The Daily Grind

I couldn’t stop shaking this morning as I drove in to work. This is my second anxiety attack in two days. Both started during my morning commute and didn’t diminish until around lunchtime. I found myself anxious and uptight for the rest of the day yesterday.

Every morning at 6:00 am my alarm goes off EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I think to myself, "What would it be like to not have to answer to anyone but myself? Who do they think they are, telling me what time I should start working?" I rush to work, and barley make it on time. I say good morning to everyone and start the daily grind. I clock watch all day. To me J-O-B stands for JustOverBroke, companies pay you what they have to, to keep you, no more.

It may be the same old boring thing day in and day out but I do it, partially because it is what I know and am comfortable with. I was taught at a young age, I must get a job to survive. Not true. Right now this job is nothing more that survival for me. I work very hard on my internet sites with the hope that one day I will be able to work for myself, knowing very well that living with anxiety attacks is not an acceptable way to survive.

Take this Job and...

An interesting and insperational article from Psychology Today Magazine

Take This Job And...
By: PT Staff
Summary: Ready for a new career?
Psychologist Judith Sills on how to summon the courage to chart a new course

Many people are simply afraid to look for another job in a bad economy. Doesn’t it make sense to wait for the market to pick up?
When anyone considers a job change, there will be reasons to stay put—the economy, your pension, being vested. Reasons always have a real element and an anxiety-avoiding element. Your strategy is to test reality by facing the anxiety (are there really no new jobs?). As you take action—write the résumé, network—you will begin to assess your realistic limitations. You will also whittle down your anxiety.
What if the anxiety is crippling?
Try to separate your anxiety from your ambition. Picture your fear sitting on your right shoulder. Now look left. Desire and its accompanying vision have an energy—it’s a counterpoint to anxiety. Reassure yourself that if you are allowed to dream, you may never decide to act.
Dreaming, thinking—and then acting—will strengthen the vision and make you cower less behind anxiety. Thinking costs nothing. Don’t impulsively decide to quit and become a carpenter. Just register for one woodworking course. You’re moving to the left but keeping the right in place.
How do I find my focus and vision?
Start by formulating positive statements from general to specific: “I will have a job that interests me” to “I would be good in my own business.” Once you’ve formed the statements, write them, repeat them and visualize yourself in a setting where you might live them. Visions grow in this kind of mental soil. Creative activity—journal keeping, a return to the violin—has a way of stirring vision. We lose parts of ourselves as we grow older. Reclaiming them can renew possibilities. So can giving. When you don’t know what to change, volunteering can be rewarding. At the least, it will take you out of yourself, and at the most, it will return you to yourself.
So we need to turn on the vision and turn down the anxiety.
Break job change down to bite-size steps and never look past the next task. If you need to call three scary people for an interview, put all your energy into that first call.
Also, volunteer for new tasks at your job and give yourself an opportunity to test your range in a safe environment. Try on a new identity at a volunteer job: You will feel less pressure because pay is not involved. Request a transfer at your current job or offer to train a new employee—you might get a larger vision of yourself.
What can we learn from the divas, explorers and entrepreneurs who embrace change? What do they have that the majority of us lack?
Juice, life force, X-factor—we are all born with it. Then, it’s tampered with because life is hard, we have to be civilized or your mother told you you were stupid. Shyness and fear overwhelm this force, depression submerges it, rejection scars it and competition makes us uncertain about it. But the person who acts with courage—to face down anxiety—has the great reward of knowing it can be done. And that person is more likely to do it again. And even when these risk takers fail—which they do plenty—they don’t die. This is true whether you’re batting your eyes at someone in a singles bar or going to the bank for a loan. You went in, they said you were stupid and you lived to tell the tale.
What if I have the desire and talent to design clothes but must hold down a desk job because I have four kids and am up to my neck in bills?
If your reason for doing nothing is that life got in the way—that’s a trap. We’re all living in the same economy, but while some people change jobs, most don’t.
Nobody can write a book when she has a job, bills and kids. Except for the person who wrote the book while she had the job, bills and kids. Except Danielle Steele, who had nine kids.
Maybe you have to take the design course on Saturdays and get up at 4:30 a.m. to do your sketches. Either you have that creative outlet or you have reasons.
You say “reasons” but you mean “excuses.”
We don’t call them excuses; we call them reasons. So I call them reasons. People have reasons until they start having plans.
You say “plan,” but you also mean “vision.”
Yes, but I emphasize that vision can be just a whiff. Do you have any idea how you’re going to design clothes and make money? No. Do you need to make a complete career change? Not yet. Maybe you’ll sell T-shirts on the boardwalk and make a fortune. It doesn’t have to begin with a five-year plan. A long-term plan is nice; it’s just not required.
What if I have a good, creative job, say, making commercials, but I am driven to direct a meaningful film?
Well, isn’t all of adulthood the narrowing of options? No matter who you are there are only 24 hours in a day, and time is finite. So you have a choice to make.
Often we say, “You can have the job and make your film on the side.” That’s nonsense. You may have to abandon the vision: “It’s going to require too much sacrifice of my career, and I’m not going down that path.” Making these decisions is a requirement of adulthood. There are others who say, “I’ve been taking care of my kids for a long time, and if I don’t make this film now, I never will. I’m going to have to let go of this satisfying job, and that will be tough—maybe I’ll semi-retire for a year; maybe I’m going to cash in my 401(k).” The third path: “Is there another creative outlet that will satisfy me?” For example, your hobby is filming important events in your friends’ lives. These mini-films are gifts of love for your friends.
As a culture, we don’t expect to derive as much satisfaction from work as we do from personal relationships. Is that why so many of us are stuck in professional ruts?
We stay in jobs we don’t like, and we stay in relationships we don’t like. But we anticipate much more passionate excitement and bliss from a romantic relationship, while we are much more realistic about work. The myth that work should exalt the soul is far less rooted in our culture. In a job you know there is measurable reward: You know what you’re working for extrinsically; who knows why you’re still in the relationship.
What about those who say, “I make a decent living, I’m just not on fire at my job”?
You don’t have to be on fire to find intrinsic satisfaction at work. A job that offers social, intellectual or even physical satisfaction is one you may want to stay with. We don’t define a comfort trap by the degree of excitement in your work life but by the degree of satisfaction. Professional change is not something I recommend for its own sake. Rather, your job is a dead horse when it offers little or no satisfaction, when you’re only working for the money, or you are enduring mind-numbing days or acute distress solely for that paycheck.

Publication: Psychology Today MagazinePublication Date: May/June 2004

Your On-the-Job Demeanor

Your On-the-Job Demeanor Invades Your Personal Life
By Rennie Sloan From Worthwhile Magazine
As I was working in New York in the late 90s, a vice president of my former company walked into my office clutching a brown paper bag, which she breathed into frantically trying to relieve intense job stress. How pathetic, I thought, as I watched the bag inflate and contract, all the while secretly plotting my own escape to a job where employees were happier.
These scenarios of workers driven over the edge were plentiful near the end of the dot-com era. Indeed, people began to bail in droves from fast-track jobs in both startups and big companies to find work more conducive to passionate living. Despite huge bonuses and perks such as massage therapists on site, employees finally said, "it's no longer about money, I want to have a life," says Christina Maslach, a University of California at Berkeley psychology professor who specializes in job burnout and stress.
Which, of course, leads to the core question: Is it possible to have a happy life if you hate your job -- or the work is dull enough to sleepwalk through?
The answer is one that psychologists continue to debate and research as job trends and lifestyles change. Experts say some individuals are capable of finding happiness by strictly walling off their work from family, friends, hobbies and the like. But, increasingly, a corporate lifestyle affected by such factors as 24/7 technology and global timetables puts so much pressure on employees that job stress and unhappiness eventually creeps into other areas of life.
The result: The creative work force has started seeking more rewarding jobs.
One example is David Vannort, who found a path to passionate work, a happier life, and to his surprise, profitability. Vannort was a former senior manager with Arthur Andersen in Atlanta, on the fast track to partnership in a new litigation practice area, and traveling up to six months at a time.
"One year I worked over 700 hours of overtime." His reward? "Attaboys and bonuses" from the big bosses. The cost? Anxiety attacks, and little sympathy from his friends, who had long since kissed his companionship goodbye. "Your friends stop calling after a while. They know you're not there."
When an 18-month corporate loan program at Andersen gave Vannort a chance to help poor communities develop business and leadership skills, he found the work more fulfilling and the schedule more humane.
"When it was time to go back, I just said I can't do this anymore." Vannort then quit his Andersen job to get a real-estate license and work on his own, admittedly nervous to change careers and take a huge financial risk. "It probably took me two years to replace income from Arthur Andersen, and now I make substantially more. I think it's because I like what I do. And the funny thing is, I probably work harder and more hours doing real estate."
Now his social life includes spending off-time with his clients, whom he takes pride in assisting with their critical life decisions. The anxiety attacks are gone.
Vannort could afford to make economic sacrifices to launch a more satisfying and ultimately more financially rewarding career. But some people fear the risks and financial sacrifices are too great to give up jobs that pay the bills. If they continue to plod along in a daily grind of an unfulfilling job, will this strip away their souls and rob them of happiness?
Some psychologists believe job satisfaction and happiness can be tied to overall goals and priorities, such as family or community. In fact, recalibrating those priorities can be critical. Arthur Brief, a psychology professor at Tulane University, lectured to executives and M.B.A. students for many years, often beginning the class by asking students what percentage of happiness they thought came from their jobs.
When students, many of whom were married, responded 70% to 80%, he then asked, "What happens if I go home and tell your husband that 80% of your passion in your life comes from your job?"
Still, the career realities can be harsh, and even dangerous, as in the case of Terri Longfellow Fuller.
Fuller worked for three years as a creative director for Turner Entertainment, a job that initially allowed her to stretch her artistic muscles. When the company began merger discussions with AOL, her department's morale plummeted, a tone that only worsened during restructuring and layoffs.
"There was tons of infighting. It was really yucky." When Fuller went to the doctor with heart palpitations, he gave her some tests but they concluded the symptoms were due to job stress. "I was extremely unhappy, I was extremely frustrated. I worried about it all the time."
Fuller was laid off one Monday as part of the restructuring, and her fiancé noticed a difference within days. "By Friday night, he just looked at me and laughed, and said, 'You look so relaxed.' He saw it right away."
For the past two years, Fuller has enjoyed similar work as an independent contractor, staying busy full time with more creativity and flexibility on client work due to less bureacracy. The heart palpitations are gone, and weekend depression has been replaced with spending quality time with her husband, doing volunteer work, and tending to her adopted greyhound Hailey.
This shift in work environment, as opposed to career, can be the change needed to create job happiness, according to Dr. Maslach, who notes the trend of employees such as Vannort and Fuller taking control to find or create jobs in sync with individual values.
"It's not that [organizations] go out and design some workplace to drive people crazy, but there are human considerations not being met," she says. "If the workplace doesn't adjust to the human being, you can injure the human being."
According to Dr. Maslach, some people can compartmentalize jobs they dislike, and find enough passion in other areas such as friends, family, faith and hobbies. However, she notes that compartmentalization "can have negative effects on personal relationships, shutting people out. It causes strain on relationship or individuals because you can't talk about it."
Not talking about work, a place where you may spend more time than anywhere else, can create a disconnect with spouses and others. And, often, self-worth and identity is connected to employment, and many people are too proud to broadcast job dissatisfaction. This silent suffering can add more stress to the burden of the job.
Some psychologists say more research is needed to examine the correlation of recent job trends and overall happiness. Dr. Maslach believes potential "erosion of the soul" from job misery creeping into your life can vary from person to person and is influenced by priorities and stage in life.
In general, however, it's clear that work plays an important role in happiness. "People would rather have a job they feel good about," Maslach says.

-- This article is provided by Worthwhile Magazine. Copyright 2004.

Let's go back to your childhood...

An old friend and I got together this weekend. As we sat over a glass of wine and talked about what was going on in our lives. I brought up how I feel I'm stuck at a road block I've been sailing through for so long with no direction that I've just let time take over. I'm going from one day to the next just hoping to get through. That's not to say that I don't have great days, I do, but I'm not doing anything about the things that make me unhappy. I feel like I'm just stuck, and this is where I'm going to stay until circumstances change.

She mentioned how that is so out of character for me and how a few years back, I really seemed to have it all. Not true, about ten years ago I really felt like I had control of my own destiny, I was going to school and had a promising career, but it was short-lived. I let money problems get in my way, not to mention family problems, relationship problems and the problems of my friends at the time. Somewhere along the way I let all the problems and obstacles take control and I never got over that hump.

Having grown up together, Jan and I started talking about our childhood, things we loved, things we missed and things we wish we could go back and change. Together, we discovered a lot about ourselves and how we let our past effect our lives now and our future.

I mentioned how I have been thinking about places we used to go, places that really seem to bring back happy memories, places I wish I could go back to. I realized that most of my childhood was incomplete. This is not a theory where I'm placing blame, its a theory on how I came in to my current thinking habits.

We went back in time to when we met in elementary school. I had switched to a public school and Jan was in my class. At the same time my mom had to go get a job to supplement the family income. I would say about that time she, my mom that is, became depressed. My whole life changed. I was in the fifth grade. I can remember my mom being extremely moody with us. I would walk to school in tears because she would lay in bed and yell at us in the morning and didn't pay us much attention after school.

She worked nights and left at 4:00, a couple of hours after my sisters and I got home. Dad wouldn't be home until 6:00, or so. There was never any mention of homework, so of course I never did any. Our routine was a couple of chores such as setting the table, vacuuming and after eating, washing dishes. Mom gave up on cleaning house when she found a job. We had to stay inside or in the backyard until dad got home. Which meant no friends. I never understood why and took it personally, when my mom allowed my older sister to have the girl across the street over. That was the rule, Jane and only Jane was allowed over.

When dad got home he sat in front of the TV all night, not ignoring us, but his evenings were filled with not much more than evening sitcoms.

I started to get embarrased at school because my homework was never done. I would try to fake it handing it in half done or early morning scribbles done on the playground waiting for the bell to ring. A note home from my teacher, had me sitting at the kitchen table in the evenings for a while, but with no help when needed or no one checking it for me I quickly got out of that. I had to quit the little league baseball team over summer vacation I loved so much, because my mom would go out drinking after work and couldn't get up to drive me in the morning.

In junior high things only got worse. Mom and dad weren't getting along. When mom was home she was on the phone with her friends, complaining about my dad and would go out and drink after work. Dad resented having to do the housework and we were always yelled at for not doing a good enough job. We had lists of chores to do and worked hard at everyone one of them, yet it never seemed to be good enough. After school and during summer vacation, mom volunteered us for babysitting jobs so we had no free time or time with our friends. I had to quit the school band after my parents refused to buy me an instrument because they didn't think it was important. I was first chair and my teacher loaned me the instrument for one semester because I was doing so well. When that gig was up so were my days in band class.

I started out my freshmen year in high school being pretty involved in extra curricular and sports. But as always, all good things must come to an end. My mom actually became jealous of my life. (My older sister once quoted my mom saying that to her.) I always thought my mom would be proud of me. In junior high, I made the mistake of haging out with the wrong crowd for a while. I never had the chance to do anything wrong myself, but my friends weren't the type your parents would want you to hang with. So in high school my friends consisted of my teammates from volleyball, baseball and members of the student council, truly great kids.

My phone calls from friends after school ended with my mom picking up the phone and cutting in on our conversations with rude remarks or her yelling at them when they called saying if they just saw me a few hours ago at school there was no reason for them to call met at home. I think at this time she started having an affair. She would race to the phone when it rang and hide the the bathroom while talking on it. On the occasions I did answer a man would ask for her. Family life was getting really rough.

On the week of my sixteenth birthday, she made me get a job. It was a job I had to walk three miles to, which meant getting home from school, changing and start on my walk to work. I was not allowed in friends cars at the time. (The old family car was given to my older sister and I was told I could work and save up for one if I needed one.) What made it worse was, after work I would have to wait until 1:00 in the morining for my sister to come by and pick me up after she got off work. I now had to quit the volleyball and baseball teams because I could not make the practices or games.

By the time I was a senior in high school I didn't have a single friend left, not one. I was an outcast. I used to throw up or skip class on the days that we had class assembly because I knew in that crowd of 350 kids or so, I would be sitting there all by myself. Everyone grouped with their friends having a good time and I would just sit there, my face hurting from holding back the tears; I wanted to dissappear.

I decided after high school my life would be different. I started working for a good company as a secretary, enrolled in the community college and worked a coouple of nights a week to pay for it all and still be able to put some money in the bank. Still my mom never failed to ride me, she sent me off the work crying more times than I can count. Putting me down for going to college and not just finding a husband and settling down. She invited old boyfriends over to drinkwith her and I hid in my room and did my homework. I wasn't going to let her control me forever.

I soon started making enough money and had a nice little saving and got myself an apartment. Of course, mom hated it. She strolled down my walkway cursing and telling me how awful it was. I knew I wouldn't have to listen to that much longer. I pretty much cut myself off from my family for a while. My sisters seemed content living at home working for fast food restrants and looking for husbands. My mom was so pleased with them.

Working two jobs got the best of me and I quit my night job. I still had school two to three nights a week, but soon found I could no longer afford it. Still, my day job was pretty promising, payed the bills and I really enjoyed the work. I was making new friends and really learning a lot.

Seven years with the same company and my boss decided he was going to close the doors and move across the country. Since then I've had a series of dissapointing jobs, layoffs and supplemental night jobs to make ends meet.

Skip to the present day and here I am. Still struggleing with my family relations and desperatly wanting to go back and re-live some past moments. I know I can't go back and that its time for me to give it everything I've got and move forward, but I'm stuck. Money is tight and so is my time. I'm tired and trying to muster up the enegy to get going again. I seriously don't want my life end with the same dissapointment it started with.

Bored, bored and bored

I've been staring at the wall for fifteen minutes, over the piles of work and mundane tasks feeling like I just can't take another second of this. I have 2 1/2 hours to go and I really don't think I'm going to make it. My brain is literally blank. Every so often I attemp a little work, but it makes me feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin. I'd entertain myself with a computer game or something but we all have our desks strategically placed so that anyone at anytime can check up on what we are working on (and they do).

I can't beleive its only Tuesday. I rack my brain day in and day out trying to come up with ways to get me out of here; for good. This can't possibly be my existance.

I found this on the internet and found it kind of humorous: (Now I only have 2 hours to go!!!)

YOU KNOW YOU WORK IN CORPORATE AMERICA IF:
You've sat at the same desk for 4 years and worked for three different companies.
Your company welcome sign is attached with Velcro.
Your resume is on a diskette in your pocket.
The company logo on your badge is drawn on a post-it note.
When someone asks about what you do for a living, you lie.
You get really excited about a 2% pay raise.
You learn about your layoff on CNN.
Your biggest loss from a system crash is that you lose your best jokes.
Your supervisor doesn't have the ability to do your job.
You sit in a cubicle smaller than your bedroom closet.
Salaries of the members on the Executive Board are higher than all the Third World countries' annual budgets combined.
You think lunch is just a meeting to which you drive.
It's dark when you drive to and from work.
Fun is when issues are assigned to someone else.
"Communication" is something your group is having problems with.
You see a good looking person and know it is a visitor.
Free food left over from meetings is your main staple.
Weekends are those days your spouse makes you stay home.
Being sick is defined as can't walk or you're in the hospital.
Art involves a white board.
You're already late on the assignment you just got.
When 100% of your time means 20 hours.
You work 200 hours for the $100 bonus check and jubilantly say "Oh wow, thanks!"
Dilbert cartoons hang outside every cube.
Your boss' favorite lines are "when you get a few minutes", "in your spare time", "when you're freed up", and "I have an opportunity for you."
Vacation is something you roll over to next year or a check you get every January.
Your relatives and family describe your job as "works with computers".
Change is the norm.
Nepotism is encouraged.
The only reason you recognize your kids is because their pictures are hanging in your cube.
You only have makeup for flourescent lighting
You read this entire list and understood it.

Mondays

Does everyone get the "Monday Blues"? I wake up in the morning convinced I'd rather have the flu than head to the office........

I need a reason to wake up in the morning, besides having to go to the bathroom.

Alexander Graham Bell: When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.

Herbert Hoover: About the time we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.

Robert Frost: A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body; the wishbone.

The Napoleon Complex

Or sort of; yes, I'm speaking of my boss and the other family members that I work for. How does that apply to them?

Well, the way I see it is daddy started a company 50 years ago. He didn't leave his children with, vision, business smarts or people skills. What he did leave them with was an established business and a silver spoon. What did the employees and myself get out of it? Overbearing, mindless employers, with no leadership skills whatsoever. They finally get to be in charge after working for daddy for years and all they can do with it is marvel in the fact that they are now in control. We are left powerless.

This is not the first company I've experienced this in. I've had a widow who tried to take over her husband's real estate ventures and an accountant who's daddy left him his business. Unfortunately I seemed to have stepped in at the wrong time. Just as kiddie seems to think he or she has the world at their fingertips, spends their day as if the cash is endless and is to dumb, to drunk or to absent to realize this isn't a free ride, that their business is failing and their employee moral is low and their clients are unhappy.

Some might call me the idiot for taking these jobs. I very well may be, but what is apparent from behind the scenes, was not always obvious at the beginning. Some appear to be well established business with long-term employees, while in reality they are failing second generation companies with employees who feel stuck.

I did once have the opportunity for work for a fortune five hundred company. The job was a dream for the first year. It later became apparent that from poor management in our division, the corporation chose to close us down. I saw it coming and thought a small business would be the way to go. I got out before the lay-offs in my department started and took a job for one of the small companies noted above. To my surprise, nothing could have been worse.

I now know that my career choice is my problem. I majored in business and hate the corporate work, but seriously lack the resources to leave. I work on it everyday. Sometimes my motivation is high, other days I feel nothing but despair. I know deep down I can never let go of my determination. My day will come.

New Ways of Work

Leaving the secure corporate world
Do you have what it takes?
Oh, the freedom of escaping the corporate grind. Are you like many Canadians who fantasise about leaving your corporate job behind? Do you picture yourself as a successful entrepreneur; can you see yourself sailing around the world? Wake up! Not everyone is cut out to leave corporate comforts behind. If you have worked for a large organization for over five years, you understand the benefits of the corporate world. You might get access to expensive training and skill development you couldn't afford on your own. Shares or stock options may lock you into company loyalty. Perks such as frequent flyer points also appeal to staffers accustomed to free travel. Resting in a comfort zone blanketed by security of a steady pay, good benefits and a respectable pension at a relatively low risk often keep employees hooked on corporate worklife.

Signs it's time to leave
Your work doesn't mesh with your life.
You've outgrown the job
You've fixed the things that drive you nuts -- and you're still miserable.

But at what point does an employee's need to move into another working environment outweigh the benefits of the corporate world? Can you no longer live with hierarchy? Are you at your wits end with regimented processes and procedures that you have little control over? Do you fear becoming redundant or being forced to do something other than what you want to? Before you tell your boss to shove it, before you set out on your self-directed destiny, think again about the implications of leaving your secure corporate job. Do a little self assessment first. What are your goals? What drives you? What do you like? What's fun for you? What do you feel enthusiastic about? What can you sell? What makes you different? What do you want? How much money do you want to make?

Now that you've explored your options you should be better prepared to make the move away from corporate life if you choose to do so. Remember entrepreneurship isn't for everyone. It takes courage to go it on your own and survive without the lifestyle your former salary afforded you. As an alternative to self-employment consider working at a smaller company. Start-ups offer the challenge of being on your own with a salary that you might not get if you were on your own. In the workplace attitude is important - many companies will train for the skill. What matters is that you have passion and care about what you do!
How to get started on your own

Once you've searched your soul and you know that you're ready to make the break from the corporate chains that bind you, here are a few tips to get you started on your own: 1. Devise an exit strategy detailing your transition from your corporate job to your next job while you are still employed by the corporation. 2. Create a list of everyone you know and tell them what you are doing. You will be surprized how many people offer help and support and you never know who they might know. 3. Set up learning interviews with entrepreneurs and people in other companies and industries to learn about their business. People like to talk about themselves and give you ideas if they know you are not asking for a job. 4. Do your homework Visit a small business centre. These libraries have books, programs and resources to guide prospective entrepreneurs. 5. Put a business plan together that outlines a strategy of what you would like to do and take it to the bank or someone who may be willing to invest.

By Linda Plater

More Women Leaving the Corporate World

An increasing number of women are leaving big companies to start their own businesses, according to a new article in the March/April issue of Across The Board, The Conference Board's bimonthly magazine.
"Escape from Corporate America" concludes that despite diversity initiatives in the last decade, many organizations still unconsciously treat women as second-class citizens.
According to Cheskin Research, women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men and have become a major force in both the traditional and e business marketplaces. The Center for Women's Business Research estimates that as of 2002 there were 6.2 million women-owned businesses employing 9.2 million workers and generating $1.15 trillion in annual revenue.
"In the interest of security, women used to be willing to channel their time, energy and effort to the corporation's needs at the expense of fulfilling their own professional goals -- but no more," says Laurel Delaney, author of the article and founder of GlobeTrade.com, a Chicago-based global marketing and consulting company. "In starting their own businesses, they're seeking freedom, flexibility, recognition, more money and opportunities to leave a legacy -- all of the things they once thought they would find within corporations."
A study by Catalyst, a nonprofit research and advisory organization working to advance women in business and the professions, shows that 29% of women business owners with prior private-sector experience cited glass ceiling issues as the major reason for leaving corporate positions. Of those women, 44% felt their contributions were not recognized or valued.
One-third of the women surveyed by Catalyst said they were not taken seriously by their employer or supervisor. Fifty-eight percent of the survey participants said nothing could attract them back to the corporate world. However, 24% said they could be lured back by more money, and 11% by greater flexibility. Lack of flexibility is an even bigger problem for women in Corporate America than glass ceiling issues; 51% of the women surveyed cited the desire for more flexibility as their major reason for leaving corporate positions.
"As women walk out the door after years of training, what really walks out is the potential that those women would have brought to Corporate America," says Sheila Wellington, Catalyst president.
Marilyn Moats kennedy, managing partner of Illinois-based Career Strategies, says women "see corporations as places to hone your skills, but not stay long term. They object to office politics, asking, 'Why do I have to toady to some old guy who ceased to be productive years ago?' "
Some of the most successful women business owners are refugees from Corporate America, suggests Linda Darragh, vice president of the Women's Business Development Center in Chicago.
While Corporate America may be losing a vital resource, the economy is apparently benefitting from the increase in female entrepreneurship. According to the 2002 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a study published by Babson College, London Business School and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, entrepreneurship is one of the best indicators of a country's economic success, and a good way to accelerate the pace of entrepreneurial activity is to encourage women to participate.

©2003 Youngstown Publishing Company. All rights reserved.