The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business : Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Caitlin Friedman (Author), Kimberly Yorio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2005

Tired of doing all the work for your boss but reaping none of the financial benefits? Fed up with working 60 hours a week for someone else? Want to start your own business but afraid to take the leap?

Packed with practical advice on every aspect of self-employment, along with useful Web sites, checklists, and quizzes, The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business is the book that Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio each searched for when they left the corporate world behind to start their own public relations companies. When they merged their businesses into one company, Friedman and Yorio vowed to record the process and create a truly useful guide for other women entrepreneurs.

The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business streamlines the vast information needed to launch your business. From starting with the big question: Are you the girl to run the show? to writing a business plan to understanding your legal obligations and getting your name out there in the marketplace. So, here's the lowdown on how to take your business idea and run with it!

But don't just take Friedman and Yorio's word for it -- women business owners from a wide range of industries offer their own start-up stories, advice, and opinions.

The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business speaks to women in a way no business book has -- relating frank, useful, and professional advice with all the energy, enthusiasm, and fun of a girl's night out.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

PR pundits and business owners Friedman and Yorio tackle the fear factor of women who want to quit their day job and build a business. They ask, "Are you the girl to run the show?" They answer with a sassy list of pros and cons ("You will be able to get to your child's school play, but you will think about money all the time.") and with tough questions ("Could you negotiate a reasonable rent with an unreasonable landlord?)

Every chapter is packed with interviews, charts, quizzes and witty directives about self-employment. Among their greatest hits: what's in a name, choosing logos, ten inspiring business chick flicks, legal eagles, business speak and visibility in professional associations. Friedman and Yorio sweat the small stuff. They explain, for example, why you shouldn't eat spaghetti at a business lunch and how to ask revealing questions of a potential employee or computer consultant. The authors' premise, "let women be women" is most compelling when they explore the unique challenges women face--from finding female role models to being a boss "without being a bitch."

They are on shakier ground with the arguable assumption that all women share distinct gender styles and strengths. This type casting and the "girl friend" tone can sometimes belittle the book's smart and strategic ideas for becoming the boss. Still, it is hard to imagine a more readable, practical book about the challenges of being in charge. --Barbara Mackoff --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Friedman and Yorio take girl power corporate in their friendly guide for women who want to start their own business. The two media mavens (they started their own PR agency in 2000, after working as publicists at Broadway Books and Artisan, as well as other media companies) offer a lighthearted alternative to books that teach readers "how to sound like a man and think like a man." Clearly experienced, Friedman and Yorio know launching a business is no walk in the park. They warn readers of all the bad stuff that comes with being the boss: feeling out of sync with the rest of the world, having to manage employees, being forced to rely on customers and clients and being responsible for knowing about taxes. But they also exalt the pleasures of being in charge. Their book covers virtually every aspect of running the show in language that isn't industry-specific, so it doesn't matter what kind of business readers want to start. Friedman and Yorio move from assessing finances and writing business plans to hiring employees and advertising. Their advice is always sound, if at times obvious (e.g., eat breakfast before business meetings, so your stomach doesn't grumble). And they give readers a break from their relentless cheerleading with sidebars featuring interviews with other successful female business owners, lists of inspirational "chick flicks" (like Baby Boom and Sliding Doors) and worksheets for calculating budgets. Their savoir faire and enthusiasm are infectious.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• ISBN-10: 0060521589
• ASIN: B000BPUPXQ
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Girls Guide is always on Caitlin's mind. She's constantly coming up with new ways to make the Girls Guide more relevant and helpful to women who work. The evolution of the Girls Guide from one book to four and now this web-site has been under her creative direction for the past three years. Not that she figures out complicated mathematical problems on her way to sleep. But rather, she can't seem to turn it off and will find herself lying there thinking about where they can take Girls Guide next, another children's book she should write or the dialog from some guilty pleasure movie.

In the daylight hours Caitlin and Kim run a food-focused PR business called YC Media and have written four books to help women achieve professional success:

The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business
The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss without Being a Bitch
The Girl's Guide to Kicking Your Career Into Gear
Happy at Work, Happy at Home (coming out September 2009).

Whenever possible, Caitlin and Kim speak to women about the importance of building self-confidence at work by being yourself and have appeared on national television including the Today Show multiple times, and in magazines including Time and Real Simple.

Caitlin is married to writer Andrew Friedman and the mother of twins. She loves chick-lit, most everything on television, great bbq and an uninterrupted bath that lasts at least an hour.