playing field for us. Can you imagine the guts and determination it took for Shirley Chisholm an African American woman to make a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972!?
Today we find ourselves in a unique world in that women are starting businesses at three times the rate of men. That means women are employing their talent for multitasking like never before. I believe we have a unique advantage in our respective markets because as women we are accustomed to what I call the “clutch” an old 50’s term for “coffee clutch.” The clutch in 2010 is networking and it simply has a different agenda. Instead of swapping recipes, we help one another, we’re not afraid to ask for directions, and we are nurturers.
I’m not suggesting women are inherently “nicer” than men, because in some cases that simply isn’t true. What I am suggesting is that women have the ability to bond with other female entrepreneurs and because we are natural nurturers, the bond has more meaning than a golf match and a hand shake. The professional becomes personal. It’s in our genes to multitask and we’re great at it. So when I’m exhausted and want to throw in the towel, I remember all the personal relationships I have with so many professionals.
Love it !
I started my first business in the 60′s with everyone telling me to “just get a job”…like 2 children, PTA President, Community Developemet officer, wife, and 100 other job titles didn’t qualify. I had jobs, what I wanted was my own business, put together by “me” and operated under my talents and dreams.
I’ve never looked back or slowed down.
I’ve learned much from other women, some I knew and some I admired and learned from at a distance.
My trail of endeavors have seen many ups and many downs, the ups were places to rest and be grateful, the downs were places to stregthen my resolve and chart a new course…never did I think of giving up and ” getting a job.”
PS: No negative intended toward anyone who works a job for a company or someone else, just wasn’t for me.
I often think of all the women who paved the way for us, I know many suffered hardships and ridicule in order to stand firm and present a strong front.
To those women we owe much….paying it forward is the perfect way to repay the debt.
Bea Kunz
Sage Hill Farms
April 20, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Great article!
Thank You for looking at the positive, too often there is only the negative view and “why you can’t do it”.
Getting older has had some really positive advantages – I am more and more looking at what is true to me, what works for me instead of worrying about “other people think”. It has also taken me this long to come out of my shell and know that loving, accepting, approving and trusting myself comes from inside me, not by having someone’s approval. I have known I was a late bloomer, just not quite so late. I have been in the business world for about 6 or 7 years, so it has been an eye opener and a real learning experience. For the last 40 years or more I have been volunteering at many places and I now realize how much that has helped. I was blessed to not have to work and so had the advantage of volunteering as well as traveling with my husband whenever possible. I remember all those women who forged ahead and helped make it possible for women to be so much more than nurses, secretaries or teachers. At the time I felt that just as I was getting the hang of life, they suddenly changed the rules on me and I didn’t know where I fit in. Now at 63, I am much more comfortable with me and what I am doing.
I have met some fabulous women, learned from them and been supported by them – a really great give and take relationship that definitely helps sustain me. I don’t feel I have to do it all on my own any more.
Lee kaplanian
CMTIwest.com
April 25, 2010 at 9:42 am
Great article!
Thank You for looking at the positive, too often there is only the negative view and “why you can’t do it”.
Getting older has had some really positive advantages – I am more and more looking at what is true to me, what works for me instead of worrying about “other people think”. It has also taken me this long to come out of my shell and know that loving, accepting, approving and trusting myself comes from inside me, not by having someone’s approval. I have known I was a late bloomer, just not quite so late. I have been in the business world for about 6 or 7 years, so it has been an eye opener and a real learning experience. For the last 40 years or more I have been volunteering at many places and I now realize how much that has helped. I was blessed to not have to work and so had the advantage of volunteering as well as traveling with my husband whenever possible. I remember all those women who forged ahead and helped make it possible for women to be so much more than nurses, secretaries or teachers. At the time I felt that just as I was getting the hang of life, they suddenly changed the rules on me and I didn’t know where I fit in. Now at 63, I am much more comfortable with me and what I am doing.
I have met some fabulous women, learned from them and been supported by them – a really great give and take relationship that definitely helps sustain me. I don’t feel I have to do it all on my own any more.
Lee kaplanian
CMTIwest.com
June 2, 2010 at 3:58 am