There's a Business in Every Woman A 7-step Guide to Discovering, Starting, And Building the Business of Your Dreams

Chapter 1 How Do You Know if There's a Business in You? How do you know if you have a business in you? And how do you find it? Interestingly, after talking to many women from around the country, it's clear to me that businesswomen are born every day in every type of business; only the particular circumstances that led each woman to start her own firm varies. In the United States alone, approximately 11 million women own or are equal partners in their own companies, contributing nearly $2.5 trillion annually to the American economy and providing jobs for more than 19 million people (see figure 1). Despite this financial heft, most of us started out as ordinary "working Jills"teachers, nurses, meeting plannerswhen we decided to try it on our own. In the beginning, many of us ran our budding enterprises from home before going out to compete in the business world. Whether or not you know it, you have a business in you if any of the following sentiments sound familiar to you: - I can make that product better than the people who make it now - I don't see what I need on the market, so I'll create it - I know how to save my husband's company - The family firm needs my help - Forget corporate life. I want a day job I love! - Now that I've been laid off, I'd better get a new job fast - My clients are encouraging me to go out on my own - I need more flexibility in my schedule and a solid income - To support my family, I have to make more money - I'll let my husband stay home with the kids - I need something to do to keep boredom away Going Out on My Own My own career as an entrepreneur began inadvertently. After working for nearly a year for a political science journal where I learned basic editorial work, I realized that I was itching to try something else. I began my job search by registering with a New York editorial and publishing placement agency, which lined up my first interview at a major publishing house. Despite my excitement, I failed to get a job offer by misspelling the word "embarrassed," an embarrassing mistake I never made again. Next, the agency sent me out to a small medical communications company. I had no clue what such companies do, nor was I confident that my college biology course work would see me through an in-depth medical-editorial interview, but I went nevertheless. It was a buzzing office, filled with young, enthusiastic medical writers, staff physicians, and production workers, and run by a managing editor who herself was barely thirty. I knew right away that I wanted the job, and I was delighted when the offer came in. After four years there I went to work as a managing editor at a New York City medical magazine. From there, I moved to a managerial position in another, larger medical communications company. Another four years passed, and I decided that I now knew enough to run such a company on my own. For me, the advantages to starting my own firm seemed clear: more control over my own schedule and the opportunity to earn a lot more money. I resigned my management post and joined forces with two partners to start my first medical communications company, TransMedica, Inc., in May 1981. We sold our company to CBS, Inc., in 1984, for millions. This turn of events was about as unplanned a professional course as one could imagine. I certainly never set out to start, build, and sell medical communications companies. I simply stumbled into a field of business I had never even heard of before my job interview. Despite the random nature of this chance, and notwithstanding my lack of a graduate medical or business degree, I managed to start and sell my first medical communications company with nine years' experience, and to sellHolmes, Ann M. is the author of 'There's a Business in Every Woman A 7-step Guide to Discovering, Starting, And Building the Business of Your Dreams', published 2007 under ISBN 9781400064885 and ISBN 1400064880.