Here’s a sad fact, taken from Forbes. Women own 40% of businesses in the US but only make up 10% of venture-backed businesses.

Do you feel like being female might put you at a disadvantage in the world of entrepreneurship? Of course, it shouldn’t. But it’s easy to fill yourself with doubts, isn’t it?

So here’s the good news. The truth is, us women actually have a number of strengths that put us at an advantage, and I’ll reveal four fascinating examples.

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Everyone knows the obvious entrepreneurial skills, don’t they: drive, ambition, hard work. I could go on. But sometimes, life throws challenges your way that mean that those normal set of skills just aren’t enough on their own.

For example, ff you are a mom, do you ever feel like you are at a disadvantage in starting up a business because you are trying to balance your work with family life? Many times I’ve had that same feeling. Sometimes I’ve wondered if it might have been easier to start a business when I was in my 20s and had all that time to myself. But now I’ve been running my business for a while, I’ve realised that I actually launched at the perfect time. More importantly, I’ve realised that my dual role as business owner and a mother gives me a unique competitive advantage that many startups just don’t have. Here’s why:

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Spoiler alert: running an online business and being a full time mom isn’t easy, and there is no easy answer in this blog post.

However, I know I have a lot of readers on this blog who are women thinking of starting a business but who are also raising a young family. If you’ve read my About section you’ll know that I have a young daughter (later edit: now I have three children!), and that I launched the business when she was just a baby.

What I will try and do is keep this short and sweet (I get it: you’re busy!). I want to give you a few practical tips that have helped me over the years.

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