Kitten Caboodle

Breaking the glass ceiling isn't the only reason women are starting businesses, according to Paths to Entrepreneurship: New Directions for Women in Business, a joint study conducted by three leading businesswomen's organizations. "Being inspired by an entrepreneurial idea" was the primary reason 44 percent of respondents cited for striking out on their own.

"There's a myth that women aren't risk-takers," says Jennifer Allyn at Catalyst, which conducted the study with The Committee of 200 and the National Foundation for Women Business Owners. But women are more willing to launch businesses totally unrelated to their previous jobs, says Allyn, whereas men tend to play it safer by building on prior work experience.

Fifty-one percent of women with experience working for someone else cited the desire for more flexibility in matters such as child care and personal health as their reasons for leaving the corporate environment.

Money talks for 24 percent of respondents, who said they'd return for the right amount of green. Color more than half (58 per-cent) of respondents satisfied, however; they said nothing could tempt them back into the corporate arena.

This article was originally published in the July 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Kitten Caboodle.