I seldom do things early. I like to work with a looming deadline because it makes me write--fast.
This month I prepared my publisher’s comments very early and relaxed, until today.
Since the Fort Bend Business Journal is publishing a special section on Women in Business next month, Carolyn Reed, our Associate Publisher, thought I should change my publisher’s statement to remind our readers of this upcoming special section.
I spent all night tossing and turning, thinking about being a woman in business. I’ve been a woman in business for 30 years in Fort Bend County. Some of the attributes of being a successful woman in business are the same attributes of being a wife and
mother--determination, and at the same time, flexibility. You must be willing to do what is necessary to make your business succeed, however demeaning. You need to be smart, or at least have common sense. You need to have the ability to turn on the charm, the secret of that being a sincere
interest in other people. And you need to be able to withstand the slings and arrows.
Between 1997 and 2002, the numbers of women-owned firms overall increased by 19.8 percent and of women-owned employer firms, by 8.3 percent.
“Women have always been in business” said Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn, pointing out that women played key roles in the early American economy through the development of cottage industries and in the organization and work of benevolent societies.
When I first started the Star in 1978, many of my first advertisers were women who owned their own business. But I’ll tell you all about that next month in our special section. Be sure to call Carolyn Reed at 281-690-4201 to be included.
Meanwhile, this month we are covering Insurance, Finance and Summer Travel. Happy reading.
