5 Tips for Growing a Successful Queer-Owned Business

Starting and owning a business as an LGBTQ entrepreneur can hold many challenges. Some are characterized as unique to only the queer community and others can be considered common in the entrepreneurship world. 

Raising startup capital and securing operational funding is one such challenge that LGBTQ people often face. Discriminatory lending practices and reduced access to traditional funding sources like banks and are a few examples that have negatively impacted the experiences of LGBTQ people compared to their heterosexual colleagues. 

What is considered an LGBTQ-owned business?

There are a couple of criteria that need to be met with the purpose to be considered an LGBT-owned business, things such as having an LGBT person as the owner of the business, who can properly operate, manage, and of course, control majority ownership of the company. Meeting these basic criteria can set you on the path to officially earning government recognized status as an LGBT-certified business in America.

Here are 5 tips to be given and followed as you start your queer-owned business.

1.     Become a part of the local business chamber for LGBTQ

If you decide to join the local business chamber for LGBTQ it could mean that you might have different advantages prepared for you. When becoming a member of the local business chamber what lies in front of you is an easier way to expedite your contacts with different financial institutions and at the same time provide yourself with a couple of educational opportunities. It is always a recommendation to try and search for ways to be engaged and start your entrepreneurial journey to expand the financial horizons of your business. 

There is a lot of advice that can be given about starting  a successful entrepreneurial journey and being accepted as a part of the chamber, but these 3 easy steps must also be considered as a launching spot for people who are starting fresh. 

2.     Make sure to become NGLCC certified

NGLCC stands for the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and it represents the non-profit advocacy organization with headquarters in the United States with its main objective being to strengthen economic opportunities that may arise for the LGBT business community. This way if you become a member, it will try to improve business conditions for you and the rest of the LGBTQ community. 

3.     Hire trustworthy people

People you plan to work with should be assets to your company in every possible sense of that term. That will be possible only if you have their trust and goodwill in you. The most important thing you must do is to ensure that you hire people that are supportive of the fact that you as the owner belong to the LGBTQ world and community.

4.     Use the new possibilities of the online world

In today’s post-pandemic world online shopping has a very special place, especially when we talk about fashion and buying clothes that we like. Many business owners have decided to try out this option and give their customers the possibility to demand what they want and how would they like it to look. What print-on-demand clothing can offer to customers is the freedom to participate in the process of designing their outfits, with for example added on-demand embroidery or on-demand embellishments added to their garments. 

5.     Try To Always Be Resilient

Being resilient is a very important part of your startup journey. Everything moves and changes quickly in our modern society, so you should always strive to be adaptable to the times. Customer demands and purchase patterns are fluctuating because of technological innovations that are emerging. If you are mindful of the exquisitely changing stats, you could go a long way when we talk about establishing a successful queer-owned business.

This age and time are full of excitement and challenges and it’s not easy to start or own a business these days, but if you plan everything carefully, and find strategies that work best for your business, you can definitely expect your business to grow, develop and be successful. 

Peter Minkof is a business and lifestyle writer at Queer Voices and Gay Republic magazine. Follow Peter on Twitter for more tips.