When Emily Tisdale started her Fishers consulting firm five years ago, she said she felt like “a fish out of water.”
“The first two years were just … interesting,” Tisdale said. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
But as she found her sea legs and learned the ins and outs of running a successful company, Tisdale stopped to reflect on how she’d gotten to that point.
Female entrepreneurs face a slew of barriers, which have been analyzed in the 2015 Female Entrepreneurship Index by the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute.
“Formal institutions or cultural conditions create additional barriers for women that make it more difficult to start or grow a business enterprise,” the Index says. “For example, women may face diminished legal rights … or restrictions on their activities outside of the home or on their ability to travel within their communities, outside their communities, or outside the country.
“In addition, this combination of gendered attitudes, social norms, and beliefs can result in more limited access to resources critical for ‘high potential’ female entrepreneurship development such as education, skills, and finance.”
The Index looks at 77 countries to analyze strengths and weaknesses in terms of providing favorable conditions for female entrepreneurship. Each country is then assigned a score from 1–100.
The United States ranked at the top, with a score of 82.9, but the Index authors stressed there is still progress to be made. One of the lowest scores on the U.S. analysis was whether potential female entrepreneurs know another entrepreneur, someone who could serve as a resource or potential mentor.
Tisdale said though she faced barriers starting her company, she was fortunate to know people who could help.
“I was really lucky to have a group of girlfriends who happened to be business owners that I could call and talk to,” Tisdale said. “It all came down to being able to come to other women and them saying, ‘Yeah I’ll absolutely give you advice.’”
With the realization of the impact woman-to-woman business networking had on her own company, Tisdale set out to make sure other women entrepreneurs could always access the same resource, from any place and at any time.
Thus, the online community LEAP for Women — Leadership, Empowerment, Aspiration and Purpose for Women — was created.
Tisdale had two team members by her side while creating LEAP, and together they began to look at existing women’s groups to avoid replicating efforts and to see what was missing.
“For us, the biggest piece that I saw missing when I started this was meeting women online, because that’s where they are,” Tisdale said.
Tisdale said many existing groups offer resources that could be difficult for women entrepreneurs to take advantage of, such as lunchtime seminars. Women with day jobs who dream of starting their own business often don’t have time to work on those dreams until “third shift,” after the workday and the household duties have been taken care of, Tisdale said.
Another benefit of being an online community is the possibility for people from across the country to take advantage of the resources and offer their own expertise to other members.
“Our biggest focus right now and our challenge to ourselves is getting people to understand that the typical way of networking and connecting with one another doesn’t just have to be locally,” she said.
Above all, Tisdale said LEAP for Women just wants to be available to the women entrepreneurs of today, whether their business is well established or just an idea.
“Entrepreneurship looks so different for everybody and the phase of life they’re at,” she said. “We want to really make sure we are creating programs that really support women entrepreneurs at all levels of business ownership.”
LEAP members have access to several resources, including a private discussion board where they can share ideas and get feedback and constructive criticism in a safe space. Other resources include online speed networking and monthly topic calls on issues affecting women in business. January’s topic call and discussion will be about women and jealousy. Tisdale said LEAP is also planning monthly webcam meetings to address various topics.
Tisdale said a special part about LEAP membership is being able to share both highs and lows with a supportive group of women.
“The biggest thing we want to pursue is creating a community that really values honesty over perfection,” she said. “We want to drop that façade and make sure we let people know there is a place like that.”
Tisdale said the feedback she’s gotten so far about LEAP lets her know she’s on the right track and is meeting a need.
“I am so surprised, not like I went into this thinking it wouldn’t be great, but the resounding feedback we have received from women, it is just amazing,” she said. “I’m like, ‘oh my gosh, it wasn’t just me.’ People get what we are trying to do.”
Tisdale said no matter how successful LEAP becomes, she is intent on keeping it an online community so it continues to work for members. Women have many choices for business-related groups, but Tisdale said not every group works for every woman.
“There’s no shortage of really wonderful women’s groups out there,” she said, “but you have to find your women’s group home, somewhere you can say, ‘These women get me.’”
For more information, visit leapforwomen.com.
