Forced to pivot during pandemic, more South Shore women open their own businesses

HULL – In the fall of 2020, Casey Mahoney said she knew her career in the food distribution industry was struggling and she didn’t know if it would rebound. But instead of waiting it out, she took what some people told her was an even bigger risk: leaving her job and starting her own business.

In October 2020, Mahoney opened Crave, which serves up acai bowls, smoothies, coffee and other healthy snacks on Nantasket Beach.

“This was something I always wanted to do, and I knew if I didn’t do it now, I would have gone back into the same kind of career. It was my chance,” she said. “With my job, I saw what kinds of places were succeeding, and it was takeout types of places, so it worked out.”

A self-proclaimed workaholic, Mahoney said the downtime brought on by the pandemic gave her the opportunity to get Crave started.

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“So many people said I was crazy, but I had to go with my gut because it was something I thought of doing for a long time,” she said. “I’m not getting any younger, and not doing this was going to be something I’d regret.”

More women starting businesses

Women-owned businesses made up about a fifth of all firms that employed people in the United States in 2019, an increase of more than 100,000 from the year prior, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey.

More than 40% of businesses – 10.9 million – without paid employees were owned by women in the same year. That brings the total number of women-owned businesses to more than 12 million, with $2.1 trillion in receipts, according to the Census Bureau.

And the COVID-19 pandemic has only pushed more women into launching their own businesses. Women were more than twice as likely as men to start a small business since the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to a study by Next Insurance Inc.

This could be due to demands at home, such as child care, that forced women to leave their jobs. More than 2.3 million women left the U.S. labor force between February 2020 and the end of January 2021, according to the National Women's Law Center. Many of these women went on to launch their own businesses.

Calli McPherson opened William James Gifts, a gift basket business, in August 2020, from her house and opened a store in Quincy Center in October. She said she knows of many other mothers who have jumped into running their own businesses in the last couple of years.

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"In the Quincy area, there are a lot of women who have started businesses in the last couple of years and really feel empowered to do so," she said. "They continue to take off and employ more people."

Women seek help growing their businesses

Tim Cahill, president and executive director of the Quincy Chamber of Commerce, said he’s seen an increase in women interested in opening or expanding their own businesses in recent years.

The chamber offers a program called QUEST, which helps business owners increase their skills in finances and marketing and develop a three-year strategic growth plan. Of the 12 business owners enrolled in the program, Cahill said 11 are women.

Cahill said there is a national trend of more women opening businesses and he’s seen examples locally.

“I think women are leaving the workforce due to challenges with child care or simply not wanting to work in corporate America anymore,” he said. “It creates opportunity when women have a skill set they can turn into a business and chase their passions but not uproot their families.”

Jenn Ormond, owner of Coffee Break Cafe in Quincy, moved one store and opened a fifth location when COVID-19 hit. While she’s been in business for 26 years, she said she understands the challenges of working through a pandemic.

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Ormond, who is part of the QUEST program, said she’s noticed a lot more women getting into business in recent years.

“I love seeing the creativity of women, and I think it’s definitely one of the silver linings of the pandemic that everyone has had more time to think about what truly makes them happy,” she said. “There are a lot of lifestyle changes happening, so it’s really interesting.”

Lost jobs create opportunities

Cristina Curreri took a chance on opening her own business after losing her job as a regional manager for a national yoga studio company during the pandemic.

When Curreri was dealing with knee problems from running, a friend recommended she try halotherapy, or salt therapy, so she traveled to a salt cave nearly two hours away with her fiancé.

“We had the most amazing experience and looked at each other and said, ‘This is what we need to do,’ ” she said. “Having experience in wellness for 25 years, I knew I wanted to stay there, and this was the perfect opportunity.”

Curreri last year opened Scituate Salt Cave, which has two rooms with 30,000 pounds of pink salt from the Himalayas. She said business has been great, and sold out of gift cards three times before the holidays.

Curreri said she works closely with local female artisans, and they've all "ramped up" businesses since COVID-19 hit.

McPherson, whose mother runs a gift shop, said she always wanted to eventually open her own, once her kids got a little older.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and McPherson suddenly had more time at home. That's when she opened William James Gifts.

“It's always been something I’ve wanted to do, and the pandemic accelerated – having more time at home thinking about it. I had that burning desire inside and feeling like I have to do something about it, and it motivated me to do it now,” she said.

A stay-at-home mother at the time, McPherson said she was able to be there for her kids while still getting her new business off the ground.

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"I didn't have the meetings and calls and deadlines, so there was the flexibility to work when it was best for me," she said. "You have the ability to make your schedule and make it whatever works for you and your family."

With opportunities, pandemic also brings struggles

While the pandemic created an opportunity for some women to start businesses, it also hit some hard. A survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that the number of female business owners who ranked their business's overall health as "good" fell from 60% in January 2020 to 47% in July 2020. That number fell five points for male business owners, from 67% to 62%.

Beth Whitney and Cindy McCarthy co-managed Fitness Unlimited in Milton for nearly 30 years before buying the women’s gym together just before the pandemic hit. They were then forced to close their doors for several months and reimagine many aspects of their business.

“I feel like I’m a brand-new owner of a brand-new business because we bought a pre-COVID business,” Whitney said. “In COVID, it’s a completely different animal. It’s shaken us and forced us to completely pivot so many times.”

Whitney, who is also enrolled in the QUEST program, said she hadn't noticed the surge in female business owners until she became one herself.

“There are definitely more and more women opening businesses, and it’s really great,” she said. "It creates a camaraderie among us and we can learn from each other."

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Pandemic pushes more women to launch their own businesses