5 Success Tips for Busy Mompreneurs and Women Entrepreneurs
 
A few years ago Vyky Rafai needed to figure out who she was and make some big changes in her life. When the women around her reached out and lifted her up, she decided to replicate that powerful experience for other women. Vyky birthed I Am Brave, an organization with an annual conference that brings together top women leaders and entrepreneurs in Orlando with informative talks about a range of topics, from family to business and community. Her main goal is to help women develop supportive relationships that can propel them through anything.
As a creative, with a background in fashion design, accounting, and investing, Vyky also founded and runs a digital agency, One Alliance Group, which builds online presence for businesses.
1. Balance Comes from Planning
Something that amazes me about Vyky and garners her lots of questions is how she runs two businesses while co-raising three young children. She told me she laughs at the word “balance” and says it’s more about planning which tasks you will do—business or children—and when. First you have to define balance for yourself, by choosing what is important and what you can let go of (like not cooking dinner). Then break up your day to allocate to each task.
We all seem to be chasing time, something we can’t get back. Visiting Europe regularly, I’m aware of the difference in time cultures. In France or Latin America, there isn’t the scarcity of time we feel in the US, Australia or other English-speaking countries. This concept was difficult for me to grasp at first, but now I’m running after time too.
2. Know Yourself and Push through the Unknown
At her transition point, Vyky realized she had to take the huge step of ending a marriage that wasn’t nurturing who she was or helping her grow. She had to figure out who she was, her true self, what she loved to do and how to make herself happy. As women, she says, we are selfless beings. That’s where you have to ask yourself how to say yes to you. She watched what she enjoyed and built businesses doing that.
After that hurdle, the hardest thing for her was the fear of the unknown, which cripples so many of us. She was afraid of uncertainty, of taking leaps of faith like ending a relationship, becoming a single mother, and maybe becoming a statistic. It feels hard to go into the unknown, but on the other side, she reminds us, it’s glorious. That’s where the most growth and self-learning happens.
3. Support Keeps You on the Road to Success
Vyky enjoyed a great family support system but lacked mentors, which is what she believes I Am Brave can provide. She could have gone much faster if she’d had those mentors around her, so she’s on a mission to cultivate supportive relationships among women. You need people in your life who are not just taking from you but giving to you, she says. (When you are extremely honest with yourself, you can identify the harmful relationships in your life too.) Vyky knew her cup was empty because she kept pouring water into everyone else’s.
We agreed that many people who see women doing incredible things assume it just happened or they were born into it. But it never works like that. Those women work very hard and endure a lot. Success is not an overnight process. It takes strength, work, dedication, and tenacity.
Saying yes to yourself will inspire others. This is walking the talk and living by example. She wants to see leaders communicating this to up-and-comers. We are not superwomen, she says. We have to plan, and we mess up and grow. “Failure isn’t supposed to cripple you,” Vyky says. “it’s supposed to propel you.”
4. Be Natural, Be True to Yourself
I love Vyky’s story about integrity and her hair. She has a huge, beautiful afro, and women are often amazed that she’s owning that. It started with wanting to cultivate her son’s confidence in himself.