Even though women are starting businesses at a higher rate then the national average, they contribute only 4% of the U.S. revenue and Nell Merlino — President and CEO of Count Me In, a national nonprofit that aims to educate and empower women to grow their small businesses — is determined to change that. [pullquote]You can have it all as long as you don’t do it all.[/pullquote]
In this interview for Entrepreneur.com, Merlino explains that part of the reason for the lower revenues is that women believe they need to keep their businesses small to be able to take care of their families. But Merlino says staying small isn’t the solution — in fact she believes the opposite is true. Another myth she busts is that women can’t have it all, made popular by Anne-Marie Slaughter’s Atlantic article. “You can have it all as long as you don’t do it all,” says Merlino and she points out to a study that shows that women who hire in the first six months of a business are much more likely to get to a million dollars.
Watch Merlino’s Interview with Colleen DeBaise.