People say that we all have a business ‘in us’. What do you think? Is that something that you’ve considered for yourself? If you’re reading this blog, then that may well be the case! For some people, entrepreneurship is a natural career direction. Something they fall into easily. Others might dream of working for themselves, but often a lack of confidence and self-belief can hold them back. Everyone’s journey to entrepreneurship is different. But putting this to one side, why start a business in the first place?
In this blog, we explore some of the key reasons why women do exactly that.
Reasons for starting a business
To try to understand a little more about the primary reasons for starting a business, we decided to ask some of our members for their stories. Here’s what they said:
Family
A common reason for women choosing to start a business is to enable them to work around their families. When you’re tied to a 9-5 (either full or part time), it can be extremely difficult to work around your children, around supporting ageing parents, or both. Many women, for example, report finding themselves working, but that their salary ends up being used to pay for childcare, and little more.
Instead, working for yourself gives you the flexibility to take time out when you need to, and plan your day around your family. I, for example, usually work from 9-2.30 and then go to collect my daughter from school, and then pick things up again in the evening if I need to. The time in between is for things like baking, play dates, games, and of course homework!
Knowledge
We thing this is a great reason for choosing entrepreneurship! When we asked one of our members – Jane Webber, of Jane Webber Nutrition, she said that she had originally trained as a nutritionist to inform herself, but the feedback she had received from others when sharing her knowledge had encouraged her to start a business. To us, this desire both to learn and to share your learning with others also represents a real passion for your subject. And what better reason for starting a business than following your passion?
Freedom
Freedom means different things to different people of course, but in the context of starting a business, I’d say that it means the chance to choose. To make our own decisions about why we do things, and when.
One example might be the experience of corporate burnout. When we work for someone else, we fit in with their culture. Their timelines and ‘norms’. Their rules and ways of working. And for some, a more corporate culture simply doesn’t ‘fit’ with us, and despite our best efforts, burnout takes over. Instead, working for ourselves gives us the opportunity to create our own norms.
Another example of this is the freedom to operate without stereotypically corporate ‘bureaucracy’ – which in some cases can actually hold us back from doing the parts of the job that we love, and that make the most difference to people.
Why did you start a business?
What about you? Why did you either start, or think about starting, a business? We love hearing about small businesses and the stories and people that sit behind them. Feel free to share your story in the comments! And whatever your ‘why’ might be, check in with it every now again. Our ‘why’ is part of who we are as business owners, so we need to make sure we never lose sight of it.
And don’t forget, if you need some support in taking your business to the next level, we’re here to help! You can book a completely free Discovery Call to find out more about what we do, or read more about our community or business coaching programme on our website.