The Boss of You

March 3, 2008
Female entrepreneurs start businesses at twice the rate of their male counterparts , and in this book they will find a practical compendium of everything there is to know about launching and sustaining a small business. Mears and Bacon emphasize building an individualized business plan and developing a firm foundation by establishing clear goals, frankly evaluating your skills and refining answers to the “Big Questions”: what are you really selling? Who is your target audience? How should you best package your business's public image? The authors cover the fundamentals of crafting a mission statement, developing branding, handling finances and legal issues, hiring good employees and expanding your business with admirable clarity, bolstered by success stories, helpful exercises and sample budgets. Women with dreams of owning their own businesses and looking for a place to start will find much to aid them—and much to enjoy—in this thoughtful guide.

March 15, 2008
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, female-owned companies account for 28 percent of all American businesses, but as Werhane (business ethics, DePaul Univ.; "Moral Imagination and Management Decision-Making") and her coauthors point out, only six Fortune 500 companies are headed by women. These three titles offer much-needed advice to the thousands of women making entrepreneurial moves or to those who want a boost up the corporate ladder. Werhane et al. interviewed 22 women executives to get their thoughts on leadership styles and how they have broken through the glass ceiling. Each executive's story focuses on one aspect of her career or management style. They share ideas on coaching, mentoring, creativity, building a culture of trust, managing reputations, social commitment, being customer-centered, being a servant-leader, and many other refreshing takes on what has made them and their companies stand out.

"Birthing the elephant" is business writer Abarbanel ("The Dollar Bill Knows No Sex") and syndicated columnist Freeman's metaphor for launching an entrepreneurial venture: both are mammoth undertakings that require around 22 months. If the venture is successful, the entrepreneur will have a healthy, thriving business to call her own. The authors admit that their breezy guide doesn't focus on the nitty gritty of business plans and dealing with the bank, but it does show, for instance, how start-up venturers can substitute "brains for bucks."

Canadian entrepreneurs Mears and Bacon offer their personal experiences in setting up their web-design company, as well as real-life scenarios from dozens of other women in start-up ventures. After helping readers define the vision for their business and understand why they need to be their own boss, this practical guide follows the stages of a start-up and offers down-to-earth advice backed up with real-life scenarios.

Both entrepreneurial books, with inspiration and guidance for women launching their dreams, are recommended for public library business collections. "Women in Business" is in the management genre, which makes it better suited for academic and larger public library business collections.Carol J. Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin Libs., Whitewater

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2008
Web design partners and strategists and now coauthors Mears and Bacon make sure that the rational side is well-prepared before venturing into a new business, with lots of straightforward talk. Take finances: theres not only a laundry list of all the money angles to consider but also a sample budget to help a wannabe manufacturer figure out the cost of goods sold. Theyll walk you through a naming session, complete with defining mission, personality, and target audience. And possibly overwhelm you with marketing and business-building ideas, including PR, advertising, collateral, and networking. Sidebars expand in a lively fashion on some of the hottest trends, like blogging and business coaches. Then, theres the quieter and realistic side, handling the ease with which we find ourselves sacrificing our own basic needs in the quest to succeed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)