Rating: 4 stars
Headline: The book that will make you want to start a business
Review:
Building on her experience in beauty and blogging, Alexandra Nolan’s publishing debut The Unconventional Entrepreneur tailors itself toward aspirational entrepreneurs. While most of the guidance is fairly universal, author perspective makes it that edge more applicable to those wishing to create home, beauty or fashion brands.
The first section of the book provides a potted autobiography of Nolan’s career from humble beginnings to overseeing her first retail store, The Ivory Boutique. The establishment of several online brands followed swiftly afterwards, including “City Chic Living”. Following this The Unconventional Entrepreneur moves into practical guidance on areas such as branding, balancing profit and cost and digital expansion.
The approach to writing in this book makes for a pleasant read, it is informal in style and dips into Nolan’s personal experiences where applicable. You get a strong sense that Nolan is well informed by her experiences and research, she knows her stuff and understands what it feels like to have insecurities and doubts, particularly as a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated subgroup.
In a couple of places points are a little laboured (in one case study Nolan references an example brand no less than seven times, to the point I cannot think of anything but The European Wax Centre!) Those who regularly read my reviews will also know of my dislike for content which encourages readers to visit websites, such as the QR codes featured in this book. I will say it again; authors, do not encourage readers to put your book down and get distracted on the internet!
The Unconventional Entrepreneur is unashamedly optimistic and proud, a thoroughly enjoyable read that I would readily recommend to any of my female friends considering entrepreneurship. Women who do not know where to begin or find themselves questioning their abilities. I hope this book will continue to make more woman feel as empowered and confident as Nolan is of herself.
AEB Reviews
Links:
Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “The Unconventional Entrepreneur” by Alexandra Nolan
Purchase Link: “The Unconventional Entrepreneur” by Alexandra Nolan (Amazon)
Author Website: https://citychicliving.com/
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