Review by Helene_2008 -- Empowered by Dominica Lumazar

[Helene_2008]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Empowered" by Dominica Lumazar.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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As a business owner, Dominica Lumazar, worked hard to get where she is today. Nothing was given to her and some things even got in the way. Her learning style was different and when teachers couldn't figure it out, she was put in classes for those with learning disabilities. She was also in an accident from which she suffered temporary memory loss. Despite these struggles, she created two businesses, Love Bird Chocolates and Sweet D Marketing, and has over a decade of experience in their ownership. From her experiences, she has cultivated many tips and strategies that inspired her to write Empowered.

The book is divided into three sections. The first section, Leading For Success, covers topics on leadership advice, mindset as a leader, work-life balance, reviewing spending and liabilities, and company history. As a manager of a business, I was able to take a lot away from this section even though I don't own the business. The next section is Business Value. This covers branding, marketing, retaining customers, and relationships in business. Since I work for a large corporation, I don't have much control over branding and marketing. Those sections would be best for someone who owns their own business. As a leader though, I was able to take advice about retaining customers and relationships. The final section, Business Clarity, reviews habits of good leaders, how to course correct if things aren't going well, and how to stay on the new course. Again as a manager, there was a lot I could apply to my work from this section.

Overall, Lumazar's book is short and sweet but packs a lot of good advice. I really appreciated her comment about employees not having to like you but they need to respect you. In the store I manage, I am one of the youngest employees. Therefore I have to prove that I have the knowledge and skill to lead my employees in order to get their respect. Dominica was only twenty years old when she started Sweet D Marketing. She and I are examples that age is not a requirement to be a good leader. Another powerful piece of advice she gave is you can't pay people to care! Employees always seem to want more money. But if they want more money then they should become more valuable to your business. They should be increasing their skills or taking on more responsibility to benefit your business.

I can't think of anything that I really disliked about this book. The editing was professionally done. Therefore, I give Empowered a 4 out of 4 rating. Lumazar shares a lot of valuable advice that can help any leader feel empowered to succeed.

I could recommend this book to many different audiences. I think it would be useful to an owner of a business, a business that may be starting to struggle, or anyone in a leadership role within a business. I am a manager and not a CEO, but I still found some great advice in the book. Also I think the book could be useful to businesses of different sizes. At times the author does refer to having a marketing team or a bookkeeper, but the advice is still useful whether the business is large enough to have those roles or not. Business ownership is an amazing feat and not an easy task. It's OK to need some help and advice to get to where you want to be.

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Empowered
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[Kibet Hillary]

This is a great book indeed for any would-be-leader. I am one person who is interested in learning how people make it through life and I believe some sections will be very beneficial. Thanks for the review.