If Disney flicks and haughty romcoms have taught us anything, it’s that the biggest and best achievement a girl could ever make in her life is locking down a man and getting hitched. We now know that’s total BS, but the lingering expectation of marriage is still placed pretty heavily onto the shoulders of women everywhere – something that Charlie Puchala, founder of Puch Construction and Building and Charlie Interiors, is fighting against.

As a divorcee and mum in her 40s, Charlie says that she’s now the most financially successful she’s ever been, which she credits to her singledom. “We’re taught that things are easier when you have a man — and historically they have been,” Charlie says. “But we don’t live in that era anymore. Things are actually easier when you take charge of your own life and business and go after the success you want as a single entity.” And don’t just take Charlie’s word for it – there have been actual studies suggesting women in professional work positions are more than three times likelier to be single in comparison to their male counterparts. Here’s everything Charlie has learnt on her own solo career journey, and why she thinks other women shouldn’t see being single as a bad thing.

DROP THE UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS Charlie suggests that the first (albeit hardest) thing that we need to reject are all of the unrealistic expectations that women can fall victim to. “We’re supposed to have a happy family with children and a loving husband, all while breaking through the glass ceiling, which we don’t always have the capacity to maintain all at once,” she says. “So it’s important to let go of all of these impossible expectations.” As a mother, Charlie knows how difficult it is to balance parenthood with her career, and she’s still learning. “If your children need you, they need you. If your business needs you, it needs you. It’s all about prioritising on putting out whatever fire is burning the biggest and adapting all of your skills, resources and time in order to make sure you’re making the best out of both.”

USE MORE OF YOUR FREE TIME There’s also a pretty clear benefit from being single: you have heaps more time to spend on your own interests, hobbies and, of course, career. “It can be difficult to separate your personal emotions with your professional wellbeing,” Charlie says. “You have more time to yourself, which means you are able to focus on work in ways you probably wouldn’t have been able to if you were in a relationship.” That’s not to say that all single people have equally the same amount of free time available, but the idea of having a substantial amount of time alone is more commonly found in single individuals, rather than those in a relationship.

BUILD YOUR SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE SKILLS There has been some research that shows couples – specifically married couples – are far less social than single folk. Charlie says that this increase in sociability has a profound impact on one’s career. “We all have emotional intelligence to some degree, but having empathy and good relationships with colleagues is absolutely paramount. I think when you’re single, you’re more attuned to this and to other people,” she says. “We can have professional empathy, we can have professional compassion and there is a way to display our emotions in a professional platform, which is building these friendships with other co-workers.” In other words, you might be alone, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be lonely.

When asked about any closing advice for her fellow single working women, Charlie recognised that her own experiences aren’t universal. “I can only ever speak on my own life and what I have learnt personally, but I genuinely believe that being a single woman in the workplace is a real superpower.”  

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