Female entrepreneurs open businesses to achieve harmony between work, life

Tricia Hensley had a good job keeping the books at her husband's granite countertop company, but it wasn't her passion.

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The former accounting major wanted more in a career - she wanted her own business. After looking into several franchising opportunities, she turned to her passion for fitness and opened Figures! Fitness for Women, a women-only gym on Evans to Locks Road.

"I had helped my husband's business for three years, but that was his. I wanted something that was mine," she said.

Ms. Hensley personifies a national trend - more women are seeking their business independence and starting their own ventures.

Women are opening businesses at twice the rate of men.

According to a study by the Center for Women's Business Research, 48 percent of all privately held companies in the United States are at least 50 percent owned by women - up from 44 percent in 1997.

Nearly half of female business owners polled, 46 percent, cited a desire to set their own hours as the reason for opening their own places. An additional 24 percent said they saw a unique opportunity, and 23 percent more were frustrated with a corporate "glass ceiling" that hampered their advancement.

"It just makes sense right now for a woman to be an entrepreneur," said Lizzy Boucher, the spokeswoman for the research center.

Classic views of women as housewives and mothers continue to erode as more doors open for female entrepreneurs, Ms. Boucher said.

Assistance is plentiful. The U.S. Small Business Administration has a designation for female-owned businesses that allows them to better compete for government contracts.

The Georgia Women Entrepreneurs program at the University of Georgia's Small Business Development Center helps these businesses grow and provides networking opportunities for the owners.

Banks are creating lending programs to help get businesses owned by women off the ground. Wells Fargo, for example, has set a goal of loaning $20 billion to female entrepreneurs during the next 10 years.

"Women-owned businesses are a strong part of the small-business market, and banks are focusing on that," said Tracey Mills, a spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association.

More women find they can better juggle their business and personal lives and express their creative urges by being self-employed, said Victoria Colligan, the founder of www.ladieswholaunch.com, a Web site resource for female business owners.

"It's a trend toward wanting to have a successful career but also having a successful and fulfilled life," she said.

Tolanda Alston, the owner of Philly Cheesesteak Factory on Windsor Spring Road, said she opened her restaurant because she wanted to share a part of her culture with her new Southern neighbors.

"I've always loved to cook, and in Philly, cheese steaks are part of our family tradition," she said.

Ms. Alston said she moved her family to Augusta about a year ago because of Philadelphia's crime rate.

"They started calling it Killadelphia," said Ms. Alston, who chose Augusta after taking a trip through the Southeast.

Though Ms. Alston runs the business, its a family affair. Her husband and two sons work there, too, cooking sandwiches and taking orders.

"It's hard to hold a family together and run a business," she said. "They made a lot of sacrifices for this."

Owning a business, however, often affords women more time to spend with their families because they can set their own hours or conduct business after children have gone to sleep.

Amy Breitmann, Kay Simpson and Bryn Hamilton opened their own business, Fringe Benefits, a purveyor of home furnishings and custom handbags, because they enjoyed the work but wanted to control when and where they did it.

"We wanted to be there when the kids got off the bus," Ms. Breitmann said.

To keep their work/life balance even more in sync, the partners are closing their Wheeler Road retail shop and are wholesaling the handbags from their homes.

For Ms. Hensley, the fitness center owner, the job has taken much of her time, forcing her husband to shoulder more of the family's domestic responsibilities, including picking up their 8-year-old son from school and preparing dinner.

"He can't cook," she said. "I leave instructions on the counter."

Still, she doesn't regret opening the business.

"This has been wonderful," she said. "My son thinks I'm a pretty cool mom."

According to the Small Business Administration, about 50 percent of all small businesses fail in their first year.

Female-owned businesses are no exception, but many succeed because of the manner in which women develop their ventures.

Most women - 65 percent - already have worked for an existing business, according to the Center for Women's Business Research, and have seen how that business operated.

"We see a lot of women who are working full time and working things on the side and then segueing in to the side job full time," said Ms. Colligan, the resource Web site founder.

Because many female business owners already have dabbled in their new field, it is easier for them to find success.

That has been the case with several businesses in the Augusta area. Ms. Hensley enjoyed working out, Ms. Alston enjoyed cooking and the three women at Fringe Benefits all enjoyed design work before opening their businesses.

"They're starting businesses they are passionate about," Ms. Colligan said.

Reach James Gallagher at (706) 823-3227 or james.gallagher@augustachronicle.com.