Women at work and their tips, challenges, advice, complaints, and experiences

* What do you enjoy the most about operating your business? What tasks would you perform even if it had nothing to do with the successful operation of your company?

Probably like everyone with their own business, my greatest joy is my autonomy and freedom; I am free to structure my day and my work around what works for my clients and me. I have total creative license, and use it often. I am not confined to someone else’s workspace or corporate policies and procedures. I love that!

* What is the least enjoyable part of operating your business? Are there any tasks you’d gladly delegate to anyone else, no matter what the price?

The least enjoyable part of having my own business is knowing that the marketing and advertising are all up to me; if I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done, which means, I won’t grow or profit. I can’t rely on someone else for health insurance or a regular paycheck. Taxes are no longer paid by someone else. My filing piles way up before I get to it, and I seem to always be struggling with piles that need to be cleaned up. I’ve thought about the delegating thing; I would gladly delegate filing and paper sorting, but not at any price. I still can’t afford the luxury of a helper.

* What’s the worst advice you’ve been given with regard to building or operating your business? How about the best advice?

The worst advice I’ve been given? Well, a very good friend thought/thinks I was crazy to just leave a 9-5 job with good benefits and decent pay and just go it on my own. Although in some ways he may have been right, we never get anywhere if we settle for a life that has little value or meaning to us. Sometimes, it’s worth the risk. And the other piece of advice, well, I don’t really classify it as advice, was that I need to decide whether or not I will provide a variety of services, or just transcription; I was advised that I wouldn’t be able to do both, and without a few years of transcription under my belt, no one would even hire me. Well, I am currently providing a wide variety of services to my clients, AND I frequently transcribe for others. The best advice I had was that I needed to believe in myself, and to be encouraged.