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Fulfillment, Not Family: Why Women Business Owners Really Start Up, And What's Still In Their Way

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"There's no such thing as perfect work-life balance."

That's how Darla Beggs, National Association of Women Business Owners' National Chair, tells it. "I think some women business owners feel frustrated by this conversation because they feel trapped into chasing someone else’s view of success."

But for most, an outsider's opinion is no longer the measuring stick that matters. Women business owners are finding fulfillment on their own, according to a new study released today by NAWBO and Web.com. For 92% of female entrepreneurs, the ability to do something they are passionate about was the main driving force behind business ownership. The chance to be their own boss and the potential for higher earning power followed closely, but flexibility and family brought up the rear in this year's survey.

2015 State Of Women-Owned Business Report

"The conventional wisdom is women want work-life balance or flexible schedules," says Web.com CEO David Brown. "Our research points out it’s really something different. Women want to have a passion and a strong interest to be engaged in that activity."

So what does all this mean for women business owners?

These forward-looking females are, yet again, more optimistic than ever.  At a three-year high, 93% of female entrepreneurs see a bright future for their business performance in 2015. Another 88% think the ranks of women business owners will swell over the next 12 months, too -- not an unlikely expectation. Between 1997 and 2014, the number of businesses in the United States grew by 47%, but zoom in on women-owned firms and the increase jumps to 68%.

Female founders are also making waves in employment opportunities. "The only bright spot in recent years with respect to privately held company job growth has been among women-owned firms," Beggs says. "They have added an estimated 274,000 jobs since 2007." As for men-owned and equally-owned firms? "Employment has declined over the past seven years."

When studies have shown that more females guarantee a much higher success rate in startups, women business owners are building something even greater than their visions -- they're assembling a sustainable and stable future for the nearly eight million people they employ.

"Last year, we passed through the 50% mark," and the growth rate of women-owned small businesses eclipsed that of male-owned, says Brown. "That trend is here to stay." Together, America's 9.1 million women-owned businesses now bring in upwards of $1.4 trillion in revenue.

But every entrepreneurial group has its struggles, and despite their positive outlook, women are still climbing some very tall walls. Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed said the state of the economy continues to be a big concern for 2015, along with business taxes (77%) and health insurance (69%).

Interestingly, worries about funding have begun to decline. Just 53% of women business owners are concerned about access to capital, down 8% from 2014.

"While the VC market contracted somewhat, there is still definitely untapped potential within those markets," Beggs notes. "Women need more VC investment across all sectors. While we are seeing increases in some sectors, it is not as widespread as it could be."

A recent study from Babson College nods to just that. The amount of venture capital granted to women-owned and women-led businesses, though improving, still has a long way to go:

The amount of early-stage investment in companies with a woman on the executive team has tripled to 15% from 5% in the last 15 years. Despite this positive trend, 85% of all venture capital-funded businesses have no women on the executive team. Importantly, only 2.7% of venture capital-funded companies had a woman CEO.

While most female founders nod to the fact that owning a business is harder than they imagined, their optimism for the future -- and more specifically their future -- shines through.

"Women business owners love to see people that are committed to an activity," Brown says. "The women we surveyed are telling us success and happiness are much less about flexible schedules than they are about serving the people."