Lessons In Business from Bethenny Frankel

Do you have better things to do than watch The Real Housewives of New York City? I do. But I have caught a few shows. My 20-something daughter thinks Bethenny Frankel is cool. What I think is cool is that she was on the cover of Forbes. You're more than simply a housewife from New York when your business story can sell copies of Forbes.  Yes, Bethenny Frankel can teach women a few things about business:

Know what you want. There's one thing you immediately notice about Frankel: She knows what she wants. Whether it's a design idea or a business appearance, she has an opinion of the way she wants it done. What I saw was that you didn't hear a lot of "I don't know. What do you think I should do?" from Frankel. I think that served her well.

When you know what you want you now have the map for your business journey.  What do you do if you're just not sure? Get some input from people you know and trust. They might give you some ideas, and then you could pick from those.

What if you can't pick?

You might not like my answer. When you don't know what you want and can't make decisions, you get to be a follower. You can also forget about a Forbes cover. That's for leaders only, and knowing that you're not a leader is important information to learn. Now find someone to follow.

Dream big. You may not know that Frankel is a trained natural food chef who had a catering business. Not content with just that, she decided that she, like her idol Martha Stewart, could live her brand. That's when she went on The Apprentice - Martha Stewart.  She wasn't just playing, either.  She believed she could be Martha Stewart's successor.  At the time she was a struggling entrepreneur.  That's dreaming big.

Be strategic. It was only a matter of time when Frankel found her calling. She was at a bar and ordered what she called a skinny margarita. She believed in its potential.  She figured that her Real Housewives television exposure could help her. Frankel knew to not to waste it on facials. She even told her cast mates of The Real Housewives, “Do something. Have something."  She did and they didn't.  Skinnygirl Margarita became the fastest growing ready-to-drink cocktail in the United States.

There's life after failure. Before the margarita success there were some grim failures for Frankel. When Housewives started she was single and broke. In 2007, her income was negative $47,000 -- and it was worse the year before. That didn't stop her. She wrote a New York Times bestseller about her experience. Defeat and failure are part of everyone's business experience.  Defeat doesn't have to stop you, either.

The last thing Frankel can teach you is about attitude. Frankel says, "I've always gone for everything with a vengeance."  

If you want your business success, then you should, too.

Maura Schreier-Fleming is a sales strategist and founder of Best@Selling, a sales training and consulting company. She wrote Monday Morning Sales Tips and works with sales professionals who want to sell more and get more business.