By: Kerry Hannon, CONTRIBUTOR

More and more women I know are starting their own businesses these days — often doing so by switching careers in midlife.

It’s a certifiable trend. “Women are becoming more aware of the opportunities for entrepreneurship in their lives,” Susan Duffy, executive director of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College told AP. “It’s becoming more of an option for a career move than it ever has been in the past.”

Women-Run Firms Mushroom

And the data on female entrepreneurship bears this out. The number of new women-owned firms launched each day has doubled over the past three years, according to the 2014 American Express OPEN State of Women-Owned Business report. In fact, the report says, four in 10 new firms are started by women.

(MORE: The Paradox of Women Business Owners)

That’s all well and good, but what I found troubling in the report was that the average size and revenues of women-owned firms has barely budged since 1997. Back then, the average woman-owned firm had one employee and $151,129 in revenues. Seventeen years later, the average woman-owned firm employs one employee and generates $155,267 in revenues.
Not so good.

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