Wouldn’t it be wonderful to take control of your life, do work you really love – and make more money?

All this and more can be yours as a small business owner. No wonder 2.5 million women a year – that’s 200,000 a month – catch start-up fever. If you’re one of them, you’ve come to the right place. Congratulations!

Why? Because beating the small-business odds isn’t easy. To do it, you’ll need support – and lots of it! Because the biggest challenges you’ll face aren’t economic, they’re emotional. Unless you can find the inner resources and staying power to rebound from setbacks and manage your fears, then the best business plan, the biggest bank account in town, and the savviest marketing strategy won’t help you when the going gets tough.

And it will get tough.

But here’s the good news: plenty of women have already mastered what we call “the small-business mind game” by tapping into their inner resources and ingenuity to rebound from the kind of setbacks that can derail even the most promising small-business dreams…

…like clients that bail and suppliers that fail you. Or phones that don’t ring and fax machines that don’t hum. And bank accounts look more like Mother Teresa’s than Madonna’s. Welcome to the world of small business!

Wouldn’t it be great to discover how women entrepreneurs in different industries handled the same emotional obstacles and the problems you’re worried about – from managing a project meltdown to surviving financially? Better yet, how about getting practical strategies and a dose of inspiration from women who’ve already navigated these tricky waters successfully? That’s what Birthing the Elephant is all about!

In these pages, you’ll learn how to reinvent yourself, how to stay focused, and how to survive the start-up emotional roller coaster from women who’ve already made it big in small business. Birthing the Elephant isn’t your standard guide. It’s the What to Expect When You’re Expecting for women taking the leap into entrepreneurship.

Isn’t it great to know that you’re not alone on this journey? We’ll be with you every step of the way as you launch your start-up, with stories and strategies for beating the tough challenges you’re facing. Because Birthing the Elephant doesn’t just identify the emotional obstacles you’ll hit, it shows you how to push past them so you can achieve your goals.

Using the real-world experience of women who've made it big in small business, we’ll show you how to handle the rocky terrain you’ll face in the first make-or-break 24 months of your launch – the smart moves to make and the dangerous pitfalls to avoid.

From letting go of your paycheck mentality to substituting brains for bucks to finding the staying power to follow your dreams no matter what, Birthing the Elephant is packed with the kind of practical, no-nonsense advice you need to move from wage earner to business owner.

Birthing the Elephant is like GPS for your start-up! No matter what the emotional potholes or unexpected detours you encounter along the way, someone else has already been there and figured out how to get over, under or around them. Why go it alone? Birthing the Elephant will help you stay focused on the big picture --- the successful small business you've dreamed of.

Packed with time-tested and inspirational advice from small-business success stories like cosmetics guru Bobbi Brown and designer Liz Lange, this one-of-a-kind action guide takes you by the hand and shows you:

• how to make the transition from employee to entrepreneur with a minimum of stress, so that your energy is focused on building your business -- not emotional fire-fighting

• how to anticipate -- and cope with -- the psychological minefields strewn along the way, so you can stay motivated and results oriented

• how to stretch your launch dollars by substituting creativity for cash

• how to avoid the 10 costliest mistakes that many women entrepreneurs make – mistakes that can drain your start-up dollars and your drive

Whether you're a “light-bulb” launcher like Lisa Druxman, whose idea for the red-hot franchise Stroller Strides hit her in a flash, or a "long-term launcher" like Liz Lange, whose fashion business evolved over time, Birthing the Elephant is the place to start for a smart start-up. Order it now -- and take your first big step on the road to small-business success!

Karin & Bruce

Karin Abarbanel is an expert on women entrepreneurs and small-business trends -- and an experienced writer with four books to her credit. She served as Avon’s spokesperson for its “Corporation to Cottage” initiative and speaks frequently on women’s entrepreneurship.

Email: Karin@BirthingTheElephant.com

Bruce Freeman is a successful national columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His “Ask the Small Business Professor” column runs weekly to 450 newspapers in the US and Canada. He received the “SBA Journalist of the Year” award, NJ 2006.

Email: Bruce@SmallBusinessProf.com

Media Contact: Kara Van de Water Kara@TenSpeed.com (510) 559.1600 x3054