Most
people would have a hard time thinking of more than a few names of
women in small business. There are many reasons for this. First of all,
most girls are not brought up to believe that they will be anything
other than employees and mothers, while many boys are brought up seeing
their own fathers as the head of a company, or at least told that they
could one day own their own firm.
There
are actually many women in small business today as owners, presidents,
CEOs, and in upper management, but they are fairly low profile. A
sociologist might tell you that is because women tend to “undersell”
themselves, preferring to stand on the sidelines rather than hog all the
attention. But that certainly doesn’t describe all women in small
business.
There was a young woman named Martha Stewart, who after
a stint as a model and a stockbroker decided that she would use her
household skills as a way to make money. She started filming a short
television program, showing helpful hints for homemakers, and that was
the beginnings of what we now know as the Martha Stewart empire. She
turned her love of art, design, and the home into an enormously
successful business.
If
you are thinking of going into business for yourself, you can certainly
take a page out of Martha Stewart’s book