I help entrepreneurs leapfrog over the typical potholes that derail most small businesses with inspiration, motivation, education, and support across a wide range of business topics drawn from over a decade of running my own business, teaching entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and coaching and consulting privately with dozens of women and minority small business owners. Honestly, why go it alone when help is an email away?
Somersaulting
It might seem strange that with war in the Middle East, a paralyzed US Congress, and the meteoric box office eclipse set off by Taylor Swift's Eras Tour "The Movie," that the thing that captures my eye and attention is a breaking news alert on my phone Sunday evening as I'm getting ready for bed.
Actress Suzanne Somers Dead at 76 After Battling Cancer
I am young enough to remember watching Somers in her break-out role of Chrissy Snow on Three's Company as the episodes air live.
On TV, Somers personifies the ditzy blond to consummate perfection. In real life, however, she is anything but.
Honestly, I'm not a particular fan of Somers. Never read her books. Don't follow her on or off line. Abhor her politics.
And, yet, I can't help but give her props for the many things she's accomplished in her career.
- Equal Pay Advocate
Somers has the audacity in 1981 to ask to be paid the same as her male co-star, John Ritter, who earns 5 times as much as her and co-star Joyce DeWitt.
She is promptly fired and ostensibly 'blacklisted' from the industry. Like Bette Davis before her, Somers serves as a cautionary tale to other women in Hollywood and in the workforce in general—know your place and your 'face' value.
Spoiler alert: She not only survives, but thrives.
- Self-made Millionaire
It's hard to meet anyone past the age of about 35 who hasn't heard of the Thighmaster—a viral sensation before there is such a concept. It's amazing success is all due to Somers, who is already old (especially for a sex symbol) by Hollywood standards when it debuts in 1991 with Somers as its spokesperson.
Eventually, Suzanne and her husband buy out their partners and make a cool 300 million in sales of the home fitness equipment. Thighmaster launches Somers' health and wellness empire, run now by her daughter-n-law and still going strong.
For better or worse, Somers' success ushers in a whole new age of celebrity entrepreneurship. Would there be Gwyneth Paltrow and GOOP without Suzanne Somers? Who knows.
- Celebrity Influencer
In many ways, Somers launches the celebrity influencer culture that's so ubiquitous today.
In books and interviews, she shares her struggles, challenges, and secrets to life, health, wellness, beauty and more, often to the consternation of medical professionals.
This endears her to audiences old and new the world over, who love her authenticity and transparency. They put her on best-seller lists and keep the money rolling into her various enterprises.
As much as I may hate to admit it, Somers was a maverick and a true master of the professional bob and weave. No matter what else you might say about her, she kept on going, growing, evolving.
And that's more than admirable, it's inspired and inspiring.
To me, her story is also a great reminder for these divisive times that we can respect and even admire those with whom we disagree or even dislike.
These things are not mutually exclusive. And the world might be the better for it if this was the norm rather than the exception.
Need some help bobbing and weaving to keep your business growing? Let's get to work.
Until next time,
PS - If you missed it, last week I was Paying to Play.
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Easily Said & Done
I help entrepreneurs leapfrog over the typical potholes that derail most small businesses with inspiration, motivation, education, and support across a wide range of business topics drawn from over a decade of running my own business, teaching entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and coaching and consulting privately with dozens of women and minority small business owners. Honestly, why go it alone when help is an email away?
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