A marriage is a social construct considered legally where two people unite as partners in a lifelong relationship. Marriages can change the life of both men and women. However, according to researchers, 51% of women undergo changes after marriage due to the male-dominated society’s traditions.
Women entrepreneurs are one such kind who is compelled to change their lifestyle. Certain boundaries restrict women from going ahead with their passion, and marriage plays a vital role here. While some women are supported by their in-laws, while others act as eye-openers to us, entrepreneurship is a field that mainly thrives on success.
We also know married women are better off today but still far from being equal with men. True life changes after marriage but the initiative to reform the stereotypical rituals people follow generations after generations can be prompted.
Based on this topic, here are some of the quotations that we have gathered from some well-known women entrepreneurs.
How was my entrepreneurship journey before marriage?
The entrepreneurship journey of a woman is way different before marriage. They are free to decide, go for various options, and most importantly, don’t have a burden. Dr. Sandra El Hajj, a health professional, specializing in Preventive and Global Health and a Naturopathic Medical Doctor, shares her thoughts regarding her journey.
“My entrepreneurial journey before getting married was without boundaries and limitless in terms of direction, intensity, and work demands. I did my plans and set up my goals without accounting for anything or anyone else. I also had the right to be exhausted, tired, or overly stressed. Well, I was on my own, and everything I do will only affect me, solely.”
My entrepreneurship journey after marriage.
Marriage drastically changes a woman’s lifestyle. Women entrepreneurs face problems in managing both personal and professional life. Dr. Sandra El Hajj further adds:
“When you get married, you have someone else in your life, and together, you become one entity. So, in a way, what affects one affects the other. This can be restricted if your husband does not value your career or the importance of your success story. Also, when you are your own boss, stress is very commonly encountered daily! So, this might affect your mood, and hence when you are married, you end up bringing that stress home that is now, also, the home of your husband and kids. For me, It was simple to keep my goals the same as we talked about each other’s goals and aspirations from the very beginning. So, I never felt that being married is going to be a crossroads.”
Hurdles that I overcome after marriage.
Many career-oriented issues work to demean the strength of women. Not only that but challenges in personal life should also be handled carefully. Dr. Sandra El Hajj explains how she was able to overcome the hurdles that came into her path.
“Stress was a major issue, and I did not want it to affect my personal and family life. So, I decided to go for a walk, do yoga and meditate before heading back home. I advise every woman entrepreneur to keep her goals as high as the sky, pick the right life partner, and value the power of introverting and inner peace that will help keep a good balance between careers and personal lives. What happens in the office should always stay in the office, and you come back home a fresh happy, and comfortable woman. Adopt self-renewing and wellness tools that can help you accomplish all that you seek in life.”
The life of a woman entrepreneur before marriage is completely different.
A lot of women think marriage is a restriction for them, and to some extent, it is true. Others have a fear of losing their current position in the business market after getting married. Well, that doesn’t stop women from putting a step forward to set up an enterprise.
“I would describe my entrepreneurship journey before marriage as a ‘wild ride’ full of ups and downs. The thrill of being able to handle a business alone and help it grow as one of the proudest moments of my life. It did come with my fair share of mistakes as well, but overall I loved the experience of having my own startup and being my own boss.”
The life of a woman entrepreneur after the marriage has steep curves.
Sometimes marriage can be overwhelming and perfect at a certain age, but things can change too. For example, the life of a woman entrepreneur can take sharp turns due to nuptial rites.
“After marriage, I have had less time for my business as both me and my partner have each other to look after, and we have been spending a lot of time together, which makes it hard for me to focus on my startup. While my spouse kept encouraging me to invest more time in my passion and offered both financial and moral support, I refused. I would say that while I don’t regret being married, I realized that my biggest flaw was unable to manage work-life balance.”
Challenges to fighting after marriage are many.
Every big decision has a package of challenges coupled up with it. However, what matters is how you cope with them.Â
“With my attention split to multiple areas in my life, my business suffered, and the initial growth I worked for was stunted. Some of my employees left for better opportunities, and I was left feeling very upset emotionally due to my inability to multitask. I talked to my partner about my mental health, and he has helped me find my feet again in terms of stabilizing my approach to business. With constant motivation and a newfound lease of passion, I have been able to manage my personal and business life accordingly. Digitization has been one of the core tools that have helped me stay up to date with all my essential work and monitoring my employees.” – quoted by Elizabeth Hicks, Co-Founder of Parenting Nerd.
If you face any issue in your life, feel free to contact her and take counseling. Let’s read further and see what other women entrepreneurs have to say about their struggles.
No Distractions before marriage on my way to Entrepreneurship.
Megan Ayala, Founder of Fitness & Health at Patricia and Carolyn, says: “My entrepreneurship journey started at a very young age and was full of struggles. However, I was always so keen on being successful that I did not let any distractions come my way. I was single and worked all by myself in isolation because I believed that was the only route to success. I eventually managed to set up my store and make my products worthy of everyone’s liking.”
Fewer efforts and no power to manage business after getting married.
She further continues to say: “Now that the groundwork was done, I believed I could move on and get married. Once I was married, I realized that I could not put the same effort into my business. Now, my focus shifted towards hiring people for managerial positions and making my business more independent from me. So my struggle shifted from growing my business to finding the time to hire the right people, those who I could count on and would reduce my effort and involvement.”
Difficulties are part of women’s entrepreneurship.
Megan Ayala states some of the many challenges women face while playing an entrepreneurial role in society.
“One of the biggest challenges that you face after marriage is time management. You need to find time for your family as well as your work. Society expects women to always be there for the family and the kids, which is quite unfair. Thankfully, I had an understanding husband who decided to share all the responsibilities and allowed me to effectively manage my business. It was a challenge to first get him on the same page and then figure out a schedule that worked for both of us.
Other post-marriage challenges include laziness and lack of will to put in the same effort that I did before. My attention was now divided, and I just couldn’t prioritize my work as I did before. As a result, I shifted my focus on recruiting people who could manage and take over my responsibilities which was also a huge challenge. It took a lot of time and effort before I gathered the perfect team to make my business successfully independent.”
The pre-marriage journey of a woman entrepreneur is always beautiful.
Different women have different kinds of lifestyles while being a maiden—women who choose to set up an enterprise face societal consequences that are bound to be followed.
“As a woman, my entrepreneurial journey has been anything but easy. Women face so many challenges when they set out to carve their own path. The business and financial market is structured in a way that heavily favors men. Lack of support and funding is just the financial problem I faced. It was even harder to get my male fellows to take me seriously and acknowledge my efforts.”
The post-marriage journey of a woman entrepreneur is kind of tricky.
Women face the most restrictions from their in-laws in the majority of the cases, but once in a while, we get to see a couple of those who are living a happy married life and handling a full-fledged business.
“After my marriage, more challenges seemed to pile up on me. I was burdened with social expectations. My new family seemed to expect me to prioritize them and my home responsibilities over my business, which was something I just wasn’t willing to do. After all, I had put so much of my youth and efforts into it.”
Facing problems after marriage and how to tackle them is a good learning experience.
Women often have the trouble of having low self-esteem, getting less motivation, and severe trust issues. They live in denial and despair. For those women, we have a message right here.
“The most significant challenge that I faced after marriage was that my clients started to doubt my dedication to the company and, by effect, to them. They questioned if I would have enough time to tend to my business and its responsibilities. Would I still be able to maintain the same level of service quality now that I had had a huge life change? There is only one solution to such problems; you have to be stern and hold your ground. I listened to all of their doubts and told them that my personal life would not interfere with my ability to serve them. In just a few weeks, they realized that their doubts were all wrong, and my marriage was anything but a hindrance to me.
Any advice for other women entrepreneurs: My advice for women entrepreneurs is to be proud of themselves and to be confident in who they are. They’ve made their journey to where they are right now, and no man can take that away from them. Our industries may be very male-oriented, but a lot of women have carved their names in history, and so can they. Do not conform to societal expectations of them and work to fulfill their dreams.” – Elisa Bender, Co-founder of RevenueGeeks.
Being a full enthusiastic women entrepreneur before marriage.
Many women also have full-time jobs along with a dream of being successful and flourishing entrepreneurs. Let’s hear from Caroline about what she has to say regarding her journey.
“When I started my journey as an entrepreneur, I was married and had a full-time job too. I felt that throwing myself into the journey of being an entrepreneur full time would take a toll on my marriage and mean I was not home enough, so I only “dabbled.” After my marriage ended, I stepped into the entrepreneurial lifestyle 100% and was able to make my “side-hustle” a full-time occupation.”
Challenges that need to be curated in the process of growing as an entrepreneur.
Apart from the stereotypical challenges, the pandemic has also posed a challenge for women entrepreneurs. The pandemic has got the best of us in every way possible. Caroline says:
“My main challenge was to avoid having my business take over my life completely, in the sense that there is always work to be done, and it is easy to get swept up and fill the emotional hole that is left after a divorce with work. That was exactly what happened to me in the first few years, and by the end of year 2, I was absolutely exhausted. This was when COVID happened, which was a sort of blessing in disguise as it meant I had time to look at my business under a magnifying glass: What needs to be streamlined? Which aspects need to be outsourced?
As a woman, you will have a lot of roles: Boss, mentor, sister, daughter, mother, friend, confidant … it is sometimes hard to balance all of them with a budding business. It is ok not to take on everything at once, and it is more than ok to say NO now and then. Make clear what your short and long-term goals are for you, as well as what your core values are, and stick to them. It will make it easier for you to figure out where to focus your energy and time on.”
Thoughts and opinions are different before marriage.
A woman with the ability to have versatile imaginations can reach her goal in a prospective career aspect. Similarly, a woman can excel in the field of entrepreneurship only if she has confidence and faith in her own actions.
“Prior to getting married, I was always thinking about ways to improve life for people or contribute to the world to make it a better place. That dream to impact the lives of children didn’t happen until after I was married, and the saying, “timing is everything,” couldn’t be truer. It takes an unbelievable amount of financial and emotional investment to attain entrepreneurship status.”
Spouse’s role in the entrepreneurial journey matters a lot.
Often you must have come across women who have a family of their own, including children, and yet manages to uphold her entrepreneurial role in the company she has set up.
“The people around you are critical, and my husband has been my rock through it all. I can’t imagine being in his shoes and watching the wealth we have built together evaporate on an idea I believe will be fruitful. I am a risk-taker and a researcher. Therefore, I don’t often ask for advice. My husband is more risk-averse, and it has been a great challenge for me to collaborate with him because he is already super busy with his job, he doesn’t know the field as I do, and basically, everything up to this point is a risk!”
Plenty of struggles to overcome by women entrepreneurs
By now, you have had a rough idea of how to chuck out the problems related to entrepreneurship from your life. Now let’s hear from another renowned woman entrepreneur about this.
“What helped me and my husband determined to walk this journey with no regrets is our combined belief that I would deeply regret NOT trying versus trying and failing in my expectations. It’s been the rockiest 4 years of my life, but I hold to that belief, and it hasn’t been pretty, but I can honestly say, “I did it!” It is nothing like what I thought it would be, but now I know what it takes, and 99% of the time, I don’t regret it! At this point, however, I would never go to the lengths that I did for My First Workout® with any other idea I have. There is just no way to know everything that will happen along the entrepreneurial road, and it’s probably very different for everyone depending on what their idea is. In my case, I’ve literally had to birth a movement and convince a generation of people who are accustomed to living in the moment to be proactive about their family’s future. The closest thing to being an entrepreneur is a mother. This is my baby, and every emotion I have felt raising my boys is what I have felt with this product. So, my advice to other women entrepreneurs would be, is your pursuit worth your life and those who are closest to you being changed forever?” – said Michelle Miller, CEO, MM FITNESS LLC, Owner, and Founder of My First Workout®
No matter how much your work-life gets affected due to marriage, you should try hard and prove yourself right to all those who have doubted you. Women’s entrepreneurial needs dedication and a lot of self-reliance. Let’s spread positivity and hope to see more aspiring women entrepreneurs in the upcoming years!
