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Seattle–Bellevue–Everett
Metropolitan Area Named in the Top 3 for Women Entrepreneurs
Seattle publisher Assunta Ng remembers
clearly the moment the entrepreneurial spirit whispered
in her ear.
It was during the Watergate scandal
of the 1970s, as she watched Chinese immigrants in
Seattle stand in long lines to get their hands on
a copy of a Chinese-language newspaper shipped up
from San Francisco.
"At that time, immigrants were
relying too much on gossip for local news and had
nothing for (broader) issues," says Ng, a former
schoolteacher who launched The Chinese Post in 1982.
"I wasn't thinking about making money or any
other profitable motive. I saw a need, and my desire
was to serve."
More than 20 years later, Ng's publication
continues to be a trailblazing success. The Chinese
Post is the only newspaper in the nation published
in two separate editions: Chinese and English. And
it is the only Chinese newspaper in the country with
a paid subscription.
A year after first publishing the Post,
Ng introduced Northwest Asian Weekly at the request
of other Asian communities. Together the papers reach
an audience of 15,000 and are considered a must-read
for Asian business and community leaders.
Ng, who was recently given a University
of Washington inaugural Hall of Fame for Communicators
award, has succeeded where four groups of men tried
and failed.
Women-Owned Businesses
Growing
Thirty years has meant big change when it comes to
women and entrepreneurism in Seattle and the greater
Puget Sound region. In 1973, when the Seattle-based
Women-Owned Business Owners organization started counting
heads, a mere 1,000 companies in the region were owned
fully by women, or equally held by women and men.
Today there are more than 70,000.
In fact, the spirit is alive statewide.
Today in Washington, businesses that are owned 50
percent or more by women make up 58 percent of privately-held
businesses - more than in densely populated, commerce-heavy
states like New York where 40.3 percent of businesses
can claim to be women-owned. Washington also out-distances
California, Illinois and Texas.
"This area is definitely more progressive
than other parts of the country and that helps women
and minorities in terms of starting businesses,"
says Mina Yoo, assistant professor in the University
of Washington Business School's Management and Organization
Department. "The people here are more willing
to try new things and are just as likely to go to
locally owned businesses than larger mainstream businesses."
The majority of the 70,000 Puget Sound
area's women-owned firms are in Seattle, Bellevue
and Everett. This fall, Wells Fargo released its biennial
review of female business ownership and found this
metropolitan area was among the top three in the nation,
based on numbers of women-owned firms, employment
and sales. In 2004, these businesses employed 253,769
workers and generated more than $35.5 billion in sales.
 There
are some safe generalizations about women and business,
and a library of books dedicated to them. Among the
chief reasons for the growth: The economy generally
dictates that two incomes are needed to support a
family, the female citizenry is more educated than
ever before, and there's been a huge shift in strictly
defined roles for men and women at work and at home.
However, the real reasons for the tremendous
growth in the Puget Sound may be as plentiful as the
number of businesses themselves. "Women who are
sole proprietors or self-employed often cite freedom
and the ability to accommodate their family's and
children's schedules as key reasons for starting their
own businesses," says Eva Chiu, owner of InfoAdvantage,
LLC, in Bellevue and current president of Women Business
Owners.
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Sharing Risks
with Men
That's about as far as you can draw the gender difference
line, Chiu and others agree. "I have found that
women who have employees started their businesses
for the same reasons men do," says Chiu. "They
have specific expertise, industry knowledge and/or
skills sets, see an opportunity or feel passionate
about providing certain products or services, and
feel they have what it takes to create a business.
They take financial risks just like men - mortgaging
their homes and taking out loans."
Studies by the national Center for Women's
Business Research bear out Chiu's findings.
Yoo is also reticent to place entrepreneurs
on a gender divide. However, she offers one difference
between men and women employees that contributes to
the entrepreneurial drive: "Many, many women
don't feel like they are getting the recognition they
deserve when they work for others. There is that level
of psychic income that can come by going out and starting
your own business."
That psychic wealth benefits employees
as well. Studies have shown that women-owned businesses,
by and large, are more nurturing toward employees,
more family friendly, more flexible with hours and
telecommuting, more focused on integrating new technology
into businesses, more environmentally savvy and concerned,
and more active in terms of community service.
And, compared to the traditional male-oriented
corporate model, women-owned businesses tend to have
less separation between the line employee and the
CEO, more mentoring among managers and workers, and
more fun.
Seattle Woman surveyed 15 business owners
to see if their companies reflected trends outlined
by Chiu, Yoo and the national research. On the whole,
they did.
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Work for Yourself
"I just didn't want to work for anyone else,"
says Joanie Parsons, who started the public relations
firm, Parsons Public Relations, in Seattle in 1992.
Although she was offered a lucrative job at a major
advertising firm in the city, Parsons says, "I
knew I could be more creative and I wanted to work
on projects that I really believed in."
A desire to see honesty and ethics reflected
in her work was another deciding factor. Her vision
also included a commitment to giving back to industries
that her firm would serve as well as the broader community,
a goal that is being met today through the community
involvement program Parsons GoodWorks.
And, ultimately, she wanted to surround
herself with a team of employees who refused to go
the route of workplace politics and actually wanted
to know and support each other professionally and
personally. What better way to do all these things
than to hire other women? All six of Parsons' employees
are women. None of them, including Parsons, has a
title.
"I don't think I ever set out to
hire women exclusively, but there are benefits,"
Parson admits. "There is a real compassion here
for our clients and for what we are doing at work
and away from work. We are all great at seeing the
big picture as well as the details. And as a team
we are frank and honest. I have never had the philosophy
that anything was beneath me as the owner. I'm going
to take out the garbage or do whatever it takes to
make this company run well."
And Parsons has done well, running public
relations for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show
for 11 years. Also among her clients are many of the
region's top garden and landscaping companies, including
Molbak's Mutual Materials and Russell Watergardens.
"We know this business better than
about 95 percent of other firms on the West Coast,"
Parsons says. "We know because we get involved
with the industries that we work with. We've done
a lot of pro bono work in the industries we serve."
That same spirit of giving has built
a meditation garden at a home for severely challenged
boys, built a turtle-preservation information station
in Costa Rica, and raised money for numerous nonprofit
organizations through Parsons GoodWorks. In fact.
Parsons Public Relations has donate, upwards of $150,000
in volunteer time this year, and employees have an
unwritten rule that each will bring at least one community
service project for all agency participation each
year.
Passion, says Parsons, is the key to
her company's success. "I live my passion every
day when I come in here. We all do."
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Quality of Life
Comes First
For Gwen Weinberg, starting a business in Seattle
was as much about craft as it was about being an entrepreneur.
"I didn't go to business school
or read a book," says Weinberg, a metal-worker
and co-owner with Anita Nadelson of Seattle-based
Three by Three, a wholesale design manufacturing firm.
"I started out as a craftsperson who wanted to
make things no one else had made. When I came out
to Seattle, I found it was a more open environment
in terms of starting my own business - the East Coast
was just too expensive."
Still, the desire to go where no woman
had gone before in terms of her craft was secondary
when it came to deciding to incorporate. "Quality
of life is at the top of my reasons for owning a business,
and money falls down (to) third or fourth," she
says.
Since opening shop in 1995, Weinberg
and Nadelson have been on the leading edge of the
functional magnet market. Their magnetic photo frames,
bulletin boards, wall organizers, bookmarks and other
imaginative magnet products are hot items across the
country and have been featured in numerous national
magazines from Sunset to Teen People. Three by Three
employs 19 people, including a staff in Asia where
the company runs a manufacturing facility.
"We definitely grew very slowly,"
says Weinberg of the duo's business plan. "We
are profitable today, and in fact I don't know the
last time we weren't. But it's not because we've taken
risks. Our philosophy has always been conservative,
it's been baby steps all the way."
Weinberg wanted the firm to benefit
from what she'd learned as an employee: "I never
liked being told how to dress or act or when to come
in - it just didn't fit my personality."
The environment she and Nadelson have
created is a perfect fit. "We have very low turnaround
here. It's very much a family feel" Weinberg
says.
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Habitude Is Everything
To love and amaze our customers: Is there a more appealing
mission? Inez Gray, founder of Habitude Salon Day
Spa Gallery in Seattle, doesn't think so.
It's what she expects her employees
to deliver when customers enter the warm, worn-leather
and rustic-wood environs of two of Seattle's most
unique salon-and-spas. Everything about Habitude says
relax, unwind, and get comfy - from its warehouse
flagship location at the Ballard Locks and the casual,
no-uniform style of staff to the come-as-you-are atmosphere.
"Everywhere I worked before starting
Habitude, you had to get your hair done to go in and
get your hair done," Gray says of the pretentious
salon environments of which Habitude seeks to be the
antithesis.
"We cultivate our difference through
language," explains Gray, always the marketer.
"We don't have people wait in the lounge. We
invite them to have a seat in the living room that
has comfortable chairs and rustic tile. We get them
a drink, check in to see how things are going."
Whatever Gray's company is doing, it's
working. This year Beauty Launchpad magazine named
Habitude one of America's top 20 salons. And Gray,
whose empowering management style has been lauded
by employees and business leaders alike, has won the
Seattle Mayor's Small Business of the Year Award,
the Salon Associations Community & Fellowship
Award and Ernst & Young, Entrepreneur of the Year
Finalist recognition.
Gray opened Habitude in Ballard in 1996.
Five years later she opened a second facility in Fremont.
Today, the profitable business employs 126 people.
Much of the company's work culture is based on Native
American tradition and values. In fact, the staff
is broken down into "tribes," which hold
monthly powwows to get out their concerns and ideas,
cross-sell services and compete for prizes.
Gray believes strongly that workers
want, need and deserve a life outside of work. At
Habitude, "full-time" is 30 hours per week.
"Our management style means they are allowed
to stay in the industry and have a baby or go back
to school or have another life purpose. And we've
found that most people who come to work here are making
more money with these hours because they are more
focused."
There have been challenges. During the
start-up phase Gray was turned down for loans at numerous
banks. She was actually asked if she had a husband
or someone who could co-sign.
Even in an industry that is staffed
and frequented primarily by women, there are hurdles
for women owners. Most of the beauty industry's vendors,
associations and manufacturers are male-dominated
and do business from their gender perspective. Gray
seeks to change that by catering to women.
In 2002, fire destroyed the original,
6,000-square-foot facility in Ballard, making Gray
the poster child for having good insurance and conducting
tough, lightning-speed lease negotiation.
Despite that major setback, Gray has
never lost sight of the mission. "As long as
people leave feeling loved, amazed and understood
we have been successful. We make most of our decisions
based on that mission," she says. "The rest
is about staying small and connected as we get big."
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Stigmas Persist
Each in their own way, Parsons, Weinberg, Gray and
Ng, exemplify the statistics and success common of
woman entrepreneurs. But in this more progressive
country and state, where women have proven their business
prowess in big buck incomes and sales, are women finally
equal? Not quite.
It is still harder for women than men
to get business loans or investors. Yoo notes that
women and minorities continue to be stigmatized as
being poorer managers.
Says Chiu: "I often see people
hold different assumptions about women-owned versus
men-owned businesses. When women introduce themselves
as founders or owners of a business, men often ask
if their spouse is also involved in managing the business.
To the contrary, I don't often hear people ask male
entrepreneurs similar questions. "
When Ng set up her print shop, business
leaders in Seattle's Chinese community scoffed. She
had to use her personal savings and both cultural
insight and smart grassroots marketing to get dubious
business owners to purchase ads. "I couldn't
get a loan from any mainstream bank," she recalls.
Ng says she's hung
her business success on perseverance, sound management,
values, belief in product and a lot of toil and tears.
"Things are a lot better for today's women,"
she says. "But you still have to get out there
and make your way. You have to make waves".
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Cheryl Murfin Bond
Reprinted with permission from Seattle Woman. Published
2005.
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