Yes, You Can Do This! How Women Start Up, Scale Up, and Build The Life They Want

Chapter 2Reasons to Lead: All the Cool Things You Can Do When You're in Charge

What you'll take away from this chapter:

In this chapter, we'll explore the ways in which starting your own business can actually help you have more flexibility and empower you to rethink the corporate structures that make personal and professional development difficult for so many.

A Little More About Sophie…

Sophie went home from the social event, thinking deeply about her conversation with Hannah and Maria. The lights were dimmed in her house, and she snuck in the front door quietly, careful not to wake the kids. Jake, her husband of 15 years who she started dating in college, was dozing on the couch with the TV on.

When Sophie and Jake had realized the steep price of childcare, they had essentially flipped a coin to determine who would stay home with the kids for the first few years. At that point in time, they were both relatively early in their careers and earning similar salaries. Jake was in many ways the ideal partner Sheryl Sandberg described in her groundbreaking book Lean In. He was always up for splitting household chores, and saw the value in providing high-quality personalized childcare to their own children. As he progressed in his own career while Sophie was with the kids, he regularly acknowledged that he had an easier time rising professionally because he knew Sophie was home with the kids. They had no logistics issues that could interfere with his ability to be present at work. ...