POLINA RAYGORODSKAYA BIO:
Polina Raygorodskaya is the founder and president of Polina Fashion LLC, a boutique fashion, beauty and luxury Public Relations Company. Previously, as a highly-acclaimed model, Polina has graced the runway of some of fashion’s finest designers. Polina earned a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration at Babson College. Polina’s entrepreneurial endeavors have been recognized by national media outlets including Business Week, the Fox Business Channel and Legal Zoom. In 2007 Business Week named Polina as one of the “Best 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25”. Recently Polina Raygorodskaya Co-Founded Boutique Week, http://www.boutiqueweek.net, a national bi-annual week of sales at participating boutiques currently in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. Anyone in those cities can sign up for free on the website to receive an Access Code and get discounts during April 17th-24th 2011 at participating boutiques.Boutique Week: http://www.boutiqueweek.net
Polina Fashion: http://www.polinafashion.com
IN THE SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW
1. What prompted you to be a solo business practitioner?
Polina: I have always been an entrepreneur at heart and I am very driven by ideas and making them come to life. I would rather make less money working for myself and being able to be part of something bigger bringing my ideas to life than to work for someone else even if it were to mean making more money.
2. For most successful entrepreneurs, there is no typical day so give us a sample of your schedule from start to finish.
Polina: There are no typical days in fact working for yourself especially on a start up you often find yourself working from the moment you get up to the moment you get to sleep seven days a week. In the end it feels very rewarding when you see results coming out of all the hard work.
3. What are your “can’t live without” apps on your IPhone/BlackBerry/Smartphone?
Polina:
4. What are your tricks for time management?
Polina: Make a list of tasks you want to accomplish for the day and give yourself an allotted period of time for each task. If you set deadlines you are more likely to be more efficient. Research shows that if people are not given deadlines they spend a lot more time on tasks than people that have a deadline would spend on the same task.
5. Best advice received when you started your business?
Polina: Go for it. There is never going to be a perfect time. Take calculated risks but don’t be blind to what can come. And steer clear of analysis paralysis (that is the tendency to over analyze and get stuck without moving forward.
6. Given the current economic climate, how has your strategy for your companies changed for the short-term and long-term?
Polina: We continue to maintain the same strategy throughout.
7. What’s been your proudest achievement as an entrepreneur?
Polina: Being named one of Business Week’s Top Entrepreneurs Under 25
8. What are some of the ways that you achieve balance in your life?
Polina: Now I try to limit the amount of work I do during vacations and weekends so that I am able to enjoy my life without being taken-over by work.
9. Your top 3 book recommendations for our readers (and why?)
Polina:
- 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss: Great tips to live the entrepreneurial lifestyle without letting work take over your life
- Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle: My favorite book of all time helps you live in the moment (not work related per se but great for many aspects of your life)
- Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: Shows you the power of epidemics and word of mouth.
10. If you had an exceptional month and earned double of your average month, what (if anything) would you spend it on?
Polina: Travel. I love to travel.
11. What are some of your most rewarding charitable involvements and why?
Polina: Currently my company Boutique Week donates a portion of its proceeds to Dress for Success which is a charity that helps under-privileged women get coaching and clothing to go out into the workforce.
12. Who has been the most influential person to you as you’ve advanced in your career?
Polina: I meet many influential people on a regular basis and love to surround myself with other entrepreneurs. I know it sounds like a cliché but I live by the saying “Birds of a feather flock together” and try to surround myself with people that inspire me and that I can learn from in all facets of life.
Overall I think the most inspiring people to make me who I am today are my parents who have always supported me in every way and are always there to give me advice both personally and in business.
To learn more about Polina Fashion, please click on the link below:
Social Media For Polina Raygorodskaya:
Beyond Success Online 
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