February 1, 2024 • 14 mins
Did you know that 38% of startups fail for lack of funding? How about that only 2.3% of VC funding goes to women-owned businesses? At the same time, women-owned businesses generate 10% more revenue in five years than male-owned businesses, and the return for investors in female-led companies is double that of male-led companies.
Maybe there's a better way to run businesses than how it's been done for the last few centuries. Maybe it's a woman's way.
Listen in as Rebeca recounts the tale of a recent meeting with some fellow businesswomen and how different an experience it is from when men are involved. And if you're a businesswoman 40 or over with a book to publish about how you succeeded, how you did it a woman's way, we want to hear about it. You can find submission guidelines and instructions for Rebeca Books at https://www.rebecabooks.com.
Maybe there's a better way to run businesses than how it's been done for the last few centuries. Maybe it's a woman's way.
Listen in as Rebeca recounts the tale of a recent meeting with some fellow businesswomen and how different an experience it is from when men are involved. And if you're a businesswoman 40 or over with a book to publish about how you succeeded, how you did it a woman's way, we want to hear about it. You can find submission guidelines and instructions for Rebeca Books at https://www.rebecabooks.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:16):
Welcome to the fifth episode of RaisingRebecca Books, The Birth of a Publishing
House. This is the audio storyof me, Rebecca Sites, building a
traditional royalty paying publishing house from theground up, told to you as it
unfolds. I have a story toshare today that happened during the course of
me raising the money for this business, which is an ongoing endeavor. Yes,
(00:39):
I mentioned money. The thing isbuilding a business requires it. And
if you don't have any, oryou don't have enough, what does that
mean? Are you sunk before youeven try to swim? Some are yes?
Did you know that thirty eight percentof all startups fail due to lack
(01:00):
of funding? Now there are agajillion articles in entrepreneur magazines and sights that
focus on problems like effective management andproper organizational structure, product testing, identifying
and reaching the target market, andall of those are important. But in
the words of the memorable Jerry McGuire, my story may not be as crazy
(01:26):
as how Jerry maguire got to keephis client in that movie. But something
interesting did happen during one of myfunder luncheons, and I thought it might
be helpful to share it with you. You're listening to raising Rebecca Books.
The birth of a publishing house onthe one C story Network. One C
is made possible in part by thesupport of the following sponsor. A while
(01:53):
back, I spent two years writingCEO profiles for an entrepreneur magazine. I
learned a ton, but very rarelydid they spell out exactly how they funded
their businesses. On the rare occasionthat they said anything on the subject of
money, it was usually one oftwo ways. Either they had their own
money from generational family wealth or agood paying top of the chain job in
(02:16):
their field, or they got venturecapital. I too, funded the formation
of my early small businesses. Itnever required a big outlay of funds,
and the work generated revenue fairly quickly, so I could pay myself back.
Basically, I just needed to floata few thousand dollars for a few months.
I could, and I did managethat. But the startup costs for
(02:38):
Rebecca Books are considerably more than afew thousand dollars. Considerably as in a
whole heck of a lot more beyondmy personal capabilities. More given that I
have you know, two teenagers whohave this weird habit of wanting to eat
daily and be clothed. Also,I'm forty six years old. Eighteen hour
(03:00):
days of doing five people's jobs ina startup hit very differently than they did
in my twenties. I'm going toneed to fund staff more quickly than I
did in those days. So howabout trying the other way Those CEOs funded
their startups venture capital? Well,only two point three percent of all VC
(03:21):
money in this country goes to womenowned startups. Two point three percent.
That is insane, And the timethat it takes to even apply for that
incredibly long shot is considerable. Iknow because I did go down that path
with one of my business ventures.For a while, I spent an entire
(03:43):
year meeting with a whole lot ofmen who like to take a whole lot
of my time and do a wholelot of talking, and then send their
money to businesses that were founded byguys who take morning ice plunges and live
in Silicon Valley and boast about partyingand abisa. I guess their kids are
being fed and prepped for school bythe wife, girlfriend or nanny who also
(04:05):
feeds them dinner and puts them tobed each evening. But regardless, courting
venture capital is most likely not agood use of my time. Instead,
I devised two ways to financially supportthe work of One Sea and Rebecca Books.
A person can either become an investorin the business, or there is
a nonprofit that supports certain One Seaand Rebecca Books projects that meet that nonprofit's
(04:27):
mission. Since deciding to launch ourBee, I've been reaching out to female
friends over phone calls, zooms,morning walks, brunches and lunches. We
talk about their businesses and mine,and we find ways to help each other
build. But what happened at alunch earlier this week, Well, come
with me to a swinky restaurant nearthe water here in Naples, Florida,
(04:50):
and I'll tell you all about it. The dining establishment I was in was
founded about twenty five years ago bya f famous football coach and as one
of my go to places for deliciousfood in an upscale atmosphere. I knew
this meal would be different because Ialways ordered the burger and I wouldn't be
(05:11):
doing so this time. See.I've been following a vegetarian diet for roughly
a month, and I am thoroughlyenjoying the way my body feels less inflamed,
and my brain is clearer than it'sbeen in years. So while burgers
are my favorite food on the planet, they're not currently worth the impact that
they make on my body. Ineed my brain and my body to be
working as well as they possibly canin order to bring the best of me
(05:34):
to this business venture. But itturned out that my experience at the restaurant
would be wholly different from all thetimes before, in a more profound way
than whether I was eating meat ornot. This meal, like most of
my meals out since launching Rebecca Books, was with women who love the idea
of the publishing house and are ina position to financially support the work.
(05:59):
On this day, I was diningwith two women. Now one of them
is my business mentor, the otheris a mom friend. Prior to this
meal, they did not know eachother. I'd brought them together. The
elder of the group got to therestaurant first, and, not liking the
table at which they had placed her, asked to be moved to a corner
table where we could speak with amodicum of privacy. We could still be
(06:20):
seen by the entire dining room,but not easily heard. I arrived next,
hugged my mentor, and pretty soonmy mom friend arrived as well.
Because they didn't know each other yet, each woman shared the condensed version of
her life story with the other.Let me stop here and tell you that
just listening to their stories renewed myadmiration for all women who are making their
(06:44):
way through this world. The barrierswe overcome, as if it's just walking
down a sidewalk, instead of hurdlingfemale only barriers, blocking employment in our
chosen profession and financing our businesses.The boards of authority that have not one
single woman on them. I mean, this is our life experience, and
we keep going in the face ofit, putting one foot in front of
(07:05):
the other, doing what we do, getting it done, all of us,
all the time. Anyway, wewere probably about an hour into the
meeting, and the elder of ushad just shared a funny story that caused
my mom friend and I to throwback our heads in laughter. As we
quieted back down, I became awareof it the attention from the other tables,
(07:28):
tables that were filled with men insuits. Now, at first I
assumed it was our laughter. Wehadn't been that loud, but this is
an upscale restaurant where people tend tospeak in hushed tones, so maybe the
very presence of hilarity was enough todraw attention. But our lunch went on
for another hour, and the awarenessof the other tables kept coming glances our
(07:54):
way that I caught out of thecorner of my eye. I pondered it.
I mean, we're all nice lookingwomen, but we're not bombshells.
And the looks I didn't feel sexualin nature. They felt like something else
that I couldn't quite put my fingeron. Eventually, our conversation arrived at
the main reason for our gathering,to discuss potential financial support for Rebecca Books.
(08:16):
I pulled a document from my pursethat visually represented the corporate structure here,
as there are multiple business entities workingtogether to bring these stories of women,
ethnic minorities, and rural communities intofruition. I shared that visual with
the two women and we all discussedit. Now this took like two maybe
three minutes. Then I tucked thedocument back into the file folder in my
(08:41):
purse, which sat on the carpetedfloor by my chair. As I raised
back up, I glanced out towardthe rest of the dining room, and
I kid you not, there weremen peering at the document and then boldly
staring at my dining companions. Andthat is when the nature of their attention
(09:03):
hit me. Curiosity and the reasonfor that curiosity landed in my brain right
on the heels of that revelation.Do you remember the montage at the end
of the Barbie movie, that partwhere it's home movies of women just being
women at home, laughing, playing, hugging, applying makeup, swimming in
(09:24):
the backyard pool, just being ourselvesat home. I remember sitting in the
theater when that montage played, whileBillie Eilish's haunting lyrics filled the air.
There we were up on that bigscreen. Sisters, every one of us
in those seats knew every woman inthose videos. That's who we are when
(09:45):
we're not having to overcome barriers erectedonly for us, when we're not having
to be on our guard, we'reeasy and free, and it is exquisitely
beautiful. I realized, rising backup in to my seat at that restaurant,
that my friends and I were being, just being out loud in a
(10:07):
public restaurant filled with business men.We were easy with each other because it
was just us women at the tablein the corner. We were being at
that lunch the way we are atlunch in our homes, the way those
women in the Barbie Montage are laughing, sharing, building, planning, just
(10:28):
enjoying. Three women discussing business.No man at the table, and no
attention given to those in the restof the room. Nobody measuring. Okay,
well, you know, you know, you get the idea. No
competition. It was just easy collaboration. And for a lot of the men
in that room, in this conservative, eighty nine point five percent white town
(10:50):
where the average male is sixty fiveyears old, it must have been a
very strange sight. I've been thinkingof it. I wanted to tell you
about it here so that the momentis captured in the story of Rebecca Book's
formation. But it also feels importantto point out that there is an alternative
(11:11):
to cut throat American capitalism. Howwe go about our business is as important
as the business itself. How wewrite our contracts, treat our investors and
donors, assemble our teams, runour operations, find our funding. It's
all a representation of perhaps an unknownreality for others. For men, I
(11:37):
mean for women like me who wereraised in the way of businessmen, our
way, the way of women.It works. According to the Boston Consulting
Group analysis, businesses that are runby women generate ten percent more revenue in
five years than businesses that are runby men, even though women only get
(12:00):
half as much funding across the boardas men. And for those investors that
do put money into women run businesses, the return on investment in female led
companies is twice that of male ownedbusinesses. Plus, the employees in women
run companies report higher job satisfaction ratesthan those in companies run by men.
(12:24):
There's clearly another way to go aboutbusiness than the one that has been dominant
for decades. According to the numbers, it's a better way, a woman's
way. This is why one ofthe two genres we are publishing in Rebecca
Books is business written by women fortyand over. The marketplace needs a trove
(12:48):
of female business knowledge in order tocapture and communicate this different way of doing
business. If you are one ofthose women and you're ready to share your
knowledge with the world, please intouch. We want to make sure that
the lessons you've learned and the waysthat you've honed are transmitted to the current
and coming population of business people.We want to know how you built your
(13:13):
business while raising kids and running yourhousehold and just being you. I'm betting
there probably wasn't an Ice plunge oran Avisa party in the mix. In
the meantime, If you want tosupport this work, yes, please get
in touch. I've got a newfavorite lunch place for wise women doing business
out loud. You've been listening toRaising Rebecca Books, The Birth of a
(13:39):
publishing House from the one C StoryNetwork. Subscribe to the show wherever you
get your podcasts and learn more atRebecca books dot com. That's r E
B E c A books dot com. The Once Sea Story Network for the
(14:16):
love of stories.
Welcome to the fifth episode of RaisingRebecca Books, The Birth of a Publishing
House. This is the audio storyof me, Rebecca Sites, building a
traditional royalty paying publishing house from theground up, told to you as it
unfolds. I have a story toshare today that happened during the course of
me raising the money for this business, which is an ongoing endeavor. Yes,
(00:39):
I mentioned money. The thing isbuilding a business requires it. And
if you don't have any, oryou don't have enough, what does that
mean? Are you sunk before youeven try to swim? Some are yes?
Did you know that thirty eight percentof all startups fail due to lack
(01:00):
of funding? Now there are agajillion articles in entrepreneur magazines and sights that
focus on problems like effective management andproper organizational structure, product testing, identifying
and reaching the target market, andall of those are important. But in
the words of the memorable Jerry McGuire, my story may not be as crazy
(01:26):
as how Jerry maguire got to keephis client in that movie. But something
interesting did happen during one of myfunder luncheons, and I thought it might
be helpful to share it with you. You're listening to raising Rebecca Books.
The birth of a publishing house onthe one C story Network. One C
is made possible in part by thesupport of the following sponsor. A while
(01:53):
back, I spent two years writingCEO profiles for an entrepreneur magazine. I
learned a ton, but very rarelydid they spell out exactly how they funded
their businesses. On the rare occasionthat they said anything on the subject of
money, it was usually one oftwo ways. Either they had their own
money from generational family wealth or agood paying top of the chain job in
(02:16):
their field, or they got venturecapital. I too, funded the formation
of my early small businesses. Itnever required a big outlay of funds,
and the work generated revenue fairly quickly, so I could pay myself back.
Basically, I just needed to floata few thousand dollars for a few months.
I could, and I did managethat. But the startup costs for
(02:38):
Rebecca Books are considerably more than afew thousand dollars. Considerably as in a
whole heck of a lot more beyondmy personal capabilities. More given that I
have you know, two teenagers whohave this weird habit of wanting to eat
daily and be clothed. Also,I'm forty six years old. Eighteen hour
(03:00):
days of doing five people's jobs ina startup hit very differently than they did
in my twenties. I'm going toneed to fund staff more quickly than I
did in those days. So howabout trying the other way Those CEOs funded
their startups venture capital? Well,only two point three percent of all VC
(03:21):
money in this country goes to womenowned startups. Two point three percent.
That is insane, And the timethat it takes to even apply for that
incredibly long shot is considerable. Iknow because I did go down that path
with one of my business ventures.For a while, I spent an entire
(03:43):
year meeting with a whole lot ofmen who like to take a whole lot
of my time and do a wholelot of talking, and then send their
money to businesses that were founded byguys who take morning ice plunges and live
in Silicon Valley and boast about partyingand abisa. I guess their kids are
being fed and prepped for school bythe wife, girlfriend or nanny who also
(04:05):
feeds them dinner and puts them tobed each evening. But regardless, courting
venture capital is most likely not agood use of my time. Instead,
I devised two ways to financially supportthe work of One Sea and Rebecca Books.
A person can either become an investorin the business, or there is
a nonprofit that supports certain One Seaand Rebecca Books projects that meet that nonprofit's
(04:27):
mission. Since deciding to launch ourBee, I've been reaching out to female
friends over phone calls, zooms,morning walks, brunches and lunches. We
talk about their businesses and mine,and we find ways to help each other
build. But what happened at alunch earlier this week, Well, come
with me to a swinky restaurant nearthe water here in Naples, Florida,
(04:50):
and I'll tell you all about it. The dining establishment I was in was
founded about twenty five years ago bya f famous football coach and as one
of my go to places for deliciousfood in an upscale atmosphere. I knew
this meal would be different because Ialways ordered the burger and I wouldn't be
(05:11):
doing so this time. See.I've been following a vegetarian diet for roughly
a month, and I am thoroughlyenjoying the way my body feels less inflamed,
and my brain is clearer than it'sbeen in years. So while burgers
are my favorite food on the planet, they're not currently worth the impact that
they make on my body. Ineed my brain and my body to be
working as well as they possibly canin order to bring the best of me
(05:34):
to this business venture. But itturned out that my experience at the restaurant
would be wholly different from all thetimes before, in a more profound way
than whether I was eating meat ornot. This meal, like most of
my meals out since launching Rebecca Books, was with women who love the idea
of the publishing house and are ina position to financially support the work.
(05:59):
On this day, I was diningwith two women. Now one of them
is my business mentor, the otheris a mom friend. Prior to this
meal, they did not know eachother. I'd brought them together. The
elder of the group got to therestaurant first, and, not liking the
table at which they had placed her, asked to be moved to a corner
table where we could speak with amodicum of privacy. We could still be
(06:20):
seen by the entire dining room,but not easily heard. I arrived next,
hugged my mentor, and pretty soonmy mom friend arrived as well.
Because they didn't know each other yet, each woman shared the condensed version of
her life story with the other.Let me stop here and tell you that
just listening to their stories renewed myadmiration for all women who are making their
(06:44):
way through this world. The barrierswe overcome, as if it's just walking
down a sidewalk, instead of hurdlingfemale only barriers, blocking employment in our
chosen profession and financing our businesses.The boards of authority that have not one
single woman on them. I mean, this is our life experience, and
we keep going in the face ofit, putting one foot in front of
(07:05):
the other, doing what we do, getting it done, all of us,
all the time. Anyway, wewere probably about an hour into the
meeting, and the elder of ushad just shared a funny story that caused
my mom friend and I to throwback our heads in laughter. As we
quieted back down, I became awareof it the attention from the other tables,
(07:28):
tables that were filled with men insuits. Now, at first I
assumed it was our laughter. Wehadn't been that loud, but this is
an upscale restaurant where people tend tospeak in hushed tones, so maybe the
very presence of hilarity was enough todraw attention. But our lunch went on
for another hour, and the awarenessof the other tables kept coming glances our
(07:54):
way that I caught out of thecorner of my eye. I pondered it.
I mean, we're all nice lookingwomen, but we're not bombshells.
And the looks I didn't feel sexualin nature. They felt like something else
that I couldn't quite put my fingeron. Eventually, our conversation arrived at
the main reason for our gathering,to discuss potential financial support for Rebecca Books.
(08:16):
I pulled a document from my pursethat visually represented the corporate structure here,
as there are multiple business entities workingtogether to bring these stories of women,
ethnic minorities, and rural communities intofruition. I shared that visual with
the two women and we all discussedit. Now this took like two maybe
three minutes. Then I tucked thedocument back into the file folder in my
(08:41):
purse, which sat on the carpetedfloor by my chair. As I raised
back up, I glanced out towardthe rest of the dining room, and
I kid you not, there weremen peering at the document and then boldly
staring at my dining companions. Andthat is when the nature of their attention
(09:03):
hit me. Curiosity and the reasonfor that curiosity landed in my brain right
on the heels of that revelation.Do you remember the montage at the end
of the Barbie movie, that partwhere it's home movies of women just being
women at home, laughing, playing, hugging, applying makeup, swimming in
(09:24):
the backyard pool, just being ourselvesat home. I remember sitting in the
theater when that montage played, whileBillie Eilish's haunting lyrics filled the air.
There we were up on that bigscreen. Sisters, every one of us
in those seats knew every woman inthose videos. That's who we are when
(09:45):
we're not having to overcome barriers erectedonly for us, when we're not having
to be on our guard, we'reeasy and free, and it is exquisitely
beautiful. I realized, rising backup in to my seat at that restaurant,
that my friends and I were being, just being out loud in a
(10:07):
public restaurant filled with business men.We were easy with each other because it
was just us women at the tablein the corner. We were being at
that lunch the way we are atlunch in our homes, the way those
women in the Barbie Montage are laughing, sharing, building, planning, just
(10:28):
enjoying. Three women discussing business.No man at the table, and no
attention given to those in the restof the room. Nobody measuring. Okay,
well, you know, you know, you get the idea. No
competition. It was just easy collaboration. And for a lot of the men
in that room, in this conservative, eighty nine point five percent white town
(10:50):
where the average male is sixty fiveyears old, it must have been a
very strange sight. I've been thinkingof it. I wanted to tell you
about it here so that the momentis captured in the story of Rebecca Book's
formation. But it also feels importantto point out that there is an alternative
(11:11):
to cut throat American capitalism. Howwe go about our business is as important
as the business itself. How wewrite our contracts, treat our investors and
donors, assemble our teams, runour operations, find our funding. It's
all a representation of perhaps an unknownreality for others. For men, I
(11:37):
mean for women like me who wereraised in the way of businessmen, our
way, the way of women.It works. According to the Boston Consulting
Group analysis, businesses that are runby women generate ten percent more revenue in
five years than businesses that are runby men, even though women only get
(12:00):
half as much funding across the boardas men. And for those investors that
do put money into women run businesses, the return on investment in female led
companies is twice that of male ownedbusinesses. Plus, the employees in women
run companies report higher job satisfaction ratesthan those in companies run by men.
(12:24):
There's clearly another way to go aboutbusiness than the one that has been dominant
for decades. According to the numbers, it's a better way, a woman's
way. This is why one ofthe two genres we are publishing in Rebecca
Books is business written by women fortyand over. The marketplace needs a trove
(12:48):
of female business knowledge in order tocapture and communicate this different way of doing
business. If you are one ofthose women and you're ready to share your
knowledge with the world, please intouch. We want to make sure that
the lessons you've learned and the waysthat you've honed are transmitted to the current
and coming population of business people.We want to know how you built your
(13:13):
business while raising kids and running yourhousehold and just being you. I'm betting
there probably wasn't an Ice plunge oran Avisa party in the mix. In
the meantime, If you want tosupport this work, yes, please get
in touch. I've got a newfavorite lunch place for wise women doing business
out loud. You've been listening toRaising Rebecca Books, The Birth of a
(13:39):
publishing House from the one C StoryNetwork. Subscribe to the show wherever you
get your podcasts and learn more atRebecca books dot com. That's r E
B E c A books dot com. The Once Sea Story Network for the
(14:16):
love of stories.
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