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Bethenny Frankel gets real about women in business: 'Be on top of it'

Being on top of it may sound like an obvious business goal, but Frankel, who recently visited MSNBC's "So Popular," says it's also essential.
/ Source: TODAY

She translated reality-TV fame into a big-bucks business, and now Bethenny Frankel has advice for other women who want to make it in the free market: "Be on top of it."

That may sound like an obvious goal, but Frankel, who recently visited MSNBC's "So Popular," says it's essential.

WATCH on SHIFT: Bethenny Frankel talks self-made business

"You see somebody and they auditioned for something, and now they're an Academy Award winner — or they started cutting down Christmas trees, and now they're the president of Starbucks," Frankel said of the typical big rags-to-riches story. "You don't really get to see the middle, and people have gotten to see me, so they're invested my success. And I'm honest, also, about my failures."

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Frankel launched her Skinnygirl empire in 2009, just one year after she made her reality-TV debut on "The Real Housewives of New York City," and the company continues to grow from books to cocktails and beyond.

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"This is not easy," she said. "I mean, every day I'm stressed and ... I also think it's important to help woman, to grow and pay it forward so they can be business women. But I need to be honest with them about how difficult it is, because it is cutthroat now. And you have to be on top of it all the time, because somebody else is."

It's advice she lives by.

"I'm on it," the driven entrepreneur added. "I'm really, really on my game."

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