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Business Is Personal: The Truth About What It Takes to Be Successful While Staying True to Yourself
Lessons on building a business and maintaining balance by the New York T
imes
bestselling author, media personality, mogul, and mother, based on her hit podcast and her own career as a serial entrepreneur and brand builder.Consider this book your strategic toolbox, full of Bethenny's smartest and most practical no-nonsense business principles and tactics, illustrated through her own compelling stories and lessons from the entrepreneurial front and experience building the successful Skinnygirl and Bethenny brands, becoming a successful television and podcast producer, and managing her philanthropic foundation. She also shares wisdom from her conversations with highly accomplished people from Mark Cuban to Hillary Clinton, Candace Bushnell to Matthew McConaughey and many more, on what it takes to be successful at every level in an authentic way.So many women, including stay-at-home moms yearning for more, entrepreneurs, and 9-to-5ers see this time of disruption as an open road. As Bethenny says, the snow globe has been shaken. This is THE handbook to navigate what will come next. Whether you are new to business, a seasoned rainmaker, pivoting from a loss or layoff- or just finding your way- you will find value within these pages. This book will inspire you to act without fear, turn mistakes into masterstrokes, and keep you laughing along the way.
Audio CD
Published May 17, 2022
21 people are currently reading
353 people want to read
About the author
Bethenny Frankel
20 books248 followersBethenny Frankel has a knack for making healthy food taste delicious. That knack, which started out as a hobby and was enhanced with formal training, has elevated her to national prominence as a celebrated natural food chef, the creator of the phenomenal new Skinnygirl Margarita, and The New York Times best selling author of Naturally Thin.
Frankel, who calls herself a "health foodie” and attended the National Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, focuses on sharing with others her knowledge and passion for healthy living. In addition to her monthly column in Health Magazine, she is regularly featured in national publications from The New York Times to the weekly entertainment magazines. She’s also a sought-after guest on national news and entertainment television, where she brings her expertise and irresistibly candid and funny take not only to food segments but to any conversation about living healthy and living well.
Frankel’s wit, wisdom and humor came to national attention when she was named first runner-up on NBC’s “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.” Network executives saw a personality they couldn’t ignore and put her center stage weekly on Bravo’s hit series “The Real Housewives of New York,” now in its third season. Though technically not a “wife,” she has emerged as the star of the series, with a huge network of fans, a job as national spokesperson for Pepperidge Farm's Baked Naturals® and Deli Flats(trademark), and her own spin-off series now in production.
Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting debuted this year on The New York Times Best Sellers list and stayed for an astonishing for 18 consecutive weeks. Frankel’s second book, The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life will be released January 5, 2010, just in time to support “new year, new me” resolutions with delicious, practical, effective recipes and lifestyle tweaks. Skinnygirl Dish showcases Frankel’s renowned “fix-ology” . . . her ability to take calorie-rich foods and revamp them to create healthier versions without compromising flavor.
Her skill as a fixologist applies to cocktails too . . . she has just this fall launched The Skinnygirl Margarita, a bottled, pre-mixed beverage made with clear tequila, lime juice and only a splash of citrus liqueur, which drastically reduces the calories of the traditional cocktail. All natural and lightly sweetened with agave nectar, it has only 100 calories in a full 4 oz. serving.
As the go-to blogger for all things reality and lifestyle, Frankel wields her pen like a sword, ensuring that readers will get the unvarnished truth along with common sense, expertise and a healthy – always healthy – dose of humor. She is on a mission to democratize healthy living, making information available to everyone she can reach through her appearances, books, columns and blogs.
Frankel lives in Manhattan with her dog Cookie. She will be marrying her other love, Jason Hoppy, this spring and they will welcome their first child in early summer.
From her website
Frankel, who calls herself a "health foodie” and attended the National Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, focuses on sharing with others her knowledge and passion for healthy living. In addition to her monthly column in Health Magazine, she is regularly featured in national publications from The New York Times to the weekly entertainment magazines. She’s also a sought-after guest on national news and entertainment television, where she brings her expertise and irresistibly candid and funny take not only to food segments but to any conversation about living healthy and living well.
Frankel’s wit, wisdom and humor came to national attention when she was named first runner-up on NBC’s “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.” Network executives saw a personality they couldn’t ignore and put her center stage weekly on Bravo’s hit series “The Real Housewives of New York,” now in its third season. Though technically not a “wife,” she has emerged as the star of the series, with a huge network of fans, a job as national spokesperson for Pepperidge Farm's Baked Naturals® and Deli Flats(trademark), and her own spin-off series now in production.
Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting debuted this year on The New York Times Best Sellers list and stayed for an astonishing for 18 consecutive weeks. Frankel’s second book, The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life will be released January 5, 2010, just in time to support “new year, new me” resolutions with delicious, practical, effective recipes and lifestyle tweaks. Skinnygirl Dish showcases Frankel’s renowned “fix-ology” . . . her ability to take calorie-rich foods and revamp them to create healthier versions without compromising flavor.
Her skill as a fixologist applies to cocktails too . . . she has just this fall launched The Skinnygirl Margarita, a bottled, pre-mixed beverage made with clear tequila, lime juice and only a splash of citrus liqueur, which drastically reduces the calories of the traditional cocktail. All natural and lightly sweetened with agave nectar, it has only 100 calories in a full 4 oz. serving.
As the go-to blogger for all things reality and lifestyle, Frankel wields her pen like a sword, ensuring that readers will get the unvarnished truth along with common sense, expertise and a healthy – always healthy – dose of humor. She is on a mission to democratize healthy living, making information available to everyone she can reach through her appearances, books, columns and blogs.
Frankel lives in Manhattan with her dog Cookie. She will be marrying her other love, Jason Hoppy, this spring and they will welcome their first child in early summer.
From her website
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 25, 2022
Couldn’t stop reading this book. Bethenny is iconic, intentional, authentic, and incredibly intelligent. This book read as if she was telling you a story, walking you through her thought process and she gave plenty of helpful tips along the way. Would highly recommend!!
October 29, 2022
I enjoy her as a celebrity. She is refreshingly unapologetic and direct, but the book was just ok.
December 18, 2022
Honestly love Bethany, This book is so good I felt like I was listening to one of her podcasts not reading a book 100% recommend !
February 9, 2023
Technicality: I listened to the Audible version, but for some reason the only "audio" format I could find here on GR was this one that says "Audio CD"
This was fantastic and exceeded my expectations... just like the other book of hers I just listened to, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting.
I love that this was self narrated. Bethenny is one fast talker but she has great articulation and I found her easy and pleasant to listen to. Just like "Naturally Thin", Business Is Personal: The Truth about What It Takes to Be Successful While Staying True to Yourself is so utterly Bethenny : straightforward, witty, and insightful. It is rare for me to really identify with female entrepreneurs and CEOs; I usually find them preachy or girl-boss-rah-rah which is fine but not usually particularly useful. I picked this up because there is so much I admire about Bethenny's life and accomplishments. Yes, there is arguably plenty of negative to balance the positive, but I take what I see in the media on television with a 5 gal pail of salt; we never know what is really true and the more I've seen of her since leaving RHONY, including her recent more candid YouTube Content and her podcast, the more I like her tbh.
Bethenny covers everything from how she got started to how she operates now as an experienced business woman. Her journey from broke as a joke (anyone else remember that iconic RHONY moment where she's trying to sell baked goods in the store and the lady asks her for rotisserie chickens?? 😂😂) to selling the cocktail portion of her SkinnyGirl brand for 120 MILLION 🥵 to Beam is pretty incredible. I really enjoyed that the book is also an accessible, digestible size, full of information and light on fluff. She doesn't f*ck around that's for sure. I was particularly pleased with the way she shared moments of failure that became moments of growth and how she worked through them.
Overall this was really enjoyable and chock full of useful information I can personally really identify with. This is a book I'll listen to more than once in order to really soak up the wisdom.
This was fantastic and exceeded my expectations... just like the other book of hers I just listened to, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting.
I love that this was self narrated. Bethenny is one fast talker but she has great articulation and I found her easy and pleasant to listen to. Just like "Naturally Thin", Business Is Personal: The Truth about What It Takes to Be Successful While Staying True to Yourself is so utterly Bethenny : straightforward, witty, and insightful. It is rare for me to really identify with female entrepreneurs and CEOs; I usually find them preachy or girl-boss-rah-rah which is fine but not usually particularly useful. I picked this up because there is so much I admire about Bethenny's life and accomplishments. Yes, there is arguably plenty of negative to balance the positive, but I take what I see in the media on television with a 5 gal pail of salt; we never know what is really true and the more I've seen of her since leaving RHONY, including her recent more candid YouTube Content and her podcast, the more I like her tbh.
Bethenny covers everything from how she got started to how she operates now as an experienced business woman. Her journey from broke as a joke (anyone else remember that iconic RHONY moment where she's trying to sell baked goods in the store and the lady asks her for rotisserie chickens?? 😂😂) to selling the cocktail portion of her SkinnyGirl brand for 120 MILLION 🥵 to Beam is pretty incredible. I really enjoyed that the book is also an accessible, digestible size, full of information and light on fluff. She doesn't f*ck around that's for sure. I was particularly pleased with the way she shared moments of failure that became moments of growth and how she worked through them.
Overall this was really enjoyable and chock full of useful information I can personally really identify with. This is a book I'll listen to more than once in order to really soak up the wisdom.
June 20, 2022
I am a fan of Bethenny’s banter on social media and RHONY. As a woman looking to start her own brand, I picked this up looking for advice.
I should have stopped when Bethenny advised readers not be caught up in being labeled an “other,” saying that she never thought being a woman in business made things more difficult. Zero reflection on why that may be the case. The first half of the book we hear about how she is always 5 steps ahead, and then we get to the story about how she blew a deal with HSN because she didn’t think to order samples of a new suit product?! I truly am shocked that tale was included - and we don’t even find out where the swimsuits ended up! The name dropping is beyond and she begins every other sentence with I. Justice for the stoner influencer (her words) she didn’t allow on her podcast because she “doesn’t do anything” compared to her elite guests.
I can only imagine the Glassdoor reviews for her company. Bethenny admits that she never assumes anyone is smarter than her (big yikes) and that no one can do things better than her because she is so fast and efficient. Bethenny, you need that stoner in your life. This grind culture mentality is so off-putting, unrealistic and unhealthy. She talks about working through COVID because “pros play hurt”. You are telling me there are 0 people on payroll she could trust to finalize a partner deal while she recovered from a pandemic disease?! Nothing, no dollar amount, is worth your health. She admits to having a full mental breakdown, and then only taking 4 days off work to recover. That is a long weekend. I just cannot accept the notion that this is the standard for what it takes to be successful in business. If it is, it needs to change.
For women that want want advice about creating a multimillion brand and enjoying life at the same time, I recommend Jen Atkin’s book. If you trust your team and fill your circle with people you know are smarter than you, it’s possible. Bethenny hasn’t cracked that code yet.
I should have stopped when Bethenny advised readers not be caught up in being labeled an “other,” saying that she never thought being a woman in business made things more difficult. Zero reflection on why that may be the case. The first half of the book we hear about how she is always 5 steps ahead, and then we get to the story about how she blew a deal with HSN because she didn’t think to order samples of a new suit product?! I truly am shocked that tale was included - and we don’t even find out where the swimsuits ended up! The name dropping is beyond and she begins every other sentence with I. Justice for the stoner influencer (her words) she didn’t allow on her podcast because she “doesn’t do anything” compared to her elite guests.
I can only imagine the Glassdoor reviews for her company. Bethenny admits that she never assumes anyone is smarter than her (big yikes) and that no one can do things better than her because she is so fast and efficient. Bethenny, you need that stoner in your life. This grind culture mentality is so off-putting, unrealistic and unhealthy. She talks about working through COVID because “pros play hurt”. You are telling me there are 0 people on payroll she could trust to finalize a partner deal while she recovered from a pandemic disease?! Nothing, no dollar amount, is worth your health. She admits to having a full mental breakdown, and then only taking 4 days off work to recover. That is a long weekend. I just cannot accept the notion that this is the standard for what it takes to be successful in business. If it is, it needs to change.
For women that want want advice about creating a multimillion brand and enjoying life at the same time, I recommend Jen Atkin’s book. If you trust your team and fill your circle with people you know are smarter than you, it’s possible. Bethenny hasn’t cracked that code yet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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June 7, 2024This made me feel genuinely crazy. Bethenny is the queen of girl boss culture. I loved her talking about her one night stand at the trump tower and about her growing up on the race tracks.
Here are some of her words of wisdom:
Im a warrior.
Cracks become craters.
Integrity is what happens when no one is looking. Shake the snowglobe.
Hunt and gather.
Put your big girl pants on.
It’s my dream to run into bethenny in nyc
Here are some of her words of wisdom:
Im a warrior.
Cracks become craters.
Integrity is what happens when no one is looking. Shake the snowglobe.
Hunt and gather.
Put your big girl pants on.
It’s my dream to run into bethenny in nyc
January 3, 2023
reading this book was like having a conversation with an old friend. Age old, timeless advice presented with actual examples and tangible ways to implement it. It’s one thing to say “be true to yourself”, everyone says it, but Bethenny shows you how she’s done it and explains not only how you can do it, but the importance of doing it and the ripple effect it will have in all aspects of your life. I had high expectations for this book and it surpassed every one.
September 16, 2025
I just finished reading Business is Personal by Bethenny Frankel. The first thing she brought up that I loved was about how she doesn’t have a junk drawer. This is a woman after my own heart. I tried to have a junk drawer but after about a week I had to straighten it up. I just couldn’t do it.
As an aside, I told one of the women who works for me about Bethenny and I’s junk drawer bonding and that woman told me that ever since she went to visit me at my home in Aspen, CO and realized how organized I was, she started straightening up her life.
“My life has never been so orderly.” she told me.
"I’m motivated to get organized. The best part about it is I’m saving 1-2 hours a day which I used to spend looking for stuff. I am loving it!”
Bethany talks about being kind, but not being a pushover, learning how to say no, standing your ground, and not letting some bad apples ruin the situation.
One of the other topics that I found interesting is she discusses with her audience about how she makes sure her team is solid and that everybody’s located in the best position they can be.
If not, Bethenny says, “I try to move them around to do other things or if I can’t and I absolutely have to, I let them go.”
Bethenny has had so many great business adventures. She went from a very lucrative career as a Real Housewife to leaving that to start her Skinny Girl Brand which is best known for her Skinny Girl Margarita. She has also done a line of jeans, swimsuits, and a bakeware line.
Bethenny is A Woman on Top and I enjoyed learning from her journey.
As an aside, I told one of the women who works for me about Bethenny and I’s junk drawer bonding and that woman told me that ever since she went to visit me at my home in Aspen, CO and realized how organized I was, she started straightening up her life.
“My life has never been so orderly.” she told me.
"I’m motivated to get organized. The best part about it is I’m saving 1-2 hours a day which I used to spend looking for stuff. I am loving it!”
Bethany talks about being kind, but not being a pushover, learning how to say no, standing your ground, and not letting some bad apples ruin the situation.
One of the other topics that I found interesting is she discusses with her audience about how she makes sure her team is solid and that everybody’s located in the best position they can be.
If not, Bethenny says, “I try to move them around to do other things or if I can’t and I absolutely have to, I let them go.”
Bethenny has had so many great business adventures. She went from a very lucrative career as a Real Housewife to leaving that to start her Skinny Girl Brand which is best known for her Skinny Girl Margarita. She has also done a line of jeans, swimsuits, and a bakeware line.
Bethenny is A Woman on Top and I enjoyed learning from her journey.
June 27, 2022
I read the hardcover edition of this book, not sure why it’s not on here. The best thing I learned from this book was about registering a name or trademark. I have an idea and wanted to see if it was registered and it’s not! Then I checked someone else’s business name that I’ve known for years and he hasn’t registered it and I just think about how with everything I read I learn something. It could be a nonfiction book or a fiction one, you never know where or how you will come across useful information or advice. Anyway I absolutely adore and respect Bethenny. She has gained her success through hard work, research, humility and trusting her gut. This book was easy and enjoyable to read and she gives a ton of anecdotes to illustrate her points. Highly recommend!
April 30, 2024
I liked this book because I tend to take things personally. Therefore, business is no exception. So when I saw the title, I naturally thought she wrote it for me and it should be called, “Business is personal, Ashlee.” Clearly Bethenny is successful and she has learned the hard way earning and navigating that success. While I enjoyed the book and felt more understood, there was nothing super insightful or ground breaking about this book. Selfishly I liked it because it essentially validated the way I see and navigate life. If you put your all into things and take things personally, this book is for you!
August 15, 2022
I’ve always appreciated Bethenny’s authenticity, I also appreciate that she’s honest about her experiences. She doesn’t sugarcoat how difficult the behind the scenes things are and she doesn’t gatekeep. Loved reading this book to get a look into how she functions as a businesswoman.
September 19, 2022
I’ve always been a fan of Bethenny. Her business advice is sound and honest. Another great boon to add to her life and business experiences. As she pivots in both areas she has beautiful wisdom to show for it.
January 11, 2024
I did Audible and would recommend as a listen while out and about kind of book.
Definitely motivating to get re-focused on business
Definitely motivating to get re-focused on business
August 30, 2022
good solid advice and a look at an extremely effective human. love her.
February 1, 2023
Love Bethenny but feel like this couldve been a shorter online article with the same impact instead of a book
August 5, 2023
I LIKED this book. I actually learned a lot that I could apply and relate to. However, some of the lessons seemed specific to people with a big following already. I also felt like there was a decent amount of repetition in the stories/lessons. HOWEVER, I truly did enjoy the tone and stories and I think that these lessons will become more relevant as my career develops.
September 4, 2023
Bethenny’s stories are relevant & well tied into one another. She highlights key strategies women (& men) can apply in business & in life. Lightly touches on her tough upbringing which made her strong, clean, tough & fair. If I loved her before, I love her more now.
November 18, 2025
Simply put, there were no lessons. Just stories about how great she is and how many people she can name. It was all about herself, which I guess I should have expected from a “housewife”, and I wouldn’t recommend if you want to actually learn about business
June 22, 2022
3.5 rounding up, very repetitive...
July 18, 2022
Decent business advice but a bit repetitive.
Want to read
September 29, 2022Recommended by skinny confidential
November 14, 2022
She’s such a badass and the advice she gives is real and raw.
May 26, 2023
Bethenny is a boss! She always has great advice!
June 8, 2023
Cute and quick read, liked bethennys personal stories, not as juicy as I'd like but not bad
December 23, 2023
I liked her no-nonsense approach, I enjoy her writing style.
October 9, 2024
Bethenny gives you the inside scoop and provides valuable tips and takeaways for anyone with an entrepreneurial mindset.
October 5, 2025
There were some great tips in here, but this book read more like an autobiography than a business self help book.
It was okay.
It was okay.
September 17, 2024
This is not a a business ‘how to’ book. It’s also not an autobiography. It’s basically Bethany’s thoughts, stories about her business, what works for her etc.
It is easy to read, but it’s not exactly actionable advice for the average person.
It is easy to read, but it’s not exactly actionable advice for the average person.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews