Insight into the Practices of Successful Women in Business
Many readers may have heard of the website dooce.com. More than just one of the blogs for women, the work of blogger Heather Armstrong, who is “just a mom” and yet in the blog world one of the most successful women in business, is considered one of the most influential blogs on the internet. This blog is just a personal diary of Armstrong’s life. The factors that brought it to the top are interesting and worth a quick examination, but the real point to draw from her success is the message it offers for how the internet, women’s networking and issues, and a little inspiration can add legitimate and fulfilling dimension to the “being a mother is a job” mentality.
In other words, because she blogs “from the chaos” of her home, as she puts it, with kids and husband and dogs running around, not only is being a mother the job that she devotes her time to, but it is fodder for her income. According to both her and her husband, who left his job to help manage the business side of the site when ad revenue surpassed his income, Armstrong’s talent comes from her ability to spin an event in her life into an “epic” for the blog, but without revealing too many details about her family that would leave her children feeling under the microscope.
This strength and her candid writing style have played a major role in catapulting her to number 26 on Forbe’s list of the Most Influential Women in Media. But it also played a role in her having enough time to focus her attentions on the blog. In 2002, she was fired from her job with a dot-com startup for writing about events at her work that the company felt painted it in a negative light. This was one of the first high-profile instances of private internet activity leading to termination. So timing was an important factor in her initial publicity. Being the New York Times’ “go-to” mommy-blog hasn’t hurt either. She has been written up in the publication a handful of times since the 2002 episode.
Regardless of circumstance, Armstrong’s blog now easily supports her family as the only income source, and her hard work, effective use of new media – and probably she and her husband’s combined website design acumen – have put her very high on the list of online successful women in business.
