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Minding Her Business, Woman Charts Solo Course in World of Workby Barbara Moore "I did it!" That's the phrase I keep exclaiming to myself these days -- that is, when I'm not asking myself, "What on earth have I done?" What I did was to give notice at my job. After 25 years of working as a librarian, the last eight years at the University of Rochester, I am going into business for myself. At the end of this month, I will be self-employed, working full time as an Internet consultant helping people use the Internet for information, communication, fun and profit. My co-workers were astounded when they heard the news that I was leaving. “Are you crazy?” they asked. “You’re going to give up a steady income?” My friends advised me to just take a month or two off from work. They assured me that I am simply going through a mid-life crisis and that too would pass. My brother warned me not to count on any relative, especially him, to bankroll my new business. And my parents quickly pointed out that I couldn’t move back home if I ran out of money as the spare bedroom now houses a computer and is in constant use by my mother -- who is addicted to cyberspace. How could I, a person who has always worked for nonprofits and in the past, thought of business as "cut-throat," have the courage to make this monumental decision? The answer is -- luck, inspiration, and hard work. I’m lucky in that I have the right skills to make the transition to the Information Age. As a librarian, I have worked for years with information and I have extensive computer skills. I didn't realize when I “fell into” librarianship as a career in my early 20s that I would be in one of the “hot professions” of the '90s. As Faithe Popcorn states in her book Clicking, I am one of the “tech-knows” who will be helping the “tech-nots” to use computers and the Internet for the information they need to be successful. A large number of women are "cashing out" (leaving well-paid and often stressful jobs) to start their own SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) business, according to Popcorn. In the past two years I have met many local women who have left jobs (sometimes voluntarily and sometimes because they were “downsized”) to start their own businesses. Their stories have been truly inspirational. They talk about the hard work and the difficulties they face in their businesses. All of them told me they would not go back to working for someone else. “You’ll ask yourself why you waited so long to do this,” one female entrepreneur told me. One of the best support groups I have is the new business owners special interest group of the Rochester Women’s Network. The 15 women I meet with once a month are my personal cheerleading section. They applaud my successes and strategize with me over my challenges. They have given me valuable advice -- from what to print on my business cards to how to set fees. Of course, there has been lots of hard work leading up to this life-changing decision. Twice a week for two months I attended the Passport to Owning Your Own Business course sponsored by the Enterprise Development Center of the Urban League of Rochester Inc. I met with other women and minority would-be business owners to hear from local experts on every business topic one could think of: marketing, financing, insurance, advertising, legal concerns, accounting, management, business plans, etc. After taking this course I could no longer say that I didn’t know what I was getting into. So yes. I'm going to do it. Despite the anxiety
I sometimes feel, I will be leaving my secure job to become one of
the many women who will start her own business this year. I know all
the hard work I have ahead of me will be worth it. Twenty or more
years from now, I am sure I will look back at this decision and
still be exclaiming, "I did it!" Net Results, LLC |
