Book Review
Stepping into the world of entrepreneurship requires massive courage, and launching a new business can seem particularly daunting. In her new book ‘Courageous Enough to Launch’, Dr Cheryl Wood speaks to 47 women who developed the tenacity, persistence, determination, commitment and resilience to launch and stay the course to building successful businesses. Their stories are personal, powerful, authentic, and above all, inspiring, and encourage other women to take decisive action to realize their own entrepreneurial visions.
Best-selling author, international empowerment speaker and development coach, Dr Cheryl Wood, has launched her new book Courageous Enough to Launch, which shines a spotlight on the business building journey undertaken by so many women who have a vision for their lives as entrepreneurs. As she points out in the book, the entrepreneurial path is one that is often permeated with fears, risks, uncertainty, challenges, setbacks, and failures that make the path appear less than favorable when considering launching. The feelings of uncertainty and discomfort can be especially prevalent among aspiring women entrepreneurs who oftentimes doubt their abilities and over-think, over-analyze, or over-process the idea of just getting started. In fact, many never launch. Instead, they spend excessive amounts of time and energy questioning whether they’re qualified, good enough, or capable of successfully stepping into the role of President, Founder, Owner or CEO.
Despite these normal emotions that often accompany the idea of entrepreneurship, there are dynamic women around the world who commit to taking their shot anyway and who launch their business ideas even in the face of uncertainty and “no guaranteed results.” The women who decide to “take the shot” understand that success, legacy, and impact always exist on the opposite side of our greatest fears and doubts. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” (Wayne Gretzky). Each co-author has penned her own entrepreneurial experience in her own unique voice and has shared “the good, the bad and the ugly” and how she pressed forward anyway. Readers will find each chapter to be a refreshing reminder that they too have what it takes to successfully launch (or grow) the vision they’ve been sitting on.
Author quotes
I am excited to present to you, Couragous Enough to Launch, an inspiring compilation of the stories of 47 dynamic women from around the world who faced their own fears, doubts, and self-limiting beliefs as they were thinking about launching their own businesses… BUT they did it anyway!
It is my hope that this book will inspire you to push even harder for your entrepreneurial passion and your big dreams with a sense of urgency unlike you’ve ever had before!
All of us have a unique gift - that “thing” that nobody can do like we do - and it’s your job to discover what that gift is, and then share it with others.
I celebrate each of the 47 co-authors who said yes to being vulnerable enough to openly share what it took to kick-start their entrepreneurial journey and the strategies they implemented to courageously launch.
There is unparalleled power in sharing what you know so that someone else is inspired to start their own journey.
About the author
Dr Cheryl Wood is an international motivational speaker, best-selling author, and master speaker development coach for women. She is committed to empowering and equipping women with the tools to courageously share their unique voice, their story, and their subject matter expertise. Cheryl provides specialized speaker training for both corporate and entrepreneurial women who are ready to articulate their message in a manner that is clear, concise, compelling, and captivating. Whether the message is being shared in a Boardroom, a Conference Room, or a Media Room, she believes that every message has the power to create a shift in people's thoughts and perspectives and, therefore, should be done with intention and strategy. Cheryl’s personal story of bootstrapping her way to her own successful international speaking empire that has taken her as far as South Africa, India, France, United Kingdom and the Bahamas to share her message, inspires other women to get out of their comfort zone and become more intentional in leveraging the power of their voice. Cheryl has received numerous awards and accolades for her work of empowerment with girls and women globally. She has been featured on ABC, Radio One, Forbes Magazine, Huffington Post, ESSENCE, Black Enterprise, Good Morning Washington, Fox 45 News, Fox 5 News, and numerous other media outlets. She has delivered keynote presentations for a host of large and small organizations.
Why LoA loves it….
If you speak to women who have aspirations to start a business, many will tell you that starting is the hardest part of the journey. The business idea may be there, the product concept may have been developed, but when you are just starting out it seems a long way to the finish line and actually getting to launch stage - so much so that many women never get past the idea stage. Dr Cheryl Wood knows from first hand experience of talking with women entrepreneurs at all stages of their journeys that it takes a huge dose of courage, together with an unshakeable belief in what they are doing, to get to launch phase. This is a book that will inspire all those aspirant women entrepreneurs who have the end goal in sight but need that extra push to get there. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo of Lionesses of Africa