Bethenny Frankel knows how to hustle. There’s no doubt about that. She’s also been afforded plenty of opportunities to demonstrate that hustle across a host of platforms – reality television specifically. She got her start on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart in 2005, and came in second place. While she has admitted in interviews that she thinks Martha Stewart was not a fan of hers, she definitely impressed producer Mark Burnett. Shortly thereafter, Bethenny was cast on a little show we know called Real Housewives of New York City, and well the rest is history!
In her time on RHONY, Bethenny went from single, to married, to divorced mom, and author, all while building an immensely successful brand. She was able to make her ideas a reality, leverage her name and status from the series and build SkinnyGirl into a brand. The brand was executed so well that she sold the company to Fortune Brands Beam Global in 2011 for an estimated 120 million dollars. Her story is part of why fans admire her and she definitely has bragging rights.
Bethenny was recently quoted in Yahoo! Finance about her plans post-RHONY. When asked about the challenges facing women entrepreneurs, Bethenny answered in a way that only emphasized her personal assets. “I have amazing ideas and I execute and I’m honest and I’m straightforward and I’m cutthroat,” she said. “I’m just not the one who’s going to be complaining about ‘woe is me,’” she elaborated. So, there are no challenges facing women entrepreneurs today?
According to Bethenny, women entrepreneurs can just work harder to overcome any challenges. “Most people don’t work hard,” Bethenny stated. “Most people move the papers around the desk metaphorically and think they’re working hard,” she said. Bottom line, being a woman entrepreneur is simply, Bethenny shared, “about working hard.”
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Sure, working hard is essential to getting anywhere. The phrase “working hard” is barely ever defined. There are people besides Bethenny, who work hard every day at two, three, four jobs. They will still never in their lives reach a hundred million dollar fortune. Hard work is not the only thing that enables people to reach the levels of success Bethenny has. It takes connections, huge platforms that come with built-in audiences, and a host of other skills that are not accessible to everyone.
I appreciate Bethenny for her philanthropy and B.Strong. I live for her on RHONY. I’m mourning her absence already in the next season. But when it comes to talking business and success, she frames herself as a unicorn, singularly equipped to get things done, using vague statements. Rich people are very rarely the only people who ‘work hard’ in this world. Often times they are not “self-made”. Their success is also helped by having access to things. Bethenny, does work very hard mainly selling low calorie beverages and snacks, I won’t deny her that.
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TELL US- HOW HARD DO YOU HAVE TO WORK TO GET WHERE BETHENNY IS? IS BETHENNY THE HARDEST WORKING HOUSEWIFE?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
