There are 10.1 million women business owners in the United States (and we continue to grow at nearly twice the rate as male-owned businesses) yet very few of us—just 3 percent to be exact—have reached the million-dollar mark in revenue despite our innovative ideas, contagious passion and nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic.
That’s what makes Million Dollar Women by Julia Pimsleur so appealing. This is essentially a guide for female entrepreneurs who want to “go big”—showing how to turn a creative idea into a million-dollar-plus business.
The fact is: Most women entrepreneurs are stuck at the “mom and pop” level, just getting by, or in many cases, running out of cash. Julia shares her inspiring story of building her own company and raising millions in capital in a guide for women like her who have a great idea and need to find the resources to take it into the big leagues.
In Million Dollar Women, Julia introduces you to seven women who left corporate America for the world of entrepreneurship. They have raised capital, developed powerful networks and generated multi-million-dollar companies from scratch. When Julia herself started Little Pim, a company that produces a program for young children to learn foreign languages, she wanted to create an exceptional experience. But soon, she realized that she had to think and behave differently to become the head of a multi-million-dollar company. Eventually, she transformed from a creative person with a business idea into a CEO running a business with a creative idea at its center.
Million Dollar Women teaches you the concepts, lexicon and steps for taking a business big. It shows you how to network, when to delegate and when to get extra coaching. Above all, it provides help for overcoming the kind of emotional hurdles you have to jump to join the million-dollar-plus business owners—and cheers you on in overcoming every obstacle.
Some of the key takeaways for readers include:
- As entrepreneurs, we all have failed in one way or another; what matters is how we embrace and learn from these failures and move on.
- As the founder/CEO of the company, you have to do whatever it takes to make the company a success, even if that means you often have to do things out of your comfort zone.
- What is hard now won’t be hard forever; with the right mindset and practice, everything is achievable.
- You cannot do it alone. You need a strong supportive network to help you achieve your success. And you need to build and nurture this network intentionally and wisely. Focus on what you are good at, and ask for help.
- Fortune favors the brave, and fortune favors those who are brave enough to go fundraising to get what is necessary to bring their business to the next level.
- Get better at public speaking and hone your fundraising skills. It is absolutely necessary if you need to raise angel and VC funds.
- You only need three things to succeed: The right mindset, right skill set and right network.
About the Author
Julia Pimsleur founded Little Pim, the leading system for introducing young children to a second language, which has won 25 awards for its proprietary Entertainment Immersion Method® and sells in 22 countries. After raising millions in angel and venture capital for Little Pim, Julia started teaching fundraising bootcamps to help other women do the same, and their stories inspired her to write Million Dollar Women. She blogs about entrepreneurship for Forbes.com; has been featured on Today, NBC Weekend Today and Fox News; and has spoken about entrepreneurship at Yale, Stanford and NYU. Julia and her company have been highlighted in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and she won the Smart CEO Brava! Award for women entrepreneurs. Julia lives in New York City and can be found at JuliaPimsleur.com.