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Birthing the Elephant
posted by Bruce Freeman on Jul 21, 2009 | Comments (31) | Permalink | Trackback URL
Birthing the Elephant:
The woman’s go-for-it guide to overcoming the big challenges of launching a business took a year and a half to write and promote and it was well worth it. Authoring a book positions you as an expert. You get invited to speak and the media wants to interview you. That often leads to business.
While we were developing the manuscript our book agent and editor suggested to me and my co-author Karin Abarbanel and me that we come up with some book
The one we finally were OK with was a Business of One’s Own, a takeoff on Virginia Wolf.’s essay, A Room of One’s Own.
I received an email Memorial Day weekend 2 years ago from our Ten Speed Press editor that the Ten Speed Marketing committee decided on a totally new directions for the title —Birthing the Elephant. (it takes an elephant 22 months and it takes about that to launch a biz according to the SBA)
Ten Speed Press is located in Berkeley CA. I thought to myself, those crazy people. When I was in college, all those Berkeley people were into drugs and rioting. Well, there’s an old expression, “Keep your words short and sweet, you may have to eat them someday.” I am happily eating those words.
A few months after the book came out, I get an email from a public relations executive in Louisville KY (Matt Kamer of Bandy, Carroll and Hellige). He tells me of an elephant birth (Scotty) in the Louisville Zoo and suggests we cross-promote given the title of our book. I discussed the idea with a few of my professional public relations and publishing friends. One of the suggestions was to contact the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) in Louisville. NAWBO collaborated with the Louisville Zoo and I was invited to go to Louisville to speak
After that event, we established a national elephant tour. Co-author Karin Abarbanel spoke in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. We are speaking with other NAWBO chapter around the country.
Moral of the story: Always be out there. You never know when opportunity knocks. Think out of the box.
FILED IN: Advertising, Business Ethics, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, New Thinking, Marketing, Public Relations, Productivity
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Putting yourself out there not only brings forth many opportunities but it also networks you to a lot of important people that can help you advance in your career. In some cases, it’s not about what school you went to or what kind of experience you got in a particular field, but it’s about WHO YOU KNOW. Going to a lot of different events and promoting can give you that strong platform you need to stand on.
Thinking outside the box is important these days. You can’t be too pickle anymore. Traveling around the world to promote yourself and met new people is the way to go. You may meet someone who has the same ideas or even inspire you to do better. Today most people just talk on the internet, but to get the real experience you need to go places and talk face to face.
One thing I have always been a proponent of is keeping your options open. I’m not saying that you have to run a home business that is into everything and anything, but when opportunity knocks for something that appears to be profitable, you should at least investigate it and see if it makes sense to go after it. I agree with Prof.Bruce “You never know when opportunity knocks”. Things always happen when you least expect them to.
You always have to put yourself out in the world and promote yourself anyway you could. If you know someone that has connections to a certain thing you want to do, it most likely will always come out good. In todays world you need connections into really anything that you do, especially with the way the economy is today.
Although the story told was very interesting I couldnt help but think about the amount of time it takes to start a business. Dont get me wrong, I love the story and do think that the birthing of the elephant was a very nice way to tie into the title of the book. However I kept thinking about the process of starting a business and the relation to the birthing of an elephant. It takes an elephant 22 months! Then it takes it another numerous LONG years to grow into a strong, mature, feared, and respected animal; one of the largest animals on the planet. Its the same with a business. The SBA says it takes about 22 months to simply launch a business. Once the business has been started it takes a long time to grow and earn a reputation. Once that reputation has grown it takes even longer to grow into a business that no one will compete with, or like an elephant no other animal will hunt. It just allows you to see that nothing worth having for come easy or fast. It takes time, dedication, hard work and a lot of patience to become great and become successful.
This is a very inspirational story. I think this is going to be my next tattoo. It may sound funny, but it would symbolize the importance of constant perseverance to me.
When it comes to the real world you have to make yourself stand out and put your face out there. When it comes to picking someone for the job you them to remember your face and who you are. Always keep your options open and just like what Professor Bruce said “think outside the box”.
Putting yourself out there is not an easy task to accomplish when you are trying to make a name for yourself. It definitely takes time and effort to accomplish this task. I like how the name of the book was created. it is very interesting.
I never knew that it would take that long to start a business. The title is very catchy and does make a lot of sense given what the book is about. This story also tells us that you have to open up to the world outside of you and open your eyes to the world. Prof Bruce said it right when he said that you have to think outside the box. This book could of ad a generic title but it had a very clever title. You have to put yourself out their in the world to make a name for yourself.
I didn’t really connect with this story I do agree writing a book or starting a business is like Birthing an Elephant. After all said and done a Great big stress reliever. Value everyones opion and the right decision will be made
i think that “thinking out of the box” is one way of many ways to reach success. if we stay home jobs won’t knock our doors to offer us a job. the way of success is not full of flowers, there is many difficulties so we should be out there and put our selves there to face the real world.
This story exemplifies what business is about sometimes, taking risk. You weren’t sure if the tittle would work, but you went with you gut and in the end is payed off. It also helps to have such a distinct name.
I think this refers to creativity. Being creative can have an large affect on your success. stay open minded in everything you do.
Keeping your options open is always good these days. You never know when an opportunity will be open and you may get it. Having connections is also important and thinking outside the box.
I would have to agree it might not be very easy to put yourself out there. The risks are great but the reward is even greater. Through marketing and public speaking at events you might find opportunities you would never have found otherwise.
I have this book and I think its a great title. My father started his pharmacy business in 1992, he tells me all the time how hard it was to get customers and keep the customers happy. Especially because there was a local pharmacy a few blocks away. Ultimately he faced his challenges and gained the respect from his customers and recently he opened a new pharmacy with the lessons hes learned from the last pharmacy. It just shows that in life there are many things that are given to you but the things that you have to work for are the things that matter! My dad is a great a living example - hard work and dedication can come a long way!
That’s a good moral. You should always be out there. You should always be looking for opportunity. Opportunity never comes unless you are constantly looking. You also can’t always be looking in the same place. Opportunity can come from anywhere at any time. When you do find opportunity you have to take full advantage of it.
Somebody once said that “Luck is when preparedness meets the opportunity”. There are many people in this world who just think that one day some magical thing will happen to them and their life will turn around. The truth of the matter is however, that we must be prepared before we get lucky. Otherwise,you will not even realize when a great opportunity will show up.
Given the economy and struggle for businesses to stay afloat, thinking outside the box may determine whether you sink or swim. With an idea such as naming the book the title it is, grips audiences to learn what the book is about. When using other promotions that clearly has nothing to do with business may turn out to be relevant and may be a great turnout.
I dont really understand the connection, but nevertheless. I was all was told keep your option open you never want to close any doors. You never know when you are going to have to go thru it.
Honestly i think the title of the book is a double edged sword. On one hand the name is symbolic and you lucked out with Scotty the elephant as that was great promotion for your book. On the other hand however i don’t think that ‘Birthing The Elephant’ is an appropriate title for a business novel…. well in my experience hearing the name would not strike me as a business novel but rather something for national geographic. I think that many readers may be turned away by the title alone
The connection between the animal and businesses is weird, but weird is usually good. This title is what makes people pick up the book because they now want to know why a business related book has anything to do with birthing an elephant. Once they pick up the book and read the back you have an even greater chance of them buying it. It also made for an interesting promoting tour. To go to zoos where elephants were recently born, it adds to the title.
Thinking outside of the box is very important. I think everyone should be open minded and never settle, because you never know what other opportunities are out there, especially in a bad economy where we have a lot of college graduates and not that many jobs.
The whole idea of oppertunity being around the corner seems to be a fun notion to believe in. A unique oppertunity also is good for more then one parties. Charities use alot of unique tatics to help there causes out. People tend to remember the really unique promotions of products as long as the promotion does not casue panic. The cartoon network had that problem when they tried promote a dvd release in boston. Overall oppertunity is ever where a person can be.
I like the way they related the time it takes to birth an elephant to starting a business. It was great to see more opportunities come out of just having that name for the book
I have important way of gaining new ideas is communication. That means Traveling around the world promoting yourself and meeting new people is possibly the best thing one can do because after running into someone with a similar business plan or idea as you, you guys can exchange new ideas and possibly improve your business.
It is important to think outside of the box. Sometimes just the originality of a new idea can draw attention. If you can get that new idea out in the open then you have a good pathway to success.
this is a very clever name for your book and doin the extra things like the elephant tour i imagin that it helped a lot get your book out to people that were not really even looking for something like that. you thinking outside the box and coming up with new ideas is a direct reflection of your books success.
Thinking outside the box is good for added creativity and is a direct result in your books success so far.
That is a great way of thinking! Because you just never know. You just never know what life will bring you, so keep your mind and eyes opened to possible opportunities that are so close to us. A little effort is needed to grab them and make a use out of them.
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