• If disaster strikes, do you want your business to recover quickly?

• Do you have an emergency plan for your company?

• Do you even know where to begin when preparing for the worst?

• Would you like an experienced person to guide you and tell you what should be your disaster preparedness priorities?

• Want to ensure you’ve thought of everything before, during, and after an emergency?
  

Birthing the Elephant is an interesting read for those interested in finding out more about the emotional aspects of entrepreneurship while avoiding the pitfalls of the territory. Authors Karin Abarbanel and Bruce Freeman give readers a glimpse into the rollercoaster of sentiments entrepreneurs face throughout the various stages of business ownership.

The book walks you through what you can and should feel throughout the four stages of entrepreneurship (Starting, running, turning breakdowns into breakthroughs, and finding your business rhythm) and interviews real-life Entrepreneur Goddesses about their stories. Birthing the Elephant is an honest inside account of life on the inside for successful entrepreneurs Bobbi Brown, Liz Lange, Lisa Druxman, and about two-dozen others.

While Birthing the Elephant started off a bit textbookish, the tone soon changed and I was drawn in after a few chapters. I soon felt at one with the emotions described during the various stages of birthing a business. And yes, it probably feels like birthing an elephant at times. Knowing these two-dozen Entrepreneur Goddesses, whose stories are told throughout the book, have been through the same roller coaster ride was both refreshing and mending.

Birthing the Elephant is a recommended read, but not a must-keep book for your Entrepreneur Goddess Library. Read it and pass it on to another woman in business or contemplating entrepreneurship.

BOOK REVIEW:
Nobody knows how to write a book about women entrepreneurs like Elizabeth W. Gordon. The Chic Entrepreneur: Put Your Business in Higher Heels tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Gordon impresses with this down-to-earth (and very chic) how-to guide for women entrepreneurs. From knowing your value to figuring out what customers really want and measuring your results, The Chic Entrepreneur is packed with enough vital information to help entrepreneurs run their business while avoiding costly mistakes.

Most importantly, The Chic Entrepreneur is a fun and humorous read. Know that you are not picking up another textbook because Gordon provides us with humorous accounts of life in the business world. This is great book to add to your Entrepreneur Goddess reference library.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW:
Without further ado, let’s welcome The Chic Entrepreneur author Elizabeth W. Gordon and find out what she has to say about her book, balance, and being a Chic Entrepreneur Goddess…

Katie Skow: There are dozens upon dozens of business books on the shelves, so please tell us what sets The Chic Entrepreneur apart from the rest.

Elizabeth Gordon: Business is typically taught in a very linear fashion: first do this, next do this, etc. This step-by-step structure is a very male way of thinking, whereas women tend to be more relational, organic and holistic in their thought processes. The Chic Entrepreneur pioneers that feminine approach to building a running a business by introducing the Flourishing Business Methodology. Each chapter begins with stories of Fortune 500 companies to illustrate business best practices and ends with narratives of fictional business owners that practically reinforce the lessons taught in each chapter. After reading tons of business books and often putting them down because they were putting me to sleep, I wanted to give readers a guide that would hold their interest and thus make the lessons taught have a more lasting impression. Humor is also a powerful educational tool that is underutilized in many business books. Just because your are teaching on a serious topic, doesn’t mean you can’t lighten the mood occasionally with a little joke, slight exaggeration or funny metaphor. The fact that people have enjoyed the book so much while they’ve read it is what makes its message so powerful. It provides a lasting framework for conceptualizing what a woman should aspire to create when building a business. I believe that women enjoy learning through the stories because they can easily see their own businesses potential and shortcomings through the tales of other businesses.

Why did you decide to write this book?

After leaving corporate America to start my own consulting firm, Flourishing Business®, I realized that I had a passion for helping female entrepreneurs achieve business success. However, while working with female clients, I found that many common mistakes were made. They were all interested in growing their business but did not know how. At a certain point, they created a ceiling on their own growth potential and they needed to understand how to get past that hurdle. I wrote this book to teach women how to build a business of inherent value so that they can achieve true economic freedom. As I saw how powerful of an impact the Flourishing Business Methodology made on business owners, I knew I wanted to help more people by spreading this message, especially to women.

The book has allowed me to expand my mentorship to women who I will not have the chance to meet with because they have monetary limitations or because our paths would never otherwise cross. Women need more female mentors in business and after growing a successful consulting practice, I am happy to be in a position to share my story and my wisdom with others. I am very grateful for those who have embraced its message, and I am proud of the impact that it is making.

Business is a very broad subject, how did you narrow down your subject content?

While business is a broad topic, the nine elements of a flourishing business are certain fundamentals that are common to all successful companies. When these fundamentals are mastered, a company is successful. These areas are also the first place to look when the business is experiencing a problem – it will come back to one or more of these 9 elements. I wanted to write a book that would be applicable to a broad cross section of businesses, and would teach these fundamental keys in way that would be fun, practical and memorable.

Over the years, I developed The Flourishing Business Methodology in the shape of a flower, with the most important aspect of business, the value, at the center of the model and the supporting facets surrounding the value in eight petals. Together these form the nine elements of a flourishing business. Since I already had these areas mapped out for my clients, it was fairly easy to structure my book.

You started on your entrepreneurial path by selling knives to housewives. Tell us about some of the other entrepreneurial ventures that helped get you to where you are today.

My first real job was babysitting, for which I got paid an hourly rate. When a new family moved into the neighborhood, someone referred them to me as a babysitter. The father was a shrewd and accomplished businessman. After I sat for their kids a few times and they decided they really liked me, he proposed a business deal to me while driving me home. He wanted to keep me on retainer for every Saturday night, whether they needed me or not. If I did sit for them, I would get paid my hourly rate, but sometimes they would decide they didn’t need me but they would still pay my fixed fee. He told me to think about it and come up with my rates and get back to him. This was my first exposure to negotiations, and business dealings. It got me comfortable with how things worked. And I was able to take that experience and negotiate other such deals with other clients. By the end of the summer, I invested my earnings in a mutual fund as my first foray in the markets.

I also got involved in a small consulting firm one summer where we recovered funds from past Medicaid claims for the state government. I was hired on part time but ended up running the entire operation and negotiating a piece of the profits beyond my hourly rate. After a week on another job, I negotiated my 5-day workweek down to 3 days, and still commanded the same salary. I learned that when you stay alert to finding ways to do things more efficiently, you always have value to bring to the table.

You describe business as an “emotional rollercoaster ride” filled with all types of obstacles, setbacks, and frustrations. What are some of the setbacks you have personally experienced in the world of entrepreneurship?

There have been numerous internal and external challenges to grace my path, but most of them have ultimately made me and my business stronger for having gone through them, so I am grateful to have those experiences. I faced a trademark infringement issue with someone who was illegally using my registered mark. This created brand confusion in my local marketplace and became an expensive battle, even though I was in the right.
Ultimately, the market respected us more once we were proven the party in the right.

On a more personal side, when I first started my business, many people thought that I was too young to be consulting. I also initially succumbed to the temptation to try to be like everyone else. I wanted to garner respect so I imitated others, rather than emphasizing how I was unique and different. The first name I chose for my business and the initial image were more traditional and conservative than the direction I ultimately ended up going in. It took me time to find our image and my voice and how I was to fit in among my peers.

How did you get beyond these obstacles?

This required not just business strategy reflection but personal growth as well. I love that owning a business gives you opportunities for constantly improving and developing yourself. Building a business is a constant learning experience; if you are not making mistakes, you are not taking enough risks. So I encourage people to embrace setbacks and failures as the teachers in disguise that they are and learn from them and use them to make themselves stronger.

As an entrepreneur, what is the #1 lesson you have learned?

I’ve learned that if you don’t have enough passion for what you’re doing, chances are you’re not going to make it in business. There were plenty of times early on that I considered going back to corporate America, but my passion for my work kept me forging ahead. However, I’ve seen countless other entrepreneurs fold because they didn’t have the passion for what they were doing to drive them through the tough times. There’s nothing wrong with starting a business because you think it will make money, but the downside of not having zeal for what you do is that when times get tough (and in business that’s bound to happen) what’s going to keep you from saying, “forget this”? It’s heart and you have to have it as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur Goddess and The Chic Entrepreneur are two great resources for women entrepreneurs. What other resources do you recommend for…

a. Women considering entrepreneurship

1. The Small Business Administration (SBA) and SCORE often have free or low cost business seminars
2. Local colleges with business schools
3. Women’s networking groups are filled with women who have already started a business – surrounding yourself with others who have done it is important!

b. Women who are already living the entrepreneurial lifestyle

1. Women Presidents’ Organization
2. WECAI™ Network
3. WBENC
4. Nordstrom ; )

The big question… From your experience, do women entrepreneurs have it harder than men?

Yes. Women are paid less and are not filling the highest ranks of the most lucrative industries. You can say that’s because women value family time, running their household or time over money, but regardless women are financially inferior to men. And biologically speaking, we are the sex with even more need to have financial means. There used to be a reason why women did not have the same wealth as men. They did not have access to the same resources, there was wide spread discrimination, and our rights and privileges in society were not equal to those of men. However, all of that has changed now. For the first time in society’s history women have access to the same opportunities and education as men. I believe female entrepreneurship is one of the more important ways in which the economic playing field can be leveled between the sexes. In order for that to happen, women need to change their self-concept of what they are worth and what their business is worth. Whoever has the gold makes the rules. So until there is more equity in the gold distribution across the sexes, there will always be an imbalance in men and women’s ability to access business opportunities. When women do have the capital means to go head to head with a male owned business, they have just as much ability to compete and add value, so there is no technical reason why there shouldn’t be just as many successful women-owned small and mid-size companies are there are male-owned.

As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to get wrapped up in our businesses and forget about the existence of the world outside of running our companies. What’s your secret to maintaining balance?

I’d like to say that I can do a 4-hour workweek and that balance is as easy to me as breathing, but that’s just not realistic for me. With my book coming out in May, my calendar is full and it’s hard for me to maintain balance. So my weekends are the time that balance is an absolute necessity for me. And it’s often that speaking engagements, events, conferences and the like come up on the weekends. However, this is the time that I promise to friends and family, so I try to make sure to keep my weekends as free as possible by not scheduling anything then, if I can. Of course, this doesn’t always work, but by reminding myself constantly that I do deserve and need to make a priority for me time, it helps me maintain balance in my life. I am also transitioning to a 4-day workweek much like the state employees in Utah. I’m working longer hours during the week, but taking more Fridays off. I’m calling it my Chic Schedule. I encourage others to try this or some other variation of the typical workweek to create a Chic Schedule that works for them. Time is the only resource you have that you can not possible get anymore of, so managing it and being at your best will allow you to become more efficient. Work is subject to the Pareto Principle (Or the 80-20 rule, which means that in anything a few or 20 percent are vital and many or 80 percent are trivial.). There is a good amount of your time that you are not using wisely at any given moment. Identifying those opportunities to spend more, better time on the 20% of really important stuff that is actually driving your business and making you money, and letting go of some of the other clutter, will help you concentrate on making the most out of your total life. All this business stuff wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t for the people in our lives. So keep things in perspective.

The Chic Entrepreneur is a practical guide every businesswoman should have on her reference shelf. Can we expect any other Chic books or products anytime soon?

Absolutely! I’m working on a research series right now called Chic Perspectives, which consists of interviews with experts in various aspects of entrepreneurship. It will give advice to entrepreneurs that would not otherwise be able to afford it through one-on-one time with a consultant. It aims to further expand the entrepreneurial education of women. Chic Perspectives are available as an audio series as well as in written format.

I’m also working on my second book, which is a business novel, a kind of modern day fairytale for a woman that dreams of owning a successful business because I truly believe in the power of story. I’ve also had several people suggest a book for the Chic Guy Entrepreneurs out there. We’re looking into licensing arrangements to leverage the Chic brand and I’ve got several other book ideas as well. So yes, there are a lot of fun projects in the air right now.

Finish the following sentences:

I roll my eyes when I see yet another entrepreneur make the mistake of… not looking the part of a successful entrepreneur.

The most important aspect of being an entrepreneur is… vision.

An exclusive Chic Tip for Entrepreneur Goddesses is… Stash an extra pair of pantyhose and other essentials in a little bag in your car. You never know when you are going to desperately need a little pressed powder or stain stick, and you don’t want to be hauling these things around with to business meetings, like a mom with a diaper bag. Your confidence in yourself is what will carry you forward, so do what you need to give yourself the psychological edge.

If an entrepreneur is in a slump, I recommend she…listen to inspirational tapes whenever she can be it while driving a car, cooking dinner or taking a shower.

My Chic Entrepreneur role model is…Oprah.

Any final thoughts?

Entrepreneurship is the way in which women can find their inner goddess because it allows them to tap into their creativity and personal power.

Katie Skow
Entrepreneur Goddess
www.EntrepreneurGoddess.com