One Dr. Mom’s 10 Keys For Success For Women Entrepreneurs
Glenna Rice (center in blue), working on a participant in an Access Consciousness class
An undergraduate degree in zoology from University of Washington, a masters in physical therapy from the University of California and a PhD from Utica College, all helped inform her career.
But motherhood ultimately informed Glenna Rice’s success.
The owner of Access Physical Therapy in San Rafael, Cali., Rice has spent more than 25 years as a physical therapist in schools and private practice. She has worked in 22 countries, including South Africa, Japan and more teaching workshops in spatial mobility, conscious parenting and business mentoring.
The agility and lessons she has learned as a mother can be applied to the trend of more mothers who are working remotely in businesses and succeeding.
“#Motherhood informed Glenna Rice’s success as the owner of Access Physical Therapy in San Rafael, CA.”
“In a recent study conducted by Remote.co of nearly 130 remote companies, they found businesses with large remote work forces have a higher percentage of women in leadership roles (including founders and CEOs) than traditional office-based companies,” writes Christine Michel Carter in Forbes.
“When Remote.co explored a sampling of the women in leadership roles they found 72 percent of the female leaders sampled were parents and/or caregivers, and nearly a quarter of respondents were millennials,” Carter writes.
A single mother of three who are 14, 19 and 23, Rice has contributed to two books on parenting and is planning to write her own soon. She offers advice to women entrepreneurs and leaders who want to make the most of their careers and lives, whether they are mothers or not.
“Being a leader is going where no one has gone, whether people follow you or not,” Rice says. “A big part of my classes is asking questions to get more information, looking for awareness, not answers.”
“Ask yourself if you are nervous or excited.” Going into a big meeting or important presentation, you might have feelings of fear around your performance. Rice suggests you take that energy and turn it into excitement. “I used to never speak out loud,” Rice says. “Now I have a radio show, The Questionable Parent.”
“Take your paradigm and flip it.” If you are uneasy and feeling pain in your body, for instance, ask yourself what is the energy you are perceiving, and it if is a problem or if it is something else unrelated to you.
“Trust it is going to work out.” Perhaps the task or tasks before you are not as difficult as you perceive. Trust you have the skills to succeed.
“Acknowledge that you created the day.” Rice suggests you design your days so they work for you and then things that are not required will go away. Ask yourself what you have to add or what do you have to take away?
“What is fun about my job?” Make choices to enjoy the things you do and ask how you can make what you need to do into something fun. Can you schedule bill paying as you listen to music, or can you hire someone to do it?
“Never give your life up for your children or anyone else.” The language around parenting—and love—is that you sacrifice your life for someone else. Create a life that works for you. This also empowers your children to know what they know so they can do things for themselves.
“Concentrate on futurism.” Look at what you are doing now to create your future. What feels bigger and makes you smile? Always have that awareness, Rice says, of what you need to add or build to create more.
“Give yourself permission to be imperfect.” If you are willing to get it wrong, according to Rice, you are nor not worried about being judged. Someone will always judge you, she says.
“Choose to be a leader in your field.” Ask yourself if you want to be known as a leader in your field and in your family and how you can make that happen.
“Take an hour a day for you.” Include yourself in your life, and whether that means taking an hour to work on something just for you, then do that. Receive something for yourself one hour a day, one day a week.
Rice also says that ambiguity and uncertainty are helpful in families as well as in business. “It’s great to have a business plan, but if you really want a business that survives and thrives, it’s important to have someone at the helm who can change course, adapt and work around unforeseen obstacles. ”
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About the Author
Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldonwww.micheleweldon.com