Elegant Entrepreneur

Written with female entrepreneurs in mind, this complete and detailed business start-up book is a MUST READ for anyone with a dream and a goal of running their own business and being in control of their own income and future. It is a fully encompassing resource from idea and dream, to action steps, all the way to testing, launching, enjoying success and building future growth and expansion.

Using personal examples of challenges and positive results in her own successful online business, plus providing hundreds of other valuable resources for each step of the journey, this book is like having a friend hold your hand and offer comforting words of belief in your dream. You can do it! You are not alone.

Author Danielle Tate has done much research on your behalf and gives many sources for further support. Topics you may have not even considered but which are essential to your success are covered. I know I will be refering bacck to this book repeatedly as I work towards buildinging my future.

I am in love with this guide for women who are or who want to be entrepreneurs. I fall into the want to be category. And I am so glad that I selected this book. Danielle Tate has created a guide for female entrepreneurs that takes you from evaluating the merits of an idea, to market research, business plans, team building, financing, development, launch right up to an exist strategy.

This is a great book. I must say using the innovation test in the book, my first "business" idea is a complete dud but applying the principles here, I think it has potential to become something.

I am feeling excited and motivated to steadily grow into my entrepreneurial spirit.

Since I have an interest in someday starting my own company, when I see guides on "how to" set up one, I tend to request them. And when they're aimed at women, there's no way I'm not clicking that request button.

Anyway, Elegant Entrepreneur is basically geared towards women who want to set up their own companies. It basically takes you from idea (start) to selling your company (end, if you choose). The author is the founder of a business called MisstoMrs.com, which is supposed to be a successful business (I'm not the target of this service (and neither are most people I know), being neither American nor married, so I can't even begin to judge if it's famous or not).

Each chapter is fairly short, with a roundup (Takeaways), a 'How it Feels' (basically action steps) and at least one quote per chapter. Plus, lots of examples of successful women entrepreneurs, which is definitely motivating. There's also a list of relevant books which you can read for more insight at the end of each chapter.

Oh, and there's a glossary of terms at the back of the book too, though I didn't need it at all. But I'm also a business/econs student so quite a lot of this (especially models like SWOT and Porter's Five Forces) are familiar to me.

Actually, I think that this book will be helpful not just to women, but to the men too. The advice is mostly basic but useful stuff, and some of it (like raising funds and seed rounds) are things that I don't really remember seeing in most introductory books. I like that it gives the reader a very concrete idea, rather than vague generalities on getting things done right.

I'd say that this is a very good book to read if you're thinking of starting a business and you're new to the whole industry. It has a lot of resources, it explains things very well, and since it starts from the idea stage, it's perfect for those just starting out. And after you narrowed down what you want to use, more specialised books like The Business Model Canvas might be easier to use.

And yes, all the examples are exclusively female, but in this (hopefully more enlightened era), I believe even guys will find this useful. Plus, if girls could use books that were male-example dominated, there's no excuse why guys can't use a book with examples taken from successful women.

Note: a version of this review first appeared on my Dayre

Danielle Tate, the mastermind behind every bride's savior MissNowMrs, breaks down every step of entrepreneurship in Elegant Entrepreneur from evaluating your idea to exit opportunities when you feel you've seen it through. With a path, but not the only path laid out and a sprinkling of advice from other female entrepreneurs and successful business women mixed in, it's a one stop shop to "try on" being an entrepreneur.

A warning though, this isn't a book meant to build you up and encourage you to pursue a half-baked idea. It was made to make sure your solution has a place in the market and a customer base. In fact, the book recommends you license or sell your idea if a company already exists that excels at similar or complimentary solutions. Elegant Entrepreneur even breaks down how to pitch your solution to the leaders of corporate development departments.

Even if you can't imagine yourself as an entrepreneur, Elegant Entrepreneur will help you understand how successful businesses are developed and driven. It will help you create goals in your career and open your eyes to processes you are a part of without maybe even realizing it. Within the 228 pages of the book, I found many of the terms I learned in my business classes with actual examples and even more important, actual understanding of how I can apply what I'm learning to my professional career.

Elegant Entrepreneur isn't Lean In, it's a business education in an afternoon. It reads like dream conversation you'd have with your dream mentor (which the book is packed with). I wish this book was published while I was still in college. I wish a professor had made it required reading. Most of all, I wish I could put this book into every woman who is twenty-something's hands.

Review Title: Thorough, Covers the Whole Business (review of The Elegant Entrepreneur by Danielle Tate)
Reviewer: Janice S. Garey
***** 5 Stars

If you have ever contemplated starting a business, this book is packed with information to set you on the right track. Although written from a woman's point of view and directed to women, most of what's in the book will apply to men in business startup mode, too.

I appreciate how the author wants to make life and work easier for others starting out so they don't make the same mistakes she made. Her writing is very empathetic. Her personality shows through her words so it almost seems a mentor is sitting across the table from you giving advice brought up from the deep wells of success..

I am an older woman, in my sixties, and I am impressed by the level of maturity of the author who is obviously gifted in relating to all ages of people. I think teenagers as well as women in their seventies+ would find helpful advice in this book not just for startups, but also to refresh long established businesses.

I am so thankful I found this book available on Netgalley for review. I have given my honest opinion about this extremely helpful and thorough book. I feel that anyone in the business world who wants to have a clue about what's available to help on all fronts should keep this book on hand as a reference guide.

Finally, a book that gives step-by-step, understandable instructions for female entrepreneurs! (Although, really, much of it could help male entrepreneurs, too). It leaves nothing out. I highly recommend it.

This book is full of fabulous ideas and inspiration to the female entrepreneur, it gives a different perspective than is normally given when reading business books. I would highly recommend it as a smart read before starting a business and even to come back to later in the process.

The author Danielle Tate does an excellent job of bringing about her ideas and points of views in being a female entrepreneur. While I am not a feminist, I found this book energizing and helpful. I am all for women fulfilling their God given talents and stopping at no cost. I believe that is how male or female should operate. Danielle's book gives you great steps to accomplish this. Do not rush through this book or you will miss details that will aid you in your own story and your own journey to success. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

There is a wealth of information here- especially for those with online businesses or manufacturing businesses. This is a manual that you could reference again and again at various points in developing your business.

Ms. Tate has clearly done her research and used her own experiences to provide straightforward advice. The quotes and comments from other high level entrepreneurs clearly indicates how much effort she put into this manual.

The only miss for me is that I wish there were more practical examples of her concepts. I loved how she described marketing gift cards for her business to guests looking for a last minute wedding gift. More of these kinds of examples from her and those that she interviewed would have really enhanced this book for me.