“At the beginning, I was wearing three-piece suits, had my nails done, cut my hair,” the 28-year-old Wekherlien says. “After a year, I stepped back and said ‘I have a client base and this isn’t me.’ I like wearing jeans on Fridays, I like my Polo shirts. I made a switch.”

As an entrepreneur she earns less money, but the rewards are far greater, Wekherlien says, because now she has more opportunities to interact with clients — a major plus for an extrovert like herself — and also because of philanthropic reasons.

SWC Business Enterprises now has a full-time staff of seven with a projected 2008 revenue of $525,000. And Wekherlien is proud to report that she hasn’t lost one client since she grew out her curly, auburn hair, adopted more casual work attire and began bringing her dog, Thor, to work.

“For me, the biggest (perk of working for myself) was being able to help people,” she says. “I love, love, love seeing a little business and seeing it two years later succeeding. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Wekherlien is part of one of the fastest-growing sectors in the economy — women-owned businesses. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, in 2006 there were 7.7 million majority (51 percent or more) women-owned private firms across the country. These companies employed 7.2 million people nationwide and generated $1.1 trillion in annual sales.

Arizona is a microcosm of the U.S. In 2006, again according to the Center for Women’s Business Research, there were an estimated 133,253 privately held, majority women-owned firms in Arizona that generated nearly $20 billion in sales and employed 151,877 people.

For the Phoenix metro area, the center reports that in 2006, there were an estimated 85,987 privately held, majority women-owned firms, generating nearly $15 billion in sales and employing 105,595 people.

The numbers are impressive, but they only tell part of the story for women business owners.
Women entrepreneurs often describe their businesses in terms of a romantic or religious calling, and studies show it’s important for working women in general to feel a sense of service and passion for their work. Studies also show that for women to feel satisfied professionally, they often need their work to somehow benefit others.

“Women are re-creating themselves and their businesses. We’re realizing there’s an altruistic element, a bigger picture” that we can contribute to, says Eileen Proctor, founder and owner of a strategic marketing, business development and entrepreneurial training program in Phoenix called Top Dog Business Boosters.

Cheryl Walsh, founder of WalshCOMM, a Phoenix-based integrated marketing solutions company, agrees.

“When we have something we do well, we should use it in a way that benefits the community in the best possible way, which includes for-profits and nonprofits,” Walsh says. “Doing well by doing good has been very important to me.”

There are other significant motivators for women to work for themselves. Walsh quickly rattles off her reasons: Improved flexibility in scheduling that has allowed her to raise three kids; more control of her work environment, team members and responsibilities; and more freedom to help more people and businesses through her work. Other perks women entrepreneurs value include the absence of a boss, earning more money and the personal rewards of inventing something that improves the status quo.

But living the dream and owning a business that’s personally and professionally satisfying often doesn’t come true without taking risks along the road to success.

The Center for Women’s Business Research reports that women entrepreneurs are prepared to face risk, and 66 percent are willing to take above-average or substantial risks for business investments. Lack of financing is often thought to be the biggest obstacle for entrepreneurs trying to start and grow a business, but Nell Merlino says otherwise.

Merlino is the creative force behind Take Our Daughters to Work Day and currently serves as president and CEO of Count Me In, a nonprofit that provides online business loans and resources for women to grow their micro businesses into million-dollar enterprises. At a Count Me In conference in Scottsdale, she finds a shaded picnic table outside and takes a break to chat. In a thick Manhattan accent, she shares what she’s learned.

“Women are looking for coaching and marketing help more,” Merlino says. “The main challenge for women is that they don’t know where to go to ask for help, or they don’t know how to ask for help. So many women plateau (in growing their companies) because they think they have to do everything themselves and they can’t possibly work any harder than they are.”

Asking for help and developing relationships with people who can help one’s business is key. Professional development through education, professional organization membership and formal and informal networking becomes imperative, especially for the sole proprietor running a one-woman show or the owner operating her small business from a home office.

“All business owners have the same issues, whatever their sex, but perhaps it’s harder to find that mentor (for women), and it is helpful having a female mentor,” Walsh says. “It’s important to find women who share some of the same issues you face with their families (and) businesses. That’s been very helpful to me, especially on the hard days.”

For the first seven years of her business, Walsh operated out of a home office, and those like her are at risk for professional isolation and lack of networking opportunities. Organizations such as the National Association of Women Business Owners, CEO Forum, the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and SCORE help women grow their pool of professional contacts.

For others, risk means struggling to balance work and family, or taking out a second home mortgage for start-up capital because a bank loan was denied.

“Women often don’t monitor their credit the way they should, so when they go looking for financing, only then do they see they’re in trouble,” Merlino says. She recommends hiring a credit repair company, if needed.

Louise Parker faced financing challenges of another kind. In 1986, she co-founded a film production and post-production company in Phoenix called Blade Cuts with her husband. To help manage costs at first, she got a lease purchase for all equipment needed and a loan through a local bank. Although she got the money she needed, obtaining financing was trying.

“I honestly feel that if it hadn’t been for the fact that my husband is my partner, we wouldn’t have gotten the financing we did,” she says. “I think (the financial world) takes men more seriously.”

Parker says when they applied for financing in person, the loan officer didn’t look her in the eye, and when she asked him questions, he provided answers to her husband, not her.

This dilemma of women business owners not being taken seriously, especially within male-dominated fields, is not uncommon and is often more subtle.

An article by Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli in the Harvard Business Review’s October 2007 issue called, “Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership,” claims that studies consistently show people associate women with communal qualities such as being affectionate, helpful, soft-spoken, gentle and interpersonally sensitive. Whereas men are associated with traits that convey assertion and control, such as ambition, dominance, self-confidence and aggression. The writers conclude that women leaders often find themselves in a double bind: If they have many communal qualities, they’re criticized for lacking leadership traits commonly associated with men. If women leaders have many male-associated traits, then they are criticized for lacking communal qualities.

“Either way, they may leave the impression that they don’t have ‘the right stuff’ for powerful jobs,” the article states. “Given this double bind, it is hardly surprising that people are more resistant to women’s influence than to men’s.”

Wekherlien can relate.

“The accounting world is a boy’s club. I have a feeling it’s like that across many industries,” she says. People seeking CPA services with her firm often expect a male CPA, she says. When clients aren’t automatically trusting, she recommends emphasizing one’s experience, degrees and credentials.

“I’ve had clients leave my office. They’ll look me up and down, and they’ll say, ‘You know, I’ve decided to go elsewhere.’ ”

Eagly says individuals and organizations that discriminate in this way are typically unaware they’re acting in a discriminatory way. To combat cultural stereotypes, she recommends institutional change. Businesses should educate employees about these “psychological drivers of prejudice” that exist below the surface and adopt practices that root it out. She advocates more subjective policies for things such as performance reviews and promotions, rather than leaving it up to the opinion of one person or one homogenous group.

“On one hand, women are expected to be good leaders but they have the burden of proving to people they’re good women — (that) they’re friendly and warm,” says Eagly, a professor of social psychology at Northwestern University. “We recommend women try to do both. It’s usually not best to be just like the men” otherwise they adopt a traditional masculine mode, the “iron lady.”

She says studies show women with “masculine” leadership qualities fare better when they adopt more traditionally feminine traits.

“This cultural stereotype is there and is like a little rain cloud that follows us around,” Eagly says.

But the more women in business change their roles to assume authority positions, the more we’ll see women leading well, she says, predicting the social construct will gradually change.

Already, for-profits, charities, consumers and politicians have snapped to attention because women business owners are decision makers who dramatically influence policy, provide jobs and contribute to the culture of our communities.

Gov. Janet Napolitano recently kicked off a women’s entrepreneur conference in Scottsdale called Make Mine a Million $ Business, which is a program co-founded by Open from American Express and Count Me In. Participants are women who have committed to growing their businesses to $1 million in revenue by 2010. Some of them compete for an award, and winners receive prizes such as cash and office equipment.

With characteristic humor and pith, Napolitano encouraged a room full of action-oriented business owners. One of her suggestions resonated particularly with the audience: “Don’t let other people’s presumptions about who you are tell you who you must be.”

www.bladecuts.com
www.walshcomm.com
www.swcbusinessenterprises.com
www.topdogbizboosters.com
www.countmein.org