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On the day that Barbara Winter’s daughter went off to kindergarten, Barbara launched her first business. After a series of jobs that included teaching high school English, being an employment counselor and interior decorator, she took a deep breath and set out on her own.

What she didn’t know at the time was that she was pioneering a new way of working, but being a pioneer wasn’t exactly what she had in mind. Barbara just wanted to help other women acquire the personal growth tools she had used to make her life better. And so The Successful Woman was born offering seminars and a newsletter on self-awareness and creative living.

Eventually, Barbara’s real passion became clear: creative self-employment. After several years of running The Successful Woman, she reinvented her business as Winning Ways. She still published a newsletter and offered seminars, but the emphasis had shifted to helping others become joyfully jobless. She continues to share ideas, inspiration and information through writing and speaking.

Barbara is the author of the best-selling Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love, as well as the publisher of Winning Ways newsletter, the longest-running self-employment newsletter in the country. Now in its twenty-second year. Barbara’s articles have appearing in numerous publications including Home Business and Glamour. She also regularly speaks on the joyfully jobless life at conferences and conventions.  In addition to conducting seminars on creative self-employment throughout the US (and in Canada and Europe), Barbara also runs several longer events including What Would an Entrepreneur Do? And Compelling Storytelling: A Fresh Approach to Marketing.

Barbara currently lives in Las Vegas, which she considers the entrepreneurial epicenter of the world. In addition to being an enthusiastic world traveler, she is also learning to be an inspired grandmother. Barbara is actively working to create a world that’s safe for her grandchildren’s dreams.

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