Women & Leadership Australia eNewsletter

October 2009

Book review: Lessons of a Lipstick Queen

Book author: Poppy King

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Poppy King was a brave 18-year-old when she started her own lipstick business that, in a couple of years, was turning over millions of dollars. She was the sweetheart of Australia until her inexperience in the business world caught up with her, and her business went bankrupt.

Lessons of a Lipstick Queen is Poppy’s reflection on her experience of starting and running her own business. In it she imparts her knowledge across all areas of setting up and running a business – from idea generation to research, funding, marketing and the media. She also touches on the bad side of business – making mistakes, failure and bankruptcy.

A highlight of the book is the ‘My Story’ sections - the stories she interjects of her real-life experience of whatever topic she’s discussing. Through them, Poppy imparts her experience of being in business to the readers. She’s also sprinkled checklists, excercises and scrutinising questions throughout the book to help the reader deal with tough situations in business, to get on their way and to navigate in the business world.

Lessons of a Lipstick Queen isn’t entirely about the inner workings of getting a business up and running and maintaining it. It starts out by showing ways to recognise your entrepreneurship spirit, and then how to make the most of it. Although the excercises may be a bit simple, it could be what’s needed to give someone the courage to kick-start their idea.

This isn’t your average leadership book. Rather than delivering a didactic set of tips, tricks, facts and figures, Poppy has written a frank and personal reflection on what she’s learnt on her journey. From these reflections emerges the knowledge base about the reality of starting and running a business.

And it’s certainly not going to tell you that running a business is wonderful and life is perfect. What Poppy gives is a real, in-depth account of the trials and tribulations of running a business. A great motivational story for those who think their ideas aren’t valid.

By Alyssa McLash, Co-editor, Women & Leadership Australia eNewsletter

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