Women shouldn't be asking how to achieve a better work-life balance, Kaira
Sturdivant Rouda says. That's the wrong question.
"Your business is your personal life. It's not segmented," says Rouda,
president of Real Living
Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, a residential real estate franchise firm.
Rouda believes in developing your business around your personal brand
essence--your values, your personality and your passions--a totality she
describes as "being real." That's the premise behind her new book,
Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. According
to Rouda, every woman has a personal brand, and the secret of success is to
incorporate that brand into your business.
You have to be genuine, she says, because your customer will spot a fake
immediately.
Whether you're already an entrepreneur or just considering it, Rouda says
it's vital to make sure your passions are in line with the company where you're
working.
"If it's not a fit, it's OK for your brand to move on," she says. "I think
you learn a lot by taking the bumpier road, rather than taking the less bumpy
road and hurting your real brand."
Rouda's eight-step plan for discovering your passion and pouring it into your
business endeavors includes action steps, real-life success stories from 16
women and book recommendations.
Central to the book is her Real You Incorporated chart, an ever-expanding
circle of characteristics that delves into the reader's personality and the
values she brings to her business. Rouda also offers marketing tips based on her
own endeavors building the Real Living brand, steps for creating a livable work
environment and advice on customer service.
Each step builds on the previous one, ending with one that Rouda considers
essential: giving back. It's a step Rouda personifies, dating back to her early
career as a reporter, when she founded central Ohio's first homeless shelter for
families. She currently serves on the board of the YWCA and is an underwriter
for The Women's
Fund of Central Ohio.
Rouda's book grew out of her experience developing and branding Real Living
Inc., which she owns with her husband, Harley. Real Living, fashioned from a
2002 merger with two other realty companies, broke the mold by focusing on women
home buyers and by bringing the brand to life as a consumer-oriented
undertaking. Real Living has 4,000 agents in 20 states. Sales in 2007 totaled $4
million.
"I started thinking I had a lot to say about personal branding," Rouda says.
A longtime marketing and advertising executive, Rouda says her goal was a
creative book, "filled with passion and flowers."
Indeed, there's a bright yellow flower on the cover. In Rouda's view, there
wasn't another book that combined all the points she wanted to make in a single
volume, including marketing advice based on building the Real Living brand.
Although the book includes personal stories from 16 successful women, Rouda
says she has enough left over to form the basis of a second book.
The book is appropriate for those who want to start a business as well as
those who are already entrepreneurs.
"The people who have a going concern are probably a better target audience,"
she says, because it offers them a chance to take a close look at their business
and determine whether they are still going where they envisioned.