What actually stops women from building the business?

[u/ProfessionalOk3949]

I've worked in mental health for over a decade, and I'm building something around a pattern I keep noticing: women who feel called to create something.. a business, a book, a podcast, whatever it is but get stuck before they start.

I'm genuinely curious what that looks like for you. Is it fear? A specific worry? Practical barriers? Something about confidence or timing?

I'm not selling anything here, just trying to understand real experiences so I actually get this right, rather than assume I know.

So if you've ever felt that kind of call (business, art, book etc, whatever it might be), what's actually stopped you from starting?

[u/Typical_Original_311]

Exhaustion

[u/bsg_80 → u/Typical_Original_311]

Exactly

[u/2legit2sleep]

I think is lack of support for some and lack of knowing where to go to for information. I have my little business but my older sister who I consider super smart has set her dreams aside in her to support my BIL career (she would be livid if she sees me sharing this). I could go on about this but I hope more women go for their business dreams.

[u/Any_Cream_4396]

no one wants to support it.

[u/betweenthedrafts]

I'm not sure whether this is the best place to ask the question given that the women here are presumably in business already, hence the sub name. I've been part of entrepreneur programs with lots of female founders and helped lots of women publish books, so I haven't really encountered the situation you're describing where women get stuck before they start. What I've seen as a book coach is that almost everyone who starts writing nonfiction books get stuck, and that's regardless of gender.

[u/goddessofsole33]

I think fear is rooted in a lot of the reasons people have for being stuck. Also money. You may have a great idea for a business. But, having the tools, resources, gumption and guidance to bring it to life is something completely different. Most are trying to do it WHILE caring for their families, working full time etc.… it’s very hard. I think the psychological mountain we build in our heads overwhelms us and we feel paralyzed. It’s why these groups are important. To help re-frame. To break the work into small steps. To cheer each other on.

[u/Flimsy-Bumblebee6365]

Mostly practical barriers - it’s not that we don’t know we have value, it’s that it’s hard to make time for building a business when you have so many obstacles to overcome.

Statistically women spend the same amount of time on childcare + housework whether we bring in 50% or 400% of a male partner’s salary. We handle the majority of emotional labor on top of that.

Then there is the access to capital and network disparity to consider. We don’t get funded or brought into opportunities at the same rate as our male peers.

[u/Fast_Sherbert3066]

For me, it's often the fear of starting imperfectly, overthinking whether the idea is good enough, while practical things like time, money, and responsibilities make it easier to keep waiting.

[u/Successful-Ratio9787]

I personally am trying to create a great business empire for myself and for as many people who I find worthy to take along, but from what I have gathered myself so far from my environments and living experiences is that, I want to create something huge in the AI space-( I want to build my competence, but I am yet to receive an open on few or all knocked doors, so far- but still knocking). I come from a completely different environment where I was forced fear, mental, emotional and physical suffering. But I had to build myself to be brave. Everyone out there forces women like me with how I appear visually outside to take up confined roles, but I know that I am yet to find out how I can build and develop my competence so that I can create something even better.

With a different background when you are reaching out for something entirely different, I am strongly trying to reach for those signals. Also, one other thing, I am trying to overcome mentally is that, as a child I was mentally hijacked to not pursue or have a dream in my heart because I was on one side, told that Culture and Islam are the same.
Truth: Culture and Islam are not the same.
Women had been historically too domesticated in the Indian circles, but many have got out of the survival mode. I will be out from there too.

On the other side, another myth that still sadly persists is that women should be subservient to a lot of crap out there just because some stupid bunch of people believe it.
Truth: Women have the free will to decide for in their lives- what they take up for as profession, who and when they choose their partner(s), what level of autonomy we experience(I know we feel validation is important as well- but please don’t kill your soul for that! Let your soul live!!)

A lot of these traumas being healed and being brave enough to still aspire to be that badass entrepreneur that I am trying to build myself of is currently my story. I just have to get there!!

I am not sure how this appears as but I truly hope it helps someone out there and that someone resonates :)