become your own boss

This book: The Boss of You, by Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears, has absolutely positively affected my outlook on entrepreneurship. This is the business guide I wish I had three years ago when I first started thinking about doing my own thing. The two creative and professional women have an incredibly accessible writing style. I feel as if I am in the presence of a friend who really knows what she is talking about- doling out the perfect combination of sound advice, humor, and reality. This is not to say that things are dumbed-down. Quite the contrary. All of the information you need is there, but put into a really relevant, totally relate-able context.


The strengths of the book lie in the outside of the box brainstorming exercises the women implore you consider. I have to admit, that I rebuffed when they directed me to come up with several "customer" profiles, including names, occupations, style of dress etc. Later on though, I understood why this was such an important thing to ponder in such detail, as I attempted to pinpoint who would want to use my services.

I have read my share of the predictable business books. How dry, boring and discouraging they all seem now! Honestly, I could never quite make it past the financing chapters. That was usually the point at which all my hopes were dashed. I even wrote a business plan, and the end result was a pile of words that neither reflected nor resembled my ideals, values, and business goals at the core. On the contrary, in The Boss of You, Bacon and Mears taught me that I really don't need a formal business plan, especially since I am a sole proprietorship who is not looking for funding. I just need to have an intimate and well thought out sense of what I want my business to be. Now I do.

Lucky for me, I will get to meet these gals! Velocity Art and Design's Lab series is hosting them on July 23rd from 6-8pm at their South Lake Union showroom. I am really excited to hear them talk about the book and their own experiences with becoming successful business owners. If you have ever even thought for one second you might want to be your own boss, then you have got to pick up this book! On their blog, you can read a sample chapter, hear more practical advice, and get a sneak peek into other women business owner's success stories.

The best part is that the book makes me feel like I can actually do it. So here I go!