SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CAREERS / PART-TIME CAREERS : Stepping Off the Full-Time Track : Flexible Work Schedules Allow Workers to Balance Their Lives While Thriving at Work : Nell Minow: Lens Inc.

Nell Minow was on the traditional career path for a typical Washington attorney when she had her first child.

“I was a lawyer, working for the government, marching in the same line as millions of other lawyers,” she says. While pregnant, though, she became convinced that motherhood would change her. She made no promises to return to work, but when her boss said he was willing to consider creating a part-time position for her, she returned to the Office of Management and Budget.

That was 11 years ago. Minow now helps run a $15-million investment pool at Lens Inc., a Washington-based money management firm. And she’s still working just three days a week.

“I am a total evangelist for part-time work,” Minow says. “It’s a wonderful, wonderful life.”

Still, there were some frustrations. Not only was her promotion delayed at OMB, her bonus for “outstanding performance” was pared to reflect her part-time status. “They gave me three-fifths of the bonus,” she remembers.

Later she gave up the presidency of a company when she realized she couldn’t do a reasonable job at it and still balance her family responsibilities.

“Being a boss is just like being a mom,” Minow says. “People are always saying one of two things to you: ‘Look what I did.’ And you say, ‘Great! Do some more. Make it red next time.’ Or they’re saying, ‘He took my stuff.’ When the company got successful, I found myself worrying about whether the copy person had hurt the receptionist’s feelings. I couldn’t handle being a mommy twice.”

In the long run, however, Minow says part-time work is the best thing that ever happened to her. It forced her to examine her role in the work force and create her own opportunities.

“I had to make up my own mind about what a job was going to be for me,” she says. “Since then, I have been 10 times more successful than I ever was before. It was a result of working part time that I became an entrepreneur and became the author of two books.”

One thing hasn’t turned out the way Minow expected. When she started working part time 11 years ago, she thought it was something she’d do temporarily until her kids got a little older and started school.

“I had this dream that they would go to school and I would have more control over my schedule. It’s quite the opposite,” she says. “I had to leave the office for 2 1/2 hours today because Sunday is my daughter’s birthday. . . . That means I had to bring cupcakes to school and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ and make it back to the office, 45 minutes away.”