[...]... women to compete and succeed As I said in my first book, The Girls’ Guide to Power and Success, women have self-sabotaging beliefs that limit their ability to grow their businesses There are also systemic obstacles, such as lack of access to capital, to markets, and to technical assistance, as well as a lack of credibility None of these challenges are insurmountable if you know how to deal with them That... Because you are reading this book, I know you are inspired to build a million-dollar business That’s important because successful women entrepreneurs are driven They are ambitious, tenacious, and goal oriented They are visionaries, innovators, and inventors As you start to grow your company, it’s a good idea to step back and evaluate your motivation According to Sharon Hadary, executive director of the Center... to use I had the urge to get the heck out of there and start my own company If I was going to have all the responsibility, I’d rather do it myself,” she says Today, she is president of her own company, Staffing Solutions, which generates more than $3 million in annual revenue The desire to create a flexible work environment is also a significant motivator Corporate careers typically fail to adapt to. .. saying that women who belong to the WPO are among the best of the best “One February I was preparing to go to the WPO conference in San Francisco, where we had 415 attendees There was a section in the New York Times on small business It was a ten page section There was not a single mention of a woman-owned business Not even one of the authors was a female,” Firestone stated Firestone wrote twice to. .. mom, taking a break from her career as a registered nurse and organ-donation coordinator It was then she taught herself calligraphy and started offering her services to local paper stores Initially, she addressed wedding invitations but soon began creating personalized stationery and gifts The business took off, and today her products can be found in forty-five retail outlets across the country Drawing... opportunities for other would-be mompreneurs throughout the United States, as well as several locations in Canada and her newest location in Okinawa, Japan The Challenges Ahead There is much to celebrate when it comes to the progress women entrepreneurs have made, as outlined in a brief historical perspective in the Appendix However, there’s still much work to be done in a number of areas to make it easier for... STARTED the company yourself? But it’s really you and your husband, isn’t it?” I have been shocked at how many non -business women have automatically assumed there was a man involved, or behind the scenes, and don’t really believe we are doing something “big” until they hear we are getting written up in Oprah or Bon Appetit or some other big magazine that validates us The moral of these stories is to. .. micro-businesses, and the entrepreneurial divas, such as Oprah or Martha Stewart The rest of us might as well be chopped liver “Say ‘entrepreneurial woman’ to the press and their eyes glaze over It could be the most unique thing you’ve ever heard, but if you say it’s a woman it’s going to get ignored It makes you want to pitch the story and leave out the fact it’s a woman until the very last minute,” says... PM Page xxiii introduction xxiii about the children, and she explained there was a school holiday that day, and she had a choice ‘I can tell people they can’t bring their children to work, and people will take the day off,’ she said ‘Or I can tell them to bring the children in, and I’ll get a full day contributing to the business. ’” Hadary adds, “So I think what women are doing is not only personal... realized that people were dining in more, but did not have time to cook My friends thought I was crazy for leaving a successful real estate career to start a company that sold unbaked pizzas They said, ‘But, Patty, you don’t cook.’ So I’d say, The pizzas are unbaked.’ I’m glad to have proven them wrong, as we are doing very well,” Phillips says In addition to her original business, Phillips has added . PM Page ii This page intentionally left blank THE GIRLS’ GUIDE TO BUILDING A MILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS Susan Wilson Solovic AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION New. are ambitious, tenacious, and goal oriented. They are visionaries, innovators, and inventors. As you star t to gr ow your company , it’ s a good idea to