“I want to start something of my own but I don’t know what.”

You’ll be amazed at how many women, particularly in their 30s and 40s say or atleast think this.

Our education system, particularly for those of us who are over 30, has focussed more on ‘subjects’ rather than ‘interests’. On acquiring ‘marks’ rather than acquiring ‘skills’. This gave birth to an entire generation of women who graduated school with very generic employable skills. There was very little focus on professions and more focus on jobs. Not only was the education system straight jacketed, society too didn’t seem to look too kindly on professions that seemed a little out of textbook.

Hence, for most of us the only option when we stepped out of the 21 or 23 years of formal education was a job. Any job.

A lot of the women didn’t seem to develop a passion for what they were doing and it seemed only a means to financial and personal freedom.

And then came marriage. The babies followed. Along with more demands on personal time, motherhood duties, work life balance challenges. And suddenly it didn’t seem worth going everyday to that ‘job’. Jobs too were hard to come by especially post a break.

There are exceptions of course. Women who stay in the game for more than one reason. But for many women on a break or back to work after a break, and even women who have held satisfactory corporate careers, starting something of their own is a yearning that refuses to go away. For most it is a way to have more control over their lives. For many it is the following of a hobby or passion which they have discovered over the years.

So what is the solution?

Some turn to hobbies and passions. So there will be that banker turned baker or an HR professional turned music school founder.

Some choose to stay in the same professions but work for themselves rather than someone else. So HR professionals turn recruitment consultants, trainers go freelance, women in marketing open their own agencies.

But for many women the solution does not come easy.

The problem also lies with the fact that women are more emotional about their choice of business. It has to be something they LIKE doing, rather than an opportunity that presents itself. In most cases, women tend to approach entrepreneurship as self actualization whereas men approach it as opportunity.

The ‘what’ combined with the ‘how’ becomes a lethal challenge that many women are unable to overcome. 

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