Women of the Net
© Cathy Bryant

Several years ago, when I had been working online about a year, an online colleague approached me about writing an article for a special edition of his newsletter which was to feature successful women online. Naturally, I agreed.

As I was researching for the article, I read a statistic that revealed that women over 50 were one of the fastest growing groups of internet users. That didn't surprise me, as at the time I was approaching that "golden age" and had contact with others online who were also in that age group.

All these women were using the vehicle of the internet to earn an income online - and the numbers were growing every day.

So I wrote the article, and it was published not only in my colleague's newsletter but many others as well.

Now, years later, I realize that the things I discussed in that article are as relevant today as they were six years ago when the article was first published - and we all know that for anything to stay current online for six years it must be significant!

For that reason, I feel that they bear repeating again. After all, there are an untold number of women - in this age group as well as younger - who have entered the world of internet business since that first article was published six years ago.

So what did I reveal in that article? Consider this...

Women of ALL ages have made a conscious decision to tackle the complexities of technology in order to achieve their own goals and aspirations, whatever they may be.

What is it about the internet that is so appealing to women? It's quite obvious, actually. The internet is a massively large vehicle for what? Communication. And what do women generally do better than men? You got it...communicate!

Look around, and you see women everywhere online. And what else do you see? Sites created by women - providing every type of information, service, or opportunity you can imagine.

Who are these women? People you know -

• Young mothers working from home in order to be there with their children
• Former corporate executives using skills learned on the job to create their own successful businesses online
• Empty nesters who find themselves embracing the technology of their children's generation
• Young women just out of school who have chosen the career path of entrepreneur and are using the internet to achieve those dreams