Over the course of the past year, I’ve had an opportunity to meet many wonderful women business owners.  The purpose of this blog is to share some of their stories, to discuss findings from the research we’re doing to help women business owners, and to share news, tips, and information that can can help us all be more successful – in business and in our lives through entrepreneurism. 

As I write today, one of the things that’s on my mind is why we all start businesses.  In our research, we’ve seen a few dominant reasons:  wanting to be in control of your own future and the specific desire to own a business.  In addition, though, we’ve heard women in particular talk about the importance of time freedom and being able to manage how and when and where they work.

I know when I started my first business, it was really about being able to control my own future and choose who I wanted to work with.  I was very fortunate that my husband was a full-time dad and took care of so many of the things that ”mom” is usually responsible for.  That meant we had lots of free time together because our weekends weren’t spent “catching up” on all the small and large things required to have a happy, healthy family.

As that consulting business grew, however, time freedom became increasingly important to me.  So much so, that over the past two years, I’ve learned how to build a virtual team so that the businesses can accomplish a lot and I still can take the time for school events, family vacations, and Friday night dates with my husband.

What about you?   What are the reasons you started your business?  And how important is time freedom to you?  

– Michele DeKinder-Smith, Founder, Jane Out of the Box