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The Female Entrepreneur: A step-by-step guide to the adventure that is starting your own business! - by Charly Lester and Caroline Brealey

August 26, 2018 Melanie Hawken
Charly Lester and Caroline Brealey

Charly Lester and Caroline Brealey

The Female Entrepreneur, by Charly Lester and Caroline Brealey, is a step-by-step guide to starting your own business. Combining personal stories, practical advice and quotes from leading female founders, The Female Entrepreneur will teach you how to start your business, brand it, attract clients, and make sales. 

 

A League of Her Own co-founders, Charly Lester and Caroline Brealey, in their new book, The Female Entrepreneur, guide you through every step of taking a business idea through to action and becoming an entrepreneur. Applying skills and experience accrued from running multiple businesses, Charly and Caroline address all the hurdles and challenges involved with the early stages of business. These two innovative entrepreneurs who are always looking to stay ahead of the game, champion the importance of passion and positivity, and offer advice and encouragement for tackling doubts and staying on track. Aimed at women with a business idea, early-stage entrepreneurs, or anyone bored of their day job and considering a side hustle, this book takes you from start-up to scale-up.

Author quotes

We know first hand it’s tough starting a business, especially if you’re juggling a career, family or heck, even just general day-to-day life! It’s absolutely possible though. We want to get you to where you want to be in business, faster… and have some fun along the way!
If you have a business idea, but don’t know where to start, then you have picked the right book. We were both in your position once. We wanted to make the transition from working full-time for someone else, to working for ourselves.
Here’s what we can tell you about being business owners - it is incredibly rewarding, demanding and satisfying. Most people can only dream of working for themselves, but a growing number of people are taking the plunge, following their dream and making a career that fits their exact parameters.
In this book, we will give you the support we wished we had when we were starting out. We will also include advice from other women who have started their own businesses. They all share one thing in common - they were where you are now, and they made a choice to pursue a dream and turn it into reality.

About the authors

Charly Lester is the Founder and CEO of The Dating Awards, an international set of industry awards for online and offline dating companies. Over the past four years she has established the UK Dating Awards, European Dating Awards and US Dating Awards.  She also runs annual industry conferences in the US and on the European mainland. Charly is the former Global Head of Dating for Time Out, and was once the Dating Editor at the Guardian. She teaches regular classes in Blogging, Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the Guardian, and is on the Board of Advisors for the Media Department at Regent’s University. Charly is an award-winning blogger, and Head Judge at the UK Blog Awards.  She was an expert advisor to Lord Sugar on The Apprentice Final 2015.  Together with Caroline, Charly is the co-founder of the Dating Expert Academy.  They have co-authored a book called ‘How to Become a Dating Expert’. In her spare time, Charly plays Roller Derby (she’s on Team Romania for the upcoming World Cup!) and does triathlons (she’s done two Half Ironman distance ones this year, and is training for a Full Ironman).

Caroline Brealey never set out to be an ‘entrepreneur’. Working in the voluntary sector with children with complex needs and their families, Caroline craved change and decided to turn an idea she’d had for a business into a reality. Mutual Attraction, a now double-award winning matchmaking service launched in 2011. She has since gone on to launch the Matchmaker Academy, a training school for matchmakers which stemmed from her book ‘How to Become a Matchmaker’. Through the Academy, Caroline hosts training weekends, delivers 1:1 coaching and in 2016 launched their first online course. Together with Charly she launched the Dating Expert Academy. Caroline has many business achievements she’s proud of but the biggest has to be not fainting with nerves before doing live TV! A finalist in the Great British Entrepreneur awards, an author and a regular commentator for female entrepreneurship in the press, Caroline is excited to be connecting and working with female founders around the world.  In her spare time she enjoys walks in the countryside with her husband, baby and sausage dog ‘Lady’.

www.leagueofher.com 


Why LoA loves it….

It’s often said that for many aspirant women entrepreneurs, the biggest challenge is just starting. So for all those who need an encouraging step-by-step guide, they have found it in Charly Lester and Caroline Brealey’s new book, The Female Entrepreneur. It gives practical, implementable advice and information on everything from launching a business and getting clients, to branding and marketing, and everything in between. This is a great read for all those women entrepreneurs who want to take their idea and finally make the plunge to getting started in business.
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Tech FoundHER AFRICA CHALLENGE

MEET THE 10 FINALISTS — We look forward to announcing the winning women founders on 19 November 2025.


CELEBRATING 10 YEARS


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Award-winning furniture design…We are big fans of talented South African designer Thabisa Mjo, founder of Mash. T Design Studio in Johannesburg, and these fabulous side tables are firm customer favouri Image of the Day / Quazi Design

Sustainable Home Decor…If you want to make a statement with your interior design and home decor, and at the same make a contribution to supporting eco-friendly enterprise, then these unique decor pieces from Qu Image of the Day / Eki

Silk Sensation…Nothing is quite as luxurious as silk, that’s why we love the ‘Africa on Silk’ collections from Eki, founded by Hazel Eki Osunde. Eki is known for its signature soft silks and ethereal c Image of the Day / ‘57 Chocolate

Bean to bar luxury chocolate… Taste the difference with the finest chocolate lovingly produced by ‘57 Chocolate, the pioneer bean to bar chocolate manufacturer in Ghana, created by sisters Kimberle Image of the Day / Kebe Home

Handcrafted home decor …We are big fans of the work of Manuela Kamadjou, an interior architecture and design entrepreneur who transforms homes and spaces in Cameroon through her business, Kebe Home. Her new Echo V Image of the Day / Pichulik

Beautiful bracelets… Introducing The Aruba Bracelets by Katherine-Mary Pichulik, the founder and designer behind the Pichulik line of accessories. Pichulik is an ethical jewellery, accessories and womenswear atelie Image of the Day / Eva Sonaike

Vibrant textile design…This striking textile design by Eva Sonaike caught our eye this morning. Like the rest of the world, we love the African aesthetic which is increasingly finding its way into global interio Image of the Day / Adèle Dejak

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Built on Purpose: Discover Your Deep Inner Why and Manifest the Business of Your Dreams by Betsy Fore
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Dream Big and Win: Translating Passion into Purpose and Creating a Billion-Dollar Business by Liz Elting
After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup by Julia Austin
After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup by Julia Austin

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