Prevention Australia – June – July 2017

AS TOLD TO ELIZABETH BROOKS

Oprah, Lorna Jane Clarkson of Lorna Jane and Michelle

Bridges all did it: they had a dream of running their own

business – and the rest is history. Here, three women tell

us about the challenges, triumphs of creating your own

business and they share what it takes to quit your day

job and become a successful entrepreneur

my own

I started

business

...and I’ve never looked back

Q

uitting your job to work for yourself may seem like the

ultimate fantasy, but for growing numbers of Australian

women, it’s a reality. Women now make up over a third of

all Australian business operators, a 46 per cent increase

over the past two decades. Go-getters aged 40 plus are driving the

trend, with 44 per cent of female business owners now aged between

40 and 54 years, and another quarter aged 55 or more. Often these

businesses start across the kitchen table and many remain home-

based enterprises. In fact, 64 per cent of them don’t employ staf, so

there’s no one to answer to, no one to notice what time you arrive or

how long your lunchbreak. But on the flipside, there’s no one to share

the good times and the rough. Could you do it?

If you’ve ever daydreamed of launching your own business, take

inspiration from these women who took the plunge later in life. 

JUNE/JULY 2017 PREVENTION 71

INSPIRING WOMEN