For a female business owner, the benefits of living as her ideal entrepreneurial

type are numerous, including a high level of personal contentment, a satisfacto

ry amount of income, passion for her work, and an acceptable work-life balance.

At Jane Out of the Box, in-depth professional market research of more than 2,500
female entrepreneurs has revealed five distinct types of women in business. Eac
h type has its own strengths, challenges, and desires. Jane Out of the Box’s mo
st recent article, “Changing Your Type: How Entrepreneurs Can Become Exactly Who
They Want to Be,” provides 5 steps for entrepreneurs to consider when changing
their entrepreneurial type. The first step is to Choose a Jane, and this article
provides more information about each of the Janes – so that those wishing to ch
ange their type have a well-rounded idea of the pros and cons of being a member
of each group.
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 then she 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 sa
me need, giving birth to a business. Although Accidental Jane may sometimes stru
ggle with prioritizing what she needs to do next in her business, she enjoys wha
t she does and is making good money. About 18% of all women business owners fit
the Accidental Jane profile.
Many Accidental Jane business owners eventually evolve into one of the other ent
repreneurial types. However, many run successful businesses as Accidental Jane f
or years, fulfilled by their work without being overwhelmed by it. Accidental Ja
ne enjoys her freedom, and her biggest challenges include maintaining an even wo
rkload and keeping the workload at a manageable level.
How Accidental Jane defines success:
• Enough income to meet needs.
• Enough, but not too much, work.
• She makes the rules (no politics, no mandatory hours, etc.).
• Freedom of choice (the who, what, when and how of the work).
• Flexible schedule/control of her life.
• Providing excellent products and/or services
• Feeling fulfilled by the work.
• Pleasurable working relationships.
• Positive feedback, repeat business and referrals.
• A balanced life.
• Being a role model for others.
Some of Accidental Jane’s challenges:
• Workflow concerns. Many Accidental Jane business owners market when they
need business, then get so busy they forget to market. This leads to an ebb and
flow cycle, which usually smoothes out over time.
• Lack of a clear vision. Since Accidental Janes usually do not intend to
start businesses, they often do not create long-term plans for their companies.
They enjoy what they do, and may see potential for business growth in the future
, but they don’t want the situation to change much immediately. This lack of a c
lear vision means Accidental Jane may have to make some tough decisions in the f
uture – whether it means changing to a different Jane type or turning down new b
usiness to retain Accidental Jane status.
Go Jane Go is passionate about her work and provides excellent service, so she h
as plenty of clients – so much so, she s struggling to keep up with demand. At 1
4% of women in business, she may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer
opportunities as well, because she s eager to make an impact on the world and sh
e often struggles to say no. Because she wants to say yes to 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 and feeling guilty ab
out neglecting herself and others who are important to her.
Of all the five entrepreneurial types, Go Jane Go is undoubtedly the busiest, wi
th more than a quarter of those interviewed reporting working more than 50 hours
per week. Consequently, Go Jane Go business owners also take home the largest p
ersonal income. They often report feeling stressed and overwhelmed, but revel in
being the best at what they do and being of service to others.
How Go Jane Go defines success:
• Making a positive difference in the world.
• Loving her work.
• Being the best at her work.
• Being in demand.
• Always learning and growing as a person and in her craft.
• Giving her all.
• Being of service to others – giving back.
• Doing the right thing/being a good person.
• Being decisive/action-oriented.
• Providing excellent products and/or services.
• Reaching the maximum impact.
• Making others (clients, employees, family, etc.) happy.
Go Jane Go’s challenges:
• Taking business troubles personally. She believes her work is a reflecti
on of herself and often goes above and beyond to send a positive message.
• Difficulty saying, “no,” and therefore being overcommitted.
• Putting herself last.
• Perfectionism and the need to be in control. Her exacting standards make
it difficult for her to delegate even small tasks.
• Never feeling she “has arrived.” Although, if pressed, Go Jane Go busine
ss owners will admit being experts at the top of their game, they also often fee
l like they need to do more to prove themselves.
Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and generally, she
makes a nice living. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, w
hich may be why she s five times more likely than the average female business ow
ner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and ma
y be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is
estimated that 18% of women entrepreneurs fall in the category of Jane Dough.
Although Jane Dough is what Jane Out of the Box researchers refer to as “a natur
al born entrepreneur,” she is not without her challenges. Although, on average,
her personal income is slightly less than Go Jane Go’s, Jane Dough’s business in
come is the highest of all the five types. She works long hours, manages a team
of people, and spends more time running her business and strategizing than she d
oes “doing the work.”
How Jane Dough defines success:
• Being visionary and strategic (engineering a plan for ensuring success).
• Being confident/decisive and taking action or “going for it.”
• Staying focused on tasks that drive the business.
• Growth and expansion.
• Being in charge/in control.
• Creating an entity that lives outside herself, to be sold or passed on.
• Creating wealth.
• Being “smart” about business and marketing.
• Leveraging resources, including human resources.
• Creating results others can see.
• Feeling proud of her independence and accomplishments.
• Working hard.
• Keeping it all in perspective/taking the longer-term view.
Jane Dough’s challenges:
• Her team can’t keep up with her. Jane Dough’s vision is often on a grand
scale, so she may require several different strategies that will ultimately con
tribute to the growth of her empire. This diversification may be a strong busine
ss growth strategy, but can cause confusion among her team members.
• Her team gets disenfranchised. Jane Dough, a fast-moving, passionate vis
ionary, can sometimes become abrupt and directive in her managerial communicatio
ns. Because they know exactly what they want to achieve, their directives may co
me across more like orders issued.
• Over-delegation. In her desire to achieve growth quickly, some Jane Doug
h business owners delegate too much to their team members – without enough input
.
Merry Jane is 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 ar
twork) 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. Re
presenting about 19% of women in business, she realizes she could make more mone
y by working longer hours, but she s happy with the tradeoff she has made becaus
e her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, arou
nd her other commitments.
Merry Jane business owners love their businesses, which they often report having
started to allow themselves more time to attend to their myriad responsibilitie
s. Most of them work only part-time for one of several reasons: they are stay-at
-home mothers, they take care of aging parents, they want to nurture their creat
ive side without spending too much time running a full-time business, or they’ve
started their own business on the side in addition to working a full-time job.
How Merry Jane defines success:
• Flexibility to work when, where and as much as she wants.
• Meeting all of her obligations well.
• Enjoying a smooth-running life.
• Making a sufficient contribution to the household.
• Being recognized for her gifts and talents.
• Relishing the freedom to say no.
• Using her business as an outlet for creativity/self-expression.
Merry Jane’s challenges:
• Obtaining new customers and marketing the business. Most Merry Jane busi
ness owners reported being happy with their work-life balance. However, most als
o said they would like to bring in new business and make more money.
• Setting appropriate fees. When starting a new business, Merry Jane may n
ot have all the information she needs to set appropriate fees, such as standard
industry profit margins, how long a project will take, the uniqueness of a produ
ct or service, and when and in what method payments will occur.
• Striking the right balance. Many Merry Jane business owners want new cus
tomers – but not so many that they can’t still enjoy the freedom they relish.
Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, an
d one who tends to be struggling with cash flow. As a result, she s working long
er 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 make up the largest group of female entrepreneurs.
Nearly all of the financially successful women Jane Out of the Box interviewed s
ay they went through a Tenacity Jane phase. They report that the lessons they le
arned during this time in their lives were invaluable and ultimately contributed
to their longer-term success. Nine out of ten Tenacity Jane business owners rep
orted dissatisfaction with their cash flow, and the majority reported being unha
ppy with revenue, business costs or personal income through the business. Howeve
r, the good news is that it is possible to move out of the Tenacity Jane group a
nd into another, and Tenacity Jane has the passion and determination to make tha
t change.
Here are the key reasons an entrepreneur may fall into the Tenacity Jane categor
y:
• She has a craft or skill, but little or no experience with many of the a
ctivities necessary to run a business (such as marketing and sales, technology,
operations management, and financial skills). This is the case for 40 percent of
the “new businesses” in the Tenacity Jane category.
• The business started undercapitalized or acquired more debt than can com
fortably be carried given current revenue levels.
• The business owner doesn’t charge enough for her services – she underval
ues the work her company does and therefore, does not attain adequate levels of
margin.
• The business owner is trying to accomplish too much all at once. Lack of
focus makes it difficult to drive income in any of the areas.
• Something has changed in the industry or cost structure that has caused
the once-prosperous business to falter financially.
Tenacity Jane business owners must carefully consider which of the above conditi
ons best explains why they are struggling – and it may be a combination of those
conditions. They key to moving out of the Tenacity Jane group and into a more c
omfortable stage is to understand how she got there in the first place.
Before departing on her type-changing voyage, a business owner must familiarize
herself with all the benefits and challenges of her “ideal” type. For example, J
ane Dough business owners report high levels of satisfaction. They also work lon
g hours, manage a team of people, and spend more time managing the business than
they do “doing the work.” Go Jane Go is in high demand and takes home a high pe
rsonal income, and she often feels overwhelmed and overcommitted. Accidental Jan
e is satisfied, and reports some stress about the ebbs and flows of her work. Me
rry Jane enjoys her flexibility, and would like to make more money.
Each entrepreneurial type has its advantages and challenges – and each female en
trepreneur must decide which are most important to her. Then, she can begin her
journey to living as her ideal type.
Interested in learning more about the five Jane types and which Jane you are? Ch
eck out www.janeoutofthebox.com.
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource
dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful
information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessmen
t at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key r
esources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box i
s online at www.janeoutofthebox.com.