It has been a few years now since the Spice Girls burst on the scene with girl power. Yet the business world has been so what slow to catch on. The generally conceived image of a suit wearing, clean shaven man, negotiating stocks and shares, has become the perceived norm up and down the country.

However, there is new wave of female thinking that looks to balance the job of being a mother, with the hustle and bustle of running a business. Eleanor Watkins runs online boutique eleanorsboutique on freewebs.com whilst being a full time mum to 18 moth old Emily. Eleanor is not quite content with balancing the two ‘jobs’, but prefers to challenge herself by working as a full time receptionist as well. "I just wanted to have a little hobby and hopefully earn some money in the future. Sometimes it’s hard to do everything, but I’m lucky and seem to have the women’s gift of multitasking."

One of the biggest bonuses for Eleanor has been the ability to manage her boutique business on the internet. Through E-bay and feewebs.com, she finds it a little easier to manage her time and 24 hour trading hours creates optimum customer potential. "The best benefit for me is that I don’t have any premises that I have to open or close, my internet can be 24 hours if the customer wants to shop at 11 o’clock at night then they can!" She said.

Most of the hassle of setting up a business has been taken away thanks to the internet. "I suppose more people see things on the internet, which seems to be the most popular form of contact now." Eleanor makes a valid point as E-bay alone has a customer base of over 181 million.

At times there just aren’t enough hours in the day for Eleanor as she tries to balance her life on three fronts, but she is quick to keep things in perspective, "Sometimes I don’t have time to fit it all in, I always put my family and daughter first and at the end of the day the boutique is just a hobby."

All the indications are that women today can have it all and as Eleanor puts it "yes women can have it all, men do, but be prepared to be tired!"

James Parr