Special Report: Women Entrepreneurs: She Calls All the Shots

She Calls All the Shots With pluck and perseverance, women show they can start companies and succeed

Mary Farrar never thought of herself as a trailblazer. But with five children to educate, the Kansas City, Kans., homemaker decided to get a job to save money. A high school graduate, Farrar went to work in 1972, once all the children were in school, as a bookkeeper for a local steel contractor. Before long, she was supervising fieldwork as well. In 1978, with just $500 in savings, she started her own steel-contracting firm, Systems Erectors. Result: her children are getting all the education they want. Farrar's company racked up $5 million in sales last year. Says she: "There is nothing...

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