From preparing the kind of business you want to run to fine-tuning your image
and conflict management style, the inspiring stories and advice offered in the
following five books will help women entrepreneurs take their businesses to the
next level (even if it's just the first).
The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Start, Run and Maintain Her Own
Business (Seal Press, 2008)
By Emira Mears and Lauren Bacon
Who should read it: First-time women entrepreneurs who like the idea
of starting small and working with people they know
Why this book stands out: Few business books have the courage to go
for the humble angle that this one does. Before creating their startup, Raised
Eyebrow Web Studio, authors Mears and Bacon noticed that every business book
"seemed to assume that every businessperson was pushing for big growth, plenty
of staff and massive profits." The authors, however, took a different approach.
"We knew that we wanted to start out small (just the two of us), work with
people we loved and grow at a sustainable rate over time while still being paid
what we were worth."
Because it doesn't give the mainstream "grow big and fast" message on
business, the book offers unconventional advice on running a business where
every aspect of it is close to your heart.
Birthing the Elephant: The Woman's Go-For-It! Guide to Overcoming the Big
Challenges of Launching a Business (Ten Speed Press, 2008)
By Karin Abarbanel and Bruce Freeman
Who should read it: Women preparing themselves for the psychological
and emotional strains of starting a business
Why this book stands out: Instead of focusing on the typical startup
challenges, this book homes in on preparing your psyche to overcome those
challenges. The exclamation point-heavy success coach voice used throughout the
book can get corny, but the inspiring stories from role models such as Bobbi
Brown, Liz Lange and Lisa Druxman (our own Mom Entrepreneur columnist) make up
for it.
Authors Abarbanel and Freeman say that surviving the emotional roller coaster
of a startup means finding a new rhythm in your lifestyle. To help establish
that rhythm--and give you the faith that you can even find it--the book breaks
down the process and offers case studies taken from the stories of experienced
entrepreneurs.
The Art of
War for Women: Sun Tzu's Ancient Strategies and Wisdom for Winning at Work
(Currency Doubleday, 2007)
By Chin-ning Chu
Who should read it: Women ready to declare war on their greatest
problems--not through brutality, but through determining the most efficient way
of gaining victory with the least amount of conflict
Why this book stands out: Chu takes lessons from one of the world's
most time-honored books on strategy, Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and applies it to
the lives of multitasking women. The book is premised on the Eastern idea that
war doesn't revolve around fighting. According to Chu, who is also one of the
world's best authorities on the classic work, women are inclined to this idea as
natural negotiators and problem-solvers who prefer win-win situations over the
winner-take-all mentality.
This book is especially refreshing because it doesn't rely on mainstream
strategies. Chu emphasizes that every good strategy begins with a deep
understanding of the people and the world surrounding a particular
situation--including our own weaknesses, strengths, fears and goals. An
intelligent way of addressing conflict is therefore not rooted in some
bullet-pointed list of rules, but in the ability to integrate a deeper
understanding of ourselves and our environment into the strategies we employ.
While considering all of our strategic tools--psychology, clothing, desk décor,
timing--even the most complex problems are transformed into exciting
intellectual exercises.
Career and Corporate Cool : How to Look, Dress, and Act the Part--at Every Stage
in Your Career (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2007)
By Rachel C. Weingarten
Who should read it: Those who know how important image is, but don't
really know how to maintain it appropriately through the different roles and
stages of life
Why this book stands out: Weingarten humorously acknowledges how
confounding it is to maintain an appearance that benefits us through all of
life's personal and professional transitions. Developing a style people admire
becomes even more complex when you realize it requires so much more than a great
business suit; the right attitude through speech, writing, perfume, makeup, diet
and response to personal emergencies factors into your style.
Weingarten makes the development of this style more exciting as she explains
that "there is no one definitive Career and Corporate Cool ideology, but many
practical tips and steps from people in all walks of life who have figured out
how to make their jobs more than just a way to pay the bills, but rather a
passion, a facet of themselves."
The Girl's Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business
(AMACOM, 2008)
By Susan Wilson Solovic
Who should read it: Women ready to confront their fears of taking
their business ambitions to the next level
Why this book stands out: Today twice as many men run million-dollar
businesses as women--and Solovic, CEO of Small Business Television, gives a
thorough explanation as to how women can even out the playing field.
Though the number of women-owned businesses is booming today, Solovic argues
that many of these women don't have million-dollar businesses because they don't
imagine taking their businesses to the next level. While juggling everything in
their personal and professional lives, many women fail to grow their businesses
because they don't know whether everything will get out of hand. But after
consulting with women in business for more than 30 years and co-founding a
business of her own, she assures readers that establishing a million-dollar
business can be done without sabotaging everything in their personal and
professional lives.