What makes an attorney chuck a lucrative legal career and start a new, unrelated business? To find the answer, you need to understand what makes these women entrepreneurs tick.

A Creative Streak
For these former attorneys, starting a business offered them the ability to be creative, which was not always possible in the legal world.

"Daily tasks at a large corporation--the endless meetings before anything can get done, the structure--it can be stifling to the creative process," says Consuelo Bova, a former corporate attorney who is now CEO of ForTheFit.com, an Orlando, Fla.-based online retailer of clothing for short men. "To stay motivated, I need to be excited about what I'm doing. If I lose enthusiasm about something, I need the flexibility to move on to something else."

Lynn Jawitz, a former lawyer and stockbroker, owns New York City-based Florisan LLC, a floral design company. "Realizing that I was able to create and run a business from scratch, with the primary product being my own creativity and sense of style, is a wonderful feeling," she says.

A Sense of Right and Wrong
Attorneys are inherently out for justice, and these women entrepreneurs were frustrated by the available options in their chosen businesses.

Jawitz founded her company partly out of frustration with the floral design industry because designers were expressing their own vision, not hers. "I kept ordering flowers that left me disappointed," she says. "It was knowing that I like what I like: I want to see it done my way, and it's neither finished nor right until I say it's right. I could not settle for something that did not sit well in my gut."

Cynthia McKay's business idea literally arrived on her front doorstep. The CEO of Le Gourmet Gift Basket Inc., based in Castle Rock, Colo., started her business in 1992, when there wasn't even a gift basket industry. "A poorly made gift basket was delivered to my home as a gift. I knew at that minute I could do better, and the next day I quit my corporate attorney position and started my business."

Bova came up with the idea of ForTheFit.com while shopping for her husband, Jeff. She couldn't find clothes with the fit and quality she desired for her under 5-foot-9-inch husband, and an idea was born.

A Desire to Achieve
Female attorneys are highly driven, and these women are no exception.

"When you own your business, there are no business hours," Jawitz says. "I used to laugh when a client called and asked, 'Are you still open?'

"It requires the commitment to do the necessary work to be able to live a life essentially of sleep and work. I wish it were an exaggeration--and that is not to say that I do not steal away some time for sanity's sake--but essentially, everything you do has to relate to work in some way. I think that obsession fuels success."

 Even now that she owns a multimillion-dollar business with 20-plus employees, McKay doesn't take vacations. "I love my business, and I like being around it," she says.

Confidence
By nature, attorneys are confident. These women used their confidence to fuel their businesses.

"I operate on the 80/20 rule," Bova says. "I think fast, [and] I gather enough information that I feel comfortable jumping. I do these things very quickly in my own mind and go."

McKay started her business with no money or experience in business. "I knew that I had a strong work ethic and could implement my ideas, although I had no experience in anything. I had a positive attitude, the ability to ignore other people's negative thoughts and comments, and immense energy."

So if you're an attorney and thinking about starting a business, take heart. The traits that make attorneys great also help in their quest to become a successful business owner. Remember that when you're ready to take the plunge.

Margie Zable Fisher is the president of Zable Fisher Public Relations, the leader in small business public relations. To get her free e-mail tips and publicity opportunities, visit zfpr.com.