Women own more than nine million business in the United States, employing nearly 8 million workers and contributing nearly $1.5 trillion into the economy. A landmark study by American Express Open shows that the number of women in New Jersey that own businesses doubled in 17 years to nearly 231,000. One of these is Green Star Services, owned by the President of the NJ Association of Women Business Owners Mary Adelman. She spoke with NJTV News anchor Mary Alice Williams about how women owner businesses are thriving in New Jersey.
Adelman attributes the increase in women owned businesses over the last 20 years to a change in dynamics in the economic environment.
“Husbands are also staying home, women are going back to work and saying ‘I want to get in the work force.’ A lot of the business owners are attorneys, accountants, a lot of coaches and a lot of different industries especially in the finance industry,” she said. “We also have the franchises like Legal Shield and Simply Home and all of those kinds of things that engage women to participate in the work environment.”
After being laid off four times Adelman says she was determined to start her own business. She says women owned businesses have rebounded very well after The Great Recession.
“We’ve seen a significant growth within our organization with the type of businesses. They’re much bigger and are coming into the organization and into the environment and they’re creating strong, strategic partnerships,” Adelman said.
When asked if women face different barriers than their male counterparts in starting a business, for instance in raising capitol, she said “Absolutely.”
“A lot of times they don’t have the collateral to support the starting of a business or growing a business. There’s a number of business owners that I know that were ready to make the jump to the next level and looking for capitol to do that and they didn’t have the opportunity because they didn’t have the collateral,” she said.
However there are numerous resources available to women owned businesses in New Jersey
“There’s the Women’s Business Center that’s supported by the SBA [Small Business Administration]. There’s the Small Business Development Centers that are supported by the SBA. There are a number of agencies and a lot of colleges that are creating entrepreneurial centers to support women business and student businesses,” she said.
Adelman says the single most important factor in having a successful business lies in building strong relationships.
“You have to be able to build strong relationships and those are built on trust. You have to have a respect of your colleagues and credibility. So if you say you’re going to do something you need to follow through on it and the follow up is critical,” she said.
When asked the tough question if women provide equal pay for their workers, Adelman said “yes.”
“It goes to the market and they care more about they their employers so if they can’t make it up in equal pay they’ll make it up in benefits. Not like medical benefits, but types of things that they do for their employees like reward programs,” she said. “They’ll also participate in giving them a day off. They might in a smaller practice be able to bring your animal to work. A couple business owners that do bring their animals to work and let their employees do that as well.”