f r e s h s t a r t

Monday, May 09, 2005

 

Parallel conversations
I went to Depart-ment on Saturday with a few people from my Stitch n’ Bitch group, and we had lunch afterwards. We were discussing careers and our lives, and one woman mentioned that her plans to move abroad had fallen though, and that she would once again be looking for a job as a veterinarian. I asked if she had ever considered going into business for herself, and she said that she didn’t want to because it would be like doing two jobs, the actual veterinary work, and then the running of the business, managing staff, keeping the books, etc. She’s an intelligent person and I imagine perfectly capable of doing that, but just isn’t interested in it.

The Saturday before I was having my hair cut by a student at an Aveda training institute, and was talking with her about her post-graduation plans. I asked her if she ever wanted to run her own salon, and she also said no, that she loved working with hair, but that she didn’t want to have to worry about hiring people and doing the business side of things.

My parents were small business owners for years, and while they worked crazy hours sometimes, they loved the flexibility that it gave them, and the independence that comes with being your own boss. I wonder if these women in two very different but both rather female-dominated fields would be more interested in the idea of running their own business if they had a partner or two to run it with them, or if they had some business training to demystify the part that they think would ruin their love for their professions.

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