Girls' Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business / Edition 1

by Susan Solovic

Overview

We've all been told that nice girls don't get the corner office. And they certainly don't strike out on their own to start a million-dollar company. . . Fortunately, we all know better. As the head of the highly successful SBTV.com (Small Business Television), author Susan Wilson Solovic is an authority on making money and building a thriving business. Now in The Girls' Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business, she shows women how to gain the confidence and knowledge they need to become successful entrepreneurs.

Featuring interviews with daring, powerhouse women like Gayle Martz, President & CEO, Sherpa's Pet Trading Company, and Taryn Rose of Taryn Rose International, Solovic offers frank advice and hard-won lessons including:

–Taking emotions out of the workplace.

–Make business decisions based on what is best for the company, not on your personal feelings.

–Thinking big and bold.

–Believe that you can be successful and be willing to announce your intentions to the world.

–Managing for growth.

–Hire the right people and discover the best ways to keep them.

–Never being afraid to take a chance.

–Boost profits by taking financial risks.

Inspiring and unflinching, The Girls' Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business shows women that not only do they have the power to earn more money and control their financial destinies - they deserve to.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900814474197
Publisher:	AMACOM
Publication date:	11/07/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

Susan Wilson Solovic (St. Louis, MO) is CEO and Chairman of SBTV.com and a respected consultant, columnist, and public speaker. She serves on the advisory board for the John Cook School of Business Entrepreneurial Studies at Saint Louis University and the inaugural Board of Directors for Women Impacting Public Policy. Solovic is co-host of internet radio program Succeeding in Your Business and a popular guest on television programs across the country, including CNN News and Early Today. She is a small business contributor on ABC America This Morning and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Power and Success (9780814472279).

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

Congratulations. You have just opened the door to what hopefully will become one of the most exciting and rewarding journeys of your life: building a million-dollar business. Before you read on, take a minute to look at the front cover of this book. Notice the woman pictured there? Doesn’t she look as though she’s having the time of her life? Can’t you hear her exclaim, “I did it!”? She has the world by the tail. That could be you.

This book is designed to help you reach that moment of sheer ecstasy. Not in an intimate sense, but the kind of ecstasy you feel from succeeding, from living your dreams, from being the person you were meant to be. As you read and learn tips and strategies outlined throughout the book, I want you to stay focused on that feeling. You deserve to feel empowered, energized, and wonderful every day of your life.

It’s Your Turn to Be in the Spotlight

No matter what stage of life you are in at this point—please listen to me. It’s time for you. There are far too many women who postpone or give up their personal dreams in order to take care of others in their lives. Obligations fill their days and their own passions get buried. Their personal identities are tied up in other people’s lives.

As you read, I hope you’ll learn how exhilarating sitting at the helm of a million-dollar enterprise can be—not only from the sense of personal accomplishment, but also from your ability to impact the world. As a million-dollar business owner, you can provide for your family, your employees, and their families. Through charitable contributions you can help others in need. Your leadership position in the business world empowers you with a voice that can make a difference in our government. And as a role model, you can touch thousands of others and inspire them to do great things with their lives. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Join Millions of Women Who Get It

In 2006, the Center for Women’s Business Research reported that there are 10.4 million privately held firms in the United States that are 50 percent or more owned by a woman. This statistic doesn’t include companies such as mine, where I am the largest individual stockholder and the CEO, but I don’t own 50 percent. So the actual number of women-owned and women-led businesses is much higher than what is officially recognized.

“Women are catching up to men across the world,” says I. Elaine Allen, professor of statistics and entrepreneurship at Babson College in Massachusetts. Professor Allen was part of the Global Entrepre¬neurship Monitor (GEM) 2005 Report on Women and Entrepre¬ neurship. This research is part of the world’s largest and longest-standing study of entrepreneurial activity, and it is the first comprehensive and timely study of women entrepreneurs around the globe.

Women are opening businesses at twice the rate of their male counterparts. It’s the fastest growing segment of the U.S. economy. Women view business ownership as an opportunity for independence, creative control, and financial freedom. So the number of women jumping into the entrepreneurial pond isn’t the issue. The issue is their ability to turn these businesses into large, sustainable, business operations.

“But maybe most women just don’t want to grow their businesses?” is a response I often get to that statement. Sure, some women may not want to grow their businesses, and that’s fine. However, are they really making that decision based on a true understanding of what is possible? I don’t think they are.

Additionally, research from the Center of Women’s Business Ownership notes nine out of ten women business owners want to expand their businesses and four in ten want their businesses to become as large as possible.

So we know the number of women-owned firms is exploding, and we also know that many want to grow and expand their business. The astounding statistic that drove me to write this book is the fact that fewer than 3 percent of women-owned businesses in the U.S. gross a million dollars or more in revenue. To increase that number, women need a guide to help them navigate the challenges of business ownership—hence The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business.

Table of Contents

Foreword   Michael E. Gerber     xi
Preface     xiii
Acknowledgments     xv
Introduction     xvii
Laying the Groundwork for a Million-Dollar Business
Start the Million-Dollar Journey     3
You Look Like a Million     3
Revealing a Well-Kept Secret: Knowing Where to Look     4
If You Don't Believe in You, No One Else Can     8
You've Seen and Conquered Before     12
Grit Your Teeth and Go for It     16
Think Big and Bold     19
Shout It Out     20
Mind Over Money     22
Bigger Can Be Better     26
Take Action: Make It Happen     27
If at First You Don't Succeed...     29
Get Ready, Get Set, Grow     33
Get Your House in Order     33
Relationships May Change: Be Prepared     37
Create a Peer Support Network     41
Mentors Can Guide Your Growth     43
Using the Four Strategic Keys to Growing Your Business
Create the Vision     49
Define the Vision of Your Company     49
Articulate Your Mission     51
Communicate the Core Values     52
Create the Right Business Plan     55
Focus, Focus, Focus     59
Invest in Professional Resources and Advisors     60
Step Up to the Role of CEO     63
Build an Advisory Board     65
Develop the Right Team     69
Let Go to Grow     70
Take Action Every Day     72
Hire the Right People     73
Hire the Best Candidate, Not the Best Job Seeker     75
Invest in Retention: Get Started on the Right Foot     77
Identify Your Company's Pink Cadillac     79
Attract the Best and the Brightest Through Innovation and Creativity     82
Take Emotions Out of the Workplace     83
Tap into Hidden Talents     85
Create Systems to Ensure Consistent Results     86
Learn from Resignations to Help You Grow     87
Implement Key Marketing Strategies     91
Create a Killer Brand     91
Shake Things Up: Create a Unique Value Proposition     94
Cultivate and Connect with Customers and Clients     97
Create a Customer Advisory Board     99
Know Your Competition     100
Touch Your Customers in Unique Ways     102
Become a Media Maven     106
Apply for Awards      109
Enjoy the Rewards of Networking     112
Go for the Gold     114
Bag the Big Business Deals     116
Don't Put All Your Eggs into One Basket     120
Fund Your Business Growth     123
Obtain the Funding     126
Begin the Money Hunt     128
Get Credit When You Don't Need It     131
Get to Know People in the Investment Community     132
Perfect Your Pitch     134
Angel Investors     136
Venture Capital     137
Overcome Gender Bias     140
Develop an Exit Strategy     144
Leave a Legacy     147
Accelerating Your Business Growth
Develop Growth Strategies     153
Control the Growth     153
Build Together Through Strategic Alliances     155
Develop Smart Partnerships     156
Think Globally for Growth     159
Think Franchising for Fast Growth     162
Reap the Benefits of Direct Sales     164
The Rest of the Story     169
You've Gotta Love It     170
Define Success for Yourself     170
Stay True to Yourself     172
Cherish Yourself     173
Pay Yourself What You Are Worth     176
Be an Unintentional Mentor     178
Choose Your Battles Wisely     179
Expect the Unexpected     181
Reap the Ultimate Reward: Giving Back     183
You Can Do It     187
Great Resources     189
Celebrating Our Successes     197
Notes     203
Index     205

Editorial Reviews

Only 3% of women-owned businesses in the U.S. gross a million dollars or more in revenue. It doesn't have to be that way, according to Solovic (The Girls' Guide to Power and Success), CEO of SBTV.com. Women face deeply ingrained challenges on their way to wealth, from a discomfort with talking about money to a fear of success, but are also more inclined to create flexible working environments that cater to the needs of their employees as well as to the bottom line. Solovic lays out the steps to success: chutzpah, determination, managing changing relationships, keeping employees and customers happy, getting and maintaining credit, overcoming gender bias and creating a successful business plan and a solid brand. Though her cheery, can-do outlook is infectious, the lessons bog down in a plethora of quotes and personal stories from women (and a surprising number of men) who have made their financial mark. Nonetheless, this is a useful and encouraging guide, providing solid advice and resources to help women achieve and sustain entrepreneurial success. (Nov.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

“…a useful and encouraging guide, providing solid advice and resources to help women achieve and sustain entrepreneurial success.” - Publishers Weekly

“Solovic…is a terrific tutor on such business basics such as core values, angel investors and exit strategy."

-Sky (Delta’s inflight magazine), January 2008

From the Publisher