Check out this week’s interview with entrepreneur and author, Danielle Tate. She tells us about her excellent new book specifically written to help women start a business. Read on to find out more about this book geared towards women with ideas, without MBAs…
What inspired you to write Elegant Entrepreneur?
Danielle: I wrote Elegant Entrepreneur to solve a problem. The problem is that too few women are starting businesses, and the ones who do aren’t scaling them past $25,000 in annual revenue. As a women who successfully built a tech business with zero business background I always searched for a book that spoke to me as an intelligent women but didn’t assume that I had an MBA. A decade into my life as an entrepreneur, I wrote that book with the mission to lower the barriers to entry and success for female founders by mapping the steps to building a business and demystifying entrepreneurship and the emotions that come along with the journey.
Could you give us a quick high-level summary of your entrepreneurial background?
I am an accidental female founder who pioneered a new niche in tech. My struggle to change my name after marriage sparked the idea for an online name-change service. My company, MissNowMrs.com, streamlines the 13 hour name change process into 30 minutes for $30. We have scaled to over 300,000 customers in 2 countries.
Delving into your book now, who would benefit most from your book?
Any person (particularly women) with an idea for a business will benefit from reading my book. It is geared towards women with ideas, without MBAs. It builds readers from validating their idea using my Innovation Gauntlet through market research, selecting the best business-planning model for their business, finding a co-founder, and timing their leap into full-time entrepreneurship.
Elegant Entrepreneur also helps women with existing companies grow faster, overcome setbacks, sustain in an ever-changing market, and prepare for an exit if that is what they include in their definition of success.
What are the major sections of your book?
Elegant Entrepreneur has 12 chapters spanning idea to exit. There is a chapter dedicated to exploring each step in building a business, the tools to use in that step, and how it feels as you live that step. Each chapter is followed by an elegant insight intended to help the reader span the gap between steps in an easier way than I did.
Give us an interesting fun fact about your book or the research you conducted for your book.
I planned to conduct and include 3 interviews with prominent women entrepreneurs, but each female founder I spoke with recommended 1 or more other women to interview. I delayed the publication date of Elegant Entrepreneur by three months to accommodate the 28 interviews that spontaneously occurred. I delighted in weaving the advice, experiences, and discussion of emotions that were shared into the appropriate chapters and elegant insights.
Given your experience, how would you describe an entrepreneur’s mindset?
Entrepreneurs tend to be optimistic problem-solvers. We see the world slightly differently…instead of problems, we see ideas and solutions that could solve those problems and potentially launch a business. We are tenacious and creative souls that tend to think big picture and connect the mental dots from where we are to where we want to be.
Where can people find out more about you and/or your book?
Elegant Entrepreneur is available as a paperback or kindle download on Amazon.com. My website is ElegantEntrepreneur.co and you can keep up with me on Twitter at @Elegant_Entre or Instagram @ElegantEntrepreneur
Is there anything else you’d like to mention to our readers?
I believe it is valuable for anyone who works for a business to understand how entrepreneurs use ideas to build and grow companies. Having that knowledge will allow them to better understand their roles within the companies they work for and how to frame their ideas for improving the company. Intrapreneurs are in high demand!
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