61. She quit the job she'd worked years to get. - Louise Duncum

And can I ask you a question? So this is something I've been asking as part of my research recently is, you know, people have all sorts of ways in which they describe themselves.

So some of the women I speak to will call themselves freelancers.

Others will call themselves business owners.

Founders is a very popular term and it's an American term that's come over.

An entrepreneur.

What term do you use when you describe yourself to people? How are you describing yourself?

oh that's so interesting i feel like i use a mixture for you yeah i say um i often say that i am a female founder because the goals i have for my business will not just be me in the future it will be yeah It won't just be me as a one-man band, which I definitely always say as well.

I'm a one-man band.

I wear all these hats.

And I do say self-employed, yeah, business owner, all of these things.

But I also feel like...

It depends as well who I'm speaking

to

because a lot of the time if I'm networking with other founders, I will say I'm also a founder.

And if I'm networking with more people that call themselves freelancers or self-employed, I'll probably call myself that because I feel like I fit into all these brackets really.

So I don't think at the moment there's one thing that defines what I'm doing.

And would you say that you've got an entrepreneurial spirit?

without a doubt I've got an entrepreneurial spirit I think um I don't think this is something that's new to me either um just because I feel like I've always had something that I guess a motivation to succeed and be the best but not in what everyone else is doing I'm super happy to take charge and do something a Because I don't know where that's come from, but I definitely have always been like that.

And I have to credit both my parents here who were both self-employed their entire careers.

And yeah, I feel like when you've got two people that are like, we are doing this so we know that you can do it.

I think that makes a massive difference.

difference um they know that the ins and outs ups and downs that come with being self-employed or being freelance and they very much made me aware of those risks before I started but they also have been great successes for them so you know why not give it a go myself you've just answered my next question so

I was about to ask you I have this kind of I don't know, this sense that who has shown you what the possibility is, because it isn't always obvious for women to set up and be entrepreneurial and have that kind of entrepreneurial spirit.

And yet, of course, some of that is going to be completely your personality or trait, who you are.

But When I did research with Nikki Denton-Elliott, we had these in-depth conversations with women who were talking about perhaps their formative years.