The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur

“This fun and informative book shows aspiring young women how to build their own businesses from the ground up...and stand as tall as a Manhattan highrise.”

—Barbara Corcoran, author of If You Don’t Have Large Breasts Wear Ribbons in Your Pigtails

“This book will do for business what The Joy of Cooking did for the culinary world.”

—Ella Brennan, owner, Commander's Palace

The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business is a must-read guide for any woman who wants to ditch the cubicle and join the growing ranks of aspiring female entrepreneurs. Revised and updated to reflect a post–financial crisis and Twitter world, this essential business handbook by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio offers candid advice, frank talk, and true stories that will help every woman with a great business plan achieve her dream.

Every chapter is packed with interviews, charts, quizzes and witty directives about self-employment. Among their greatest hits: what's in a name, choosing logos, ten inspiring business chick flicks, legal eagles, business speak and visibility in professional associations. Friedman and Yorio sweat the small stuff. They explain, for example, why you shouldn't eat spaghetti at a business lunch and how to ask revealing questions of a potential employee or computer consultant. The authors' premise, "let women be women" is most compelling when they explore the unique challenges women face--from finding female role models to being a boss "without being a bitch."

They are on shakier ground with the arguable assumption that all women share distinct gender styles and strengths. This type casting and the "girl friend" tone can sometimes belittle the book's smart and strategic ideas for becoming the boss. Still, it is hard to imagine a more readable, practical book about the challenges of being in charge. --Barbara Mackoff