The Intuit Community Blog

I am woman, hear me roar!

Is it tougher for women to start their own businesses? For many years the common idea was that women should be the ones who stay at home to cook, clean and take care of the kids. There are many individuals out there who still have this idea in their head (men and women alike). I’m not going to start a debate on whether one way is better than the other, because there really is no right or wrong answer. If you are happy with your choices and with what you are doing, then that’s all that matters (to me at least).

But for the women out there who are braving the battles against opening and maintaining their own businesses, I salute you. Actually, I salute the men too, but I’m blogging about the women right now so I’ll get to you guys later.

It’s not easy, not matter what your gender, to open your own business. It can be scary, hard, overwhelming, confusing, and exhausting – and that’s just a Monday. Our Women’s Center is a great place for women to connect with other women who are going through the same experiences. Feel free to share your journey with us, it just may help someone else out there.

For you guys, don’t worry you can check out the Women’s Center too. We’ll let you in! We also have many other resources all over our site for entrepreneurs. A great place to start is our Starting & Growing section of our Small Business Center.

Who knows, you just might find the answer to the question you didn’t even know you were looking for!

Thanks Mom

Everyone is blogging about their mom today. I probably should too. And I probably should salute all them moms who own and operate businesses.

Since my Mom is on the East Coast and I am on the West Coast, I decided to visit two close friends, two female friends who are moms and who own their own businesses.

First Janice, who runs the Yoga Garden Studio in San Anselmo, California, and Mercedes who just opened a great store in Corte Madera, California called Tiller Digs Garden Home, which sells nature inspired and organic items for the home. And while I was buying lots of goods, I noticed that Mercedes daughter gave her a great gift. She volunteered to work in the store.  Both Janice and Mercedes are fulfilling a life dream -- and doing what they love. Having their own business about something they care about. According to the SBA there are another 10.6 million women doing the same thing out there. And these are just a sixth of all the working mom's out there. That's a lot of moms. Imagine holding two jobs like they do. Their work job and their home job.

I suggested to Janice and Mercedes that they check out annual Women's Business Conference in San Francisco June 2-3.

FYI, since I am in my forties, I no longer call her Mom. Instead, I call her Mother Nature.