As a self-made millionaire, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Elizabeth Elting knows what it takes to succeed during a crisis.
In 1992, she co-founded the multi-million dollar language services and business solutions company TransPerfect in a New York University dorm room with her former spouse. Serving as the co-CEO of the company from 1992 to 2018, Elting, who made Forbes’ richest self-made women list for the past five years, oversaw the organization’s operations during both the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and the financial crisis in 2008.
Though the current pandemic is far from anything she’s seen before, Elting says there is one piece of advice she would give career women today who are having a hard time thriving at work.
“The usual success tips for women aren’t working,” she tells CNBC Make It while explaining that the advice to “navigate company culture” or “build alliances with women colleagues is a little bit out the door” considering a lot of women are facing pressures to leave the workforce and many women are working in remote environments where it’s hard to follow these traditional rules. “I think the best solution for women ultimately is entrepreneurship. If women can start their own companies alone, or in partnership with other women, that can allow a degree of financial independence and flexibility.”
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Though entrepreneurship can be risky, Elting says “the pandemic has revealed, and will continue to reveal, huge gaps in the economy” that need to be filled by great ideas from new businesses.
“It’s a massive opportunity to help reinvent the entire economy for whatever the world is going to look like in five or 10 years,” says Elting, who now serves as founder and CEO of the Elizabeth Elting Foundation, which works to advance the economic, social and political equality for women and marginalized communities. “So look for opportunities in line with how you think the world will be.”
Additionally, Elting says, “part of the challenge with starting a company is the overhead, and right now overhead is lower than it would have been a year, two years or even three years ago because office space is less necessary than its ever been.” And, unlike when she started her company in 1992, Elting says it’s easier to market and promote your business because of social media.
However, she warns that starting a business in the middle of an economic crisis “isn’t an option for everyone because some people need to worry about paying the bills right now, which is totally understandable.” She points to the disproportionate number of women who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus crisis, and the rising number of working moms who are feeling pressured to leave the workforce due to overwhelming demands at work and at home.
“What matters right now is building short-term bridges to get you through,” she says in regards to women who are unemployed, in a tight spot financially or feeling pressured to leave the workplace. In addition to doing your best to save, Elting says women who are currently looking for work should reach out to their landlord or bank to discuss the option of deferring monthly payments.
And if you’re still working, she says, “communicate your situation to your manager if you’re having issues with child care and need to change your hours.”
She emphasizes that “managers expect that” communication and “as long as the work gets done, it might not be necessary that you have to only do it during [certain] work hours.”
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