As a mother of two, Pipeling spent much of the 1980s dashing to child-care centers before they closed at 6 p.m., searching for good after-school programs that didn't exist and building a working-parents support network at AT&T. Soon after her second child entered school, she decided it was time to make a change.
Pipeling negotiated a buyout package during 1989 from AT&T and went to work building a child- care database and resource-referral list for the Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce. But she discovered there were no openings at existing programs. "Everything was booked," she says.
So she started her own after-school program. The Work-Family Connection opened in
"When something comes out of a personal need, your drive to make it happen is tremendous," Pipeling says. "It overshadows every obstacle."
Flexibility, autonomy and achievement are big reasons women start businesses, many surveys say. But women also are inspired by something else: parenthood. Labor statistics don't reveal how many entrepreneurs tap their parenting experience for viable business ideas, but many, like Pipeling, find an unmet need and set out to fill it.
One in 11 women is a business owner, according to a Center for Women's Business Research study based on U.S. Census data. A Census survey this fall seeks to find out more about women business owners. In addition to questions about gender, age, race, education and ethnic background, the survey asks them about their primary business functions, sources of capital, types of customers and employees.
There are also questions about home-based businesses, family-owned businesses and franchises. When released during 2005, it will shed more light on the types of businesses women are starting, including parent- and child-related businesses such as doula services, birthday-party planning and career coaching for women returning to the work force.
Of course, many startups fail, and businesses started by mothers with a good idea are no exception. A U.S. Small Business Administration study of 12,185 businesses released this year found about half of all ventures are successful after four years and one-third of businesses closed because they were unsuccessful.
"Moms need to remember even if an idea sounds fabulous, taking that idea and bringing it to market is the hardest part," says Ellen Parlapiano, co-author of "Mompreneurs: A Mother's Practical Step by Step Guide to Work at Home Success" (Perigee Books; $14.95) and co-founder of Web site mompreneursonline.com.
The rise of the Internet and e-mail has clearly helped many women launch businesses. The Internet allows Audrey Bell-Kearney of
When Bell-Kearney's daughter was 8, she realized there were no dolls that looked remotely like her daughter. "She was a little chubby and I'm chubby," she says.
She wanted her daughter to have high self-esteem and not judge herself based on one cultural standard. So she talked to a doll-collector friend, did some research, found a doll designer and started making dolls with start-up funds from friends and family.
At $59.95 each, the dolls are sold online and at trade shows. Bell-Kearney left her customer-service job at Verizon to run Big Beautiful Dolls during 1999. The company's revenue reached $62,000 this year, and Bell- Kearney and her partner, Georgette Taylor, are pursuing funding to mass market the dolls.
Carol Filocamo, who worked in human resources for Dun & Bradstreet for 13 years, bought a birthday-party business because she wanted more flexibility so she could spend more time with her 3-year-old son.
Filocamo purchased B.R.A.T.Z (Birthday Room And Theme Zone) in Metuchen during April after deciding against going into the day-care business. After a slow summer, business picked up during the fall. Seven parties are booked this weekend.
"It's a scary step to take, but I wish I had done it sooner," she says. "I was making good money (at D&B). I had great benefits. I was comfortable. But it wasn't for me."
For some women, becoming a parent leads them to pursue a passion in their work.
Jill Gerken Wodnick of
Tired of the consulting grind, Emily Anderson knew when she was five months' pregnant she would leave her 4-year-old job at Arthur Andersen and pursue executive coaching. After her son was born, the
She changed the focus and name of her business to A Woman's Work and found an unexpected coaching market: stay-at-home moms who want to get back into the work force.
The Work-Family Connection's Pipeling had a similar epiphany before she left AT&T: "What I wanted to do was help working parents find quality child care," she says. Her son attended the program she started, and her daughter, in middle school at the time, helped out after school.
Her daughter, now 24 and a college graduate, owns her own business - providing services such as party planning and gift wrapping for busy working parents.
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