A “Birthing The Elephant” Strategy To Business Success
April 7, 2008 by Mary Emma Allen
Although Karin Abarbanel’s book, Birthing the Elephant focuses on women entrepreneurs, much of the information has general application for men and women and various businesses.
Subtitled, The woman’s go-for-it! guide to overcoming the big challenges of launching a business, Birthing the Elephant, encourages women to design their destinies and gives stories from real people who have become successful in business. In fact Bobbi Brown, owner of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, writes the foreword.
Helping you figure out how to reinvent yourwself, go after what you want, and survive the emotional roller-coaster ride you’ll experience in starting a new business is what this book is all about, you’ll read in the Introduction.
Here, in Birthing the Elephand, is a roadmap for your enterprise with step-by-step suggestions explaining topics such as:
*Thinking and acting like an entrepreneur
*Anticipating and dealing with problems
*Avoiding ten costly mistakes of new business owners
Karin stops by Home Biz Notes today on her April author tour of the blogosphere. At the above tour link, Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book tours, you’ll find a synopsis of the book and more information about Karin.
When I had the opportunity to host her and read her book, I realized Karen had a great deal to offer when entrepreneurs, as well as new business owners in general.
If you have questions for Karin, about her book and business, leave them in the comments. Also, post a comment on her blog stops and become eligible to win a free copy of Birthing the Elephant at the end of her tour! One lucky winner will be announced on April 30!
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen
This sounds like an interesting book Mary Emma.
I love the title – very appropriate for women entrepreneurs.
I have to say…this book is EXCELLENT for first time business owners. I’m about in the middle of it right now as I want to review it and it really does give you great pointers. I’m a first time business owner myself…been doing this for only a year now…and I just jumped right in feet first. Had I read this book first, I think I might have been more prepared. I love owning my own business, even love the pressures that go along with it, but this book has helped me alleviate some of those pressures which gave me more time for other things. LOL…I think I just wrote my book review!
Thanks, Dorothy, for stopping by Home Biz Notes and sharing your experience with your home business and mentioning how Birthing the Elephant could have helped you right from the beginning.
Hi!
I just wanted to stop by and say thanks to all of you for
the great comments. As co-author of Birthing the
Elephant, I really appreciate them! Our interviews
showed me that people really underestimate the
emotional impact of making the move to being
a business owner. There are so many challenges on
this front – fear, image anxiety, and stress — that it’s
very important to have a game plan for managing
them. Otherwise, they can derail your dream! That’s
why we wrote our book — to take women through the
launch cycle and help them stay strong and on track.
Thanks, Karin, for stopping by Home Biz Notes and giving some more insight about your book, Birthing the Elephant.
I think many of my readers would like to know how or why you came up with the title. Yvonne commented (above) that she lived it and thought it appropriate. Perhaps you’d tell us about choosing it.
The book sounds intriguing. Seems like so many of my 40-something friends are looking for ways to break out of the 8-to-5 and start their own business. I’ll have to look for this book and share it with them.
Hi Mary Ellen,
Would love to tell you about the title. Actually it was
it was the folks at Ten Speed Press who came up with the title, which we have come to love! The book covers the 22 months of the start-up cycle, which is also the gestation period for a baby elephant. Put the two together and you have the title. Later, a friend of mine told me that in
Eastern mythology, the elephant god is considered a
bringer of good luck and also the “overcomer of
obstacles” — the perfect symbol for start-up success!
Hi Linda,
Thanks so much for your note! If you and your friends are in mid-career and thinking about making the move from
employee to entrepreneur, then “Birthing” is written
with you in mind! We profile many 40+ launching women
in the book who left the corporate world for a variety of
reasons and have been very successful. Whatever work
you’ve been doing, you’re sure to have some wonderful skills and experience to build on. I think you and your friends will find the book very inspiring and helpful.
A neighbor of mine just told me that she and some of
her friends have a book club and “Birthing the Elephant” is comping up on their list! They’re all going to get copies, read it, and use it as a springboard for brainstorming about their next move. Might be fun for you and your friends, too.
Incidentally, and I should have mentioned this before, Karin is on a virtual book tour with us and I want to really thank Mary Emma for taking the time out to host her. People are so busy nowadays (I can attest to that first hand!) and when someone stops what they are doing and helps another author get the word out about their book, I really think a lot of it. Mary Emma, love your blog and love what you are doing for authors!
I’d love to read that book, thought the title is a bit intimidating. I can’t imagine how painful it must be to birth an elephant…