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Why did I decide this was important to write? Who am I to be the best person to write this?

As women, the hurdles we often face in the professional and executive world can be daunting. I have lived through inequality in the pay I received, double standards for performance, and in my industry, the proverbial “good old boys club.” While it can be challenging to persevere if you are faced with these issues, it can be even harder if you are a business owner without a clear path.

Throughout my journey, I always wished I had someone to lead me and help make it a little easier. For that very reason, this was important to write. I wanted to write for all the other women out there who, like me, have faced challenges in their professional life—for the women building their businesses and craving other women to be their sounding board or their network of support or to not feel alone.

I don’t consider myself anyone particularly special or an “expert” as a business owner. I don’t have a degree in business ownership (not that there is such a thing). But I have lived it; I have somehow managed to (sometimes out of sheer dumb luck) survive and have built something special.

I want to share my journey with you to help you feel excited and supported on your path to success. While I can’t protect everyone from their own set of challenges or making their own mistakes, I am writing this to help make sure you won’t be unprepared or alone.

Being a woman business owner can be lonely without a good network of support. Throughout my journey, other women have been helpful and supportive and have been instrumental in my survival and success in my male-dominated industry. Without these inspirational and motivating women, I am not sure where I would be today.

However, what I didn’t have was a guide every step of the way to help make sure I was doing the “right” things. There were times I felt like I had no idea what I was doing! I often found myself either naïvely trusting or stumbling into a situation. Both fortunately and unfortunately, I have had partnerships fail and have made a lot of mistakes. As I think back on my professional career, I wonder what a difference having this guide would have made.

So let’s start with my beginning. Why did I become a business owner? Why have I survived and been successful?

I grew up in a small primarily ranching community in Montana, and people there know how to work. They work from the time they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night. Montana is amazingly beautiful, but it can also be a harsh place. Maybe the work ethic I learned was a result of the environment or maybe it was from the survival instincts you need when you grow up in a family that owns a small business.

My parents weren’t ranchers, but they did own their own business. For many years, my parents built and ran the cable television system for two small rural towns in the-middle-of-nowhere Montana. People definitely relied on my family to make sure they had their TV! As a result, so much always needed to be done. As far back as I can remember, I was “helping” my mom or dad either in the office or in the field. I vividly recall thinking I would NEVER be a business owner because of how hard they had to work. It seemed so stressful for them to not have a consistent paycheck coming in, knowing they had two children to raise and support.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that owning their business also came with a lot of benefits. We were able to spend the summer months traveling or camping. We also got to visit many new places because of the different continuing education events they attended. Even though they had to work long, hard hours, they had the flexibility to take a few hours off during the day to participate in school events or help with an after-school activity.

They were able to create their vision of family because they owned their own business.

As I said earlier, I didn’t set out wanting to be a business owner. It just kind of happened that way.

I started out on my journey working my way up “through the ranks.” My starting place on this path was an hourly 8–5 position as an administrative assistant. Sure, there were times I had to work overtime and had what seemed like a never-ending list of things to do, but I really had NO idea, no clue what it would actually be like to have my own business.

As I think back on this, I was naïve and never appreciated or realized how comfortable being an hourly employee with a salary really was. I hadn’t yet experienced the feeling of waking up every morning wondering what I was going to do to earn money for my family that day. I had no idea how hard being a business owner was. It wasn’t until I transitioned out of my administrative position to a sales position that was 100% commission that I had a small taste of it.

Being in that sales position did help me start to understand and learn some of the important components of becoming a successful business owner. But, I wasn’t there yet. After many years of trial and error and, more likely, sheer stubbornness and persistence, I woke up one morning and realized I had truly become that business owner.

It takes great courage for a woman to start out as a business owner or launch a business over a relatively short period of time, and because that wasn’t my path, I have never felt what I did was anything extraordinary. Maybe it was purely survival. But, this is also exactly why I believe I am the “best” person to write this. I’m not anyone special or an expert business owner . . . but I’m tough and persistent, and I won’t give up on you. I’ve made mistakes along the way, but by sharing my story and the lessons I’ve learned, I’m confident you will feel the love and support you deserve. It wasn’t until today, this very moment when I shared my story with you that I felt I had accomplished something truly great.

I know this guide does not cover everything, as there are parts of this journey that I am still to discover, but it does help give you a good head start. This guide will give you some of the key components to becoming and staying a successful business owner.

So let’s get started! Order Your Copy Today

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