As a child growing up, I exhibited an entrepreneurial streak with weekends and summers spent making and selling jewelry at a local craft shop on the main street of our small suburban neighborhood. Negotiating fair prices at local yard sales and perfecting my lemonade concentration to keep thirsty passers-by happy and my nickel jar full, just all seemed to suit my personality.
I was a businesswoman, no doubt about it, even at age six. I knew I wanted to become an entrepreneur long before I had ever taken a business class or even heard the term. In hindsight, I never really understood what all the fuss was about regarding the on-going debate about a woman’s work or place in the world. The idea of being both a mother and an accomplished career person, much like my talent for concession sales years earlier, was quite simply put, a no-brainer. No one ever told me that this was impossible or beyond my reach. Quite the contrary, I was raised to “Dream Big” and then taught to “work smart” to make those dreams happen.
It wasn’t until recent years in which I held a corporate job, was growing ChickSpeak, and trying (at times unsuccessfully) to maintain some semblance of a social life that I began to question how I, as a woman, could one day “have it all.”
I knew I wanted to play each role of wife, mother, and businesswoman (not to mention good friend, sister and community leader) well and couldn’t envision how that would come together while working someone else’s hours.
With many more details along the way, in time I became one of the many women in corporate America to “Opt Out.” I got to a point where I knew that something had to give and it wasn’t about to be my passion (ChickSpeak) or my chances at having and raising a family well, so the job for Company X got the boot.
I recognize that I was lucky to be able to do this.
What I’ve done, in opting away from being an employee to being my own boss (a true entrepreneur) is seen as a quickly growing trend for young women out of college. Classes and majors in Small Business Management and Entrepreneurialism are at an all time high. News that leads me to wonder if I would have made the move to launch and manage my own company earlier if I would have had Leslie Bennett’s book, The Feminine Mistake, sooner.
While Leslie has gotten a wide range of praise from working women to, at times, scathing letters and calls from stay-at-home moms, once you read her book-not assume its contents—but really read it—something powerful happens: You begin to ask more questions.
I believe that far too many of us assume the roles that have been presented to us or create lives based on romantic ideals. Neither of these scenarios is bad, per say, but when life decisions are made without a big picture and solid facts to ground the dreams, it’s all too easy to end up with regrets.
Leslie Bennetts graciously allowed us to interview her, as we had plenty of questions after reading and talking about The Feminine Mistake.
Interview questions contributed by ChickSpeak contributing writer, Lorna Golder.
ChickSpeak: You discuss in your prologue how much you learned from your mother about the importance of financial independence for women in raising their families. What role did your father play in shaping your attitudes on family?
Leslie Bennetts: My father was a good, kind, decent man, but he was born in 1904, and when I was growing up in the 1950’s and early 60’s, he seemed very much a product of his era. Although both my parents worked, my mother came home from the office, cooked an elaborate homemade dinner, washed the dishes, did laundry and ironing and housekeeping, helped my brother and me with our homework, got us to bed, baked cookies for whatever school event required it the next day, and stayed up until the wee hours trying to get everything done.
