variety. I was bored to tears working an 8 – 6 job, even though I was good at it. I had run a small pet sitting business while I was finishing my degree and loved creating relationships with my clients and their pets and giving outstanding service. I also liked feeling in control of my schedule, setting my own rates, and deciding how I wanted things to be done. I am so proud of myself for my successes and the life I’ve created. I find satisfaction every single day helping my clients to be less stressed out, more in control, and happier in THEIR work.”

Angela discovered through the Which Jane Are You? assessment that she is a Jane Dough. “It’s a perfect assessment because in the last six months, I have fully come to the realization that I want to create a business that will eventually run without me,” said Angela. “That will allow me to create a lifestyle, financial freedom, and success. I want to be able to train others, to provide jobs, and to really create a business that helps other business owners to systematize, organize, and feel more in control.” Her challenges as a Jane Dough include becoming that person who not only runs the business, but also the person who can successfully grow it into Phase II, articulate the vision for what she can do for clients, do it well, and repeat. She is learning so much about running a business, and in that process has determined that “it is more than just me.”

She advises other Jane Dough to reach out for help. “Remember that you can’t do it alone. Have a support team focusing on the back office processes while you focus on creating great content, value added programs, and needed products for your current and future clients. It’s all about mentors, coaches, education, and focus. INVEST in yourself as a business owner. Learn all you can about cash flow management, marketing, selling, systems and processes, and delegation. Coaches and mentors are wonderful for support and most importantly, accountability. Growing a business can be scary because you are kicked out of your comfort zone in order to grow. But I find it to be so worth it (or at least so worth it four out of five times)! ?”

“I used to be a Merry Jane,” said Angela. “Life was simple. I was making plenty of money to support my lifestyle, had enough clients that I loved, enough work I enjoyed, and took lots of time off. However, I slowly got bored with doing the ‘work-work’ and wanted to see how I could grow. I began to chafe and feel like I was coasting – that I more potential that I wasn’t even tapping into. I use the analogy that right now my life and business are like a snow globe – I’ve shaken everything up and interested to see how it all settles out.”

As a former public school teacher from the Washington, D.C. area, Lily had experienced the best and the worst in presentations – including her own and others. After attending a seminar with an obviously talented professional who had a valuable message and couldn’t get it across effectively, Lily says she “felt a surge of inspiration. It was a combination of compassion and the ‘old’ teacher in me – if that presenter had known more, he would have probably gotten more business from it because I could see that he knew his business.”

Lily has a strong desire for a satisfying, rewarding career — for both personal fulfillment as well as financial reward. “When I was a full-time teacher, I was often frustrated by my heavy work load and low pay,” said Lily. “Once I was married and had children of my own, the idea of going back to my own classroom during the day and taking care of my family at night and on weekends felt way too draining to justify. As a teacher managing my own classroom, I loved to be creative, work with students, solve problems and be my own boss. Now I get to do the same as an entrepreneur but on my own schedule.”

“I love the fact that I created this business all on my own,” Lily said, “not to mention the fact that I’m also helping other people solve their problems with communicating to large groups! It’s like my fourth child.”

After taking the Which Jane Are You? assessment, Lily believes that the Merry Jane profile meets her current status. “I married an amazing guy and started a family later in life,” said Lily. “So even though I’m eager and anxious to get my business going full-blast, it’s a priority for me not to take the husband and children for granted. In my former career, I saw full well how quickly children grow, develop and permanently change over the course of a few years, so it’s important not to miss that time with them. Right now, my business is progressing slowly but steadily, which the competitive side of my personality finds frustrating, but I’m learning not to compare myself to others! The advice given to me as a Merry Jane was apt, especially the segments on organizing my time for maximum efficiency. “ Lily believes that she was an Accidental Jane when she first started out, but she aspires to be a Jane Dough someday.

Lily has great advice for other Merry Janes, “Organize your time, don’t compare yourself to others who don’t have the time constraints you do, and don’t forget to relax and have a good time with your business!”

A new study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, recently 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 that impact how she reacts to different situations. This article profiles three of the Jane “types” and the different ways they may handle firing a client – which can be difficult on many levels.

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.

For Jane Dough, business is business. If a relationship isn’t working out, Jane Dough will end it – quickly and painlessly (for her). Because she is so clear in her priorities, if the results of a particular relationship aren’t lining up the way she wants them to, she’ll cut it off.

If you’re a Jane Dough, firing a “difficult” client won’t be personal. You won’t be upset about it, because you’d only fire a client if it wasn’t benefiting your business. You might even see the potential for staying friends with the client afterwards, because you’re very good at separating your business and personal lives.

Before you cut the cord, though, Jane Dough, make sure you really think about why the relationship isn’t working out. Perhaps the problem isn’t the client – there could be a flaw (big or small) in your system that makes it difficult for your businesses to serve them. work together. Or perhaps you’ve been moving too fast to give this client the proper amount of attention and their need for higher levels of service is the problem. In this case, instead of firing them, you might have an opportunity to up-sell them into a higher tier of service! You’re great at trusting the system you’ve created and the team you’ve put together. But when you’ve got a difficult client, and particularly if you have several, it’s worthwhile to take a closer look at what your company’s contribution to the dysfunction. After doing so, if you decide that, in fact, the problem is only on the client’s side of the equation, c hallenge yourself to be kind when you deliver the news. Not everyone is as direct as you are – and delivering bad news with grace can potentially turn a difficult situation into a positive experience of mutual understanding. Done well, “firing a client” can actually increase their respect for you and your company.

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.

As an Accidental Jane, you want to be in control of your own destiny, right? You are also a big believer in the importance of relationships in business. When you have a difficult client, you will take the time to think about the situation from multiple angles, considering whether the situation can be repaired, how it might be fixed, and the effort it will require to do so.

When the scenario is simply a poor fit or when the client is abusive, you will have no difficulty setting boundaries with them, establishing consequences, and ultimately parting ways. But when the client is a longer-term relationship that was successful in the past, letting the client go may be more difficult for you. This may happen in Accidental Jane’s relationships when demands for her services increase and she no longer has as much time available to serve a long-standing customer. Similarly, she may, out of loyalty, be offering better pricing to those who “gave her a chance” when she started. As her business increases and she raises her rates, she may find this good relationship no longer lucrative.

When this happens, be willing to have a candid conversation about what your business needs with your customer. When you outline what you need in order for the relationship to be a win/win, your client has the option to choose to meet your needs or not. If they are unable to do so, it is easier to part on amicable terms because they get to be a party to the decision.

Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, but 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 determined to make her business a success. At 31% of women business owners, Tenacity Janes are the largest single Jane type.

As her name implies, Tenacity Jane doesn’t want to give up. She may postpone firing a difficult client. She may worry about letting go of the revenue the customer represents and be concerned about whether or not she’ll be able to replace them. She may try a variety of different tactics to improve the situation, possibly overestimating her own contribution and blaming herself or having self-doubt. As a result, Tenacity Jane may attempt a variety of strategies to improve the situation, bending over backward – and some difficult clients will actually take advantage of that fact and abuse her sincere desire to provide a valuable product or service.

If you’re a Tenacity Jane it’s important to realize that difficult clients are not your fault! You should honestly assess the situation and then be willing to let go and move on. Many of the Tenacity Jane’s we’ve interviewed say that having the courage to fire a difficult client was a true turning point in their business and enabled them to move into a much more financially successful phase of their business.

No business owner wants to fire a client. It’s difficult to accept that something just isn’t working out. But sometimes all you can do is to get out, and it proves to be best for both parties involved. Whether you’re a Jane Dough, an Accidental Jane or a Tenacity Jane, when it’s time to professionally end a business relationship, know that you can do it – and you’ll be better off for it.

Here’s what Cheryl had to say:

I’ve run my own legal document preparation business for over 30 years. I began my career as a paralegal working for attorneys. I was even offered a full scholarship to law school by the large law firm I was working for, but I would have been stuck with them for over ten years and I could not face having them as co-workers, peers, and friends for the rest of my life. That law firm was huge and finessed monied clients. I knew that was not my purpose.

I wanted to do something for the “little guy” who couldn’t ordinarily afford or particularly need an attorney. So I checked all my state and local laws, hung my shingle as an “Independent Paralegal,” and have been helping people ever since. I can’t say our state bar association hasn’t tried to stop me, but thankfully, their attempts to wipe out the independents have not been very successful.

Although I help people with all types of legal forms preparation, my specialty is helping people start their own businesses. I do the incorporation, LLC, business plan, 501 documents for non-profits, and have also become a tax preparer. I’m not limited to my local area; I do this for people all over the country.

What I love most about my business besides empowering my clients is the freedom it provides. I had not taken a vacation for seven years because I was too concerned about all the money I would not make while on vacation in addition to what I spent on it. I finally came to realize after taking a few days to visit a friend in another state, that I was more effective having enjoyed some time away. Potential clients left messages (I had a vacation message on my voicemail) and I worked everyone in the following week. Yes, it was a busy week, but I had returned refreshed and far better able to handle the extra work, not to mention the money I made. I didn’t lose a client or a cent.

Now I take two or three vacations a year. I’m never gone for more than a week, but I’m taking baby steps. I’d love to visit family in England and I’d want to plan at least two or three weeks for that; so what if I lose a couple potential clients? There is nothing more valuable than expanding my knowledge, experience, and enjoyment of life, all made possible by running my own business.

Cheryl Smeed
Business Consultant
SmallBusinessCreation.com

She and her partner began Powerful You! in 2005. “My partner and I had already owned a successful and growing company for 8 years,” said Sue, “but it was no longer filling a basic need we had. As we entered our 40’s we felt a desire to assist female entrepreneurs, and all women, in a heart-felt and satisfying way that connected them to resources, each other and themselves.” Sue started her business for one reason, “Freedom. Freedom to choose who to do business with. Time freedom. Financial freedom. Freedom of mind, thoughts and actions.”

Sue has taken the Which Jane Are You? assessment and she is a Jane Dough. “I have a huge vision and I definitely plan to leave a legacy of sorts,” said Sue. “I wish my legacy to be one of empowering women and girls, helping people to take responsibility for their purpose and joy, and to be an example of philanthropy in action. I have grown a business to nearly $5 million in revenues, and I expect Powerful You! to greatly surpass this.”

As a person who inspires for a living, Sue’s advice for other Jane Doughs would be “that of persistence, passion, purpose and creating value. It seems so obvious that to succeed, you must simply keep moving forward and not give up. You may have to make some adjustments along the way as new ideas and people come into play; the key is to be flexible and keep moving forward. Do what you love and what makes your heart sing. If you don’t know what that is for you, I recommend meditation, writing in a gratitude journal everyday and working with a coach. Clarity of purpose is vital to success at any level. Also, never underestimate the power of feeling good about your vision and your journey. The moments and hours you spend on your business will be either the happiest or the most stressful – the choice is yours. Choose joy! The best way I know to be joyful about your work is to work towards your purpose and to create value for everyone who is touched by your business.”

Sue believes that she is a combination of 3 Janes: Jane Dough, Go Jane Go and Tenacity Jane. “As an entrepreneur for 20 years and having started and grown 3 businesses, including Powerful You!, I have experienced cash flow issues, the joys and difficulties of joint ventures and working crazy hours to meet commitments that I made,” said Sue. “Through it all, I knew that I could do anything if I simply stuck to it and believed in the beauty of my dream and vision. I have always considered personal development to be of utmost importance. As one of my favorite mentors, Brian Tracy says, ‘If you want to work on your business, you must first work on yourself.’ Also, I have always had a partner to work with that has made the journey easier, more abundant, more enjoyable and more worthwhile.

As we’ve seen, 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.

Overall, Jane Dough has a fairly pragmatic, business-minded approach to everything that happens in her business, so when she encounter a problem with a customer loss, she most likely won’t get flustered or panicked. Instead, she may take the attitude, “It’s just a business decision on their part. Customers come and go based on what they need. We have to stay focused on growth and not let this get to us.” In some ways, this pragmatism is very good, because it keeps Jane Dough from becoming distracted by one-off events so she can continue moving toward her big goal – growing a thriving and profitable business.

However, Jane Dough should monitor (or have someone on her team monitor) her company’s on-going customer retention rate. Also, she should have someone take the time to conduct an exit interview, if her departing customer is willing. Why? Because Jane Dough often will delegate work to other people, she may not immediately be aware of a systemic problem in the business. Let’s say, for example, that she starts tracking customer retention and learns that roughly 15% of customers don’t return and half of those are because product delivery takes too long. Jane Dough could work with her team to find ways to address delivery challenges to improve the process and retain more customers. But she’ll only know what to focus company efforts on if she’s tracking the reasons customers leave and the magnitude or rate at which they are leaving.

One other word about Jane Dough – if it turns out that customer defections are happening as a result of something her company has fallen short on, she may be the type of leader to become angry with the person responsible for managing the function where the breakdown occurred. I have seen several Jane Doughs react with a rapid, “Fire them!” mentality, thinking that the problem is the person, not the system. Although there are cases where the problem IS the person, it is also true that systems can be at fault. Before taking extreme personnel action, Jane Dough should carefully dissect the system itself, along with other processes that feed the system, first. This is the better way to understand how and where breakdowns are occurring and prevent the problem from arising again if a new person is hired to do the job.

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. 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.

Because Accidental Jane tends to have started a business based on her personal networks and through referrals, the loss of even a single client may be difficult for her. First, she may worry that she’s let someone down (either the client or the referrer) – and this may cause her to doubt herself or her abilities. Secondly, because Accidental Jane’s business is often dependent on deep relationships and word-of-mouth referrals, she may worry about the negative impact on the future of her business of losing a customer – because each customer may represent a significant chunk of her income.

Accidental Jane would do well to speak with this lost customer herself to understand their reason for departure. Because her relationships are often with personal contacts or strong referrals, she has a fair chance of reclaiming the customer with an open dialog. This may mean changing the way work gets done so that the customer’s needs are better met. But, following this discussion, Accidental Jane should process what she heard with her business mind, not her heart. Sometimes, customers are just a bad fit. Other times, she may make the decision that it’s not worth it to change her process to fit a particular clients’ needs. In the end, even a lost customer can turn into a potential referrer for Accidental Jane if these discussions are held in an open, honest manner where both sides walk away with renewed respect for each other, even if they have “agreed to disagree.”

Secondly, a lost customer should always serve to remind Accidental Jane to not put all her eggs in one basket but instead to keep her eye always scanning the horizon for potential new customers. Therefore, it may behoove her to develop specific marketing systems (such as email newsletters, systematized referral programs, affiliate networks, etc.) to help her continue building a steady list of prospective customers, even if she has no plan to work with them in the immediate future.

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

Because Tenacity Jane already tends to be struggling with cash flow, the loss of a client may be a substantial source of stress to her. She may wind up feeling that she needs to work even harder to gain and keep her clients. She may find the experience discouraging and not be certain what to do about it.

As with Jane Dough and Accidental Jane, Tenacity Jane would do well to speak with the lost customer candidly about what went wrong. Rather than doing so in an effort to “rescue” the customer, however, she should interview with her ears listening for the truths she can learn about her business. She should look for the clues that may help her understand why her business is not currently delivering the income she desires. Are there competitive pricing issues? If so, Tenacity Jane needs to understand how her competitors are able to deliver at a lower cost. Are there product, service, quality or delivery problems? If so, Tenacity Jane should listen carefully for opportunities to make improvements within the business itself. Is there a breakdown in communication such that customers expect something different than what is actually delivered? If so, Tenacity Jane should revisit her marketing and communication materials to see if they need to be clarified. In short, a lost customer can be a wonderful learning opportunity that provides the exact information to help Tenacity Jane’s entire business improve.

Next week, we’ll continue this article by looking at how Go Jane Go and Merry Jane would handle this issue.