22 Year old Female Entrepreneur

I am a 22 year old Female Entrepreneur. Yet, I always told myself I would never become a statistic.

Here are some statistics about female entrepreneurship. (Stay with me. I majored in economics so this stuff excites me.)

• ” Last year, 11.6 million U.S. businesses were women owned. They employed nearly 9 million people and generated more than $1.7 trillion in revenue.”
• “Women Owned firms make up 39% of all business”
• Even though women only make up 4% of revenue they maintain optimism and are said to be more happy in life due to well managed work/life balance than men. So that old school attitude about women not being able to hold careers and a family can leave the conversation!

But why did I start a business?

Long story short, a year ago I was a normal college student doing normal college things expected to go into corporate or company business reprocess engineering (Which basically means I stare at a computer learning the way businesses run in number form sometimes in real life and tell them how to do it better.) Life had other plans and due to certain unfortunate circumstances I had to move back to the Midwest and Chicago and finish the rest of my degree virtually. I couldn’t work full time at a job until March 2019 had physical and other limitations which for someone as controlling as me was the bane of my very existence.  Amazingly enough Nicole from Storybook Wedding and Events took me on and let me pick and choose my schedule and taught me about the event planning industry in Chicago. AND SHE WASN’T EVEN LOOKING TO HIRE.

Storybook plays a huge part in this story because it’s also a female owned and run company and they are so accomplished they are doing events internationally and I think they started in 2016/2017? Working with them and the vendors they work with I saw so many women business owners with growing and accomplished businesses who were pregnant or getting married. Like these women are legitimate super heroes because they can do it all. But I digress, back to the story. As much as I love storybooks and what they do I was always more interested in non-wedding events.

I was working at Storybook, got a job with the AHL team Chicago Wolves and researching starting my own event planning company.

Second digression. The Chicago Wolves played a huge part in this business because I met a coworker who wanted to pursue a career in professional sports community relations and charities. She loved the idea that working in a professional sports organization allows so much outreach for helping others. Also she started her own cookie company while in college and they are actually amazing. I will shout her out if I get an okay but entrepreneur.  Getting to know her has shaped the second major part of my business and also helped develop the factor that sets me apart. An event planning business that donates a major portion of sales to nonprofit organizations.

January 2019 I started working with the Chicago Blackhawks NHL team practice facility in events (Surprise surprise) there I met someone who started his own photography company.

The reason I wanted this to be my first official post was because a year ago I thought the idea of my business was 5 years down the road. I was applying to jobs and received easily 50 rejections before the storybook took a chance on me. I learned my worth and the power I have to shape my community. I had other jobs. I did temp jobs, and some nonprofit event consulting, nonprofit general consulting, and marketing consulting. This past year I have accomplished things I never thought I could because I was in a position that I never wanted to be in. So to all my ladies out there and all my young people hear this: you can do amazing things. This business hasn’t even launched and it’s been a ton of work but it is worth it. I still have other paying jobs and I do this any time I have off because I would never have a front desk shift doing start up accounting….. If you are willing to work for it you can do it and never underestimate the importance of a strong support system behind you.

Go out there and accomplish your dreams!