READ THIS: What If? & Why Not? by Jen Groover
If anyone ever needed inspiration to start his or her own business, this book is the ideal place to find it. Beyond being a virtual mentor and cheerleader in black and white print form, Jen Groover has planned a ten chapter dream sequence for each and every dreamer who is a person of action. Inventor of the Butler Bag (by the way, Jen have you seen the Handbag Butler in our Gotham Gadgets column?), Groover successfully communicates how to get beyond any and all apprehensions any budding entreprenueur may have to spur them along to the birth of a new venture. We celebrate our 100th posting in Read This with What If? & Why Not? by Jen Groover, and we highly recommend it.
We love this book because it starts with a question and is thought-provoking. What If & Why Not? We love love love to ask questions at Whom You Know. Peachy Deegan is always asking everyone she meets a million questions…when you question the world around you, you become an innovator, perhaps seeing a better way something can be done.
We love this book because it is upbeat and positive. Groover has lines like “Someday is today.” Groover tells the reader facts like many successful people have failed, they just didn’t let that stop that from winning in the end. Even the Beatles were turned down several times at the start.
We love this book because it applauds original thinking, the real currency in business. If you are an original thinker with a great product, we want to hear from you.
We love this book most of all because it is so much like Whom You Know. See page 121 where Groover lists bullet points on how to become an information junkie:
1. Go to technology events. (We would say read Gotham Gadgets...we do the work for you at Whom You Know weeding out the ones you don’t want to know about.) We hope we are a technology event.
2. Get to know the world of branding and marketing. We cover and work with a lot of brand names, large and small.
3. Read trade publications. We try to make every column we have (around 80, we haven’t stopped to count) about excellence in each trade we have something to say about, and the original information is coming from the source and everything has our twist on it.
4. Interview Movers and Shakers. Of course this is our most favorite point. Jen Groover herself is one of our Movers and Shakers! Read the interview clicking here. Now we have over 170 but Jen was in the first 50. We think they can all learn something from each other.
Groover is indeed forward-thinking, and she even says something along the lines of what we say to every person who has a post written on them or their product: display your great press! (see page 146)*
She even mentions some brands we have covered, like Nike: http://www.whomyouknow.com/2009/10/olympic-hopefuls-join-nike-to-unveil.html
One of the 32 times we have mentioned Tiffany: http://www.whomyouknow.com/2009/12/rock-your-body-with-tiffanys-amazing.html
Another of our Movers and Shakers, Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx is mentioned a few times. We met Sara at a Saks event here in Manhattan and we think all of these mentions of entrepreneurial success through hard work by Groover add color to the idea that you too can be an entrepreneur, with a little sweat equity.
This book is interspersed with worthwhile quotes such as this one from Pablo Picasso: “I am always doing things I can’t do. That’s how I get to do them.” It also has quotes that go to show you that not all Presidents are innovators: President Woodrow Wilson said, “It is ridiculous to think the motor car will someday replace the horse and buggy.” Fortunately he was wrong! (For more on what we think of cars, see Cruising Peachy.) Our favorite quote Groover uses is by John Steinbeck: “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you’ll have a dozen.”
There is a quote of Robert Kennedy's that this book reminds us of. Although not included in the book, we quote him:
"There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were and ask why not." Did you know his granddaughter Kick is another Mover and Shaker here. (Click to see her interview.)
In this economy, the USA needs entrepreneurship more than ever. Groover’s ideas are timeless, but so appropriate for the current climate. This is the perfect gift for anyone that is forward thinking and wants to look forward to Monday as much as Jen Groover does!
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Many people never start their own business because they lack confidence and are confused about how to actually go about doing it.
In the fantastic new book What If? & Why Not?, business expert and creator of the Butler Bag Jen Groover (who has appeared on CBS’ “The Early Show,” “Fox & Friends” and many other television and radio shows) gives both motivational support and concrete ideas for her readers to have both the emotional and business tools to become successful entrepreneurs themselves.
There is simply no other book out there like this! There are many motivational books and many books about business, but no one blends the two like serial entrepreneur and Huffington Post columnist Jen Groover does.
Everyone is talking about this book!
“Jen has something special about her; her passion and creativity are infectious. She has the soul of an entrepreneur, and it radiates off her—and she proves it every day. Jen’s book is the perfect extension to teach others how to create their own success.”
—Donny Deutsch
Originally, Jen Groover achieved her success through her invention of the Butler Bag www.butlerbag.com and went onto create Launcher’s Café www.launcherscafe.com, a Web site to help entrepreneurs get started. She has been featured in many magazines and newspapers including People, Us, O, Redbook and Entrepreneur.
Now, Jen Groover has been compared to Martha Stewart because she is an entrepreneur extraordinaire. She built a multimillion-dollar business from scratch and knows that if she can do it, so can many entrepreneurs.
Her book What If?& Why Not? shows how an entrepreneur can transform their fears into action by rethinking the negative questions that can lead to failure before they even get started.
No one can motivate budding entrepreneurs better that Jen. Around the country, in person and on television, Jen teaches people how to pitch themselves to success. She does the same in her book. In sections of the book she calls Dreamers’ Corner, she interviews successful new entrepreneurs. She offers motivational worksheets to keep entrepreneurs organized.
Jen Groover will soon be launching a QVC show on the Jen Groover Brand, which includes innovative products and accessories. To learn more about Jen and see her on air and the many media outlets she has been featured in, go to: www.jengroover.com.
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Publication Details
What If? & Why Not?: How to Transform Your Fears Into Action and Start the Business of Your Dreams
§ Author(s): Jen Groover
§ Category: Business
§ ISBN: 9781935251675
§ Publication Month: March 2010
§ Retail: $24.95 (US)/31.95 (CAN)
§ Publisher: BenBella Books
§ Cover: Cloth
§ Page Count: 242
*Some who have displayed their press by Whom You Know include:
http://janefonda.com/a-gala-
http://www.bigapplecircus.biz/
http://www.bottegadelvinonyc.
http://www.meltgelato.com/nyc.
http://www.taschen.com/pages/
http://thebearaness.com/WP/?p=
http://www.taschen.com/pages/
http://thebearaness.com/WP/?p=
Consuelo, Kick and Sara as Movers and Shakers:http://www.
