What do you think the fastest-growing states in terms of
women-owned businesses are? Would you be surprised to find out that
Idaho and Wyoming are tied for first place?
In a report from the Center for Women's Business Research
ranking women business's growth from 1997 to 2002 based on
number of firms, sales and employment, Idaho and Wyoming topped the
list. The rest of the top 10 states are also in the West: 3) Utah,
4) Nevada, 5) Arizona, 6) South Dakota, 7) New Mexico, 8) Montana
and Oregon (tie) and 10) Alaska.
Why are Western states experiencing this high growth? States
that start with fewer women-owned businesses have more room to
grow, and both Idaho and Wyoming fit that description, says
Stephanie Peacock at the Center for Women's Business Research.
She also says the growth could be due to the "pioneering
spirit" of the West.
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Elaine J. Martin thinks there's some truth to that. She
started her Nampa, Idaho-based highway construction project
company, MarCon Inc., in 1986. At the time, her mother had to put
up a $25,000 CD as collateral so Martin could get a $25,000 loan.
Today, the 55-year-old entrepreneur runs a $6 million business in
an industry dominated by men and major corporations. It's a far
cry from her struggle to win her first job, something that
didn't happen until bids from women and minorities became
mandated.
"Once people get to know me
and see how willing I am to work with them, there are no
barriers."
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Martin started her entrepreneurial endeavors building highway
fences when her family faced losing its farm. "I thought about
going back to work as a teacher, but one salary wouldn't [have
made] a difference," explains Martin. "We needed work for
every member of our family." Even her teenage sons worked
summers and weekends in the early days.
When asked why Western states might rank so highly in growth of
women-owned businesses, Martin echoes Peacock's assessment,
citing "the pioneering nature of the women who helped settle
America's last frontier." She adds, "The women in my
family have been great female role models." Both her
grandmothers were hard-working farm women who moved to Idaho to
start new lives and passed on their work ethic to their
children.
Colleen Haass, 46, president of $1.75 million general
contracting firm Haass Construction Co. Inc. in Casper, Wyoming,
believes "there is great opportunity to be self-employed in
Wyoming." While Haass describes the construction industry in
Wyoming as "very competitive" and most of her industry is
male-dominated, she says she doesn't feel isolated. "There
are times when some men are unwilling to deal with me, but they are
usually the older ones who have been working [only] around men all
their lives. Fortunately, this is changing."
Haass, who launched her company in 1979, has experienced little
difficulty as a woman business owner in Wyoming. "Once people
get to know me and see how willing I am to work with them, there
are no barriers."
Last year, the Small Business Survival Committee ranked Wyoming
as the fourth best state in the nation for entrepreneurs, due to
such factors as the absence of corporate income tax. Diane
Wolverton, state director of the Wyoming Small Business Development
Center in Laramie, says Wyoming also boasts a high quality of
life-low crime, low noise and air pollution, and virtually no
traffic.
What makes Wyoming a good place for women entrepreneurs?
"Wyoming's state motto is 'The Equality State,'
" says Wolverton. "Today, Wyoming's women are
claiming that promise and carving out their opportunity for
economic equality through small-business ownership."
Aliza Pilar Sherman is an Internet pioneer, netpreneur,
speaker and author of the book PowerTools for Women in Business: 10 Ways to
Succeed in Life and Work.
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