The Women Entrepreneurs Blog @ Simon

Losing It ... Valerie Bertinelli's story

So I just finished the new book by Valerie Bertinelli, Losing It ... And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time. I really wanted to read it because being a child of the 70's, I used to love watching the sitcom she was in, "One Day at a Time", with Bonnie Franklin and McKenzie Phillips.  Sure, the show was a little corny, but it was good for a laugh or two. 

Her life story is pretty interesting and quite a roller coaster ride!  She has two brothers and had an older brother who died suddenly at 19 months.  She has constantly battled weight gain and has tried every dieting fad under the sun.  Her marriage to rocker, Eddie Van Halen, was quite tumultuous with drugs, alcohol and all the trappings of a rock star lifestyle.  Both of them were equally into addiction and infidelity and it's unbelievable that they stayed married for over 25 years! 

My Favorite Book on Getting Started

I am the daughter and also the granddaughter of entrepreneurs. My brother is also an entrepreneur. It would seem that entrepreneurship runs in our family's blood. Or maybe, as my father says, none of us could work for anyone else so we had to start our own businesses!

Whatever ... I knew many years before I founded My Brands that I wanted to build my own business. Apparently this is common among entrepeneurs.

A dear friend of mine,William J. Stolze, who passed away a few years ago, wrote my favorite book on the topic of entrepreneurship: Start Up: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Launching and Managing a New Business (1999). Bill was one of the founders of RF Communications here in Rochester. In Bill's book he observes that many entrepreneurs know that they want to start a business, but they don't necessarily know exactly what business they want to be in. That was definately true with me!

I highly recommend this book. It is an easy read full of common sense and great advice. I followed Bill's advice that an entrepreneur should develop good business skills and keep their eyes and ears open to potential opportunites for new businesses. That is exactly the path that I took that led me to the idea for My Brands. I suggest that if you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur this is the easiest first step that you can take.

You can view a couple of good excerpts from his book here.