Several years ago October was dubbed Women’s Small Business Month as a way to honor and salute all the female-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs. The small business landscape has shifted dramatically over the last few decades, and women-owned and self-employed firms have grown dramatically.
Especially for self-employed women, the flexibility to set your own hours and work from home has enabled tens of thousands of professional women to rewrite the rules on work-life balance. Hard work aside, now more than ever women are finding great success at running prosperous businesses and also living healthy and vibrant personal lives with their families. Impressively, women-owned businesses are winning more awards for their businesses as well.
Here are some interesting stats on women-owned small businesses and self-employed women (according to SBA studies):
–Self employment rate for women was 42 percent of the rate for men in 1979 (55 percent in 2003)
–Between 1997 and 2004, women-owned businesses grew at nearly 2.5 times the rate of all U.S. privately held firms, and employment at these firms grew more than three times faster than all firms, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research.
–The Center also discusses how the types of businesses women own are changing. Traditionally majority of women-owned businesses were in retail and service sectors whereas today they are represented in more industries like high technology, construction, public utilities, transportation, and other consulting fields.
–Women-owned businesses contribute $3 trillion to the American economy and are responsible for 23 million jobs.
UnderstandingMarketing.com salutes all women-owned small businesses and self-employed female professionals. Do you fall into this category? How has your business grown through the years?
Additional Resources:
Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur
Balance Sheet Basics: Financial Management for Nonfinancial Managers
The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business
Leading From the Front : No-Excuse Leadership Tactics for Women
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John, I had no idea this month was Women’s Small Business Month - thank you for spotlighting it here. I’ll be sure to spread the word. Thanks!
You bet, Karen! Since Chrisanne is really the driver of this site and her consulting business, we’re obviously big believers in the power of women-owned small business.