ChickSpeak

Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin is a serial entrepreneur whose current company, Tribe, Inc., is a $2 million advertising agency working with national brands like Porsche, Home Depo, UPS and Whole Foods Markets.

Elizabeth has graciously shared her insights with ChickSpeak about how to be successful as a woman in the business world. Her book, How to Run Your Business Like a Girl is jam-packed with practical and intuitive strategies for becoming more confident and successful. Watch for her guest column contributions over the next several weeks!

Success Strategy: Break the Rules

At least one study of women business leaders has found women more likely to ignore the established rules, and the female entrepreneurs interviewed for How to Run Your Business Like a Girl support that finding. So what are the rules successful women are most likely to break?

Five rules worth breaking:

• The rule: It all comes down to the bottom line.
• The reality: It all comes down to what feels right.

Many women business owners say that sometimes other things are more important than money. Like giving an employee a paid maternity leave, even though she just started with the company. Or turning down certain clients because they’d require too much travel. The irony, of course, is that women tell us not being driven by the bottom line actually drives up profits in the end.

• The rule: Entrepreneurs all work 24/7
• The reality: You control when you do the work.

Although would-be entrepreneurs are often told to expect to work around the clock, many women business owners actually launch their companies in order to create more balance in their lives. One of the beauties of owning your own business is that you have more control over when you work. You might spend the afternoon at soccer practice with your kids, but put in a few hours on the computer after they’re in bed at night.

• The rule: You can’t start a business without a business plan.
• The reality: Many successful companies skipped that part.

If you’re looking for venture capital, you will need a business plan. But plenty of successful entrepreneurs say they didn’t do anything of the kind. In fact, a huge number of them will say they were pretty clueless about business in general when they started. Which leads us to the next rule worth breaking.

• The rule: You ought to have a thorough understanding of business.
• The reality: You don’t have to know everything.

In fact, you can’t know everything before you start your business. Opportunities and challenges both will present themselves, for which you will feel woefully unprepared. Get over it. You can figure just about anything out. And when you can’t, find someone you can. Incidentally, an excellent lawyer, CPA and computer guy are good to know.

• The rule: It’s important than everyone like you.
• The reality: Being the boss and being liked are sometimes mutually exclusive.

One of the best things about being the boss is that you get to call all the shots. That’s also one of the worst things about it. Owning the company means you have to make some tough calls from time to time. There will be times your popularity rating is not so high. Don’t worry about it.