My first baby is due this summer, and I’ve suddenly had to re-evaluate all of my priorities. Full-time teaching is wonderful, and I will undoubtedly return to that when our children are school-age. But until then, I want to enjoy those first precious years while I can without working 60+ hours per week, as teachers inevitably do.
To allow myself more flexibility, I have often considered starting my own business. For now, that thought terrifies me, so I am sticking with after-school tutoring.
“My advice to any woman wanting to start her own company? Do it!” says Debra Joester, President and CEO of Joester Loria Group for licensing and special events marketing. According to Joester, the world is finally ready for the creativity and contributions that women can bring to a company. In years past, female empowerment efforts such as these would have been frowned upon.
Not only do women work well together and support each other in the work place, but they add valuable organizational skills and a unique perspective that men are unable to provide. My husband works for Hobby Lobby, a nationwide craft store. His job is to analyze buying trends and then direct buyers on which items should be purchased more or less often. While my husband is very capable of doing his job well and has helped his company be more in tune to the needs of Hobby Lobby’s clients, he often talks about how 80 percent or more of the employees in his sector of the business are women. “They just get it,” he states. “Women know way more about crafts than I ever will.” If we’re being honest, I wouldn’t shop at Hobby Lobby if I knew that men were the only ones making decisions about scrapbook paper and home décor!
Even women in Afghanistan and other developing countries are receiving more opportunities to be involved in the workplace. Joester says, “Emerging markets can’t meet their full potential if women aren’t allowed to.”
The world is ready. Women, are we?
(Check out this and other videos on My WebTV at http://webtvs.filmannex.com/MaryRachelFenrick.)
