Community Corner

Moms Q & A: Mothers Who Start A Business

When women work together, dynamics shift

Kathy McShane of Southwestern Connecticut's Ladies Who Launch recently organized a building event at the Housatonic's Habitat for Humanity on Linden Street in Danbury.  Birgit Anich, Norwalk, Residential Design, said, “Danbury is a common meeting ground for women around Fairfield County.”

 The ladies answered questions about some of the challenges and strengths seen in mothers who start their own business.

What is Ladies Who Launch?

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 Kathy McShane: I work with women who are trying to launch, or start, a business. I do a lot of public speaking, and I'm a marketing person. I just did a Linked In seminar and the Art of Negotiation because generally speaking, women aren't the best negotiators. They are too used to putting everyone else first.

 What are some of the challenges women with families face when starting a business?

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Birgit Anich: I am finally pursuing my dream from my teenage years. I am happy and proud of what I want to do. The challenge is to bring money into the family, and to take care of the kids and the business. I need to learn how to network and focus on the business. I went from running a department with 64 people, but that is not the same as running your own business.

Noelle Newell: Working at home, it's harder to have time off. Business has changed dramatically, priorities have shifted with technology. The past two weeks there have been a constant stream of emails, and it's been getting in the way of family time. I have to become more disciplined. The lines cross between designer and confidant, but it ends when the job is done. The hardest thing is having a family and trying to start a business.

Sharon Willis: I have to keep telling my daughter that marrying for money doesn't necessarily happen.

 Marian Edvardsen: There was wrong information in the 70s, that we could do anything men could do. Women were trying to be like men. I think in the 60s there was so much hostility between men and women.

What needed to happen was that stereotypes needed to dissolve so that women could be anything they wanted to, and to be the best women they could be. And that needed to happen for men too.

Marian: I have a son, and mothers need to step back and let the nurturing side of men emerge.

Birgit: My son always wants to take care of me.

Marian: When they want to help you, you have to allow them to do that.

 What do you think are the biggest differences in the way men and women do business?

 Kathy: Men do business one way, women do it another.

 Birgit: You have to have a good education to do well in business.

 Kathy: When women start a business, they know what the culture of their business is going to be. They see things as a whole, employees are part of the culture rather than just individuals. They care about how other women feel in their jobs. They aren't competitive in the way men are, and they choose careers that reflect themselves.

 Marian: Women are peacemakers when trying to do the best for their clients. They aren't trying to win.

 Kathy: That's why women aren't good negotiators. (Unless they are negotiating with another woman and the playing field is level.)

 Kathy: In a meeting, women share their experiences.

 Marian: For a lot of women, it isn't about a company but about living the life they wanted to live. Their business choices reflect that.

What are some of the things that hold women back?

 Kathy: Some of the feelings that hold women back are fear, self-limiting beliefs, the traditional ways they were brought up, and if they feel they are deserving of success. They need to know they can be anything they want to be. Women take their career choices and wrap decisions about their family around that. That's what women do.

 Skills that have been traditionally seen as weaker in women, only are so when they are interacting with men in the business world. When women work together, would you say that those perceived weaknesses actually become strengths?

 Kathy: Yes, I would.

 

How about reader's thoughts? Do you have anything to add to challenges women face in business?


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