Flexible working and a better work-life balance are two of the main reasons women start businesses and digital technology is providing opportunities such as we’ve not had before.
The boundaries between home and work are blurring. Innovations such as The ‘Cloud’ (some may call it the ‘Fog’) mean we can access information and software anywhere – liberating everyone to work in a more flexible way.
So, whereas in the past, women in corporate life have had to choose to work long hours away from the home, to the detriment of a fulfilled family life, or perhaps take a lower skilled part-time role, technology is changing this, thus removing a significant barrier to women in business.
As a means of dealing with the need to prioritise family life while still being involved in interesting and stimulating work, some mums have set themselves up in business. This way, the time management decisions are theirs. It doesn’t matter whether they are at their desk from 9-5 or from 10-3 and then in the evening after the children are in bed – providing they keep their customers and employees happy!
Cheers to Working from Home
One working woman who was motivated to establish a career in a field about which she was passionate and to build a business to fit in with her family is Heather Dougherty. When she compared the options of working for herself and working for someone else, there was a huge financial consideration in paying for childcare, so her preferred choice was to start-up a profitable company that would allow her to achieve a work/life balance.
During a break in her career to have children, Heather retrained, gaining a diploma in wines and spirits and, what started out as a couple of wine tasting events, progressed into the successful wine events company that “Red White & Rosé” is today.
Using the tools of her trade
However, when a child has special needs things can become more complicated. Sonia Blizzard is a mum who initially moved from being employee to contractor so that she could work flexible hours. However, she eventually decided that being her own boss would provide the full flexibility she needed to spend time with her son.
Sonia decided to use her IT knowledge and set up “Beaming”, a niche ISP (Internet Service Provider) which provides high-quality broadband and telephony products to business customers nationally. Sonia’s aim in setting up the business was to be successful, whilst working around the constraints of her son’s needs. To help her do that, she uses the technology her business provides to work from home when her son is not at school, at hours that fit in with family life. “I communicate mainly by email, allowing me to work from home while my son plays noisily in the background,” she discloses.
Sonia is then able to work from the office when her son is at school or at holiday club. She declares: “Using a laptop, and having access to email via broadband when at home, means there is no real difference between working at home and working in the office”.
Sonia and Heather have managed to build successful businesses in their own right – showing mums are leading a business whilst managing the demands and enjoying the fruits of family life.
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