Are You a Woman Doing Business Like a Man?

"Is running your business like a man hurting you?" This is a question Alexis Martin Neely asked a roomful of women entrepreneurs last week in Los Angeles. Alexis is the founder and CEO of the Family Wealth Planning Institute, a business strategist and a go-to legal expert for many television news shows. She also was the host of the inaugural "Powerful Feminine Leadership" event held, not in a typical hotel conference room, but rather at a West Los Angeles yoga studio called Hub.

It's no secret that women have had to play a certain game to make it in the business world, i.e. be the bitchy boss, dress down their femininity, or abide by the rules of a hierarchical structure. Today, however, women are running their own businesses in increasing numbers and are making their own rules. According to the Center for Women's Business Research, women-owned businesses comprise 40 percent of all privately held companies in the U.S. and women entrepreneurs are among the fastest growing groups of business owners. Compare this to our mother's time when, in 1970, women contributed 2-6 percent of the family income. Now the typical working wife brings home 42.2 percent of the income, and four in 10 mothers--many of them single mothers--are the primary breadwinners in their families.

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