Advice for businesswomen

I've never worked in corporate America; my only traditional office experiences were not so traditional: a year and a half as an administrative assistant at a neuromuscular therapy center right after high school (read woo-woo women and lots of back rubs) and a six-week stint at an international adoption agency, where extreme boredom and the unfortunate coincidence in co-workers - the mother of my abusive ex - sent me packing post haste.

My entree into the world of business came in earnest when I was 25 and started my personal chef business, Dining with Ease; which is to say that I was indoctrinated into the world of business as a business owner, a rather unconventional intro. Now as a freelance writer and co-owner of Jones Computer and Networking, Inc, I continue to see the business world as a small business owner; it is through this lense that I read Women Leaders: 10 Power Tip in the current Newsweek.

Many of the tips jive with what I have seen. For example, tip #8: Insist on being well-paid. Women are more likely to undervalue themselves which leads to underpricing their services. While IRS guidelines for food service (ingredients should cost no more than a third of the overall price of the job; any more is an IRS red flag), I priced my personal chef service on such a narrow margin that ingredient shopping was a careful balancing act and my hourly rate was pathetic. I have seen other women quickly go out of business because they were so uncomfortable with asking for a profit-turning fee.

What women often forget is that though people love a bargain, even more so they believe that you get what you pay for. There are many stories floating around the business community about a product that couldn't be moved until the price had been increased - counterintuitive, I know, but with the increased price came the appearance of increased value.

Of course, there were a couple of tips with which I take issue though I understand that my disagreement may come of the fact that I haven't worked in corporate America. The first two tips insists in various ways that being nice and wanting people to like you are hindrances in business - which may be true, but for many women I know, being in business is as much, if not more, about quality of life that the subjective measures of stature or income. I am among those. If business ever became an ugly game of backstabbing or ultra-competitiveness, I would quit. I'd rather go back to restaurant kitchens that put so much energy into businesses that make me miserable. Life's too short.