Christina Smedley, VP, Global Brand Officer at PayPal
All over the world, men and women will 
Don’t Discount a Hobby – It Could Be Your Next Career
Many people enjoy crafts in their youth but put them aside as a hobby once they enter the professional world. Small business owner Kristen James did exactly that when she sidelined her jewelry making post-college, until a friend of hers needed a veil for her wedding and Kristen stepped up to dust off her jewelry and sewing skills to create a custom piece. Fast forward three years, Kristen now runs the very successful shop GildedShadows, and has processed over 8,000 transactions selling her custom, vintage-inspired wedding veils and jeweled hairpieces full-time to shoppers all over the world.
Your corporate 9-to-5 job may provide security and you may even love it, but taking the risk to hone your skills and embrace a hobby could pay off by giving you the freedom to create your own business from the ground up.
Put a Local Specialty on the Global Map
A product that is commonplace in one city or country can be a specialty item in another. When New Delhi, India-based Jyoti Bansal was deciding to open her online shop, she started by researching shopping trends to see where she could find her niche. Discovering that global consumers had an interest in vintage embroidered items, she started exploring old Delhi markets to buy vintage fabric to sell to shoppers abroad where such items were unique. Since founding Sanskritii in 2011, the interest coming from foreign countries (which accounts for 95 percent of her sales) has allowed her to build a staff of 15 and sell over 100 items a day to people as far away as Russia, the United States and Australia.
Leveraging unique, local goods for international sales is a great way to expand an existing business or kickoff a new venture.
Take Advantage of the Flexibility E-commerce Provides
Many aspiring merchants dream of opening their own little shop one day to sell their wares – but maintaining a physical store isn’t always the best option for their business or their family. UK-based clothing retailer Amanda Stephenson previously owned three Clothesbarn stores throughout the United Kingdom with her husband Chris, but was working nearly 24/7 going between shops and managing employees. After welcoming their first child, the Stephensons made the decision to become an online-only business to enhance their work-life balance. They now enjoy regular business hours and take weekends off to spend time with their kids, all while expanding their business beyond the UK to ship to 120 countries.
Selling exclusively online can allow business owners to better fit their work around their family lives by providing them the flexibility to choose their hours, work from home, and reach a broader customer base globally – along with the benefits of a lower startup cost.
Your Small Business Can Fund Your Other Career Ambitions
Eda Sökmen of Istanbul, Turkey, was working in the tourism industry while trying to work as a journalist on the side. Needing more flexibility, she ventured out on her own and launched the custom-tours company Istanbulite. Sökmen now shows people from all four corners of the world the beauty of Turkey while growing her careers in both tourism and journalism. She has dozens of clients throughout Europe and the United States requesting her tours every month.
Being a small business owner may be your dream, or you may have another professional passion you’d like to explore. One of the great unsung advantages of owning a small business is that being your own boss allows you to pursue more than just one career goal and explore all of your opportunities.
Set Yourself Up for Success – Starting Up Your Current Job
Many women won’t have the luxury of starting a company right out of college – and will instead take a traditional job. That doesn’t mean you can’t start laying the groundwork now.
It’s a known fact that women aren’t as likely to negotiate pay raises as their male counterparts – one study even showed that 20 percent of women don’t ever negotiate. But if you’re looking to start a business from scratch you’ll need every spare dollar, so it’s extra-important to maximize earning potential to set money aside for your future. Additionally, make sure you’re working your network – especially if you work at a multinational company. You never know who will be a helpful guide when it comes time to launch your venture.
As women continue to make strides in business, there is still tremendous opportunity for female entrepreneurs to grow in 2015. How will you ‘make it happen’ this year?
Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide. (n.d.). http://www.womendontask.com/stats.html