How to Build a Goddamn Empire

Kriegsman Ali Kriegsman

Description

From the cofounder of the revolutionary brand Bulletin, a business book that demystifies the world of entrepreneurship in real-time, from the trenches Filled with heart and humor, How to Build a Goddamn Empire shares the real-world, hard-earned business wisdom of one female entrepreneur who transformed an idea into a massive, category-disrupting national brand. As a first-time and inexperienced founder, Ali Kriegsman felt like she couldn't relate to the glossy, glamorous entrepreneurs crowding her Instagram feed. In reality, Kriegsman learned, building something from nothing is a daily fight with your imposter syndrome, a crash course in venture-capitalist speak, and, as she learned in 2020, a constant battle to weather the storm of an ever-changing marketplace. While in the thick of scaling her business, making a stressful pivot, and managing a team of employees through an unprecedented global pandemic, Kriegsman decided to write about her experience, in the hopes that it will act as a guidepost to future founders. With chapters ranging from "The Business You Start Isn't the Business You'll Run" to "Press = Success," Ali Kriegsman demystifies the world of entrepreneurship in real time, from the trenches. In "Hard Decisions" Kriegsman shares her experiences of managing the company through the COVID-19 crisis with heart and searing honesty. How to Build a Goddamn Empire also features words of wisdom from some of Kriegsman's fellow female founders who have built successful companies of radically different stages and sizes. By using the questions she's most frequently asked as her blueprint, Kriegsman offers candid insights into the nuts and bolts of building a brand from scratch-discussing early failures, picking the right cofounder, securing press, finding funding, and even staying afloat during a crisis-to give women the tools that will help take their ideas to the next level.

Sujets

• Employabilité, métiers et formations

Informations

• Publié par: ABRAMS BOOKS
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781683358091
• Langue: English

Extrait

For Mom, Ben, and Alana
In memory of David Getman, who never doubted me when I doubted myself. I miss you every day.
Editor: Samantha Weiner
Designer: Jess McGowan
Production Manager: Rachael Marks
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020931089
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4290-3
eISBN: 978-1-68335-809-1
Text copyright 2021 Alixandra Kriegsman
Cover 2021 Abrams
The interviews in this text have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Published in 2021 by Abrams Image, an imprint of ABRAMS.
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Abrams Image books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification.
For details, contact [e-mail] or the address below.
Abrams Image is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
ABRAMS The Art of Books 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007 abramsbooks.com
CONTENTS
A NOTE TO YOU . . .
A BIT ABOUT BULLETIN
CHAPTER ONE: You Gotta Start Somewhere
CHAPTER TWO: That Magical and Miserable Beginning
CHAPTER THREE: Who Do You Think You Are?
CHAPTER FOUR: The Leap of Faith
CHAPTER FIVE: Taking Money and Making Money
CHAPTER SIX: The Business You Start Won t Be the Business You Run
CHAPTER SEVEN: Grow Up and Glow-Up
CHAPTER EIGHT: Press Success
CHAPTER NINE: Those Who Can t Do, Hire
CHAPTER TEN: Brand
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Hard Decisions
CONCLUSION: I m Still Building
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A NOTE TO YOU . . .
If you are reading this book, you may have decided to start your own business, build your own brand, make a radical career shift, or pursue a once-distant dream. Whoever you are, you ve likely decided to make some sort of big life change. Or maybe you haven t quite decided yet, but you re plagued by what ifs and a short list of roads not taken; you ve spent hours, months, or years pining for a more fulfilling work experience but have put those aspirations in a nice little pile and told yourself to look away for now. Maybe you have a passion you wish to turn into a career. Maybe you feel trapped in some drab-ass 9-to-5 and wonder, Is this really it? But like . . . really though? Maybe you re currently unemployed and looking to break into a brand-new industry, or you re cobbling together a handful of part-time gigs and looking to pick-or create-a profession where you can grow and establish yourself. Well-whoever you are, and whatever brought you here, I want you to know where I stand. I want you to know how I feel. Because I was once a nine-to-fiver who felt unfulfilled and wanting, staring down the scary prospect, and implications, of a big life change, too. But I am not a self-empowerment guru who wants you to find your inner girlboss. I don t think I ve found her. I don t try to manifest or actively practice any sort of positive thinking. In fact, I can t stop myself from the practice of negative thinking. I don t believe that hard work and resilience equals a foolproof recipe for success. I ve seen hardworking people fail. I ve worked my ass off and failed big-time . And I don t think running your own shit will suddenly bring you unadulterated, toxin-free happiness. I don t have it. That s not what you should expect, despite what influencers, inspirational Instagram accounts, and even other entrepreneurs might be peddling. I want you to know that doing something new is hard . Building your life around any entrepreneurial effort, if you re doing it seriously, will feel like an emotional and intellectual Cyclone drop. Because building an empire doesn t happen overnight. And you may get few or no early signals that it will even happen at all. That shit sucks. No number of motivational sticky notes plastered on your mirror or afternoon affirmations will change the fact that sometimes, being your own boss and paving your own way feels like a total. fucking. hellscape.
I can t give you a three-step manual for how to deal with your hellscape moments, because there isn t one. And I can t share any cutesy, pithy mantras to make you feel like a #badass in your times of self-doubt or hardship, because in my experience, they don t really work. But what I can do is tell you what s coming, as candidly and as openly as possible. I can share my moments of weakness, of desperation, and of total and utter fear. I can tell you what I think I did right and what I definitely did wrong. I can introduce you to dozens of other entrepreneurs who turned hellscape moments into learning opportunities. And I can show you that no matter how big a business gets, how many fans it has, how much money it makes, how much funding it takes-no one is spared the rollercoaster ride of uncertainty and defeat, of mastery and euphoria.
Almost every founder I ve interviewed, with some prodding, spoke openly about what I call their I m-gunna-fucking-quit moment. Actually, make that moments, plural. There s a real bleak side to entrepreneurship, and I think all of us (but women especially) have been trained to suffer these depressive episodes alone. We are ashamed of them, because it isn t cool or sexy or inspiring or boss-like to address these hurting times head-on. Social media has only exacerbated the problem: every day, you open your Instagram feed to household-name founders decked out in designer getups, you re fed power mantras from uplifting, candy-colored grid posts, you see other entrepreneurs all-smiles on their stories as they rush from meeting to meeting. Female founders, in particular, are quietly expected to both govern and influence, run their companies and build a personal brand. Often, these personal brands-mine included-exude empowerment, an effortless sense of perfection, and an unyielding stylishness. There is minimal mess-and when there is, it can feel calculated, an Us Weekly -style reminder that successful founders-they re just like us! All the while, you may feel a deep, unshakeable sense of inadequacy. You may be home, stuck on the couch, overcome by so much darkness that even the thought of power-strutting into a meeting feels overwhelming. Or maybe you re genuinely broke, running out of cash in both your personal and professional bank accounts. It s really hard to feel like you re on the right track when you measure your own financial reality against immaculately styled IG outfits and get that bread money memes. My company, Bulletin, can reluctantly count itself as part of the problem. We have both promoted and shaped the girlboss ethos so many of us have come to loathe. We posted those money memes. I still wear the fanciest shit I own to panels and public events. And because all of us are flexing in our own ways, in different doses, it s become too easy and automatic to compare yourself to other people. Founders rarely cry, scream, sulk, or stream their distress on the air, so to speak, so when you re at your worst, you feel like a total loser. A weak-willed failure. Impostor syndrome takes hold and convinces you of the sinister lie you ve been telling yourself from day one: I don t know what the hell I m doing, and I m not equipped to do this. It crawls its way up through the muddy bowels of your self-doubt, looks you straight in the eye, and asks, Who do you think you are?
Whatever change you re about to embark on: a new venture, a side hustle, a brand-you name it-you are signing up for struggle. You are signing up for days riddled with anxiety and uncertainty. You are signing up for problems you don t know how to solve, and for mistakes that might make you feel incompetent and foolish. You will feel pain when something goes wrong and you let your team or your customers down. You will feel pain when you run out of money and you re not sure the business can survive. You will feel pain when you turn down birthday dinners or happy hours and disappoint your friends because you have orders to fulfill or a crowdfunding campaign video to finish. When you are working on something you love, something that s yours, your highs become higher and your lows become lower. The pain feels like an 18/10. Being an entrepreneur means you have an unpredictable and endless stream of these 18/10 moments, really. Often, they re prompted by triggering events or experiences: you lose an important client, screw up a pitch, or can t make payroll. But there s also a more insidious, lingering pain that s always there, humming below the surface. This pain has a voice, and it talks to you: it worries about failure, and what happens if your dream simply . . . doesn t work out. Wrestling with that voice is the hardest struggle of all.
I m not trying to scare you away from doing something bold, risky, and meaningful with your life. In fact, I m trying to do the exact opposite. I want you to turn the dial up on your side hustle, pursue a passion, make that career change, take the risk, build that empire-however big or small. But in order to (1) simply get started and (2) continue to do it with any sanity, you need to try to quiet the nagging voice that worries about failure. And to do that, it may be worth rethinking what success really means to you. After years of catastrophizing and anxiously asking, What if we don t make it? I had to do this exercise myself.
Success is not just your company going viral, your brand becoming famous, your sales quadrupling, a glowing piece of press, an acquisition, an IPO, winning a huge account, getting X number of followers, raising Y amount of funding. There s that cheesy line (creative liberties here): it s not about the destination, it s all about the journey. And yeah, I might be batshit, but I think that cheesy line speaks the absolute truth. In fact, I think you ve found some degree of success if you r