Caitlin Friedman - The Girls Guide to Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur

Candid Advice, Frank Talk,
and True Stories for
the Successful Entrepreneur

Caitlin Friedman & Kimberly Yorio

REVISED EDITION

For Declan and Taylor, who were still in my belly
when this book first came out.
C AITLIN

For Paul, who reminded me just how much fun and
rewarding running your own business can be.
Thanks, babe!
K IM

As the professional world becomes less dependable and jobs less traditional, many of us find ourselves on the brink of inevitable change. But counterintuitive as it may sound, these tumultuous times are exactly the time to follow your dream of becoming a small business owner and start on the path to a career that satisfies you professionally and emotionally. Taking control of your financial future is now, more than ever, the safer road. While its been nearly ten years since we first wrote this book, our original goal for writing it hasnt changed: We want women to achieve their dreams of being a business owner and set their own terms for success. We want them to plan to embrace the bigger and better opportunities in the world.

When we started thinking about updating this book, we sat down and read it cover to cover. It had been awhile since we revisited the pages of our first girls guide adventure, and we were pleasantly surprised by how much of the advice holds up. As fast as technology has advanced (Facebook and Twitter didnt exist when this book was first published) and the employment landscape has shifted (there wasnt an economic crisis when this was first published), the secrets to successful entrepreneurship remain the same. At the end of the day, a small business is about you. The way we sell, market, and fund our ventures may have changed, but the buck, and ultimately the success, still stops with you. Passion, drive, smarts, energy, a love of learning, a brilliant idea, an innovative process, a much-needed serviceall come from you. So you had better create a business that will maximize the best and most successful aspects of you. That said, even if the core of what makes an entrepreneur successful remains the same, many of the tools we have today that help us land funding, create marketing campaigns, and hire the best employees have changed. So, the reader eager to launch a business will find tips, advice, and stories throughout this updated version to help maximize the resources now available to us. We also went back to women wed interviewed for the first book for updates, spoke to those on the cutting edge of workplace technology, and researched the most up-to-date statisticsall with the goal of arming those ready to take the leap.

As we were flipping through the chapters in this book and reminiscing about the early days of our public relations business, YC Media, we also realized that we had no idea when we started out where the business would end up taking us. The process of launching, growing, shrinking, and reconfiguring our business has shaped us into the professionals and the women we are today. Our personal lives have also undergone radical changes as we started families; Kim got separated; and both of us added author to our lists of ways we define ourselves. What began as a public relations business has evolved into a collaboration that includes not only our PR business but a writing partnership that has yielded a series of four business books for women.

Through our ten-year journey, we accomplished a number of things we never expected. We overcame professional fears, such as public speaking, which enabled us to make appearances on national television and take part in speaking engagements with mentors and celebrities in front of thousands of people. We landed huge clients that were impressed enough with our presentations (moxie? nerve? chutzpah?) to take a chance on a tiny agency like ours. We met women all over the world through our travels and our web site who were inspired by our books. We received an award, made the Business Week bestseller list twice, and wrote an article or two. We hired employees well and fired them poorly. We rode the profit and loss roller coaster as the national economy shifted (plummeted) below our feet. We also realized that after a decade of a successful partnership, we wanted different things and parted ways, leaving Kim happily spearheading the public relations business and Caitlin happily writing from home. And we had no idea when we registered the business name that any of that was waiting for us.

So whats waiting for you in these pages?

A wild ride of your own. In this way, do what we say and do as we didjump into it with both feet. Enjoy every second of picking a name, designing a logo, signing a lease, landing customers, and eventually, opening your doors.

We dont have a single regret. You wont either.

When we were in our late twenties and working as in-house publicists at two major New York publishing houses, we were tired. We were working days, nights, and weekends, then coming home to small, poorly furnished apartments, stacks of bills, and Ben-and-Jerrys-fueled daydreams of a better life.

Dont get us wrong, we loved our work. We were good at what we did, and we had a talent for it. People in the industry respected and trusted us. We were saddled with incredible responsibility: We created and managed budgets, supervised employees, and made a difference in our companies revenues. We were each running a little company within a larger corporation. In other words, we were living the life of entrepreneurs but with none of the financial or spiritual perks.

It was time to make a change.

As we individually considered starting our own public relations businesses, we visited bookstores and conducted on-line searches to find information that would help us navigate the terrifying waters of selfemployment. What we found were books that ranged from the vaguely helpful to the downright unreadable. We found books on marketing and books on funding, books on partnerships and books on parachutes. We found a lot of books about how to sound like a man and think like a man. But who wants to do that?

What we never found was the book that said, You can do it, girl! All you need is __________, _________, and ________! This book will fill in the blanks. And there are a lot of blanks.

The Girls Guide to Starting Your Own Business is the book that we yearned for when we were starting our own respective businesses, and then when we merged them into one company. It addresses the unique challenges that women face (for example, finding female business role models, balancing family and work, being a boss without being a bitch) but also the power that our genders distinct style and strengths bring to business. We encourage women to be women, especially in the business world.

While The Girls Guide to Starting Your Own Business faces the fear factor of doing business as a woman head-on, it also delves into the countless opportunities for personal growth that can and should make the endeavor joyful. We have learned firsthand that if you have the right attitude, ideas, and talent, business can be fun. Choosing a logo, opening your company bank account, getting a corporate charge card, handing out your business card, and distributing a press release are all EXCITING steps in the process. And did we mention how great it feels to win your first account, make your first sale, or sign your first client? Or the incredible feeling of empowerment that comes with having the keys to your own office and walking into it each morning?