Business Inspiration 2022: The Year of the Tiger

New Year Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses

For the Chinese culture their New Year revelry originated with end-of-harvest celebrations when people would offer thanks to gods for good harvests and entreaty for a good crop in the following year. Traditionally, this holiday encouraged families to thoroughly clean their homes to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck.

Each New Year is named after one of the twelve zodiac animals – for example on February 1, 2022, the Year of the Tiger will begin. As women entrepreneurs plan for the start of a new business year, they have an opportunity to name their own year. What one word are you going to choose?

For the past two years we have been living in an upside-down world of the Covid-19 Pandemic, having the rug pulled out from under our solid business foundations, masks replacing smiling faces, and working alone to stay safe. Most women entrepreneurs I know have survived this period but not with a lot of gain.
While staying in a conservative, holding pattern can keep a company afloat; it can’t stay that way forever. Being static eventually produces feelings of failure. Being too conservative in business for too long is like having the flu, if you lay in bed too long waiting out the pain, you lose the strength you need to get back on your feet. The longer you stay down, the harder it is to get up.

I believe it is time for women entrepreneurs to make 2022 reviving the old successful ways of entrepreneurship that worked for them pre-pandemic. Past proven strategies, positive business planning, expansion of safe, live events, and re-establishing old relationships that might have fallen through the cracks the past 18 months, are where we should begin.

The Chinese say people born in the year of the Tiger possess strong self-esteem, are most likely optimistic and enthusiastic by nature, and always seem to have endless energy, especially at work.  Even if you weren’t born in the year of the Tiger, I believe we can claim these Tiger personalities to venture into 2022.

We can’t be in a holding pattern forever and either can our businesses. Maybe we need to do what the Chinese do and thoroughly clean our “house” sweeping away ill-fortune and worries in order to make the way for good incoming luck, riches and opportunities as well as acting as fierce as a tiger in accomplishing our new goals.