The first thing you have to know as an entrepreneur, start-up, business person and mother/family owner is how to sell yourself. You are the most important part of any business or home venture. Everyone from the delivery person to the VP at the Venture Capital company from whom you want 20 million dollars has to first be charmed, impressed, blown away by YOU. So lets start with who am I, so we get a bit of a relationship going.
My name is Julie Waldman. I grew in suburbia US (Highland Park, NJ) living the Great Gatsby dream of a big green lawn and comfortable middle class private house. I studied Literature at Barnard College (Columbia University) because I could - meaning I was second generation immigrant, and could allow myself not to rush around trying to earn a living because my parents had done that for me. As it turns out, it was the most invaluable thing I could've done as it prepared me for a life of articulation - or making people understand what I was trying to tell them. The biggest problem entrepreneurs often face is getting the elevator pitch - what are you trying to tell me in 1 sentence. I was once given an assignment in writing 101 - tell the story of Cinderella in outline form in less than 50 words. It was instructive.
Of course what does a 'priviliged' girl from suburbia do with a degree in English from a good University - go work for a publisher. Because at a base salary of $12,000 A YEAR, even in 1988, you can barely eat, especially in New York City without some help. I went to work for Random House college division and almost immediately was fired, thanks to the aquisition of the college division by McGraw Hill. As an interesting footnote, I was to work very closely with the President of the college division of McGraw Hill later on, but we'll get to that, probably in another post.
I took my severance, plus a generous new library from my boss who felt bad about the whole story, and went to work for Cambridge University Press, the Ivy League of the academic publishers. It was there that I first learned about self-promotion. The author wants someone who will take care of him/her and while the Press is of course very important, the editor comes in a very close second. I had one very moving letter from another saying he was switching publishers because I had left Cambridge.
My name is Julie Waldman. I grew in suburbia US (Highland Park, NJ) living the Great Gatsby dream of a big green lawn and comfortable middle class private house. I studied Literature at Barnard College (Columbia University) because I could - meaning I was second generation immigrant, and could allow myself not to rush around trying to earn a living because my parents had done that for me. As it turns out, it was the most invaluable thing I could've done as it prepared me for a life of articulation - or making people understand what I was trying to tell them. The biggest problem entrepreneurs often face is getting the elevator pitch - what are you trying to tell me in 1 sentence. I was once given an assignment in writing 101 - tell the story of Cinderella in outline form in less than 50 words. It was instructive.
Of course what does a 'priviliged' girl from suburbia do with a degree in English from a good University - go work for a publisher. Because at a base salary of $12,000 A YEAR, even in 1988, you can barely eat, especially in New York City without some help. I went to work for Random House college division and almost immediately was fired, thanks to the aquisition of the college division by McGraw Hill. As an interesting footnote, I was to work very closely with the President of the college division of McGraw Hill later on, but we'll get to that, probably in another post.
I took my severance, plus a generous new library from my boss who felt bad about the whole story, and went to work for Cambridge University Press, the Ivy League of the academic publishers. It was there that I first learned about self-promotion. The author wants someone who will take care of him/her and while the Press is of course very important, the editor comes in a very close second. I had one very moving letter from another saying he was switching publishers because I had left Cambridge.
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