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Berried in Chocolate
Book

Berried in Chocolate

How I Built a Multimillion-Dollar Business by Doing What I Love to Do and How You Can Too

Shari Fitzpatrick
Pelican Publishing, 2011
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Shari Fitzpatrick, also known as the “Strawberry Lady,” oozes enthusiasm, optimism and sugary wisdom. With dozens of personal anecdotes describing her business journey, her background, and even her faith and favorite recipes, Fitzpatrick’s accessible, enjoyable tale provides basic business advice that could help almost any small business. As a former broker with little more than $1,500 and some big ideas about chocolate-dipped strawberries, Fitzpatrick founded Shari’s Berries, a multimillion-dollar business based on unique edible gifts. In her breezy book, she explains how she succeeded. She comes across as a fun, grounded, hardworking businessperson who would be charming to meet. As a result, her story – which targets newcomers to the business world, particularly women – is more of a pep talk than a dose of serious advice, though she details the quite serious loss of her original company. Since publication, her spinoff firm, The Berry Factory, also filed for bankruptcy protection. That news may detract a bit from the book’s lessons, although Fitzpatrick’s cheerful stories and warm approach to life and work should prove inspirational to most readers. And she’s right about always having a good lawyer and plenty of chocolate. getAbstract suggests her saga to budding entrepreneurs and small-business owners.

Summary

“Do What You Love”

Success starts with passion, so figure out what you love. It might not be exactly what you loved as a kid, but it’s probably pretty close. That’s because it evokes the same feelings as your childhood devotion to horses or knitting or even your current zeal for baking. It’s something you could do all day, think about all day, keep learning about, and enjoy forever. Shari Fitzpatrick, the originator of Shari’s Berries and, later, The Berry Factory, found her passion: dipping strawberries in chocolate, creating beautiful gift baskets, and making other people happy.

Be patient as you dream about what your perfect job would be. It won’t always seem obvious, but trying various other jobs along the way will teach you what you like and don’t like. If you pay attention, you can identify the elements of your ideal job. Fitzpatrick worked as a stockbroker and a mortgage broker while spending her spare time filling holiday gift baskets with chocolate-dipped strawberries – and that gave her great joy. When you find your passion, it will be something that fills you with happiness, too, but that doesn’t mean that making the move to entrepreneurship will be easy...

About the Author

Award-winning entrepreneur Shari Fitzpatrick founded Shari’s Berries and The Berry Factory. She also wrote Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry Fame.

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