Why Woman Should Be The Boss!

Conditions are now right to see a rise in entrepreneurship in women – so come on girls its time to be the boss!

I recently read that the Telegraph ran a poll and found a fifth of young women would like to run their own business, but only 3% wanted to become the CEO. The article wondered if climbing the career ladder “has gone out of fashion since the financial crisis”. I don’t actually think the global economic crisis has affected the desire of women to become entrepreneurs and do well in the business arena. I believe that woman, now more then ever, want to challenge themselves, start a new career and change their fortunes!

My experience of running a business (I started Next Step Beauty when I was 22 years old from a bedroom with a dream, a computer and a little help from a few friends), along with a young family and personal life is to utilise partnerships and work with people who are great at what they do. I had the burning ambition and the desire to be the boss and create something of my own!

Changing the Times Ahead

Women today control over 73% of household income and trillions of consumer spending per year. Women represent a growth market twice as big as China and India combined, while more women than men use social media and they spend 20% more of their time than men on retail sites (Comscore 2010). So why aren’t these very capable woman at the head of more businesses, running countries or breaking through?

At Next Step Beauty we provide beauty, holistic and nail courses which give woman the power to start their own businesses and become the boss. It is great to see so many young women (and men too!) choosing to train and start their own businesses. We are proud to training thousands of students each and the fact that more than 65% of Next Step students are women starting their own businesses really makes us happy. I attribute this almost entirely to the current employment market and the drive of woman to control their own destinies, finances and future.

Having said this it is probably a big surprise that many major global beauty businesses including L’Oreal and Creative – have men CEO’s and Chairmans. Many beauty brands suffer from a lack of female representation at board level, and this is true throughout the business world. Infact there are now still only 20 female CEOs at the 500 biggest U.S. corporations – What really? Come on girls, where is the GIRL POWER?

Support at Each Turn

The question in the coming years will be how many businesses, particularly those with a large and agile female customer base, will see women business leaders coming through at board level.

In one sense, there has never been an easier time to start a business. The lean start-up trend means it’s relatively cost effective to get trained, start a business, and make money quickly.

The world is a better connected place than ever before, this should be taken advantage of and women should find the community they feel supports their interests best.