Love your work and think for yourself
Five-year-old Sam recently asked his mother, Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin, for $131 so he could buy rats to breed and sell. She turned him down, but it's clear he inherited her entrepreneurial spirit. In her nine-year self-starter career, Cogswell Baskin has run two advertising agencies, a corporate resource provider and a book-packaging company. She has also written three books, including How to Run Your Business Like a Girl (Adams Media, 2005).
Women tend to run their businesses like their lives -- intuitively, emotionally, and impulsively, says Cogswell Baskin. They start without business plans, get excited, care about their employees, and make decisions based on how they feel. How to Run Your Business Like a Girl features the stories of more than 35 successful entrepreneurs, including their often haphazard paths to success. The lessons they've learned and share in the book are not restricted to those trying to build a business -- these are the habits of good businesswomen, and the advice they offer can help you to be a better business owner, boss, or employee. Follow their six rules for success at work -- and in life.
1. Love your work
Most successful entrepreneurs don't start their businesses until they're anxious to do it -- if you jump in earlier than that, the time, energy and pain of running a business may not be worth it. "Wait for the butterflies," says Cogswell Baskin. Finding meaningful work is important to how you feel about your life. Find something you care about and working hard will have its own payoffs.
2. Think different
Unconventional doesn't mean illogical. Cogswell Baskin once ran a company that offered the staff catered lunches, to the amusement of the other advertising executives. They joked: "you must be making too much money," she says. But there were few restaurants around, so catering kept lunches short and gave everyone time to talk, thereby reducing chatty work-stifling interruptions at other times of the workday. "It looked like this crazy perk, but in reality it was a very smart business move," explains Cogswell Baskin.
An owner of a public relations firm who was featured in How to Run Your Business Like a Girl has a designated gathering place at the center of her office space. It has a living room feel, complete with couches and a TV. She has also used some space for a meditation room. Part of this setup comes from the owner's sense of philanthropy, but part of it caters to employees who need to be at their best throughout the workday. If something new would work for your work situation or company, suggest it.
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