You Go Girl—Capitalize on Your Gender!

No longer does "small business" necessarily connote a mom and pop establishment or a store on Main Street. Today, it's just as likely to be a Web site with a global reach. Entrepreneurship has captured the country's imagination.

It especially appeals to driven, "go the extra mile" Boomers who are taking charge of their lives in record numbers. They have expertise gained from a lifetime of working for others; now they're hungering to cash in on this knowledge for themselves. 

Even more poised to dive into entrepreneurial waters are Generation Xers. An amazing 87 percent of these young people want to work for themselves. Personal and creative fulfillment, coupled with the desire for freedom to innovate, are the driving forces behind Xers' migration to entrepreneurship. Many are tired of the label "slackers." They are also tired of endless meetings, paperwork dungeons, and overbearing bosses. They're out to prove themselves the hardest-working, most independent-minded generation in our country's history.

Twentysomethings are also going back to school for MBAs. Not to become corporate bigwigs, however, but to start their own companies. The University of Michigan recently conducted a study finding that 25- to 34-year-olds are launching businesses at three times the rate of 35- to 55-year-olds. These young turks, many of whom have been weaned on computers, are becoming overnight millionaires from participating in high-tech startups. The number of households headed by someone under 35 with assets of more than $1 million has risen 250 percent since 1989. 

Creating Your Own Financial Independence

We girls are finally learning how to kick butt. Disgusted by the enormous pay gap in corporate America where women are paid 75¢ on the dollar compared to men (losing approximately $420,000 over a lifetime because of unequal salary practices), we're jumping ship in record numbers. With fire in our bellies, we've stopped whining and started winning. Learned to capture the best and leave the rest. Begun taking control of our own destiny.

Sassy lassies are starting new companies at twice the rate of macho males. It's estimated that by 2005, 50 percent of all American businesses will be owned by women. It's a gender bender of huge proportions and far-reaching ramifications. 

Mixing Estrogen and Entrepreneurship

Woman is blessed with a nurturing nature. We're the care takers, the care givers. We've been emotionally supporting our husbands and lovers since time immemorial. And we'll be nurturing our children from infancy through adulthood. These same traits translate beautifully into the business world. They are what allow us to take customer service to extraordinary levels. And they help us build relationships that are destined to be the linchpins of success in this new century.

We are good listeners, not only hearing what is said but also what is implied. We've listened to mothers, fathers, spouses, lovers, children. In so doing we've discovered their needs, then addressed how to fill them. This is exactly what business requires.

Additionally, we're intuitive. We sense what will and won't work. When to back off, when to ask for the sale. We have true vision.

Organizational skills are another bit of magic in our bag of tricks. Running a house, raising a family, juggling a career: many of us are like a street performer with three balls constantly in the air. It's shopping, chauffeuring, sympathizing—or cleaning, cooking, and cajoling. We learned early to write lists, make every minute count, prioritize tasks. 

Of necessity, we think holistically. How will this impact that? What is the most well-rounded approach that tunes into the needs of all? How can we get everyone to buy into our ideas?

And we're as tenacious as pit bulls. Determined, even relentless. Many of us still feel we have something to prove. We'll put in the necessary hours, energy, and commitment to turn our passion into profit. 

Lastly, we're endowed with a sensuality that gives us a powerful weapon to conquer our male counterparts in the world of work. Sensuality (not sexuality) allows you to employ your feminine wiles and at the same time remain businesslike. Coquettish charm can put magic in the moment. Tune in to the three "Fs:" Be friendly, flirtatious, and fascinating. In the Ladies Home Journal Third Annual American Woman Survey, 98 percent of participants said it's okay for women, even in positions of authority, to show their feminine side. 

We definitely need an advantage. We don't have the omnipotent Good Old Boy Network—with its tradition, layers of important contacts, and infinite opportunities—working for us. Many of us didn't grow up in the world of sports. So we lack the understanding of teamwork and supporting each other for the common good. Too often we end up being adversaries and sabotaging each other instead of pulling together.

Yet our only limitation is our own expectations. We needn't be dominated by "alpha male" leaders brimming with testosterone. Businesswomen with intelligence, perspective, and backbone have no boundaries. As women, we can be confident, powerful, bold, prosperous, spunky, self-assured, irreverent, empowered, and sensational. We can have just as much "juice" as the guys and can play hardball to the max. As stewards of our own talents and gifts, we need to be possibility thinkers. When doing so, we can make an invaluable contribution: to ourself, our family, our community, our world.

The application of knowledge is power. Many of the previously mentioned survey respondents said women will join and even replace men as the movers and shakers of the world. And for good reason: They'll be better educated. Already women are getting 55 percent of all bachelor's and master's degrees. By 2007, the U.S. Department of Education predicts that 9.2 million women will be enrolled in college. Compare that to only 6.9 million men. This will spark an explosion of female power. In the next decade respondents expect that most of us will have a female doctor, lawyer, accountant, or stockbroker. And 88 percent think the great scientists of this century are just as likely to be women as men. It's going to be a woman's world! 

Maybe you're one of the 47 percent of women who told the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce that "entrepreneur" would be their favored occupation. If you aspire to own your own business, or currently operate one, there is an area that will make you or break you: mastering the marketing mind-set. 

Developing Marketing Moxie

This book is for new startups that need guidance on how to push the envelope all the way to the top. It's also for established businesses and professional practices that seek fresh ideas and innovative ways to recharge their batteries. Many of these ideas are bootstrap concepts. So what you lack in money you can make up for in moxie. Female executives climbing the corporate ladder, or those who yearn to do so, will also glean insight here into powerful personal promotional strategies.

And while this message is primarily slanted for women, it also applies to men—men of quality who respect women's equality. Yes, we'll enjoy a joke at your expense from time to time, just as you've been doing at ours for eons. But males who are turned off by the title or flavor of this book might well realize that by overlooking occasional offensive verbiage, they can access information to make themselves more effective in the business world.

It's sort of like the Oklahoma Land Rush. Except that instead of hardy pioneers racing to claim homesteads, today we have canny businesspeople sprinting to capture customers or clients. So if you're a woman with an entrepreneurial fire raging in your gut, or a lady just entertaining the idea of going into business for herself, Shameless Marketing for Brazen Hussies™ will show you how to be a triumphant revolutionary. Read it to learn. To be inspired. To change your life.