Last week, LHG Denver attended Denver Startup Week, a celebration of everything entrepreneurial in Denver and the largest event of its kind in the world. It was the eighth annual and largest event yet, with over 20,000 attendees taking part in programs and events to celebrate Denver’s thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and showcase and build the city’s culture of innovation.

 

 

Being the news junkies that we are – we especially enjoyed listening to Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of theSkimm, Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, share their story on founding theSkimm and their new book and #1 New York Times Bestseller – “How to Skimm Your Life.”

Curious about the book? Here’s the gist:

“It might seem like everyone you know took secret classes on budgeting, owning their career, and choosing the right wine—and you were sick that day. Enter: How to Skimm Your Life. With theSkimm’s trademark mix of real talk, humor, and inspirational messaging, this book gives you the information you need to make informed and empowered decisions in your life. Covering everything from personal finance, to career, to stress management, global politics, and more, How to Skimm Your Life breaks down some of the less glamorous parts of adulting.”

 

 

Beyond the book news, our team enjoyed these words of wisdom from fellow female entrepreneurs to achieve and maintain success, while balancing all parts of life:

  • Be confident. Know your value and don’t shy from it. Embrace your wisdom, experience and offerings with confidence as you approach business situations.
  • Be resilient. You will encounter “no’s” and setbacks along the way. Learn from them and keep going. There will be “yes’s” to discover but it takes dedication and perseverance.
  • Be focused. Develop a clear vision of your offering and audience and hone in on that laser focus to guide your decisions.
  • Be goal oriented. Each Monday, they meet with their team to discuss the top three priorities for that week. This gives a reachable number for the team to achieve while also allowing time to navigate new opportunities along the way and time for strategic thinking.
  • Be open. While maintaining focus is imperative, be open to new opportunities. Their example was the book. They have been approached numerous times about writing a book but the timing was not ideal. Now that they have a strong, supportive team, they had the opportunity to purse the book deal which is now a best-seller.
  • Be social. Develop a community. Seek and offer mentorship. When attending networking events, do not leave without making one connection who can connect you with another beneficial contact.
  • Be human. Self-care is vital. Nutrition, sleep, exercise, vacation and downtime are crucial to preserving your well-being for success. As they said, their would be no skim if they were not alive. They lean on their support system of family and friends along with weekend down time away from email.

Given their humble beginnings of $4,000 when starting theSkimm to its valuation now over $55 million (Forbes.com) – we’d say these guiding values are worthwhile indeed.