The new bosses

As they prepare to leave their old careers behind and open their own business two years ago, Lisa Di Pietro and Lisa Schlossberg had a lot of questions. But there was no shortage of places within walking distance to find answers from women who'd already taken that leap.

They strolled into Zia, a clothing boutique, and talked to Lesia Stanchak, who had left a job in a hospital cardiology department to open the store. They went into 18 Birch House and Garden and got advice from the owner, Erin Brayton, who had been a psychiatric social worker. On every corner of Roslindale Square, it seemed, there was a potential female mentor.

''There were all these women taking that chance," remarks Di Pietro between greetings to customers at the Pet Cabaret, the pet-supplies store she and Schlossberg run. ''That impressed us. They collectively gave us the impetus to push beyond where we had gone."

More and more women are responding to a similar impetus and making the decision to become their own bosses. Some are driven by midcareer restlessness; some are seeking an outlet for long-suppressed creativity; some are simply drawn by the entrepreneurial idea. Whatever their motivation, they have waded into a sometimes-daunting set of challenges made tolerable by the realization that, in the words of Cyndi Rich, a onetime administrator in a consulting firm who now owns a quilt shop in Franklin, ''You can do this. You don't need a bunch of men around you."

The number of women who have apparently arrived at that conclusion is growing, aided by increased access to financing, technical expertise, and their own expanding universe of contacts. From 1997 to 2004, the number of businesses that were at least 50 percent owned by women in metropolitan Boston grew by 15 percent, to more than 32,000, according to Sharon Hadary, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Women's Business Research. Statewide, she said, the number of businesses at least 50 percent owned by women also grew by 15 percent, to more than 233,000, while nationally, it climbed 17 percent, to 10.6 million, during that period.

The surge has been especially pronounced among women 34 to 45 who have decided to get off the corporate merry-go-round, according to Jill Kickul, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Simmons College School of Management. ''It's women who are bored and disenchanted with corporate life," she says. ''They've reached a certain peak in their professions and they want the flexibility, the independence, and they have an idea they want to explore. So launching their own business is one very attractive alternative."

For Rich, that alternative first beckoned a couple of years ago. She had just left her post as director of administration at McKinsey & Company, a high-powered management consulting firm where she had worked for two decades. She began to feel the entrepreneurial itch. But what to do? ''I didn't want to go back and do the same thing I did before," says Rich, 48. ''I wanted the flexibility of being able to run home if I needed to, being able to attend my daughter's play. And I wanted to have a lot of personal autonomy." The bottom line, she says, was: ''I wanted to have a second career."

She began to think about opening a quilt store, having taken up the craft a decade earlier. She interviewed 200 quilters and 50 quilt shop owners around the country, attended industry shows, and even worked for seven months at a quilt shop in Plymouth. ''It's not a hobby, it's a business, and it has to show profit, just like anything else," she says. ''That's how I approached it, as a business, not just that I wanted to be around quilters."

In September 2004, she opened Emma's Quilt Cupboard in Franklin. As the person in charge, she now works six days a week. But there are far fewer late nights than in her previous job, and more flexibility during the day. She has weathered the ups and downs of owning her own business. ''When you're on your own, it all rests on you: the good decisions, the bad decisions, the revenue stream, the non-revenue stream," she says with a laugh. ''I've certainly made some mistakes, but I've learned from them."

In Roslindale Square (also known as Roslindale Village), women like Di Pietro and Schlossberg who worry about rookie mistakes have plenty of veterans to turn to.

The couple first began to contemplate new careers a few years ago. Di Pietro was freelancing as a multimedia producer and Schlossberg had recently left her job as a hospital manager of patient services to work for a Web development company. She wasn't happy there, but the prospect of looking for another job also left her with a sinking feeling. ''I wasn't interested in putting my resume out there anymore and working for other people," says Schlossberg, 44. ''I was already a hard worker, and I wanted to work hard for myself."

Several years ago, they began attending community meetings in Roslindale at which residents proffered wish-list proposals for potential businesses. ''We kept hearing 'pet store,' " recalls Di Pietro, 46. To a pair of devoted dog owners, that sounded like the makings of a business plan. But their retail experience added up to zilch. So they made the rounds of Roslindale's growing ranks of women business owners, who freely gave the two Lisas advice on how to finance a business, establish purchasing procedures, price items, and, perhaps most important, trust their own judgment. ''They were an inspiration for us," says Schlossberg.

Two years ago, the Pet Cabaret was born. Schlossberg and Di Pietro are working 70- to 80-hour weeks, but thoroughly enjoying themselves. ''As we get a little older the focus on what's important in our life shifts a little bit," says Di Pietro. ''Nobody gets rich opening up a 600-square foot store and selling doggie balls. But it became important to us to have a place in our community, to have an active hand in bettering it."

Thanks to that sentiment, Roslindale Square is a portrait in miniature of the national trend toward women launching their own businesses. There are now more than 20 women-owned businesses there, and another 10 or so businesses that are run by women with their husbands or other partners, according to Janice Williams, executive director of Roslindale Village Main Street, a public-private group that focuses on business development and revitalization.

For Judie Leon, who was one of very few businesswomen in Roslindale Square when she launched the travel agency that bears her name 23 years ago, the swelling ranks of women-owned businesses is a welcome sight. ''When I started, you couldn't even get an appointment with the bank," she says. ''You had to fight for everything. There were so few women, you were very much on your own." When local business leaders convened for a civic meeting, Leon was often the only woman in the room. ''Now I go to meetings and there are 10 or 20 women there," she says. ''And they're in charge."

A certain solidarity is evident among the women business owners of Roslindale Square, perhaps because so many of them are relative newcomers. Dee Proenza, owner of Loda Shoes, notes the proximity of Brayton's 18 Birch and says: ''I'm always telling people about her place, and she's always letting people know about me." Mention Linda Lam, the owner of a hair salon on Corinth Street called Salon A, to Di Pietro and Schlossberg, and both women blurt out simultaneously: ''She cuts our hair!" Mention the pet-store duo to Lam, and she smiles widely and says: ''The two Lisas who own the pet store, they're great. They work very hard. They send people here."

Lam, 44, who was born in Thailand and spoke little English when she arrived in the United States in 1987, began working as a hairdresser on Newbury Street and eventually opened her own place on Boylston Street. Five years ago, she decided to open her salon in Roslindale Square. It was an act of faith in a district that was far from bustling. Today, Lam employs five hairdressers, and it is sometimes so busy that waiting customers have to sit on the stairs that lead up to the shop's second floor.

In those rare moments when Lam takes a break, she takes pleasure in the fact that she can now tick off the names of so many other women business owners in Roslindale Square. ''There's just so much lady-owned," she says. ''It just came along; it just happened. I would never think that I would have women surround me."

Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.