Written By: Dylan Love

The entrepreneur’s life is celebrated for the grit and fortitude required to navigate it successfully, yet the lifestyle seems a more common choice as people increasingly freelance, run their own businesses, or work as consultants today.

The struggle to differentiate oneself in business is real, and it’s especially difficult in hyper-competitive fields like technology, media, and entertainment.

Standing out from the crowd is one of the biggest challenges an entrepreneur faces.

While the business world isn’t known for being kind to anyone, female entrepreneurs face a rather different set of challenges from their male counterparts.

Women launch their own businesses at double the rate of men, but only 7% of venture capital funding in the US goes to woman-owned companies, according to Julia Pimsleur, author of “Million Dollar Women.”

And even once you break into the industry establishment, sexism persists.

What if ink and paper were your most valuable tools in leveling the playing field?

With inequality roundly identified in the business sphere, female entrepreneurs are looking to change the game for their companies and themselves. Our economy is one where information is valuable and travels easily, so some women are generating value for their careers by writing books related to their work.

The exposure of publishing a book on one’s area of expertise consistently acts as an occasion to attract new clients, get offers for speaking engagements and guest blogging gigs, and obtain other opportunities for income and publicity.

Of course, male entrpreneurs also write books, but it can be particularly beneficial for female entrepreneurs.

“There’s a certain amount of vulnerability, passion and drive that goes into writing a book. And when a female entrepreneur can tap into this, their writing not only helps their business but helps them build confidence around their unique message and mission,” says Mona Patel, founder and CEO of Motivate Design.

‘People thought I was the executive assistant’

“There’s a good ecosystem of female entrepreneurs that have services geared to other female entrepreneurs,” says Dorie Clark, author of “Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future.” “But if you look at top conferences … the majority of the speakers are still men, typically white men.”

Despite accounting for 50% of the world’s population, women hold 24% of the world’s senior business roles, Dina Medland wrote in Forbes. The country closest to 50-50 parity in terms of female leadership is not the US, but Russia, with 45% of the country’s senior business roles held by women. Even at the top spot, there’s work to be done for equality.

Gendered assumptions appear to dominate power dynamics in industries with few women leaders.

What happens when you’re the vice president of a company but you’re still being treated like the vice president’s assistant?

For some women in positions of business power, it’s a daily reality. Take Robin Farmanfarmaian, author of “The Patient As CEO.”

“I raised $6.5 million for Singularity University, and still a lot of the time, people thought I was the executive assistant,” she says. “I founded three companies! It happens all the time.”

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