I had a chance to chat with entrepreneur Jo Wimble-Groves, an award winning businesswoman who co-owns a communications company ‘Active Digital’ which she operates with her brother. She started out as a young entrepreneur when she was sixteen and with their sheer determination, tenacity and can-do attitude they have created a very successful company with offices in Kent, London and Dublin.

Jo is also passionate about encouraging the future generation of business leaders and likes to talk talk about her success in business and how important it is to just put your hand up and having the confidence to give things a go. Jo is also a successful writer having featured in The Times, The Guardian, Instyle Magazine and Cosmopolitan and she created the popular blog www.guiltymother.co.uk which now has over 30k followers.

I have written about the personality traits of female entrepreneurs before, and was interested to hear from Jo what she thought were the keys to success.

To become a successful entrepreneur your mindset is as important as your skill set.

“I have always focused on my personal journey and my personal growth. Every day is a chance to learn new things. You can succeed only if you adopt a growth mindset. This means that every setback and failure becomes a learning opportunity.” Jo sums up her approach. “That light bulb has to come on, you must start thinking that you can change your mindset.”

It’s important to focus on what you are doing, and not to complain or to compare yourself with people around you. “Over time I have learned to accept who I am and stopped comparing myself to others.”

There are no barriers for female entrepreneurs right now.

We are living very exciting times and it has never been a better time to be a woman who wants to set up her own business. There are a lot of opportunities, support and funding for female entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding has opened up new ways of doing things and made setting up a business much more accessible to all. Some industry sectors are still male dominant but even those stereotypes can be broken. Jo believes there really are no real barriers to women! (And I love her for saying that!)

So if there are so many opportunities, why aren’t more women creating companies and doing things they love?

The lack of ‘can-do’ mindset is holding women back.

“Women lack confidence and are not ready to take risks. You should think to yourself that ‘what’s the worst that can happen’ and take a chance.” Jo says. “I suppose I could have followed what seemed like a more ‘secure’ career path and taken a job when I was younger, but I was ready to take a chance and see where it will take me.”

To overcome lack of confidence and fear of failure, Jo suggests you should start with bite size junks, like she did with her blog GuiltyMother. “I set it up in 24 hours because I wanted to do it. I could have thought there are thousands of parenting blogs out there so why should I even bother. But it was a passion project at the start and slowly it grew into a popular website.”

You can start anything with a small step, put your passion into it and then see where it takes you.

I also wanted to hear what is Jo’s own definition of success. “I love creating something from nothing and sparking something with a positive effect.” Watch how Jo defines success and how she’s overcome setbacks in the interview for DrivenWoman YouTube channel.

And to sum it all up, here are Jo’s mindset secrets of a successful woman entrepreneur:

1) Take baby steps. Tip your toes in the water and take a chance.

2) Don’t doubt yourself. Just go for it.

3) Take a risk. You will never know unless you try.

4) Step outside of your comfort zone, that’s where all growth happens.

5) Keep going. Don’t give up.

Sounds like a page out of a DrivenWoman rule book! Now girls, let’s make things happen.

Have a great week.

~ Miisa

You can meet Jo Wimble-Groves at DrivenWoman & Blooming Founders Summer Party on 29.6.2017 in London. More information here.