looked for love, found direction

Women looking for a new direction, particularly after divorce or losing a job, have started some very successful businesses and Linda, a childless woman of 34, is living proof of that. She’s a professional manhunter!

Linda started a computer dating service after her marriage broke up. She was looking for a new guy as well as a new source of income, and because she was wasting so much time and money on personal ads and attending singles functions she thought that she could kill two birds with one stone - and she did. She started dating the twelfth man who signed up with her computer dating service.

"He’s not the guy I want to marry," explains Linda, "he’s just a guy who’s quite happy to be Mr Wrong until Mr Right walks in the door!"

"A lot of my clients are separated or unemployed women," says Linda, "and I always advise them that as well as looking for a guy they could be looking at starting their own businesses. They have plenty of time on their hands, and it really doesn’t cost as much as they think it does to get a business off the ground."

Linda concedes that some businesses do need a lot of capital, but her business was very simply set up and needed nothing more than an advertisement in the local newspaper to get it running.

"This is a local computing dating service," explains Linda. "I wouldn't want to overextend myself by getting on to the Internet. There are far too many dating services online already."

If her female clients have a brilliant idea and they’re fired with enthusiasm, then Linda advises them to go for it. As Linda tells them: if you never try, you will probably regret it for the rest of your life.

"It doesn’t have to be a completely new idea," says Linda, "a new twist on something old is often the most brilliant idea of all. My new twist on the dating agency idea was to arrange a novel - and very safe - place for the couple to meet for the first time."

The venue for her very first arranged meeting was for the couple to meet outside a police station.

"What could be safer than that!" laughs Linda.

Linda is aware that some women are entitled to get government assistance to start up a business, so if a business needs capital then Linda advises her female clients to try that avenue before expending their life savings. Most businesses take several years to start making a return sufficient to pay wages and expenses, so Linda believes that starting a business with government assistance, if you can, is the best way to go. Her dating agency was a financial success straight away, but Linda was almost guaranteed that success because of her contacts and research.

"Self-employment is a wonderful new direction to take," says Linda, "but I always advise my female clients not to give up their day job - if they have one - until they start to make a profit. I also advise them to do a lot of sniffing around to make sure that what they are selling is what people want to buy. Pouring too much time, energy and money into something that is not going to pay off for years and years - if ever - is not good business sense."

Linda didn’t get a professional opinion on her business idea, but she believes most business ideas do need the investment of a professional opinion. She did, however, read as much as she could about starting a business and made a point to ask questions.

"Many small business operators are happy to answer questions," explains Linda, "and I asked as many questions as I needed to."

Linda also did her research while she was out and about as a newly separated woman looking for a new guy. She heard about all the other dating agencies - their good points and their bad points - and came up with a brilliant idea of her own that really worked.

"You don't want to reinvent the wheel and you don't want to make the same mistakes others have made, do you?" says Linda. "That’s why it’s so important to ask questions and do lots of research."
For women who do not yet have a brilliant idea then a good tip from Linda is to choose a business area that is going to flourish in future years.

"You may not need to look any further than your nose," laughs Linda. "The generation that is about to retire - the Baby Boomers - is one that everyone predicts is going to spearhead a great change in the economy of the future."

Linda believes that a business in the personal and household services area; the entertainment and leisure industries; healthcare; the travel and hospitality industries; real estate and financial planning - anything that the retiring Baby Boomers are going to need in their advancing years - is an excellent bet.

Finding another guy quickly after separation seems to be the main preoccupation of some suddenly-single women, but the separation period itself seems to inspire most women to do new and wonderful things with their lives. And Linda loves to help women find success and happiness in their new lives.

"The more I empower other women," explains Linda, "the more I empower myself."

One area Linda warns women about when they are thinking of starting a business is the Internet. Linda herself has plans for starting a New Age business on the Internet, but she is not going to start it until the recession is well and truly over - and then she is not going to invest much money in it until about 2004. She’s planning on the retiring Baby Boomers being her main customers, but they won’t be a real market force until 2006.

Also, Linda says it is never too late to start your own business. With the job market being particularly difficult for older women right now, it makes good sense to start looking at all your options and start building the foundations of what you would really like to be doing with the rest of your working life.

"If you're having trouble at 40 hanging on to your job, or trying to find a job," says Linda, "then imagine the difficulties you will face at 50. A lot of women in this situation think that having a man will solve their financial problems, but it won’t."

"I had a woman of 60 sign up with me," says Linda, "and I told her quite honestly that finding a man is not a smart thing for her to be doing. She had saved sufficient funds to be able to retire permanently from the workforce, and starting a business at her age would definitely give her a far more brilliant new lease on life than a man would."

"Women really need to take charge of their lives," says Linda. "I’d love to re-marry but thinking that a man will take care of me financially is being naïve. Separated women have a great new direction in life, and while it’s nice to have a boyfriend, having a business of my own is far nicer!"

taurus women love money!

Ella owns and runs a beauty salon. She bought out the previous owner after having worked at the salon for only three years. In that time, she had learned all the ropes of the business and knew all the clients. It was a guaranteed successful investment for her. In her words, "it was as easy as pie."

"I was definitely in the right place, at the right time," says Ella. "Everything fell into my lap."

As if to balance the lack of risk involved in her business - or to capitalize on her winning streak - Ella has taken up gambling. She picks lucky numbers and colors from daily horoscopes, and admits to having had a fair bit of luck in that respect, too.

Ella is a Taurus and says that the bull does not depict her sign without good reason. Ella hates the color red, but is willing to wear it if her horoscope says it is a lucky color. Asked whether she snorts, the salon girls shouted "yes she does" and Ella good-naturedly laughed.

Ella admits to having the typical Taurus physique and nature. She is pleasantly plump and, yes, bovine in nature, reasonably docile and placid until provoked and then she exhibits a real bullish streak. And, yes, she is easily milked of her money. She is a soft touch, literally and figuratively. But then she has a lot to throw around and give away.

"I admit to buying the business for no other reason than to make a lot of moolah," laughs Ella. "And, no, I don't work hard at all. I'm just the front for the business. My accountant and the girls do all the work."

As far as money is concerned, Ella knows how to make it and spend it. When it comes to knowing how to keep it, however, she just does not have a clue other than investing in real estate - at which she excels. Ella owns three investment properties. She is a big spender and thinks nothing of losing a thousand dollars in a gambling bet.

Ella is very sentimental, and has a long-standing problem with her mother. If you can pull her away from her gambling long enough for a chat, she will tell you how her mother abandoned her when she was 14 and how she will never forgive her for that.

Also, Ella is prone to be a bit hypersensitive in arguments, taking things too personally, but otherwise she can be a compassionate advocate.

What is really amazing about Ella is that she is always the first one out of the door at night and has no workaholic tendencies whatsoever. She loves her home - and her investment properties - and adores luxury and leisure.

"Getting enough money together to be able to enjoy life to the full now - and when I'm old and grey - is all that matters to me," says Ella.

As far as love is concerned, Ella is still looking for it at 32. She is very fussy about whom she associates with romantically, and while she says that she doesn't particularly care about money - it's just a vehicle to buy the things she desires - she is concerned about being fleeced of her fortune in a bad marriage.

"At the rate I'm going," laughs Ella, "I will probably remain single for the rest of my life.

Ella is really not a typical businesswoman - and she's not a typical beautician either. She is not particularly charming to her clients but nevertheless they keep on coming back.

"I am tough, I can be very cruel sometimes and I never forgive people who cross me, " admits Ella. "I don’t care if the grudges I carry go with me into the next life. I believe in reincarnation and that being my belief my grudges will return in the soul of another in order to wreak revenge on those who have wronged me - or their descendants."

Ella agrees with the stars when they say it is extremely unwise to cross a Taurus. She is generally slow to provoke but once that has been achieved there is no stopping her.

"Hopefully I am nowhere near a china-shop when I blow my stack," laughs Ella.

Owning and running a beauty salon is something that suits her for the time being but she feels she is destined for a bigger role in life.

"I want to enter politics one day and gain governance over a wider group of people than my immediate staff," confides Ella. "I like bossing people around. I like being the boss."

Obviously, to become a successful businesswoman and to manage staff efficiently you need certain attributes and Ella possesses what it takes.

Her weak spot is that she hates being alone. She can and must temper that awful temper of hers if she is to be able to achieve her ultimate goals in entering politics. Most people around Ella are treading on eggshells, fearful of arousing her wrath, but she agrees that if everyone left her alone she would die of misery.

Ella is very much attracted to a lawyer right now and is eagerly reading her stars to see when she should next contact him and what color she should wear at their meeting.

"He's rich so a marriage with him would be appropriate," muses Ella, "but he's an Aries and I'm a bit worried about him being too headstrong for me."

When asked why she puts so much faith in astrology Ella replied with a snort: "Did you know that Ronald Reagan when he was president made every decision on the advice of astrologers?"

(Ella's story first appeared as the lucky hairdresser and is reprinted with permission.)