Overview:
At the Aspire Conference, entrepreneur and TV personality Bethenny Frankel encouraged first-time business owners to trust their instincts and commit fully to their work. Drawing on her own experience, Frankel stressed that success doesn’t follow a 9-to-5 schedule and that dedication often requires late nights and weekends. She contrasted today’s work culture with the grit of her early career and reflected on how content creation has drastically evolved since her television beginnings.
Bethenny Frankel, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former Real Housewives of New York City star, took the stage at the Aspire Conference today. She delivered a candid and energetic talk on business, work ethic, and personal growth.
Frankel opened with advice for new business owners: trust your gut instinct and intuition. She explained that over time, your body itself becomes a key indicator of whether you’re making the right decision. With experience, these split-second judgments grow sharper and more reliable.
She also offered a blunt reminder about work ethic, emphasizing that success rarely comes in a neat 9-to-5 package. “If you come in on your first day asking when the lunch break is, flip off,” Frankel said. This underscores her belief that dedication often requires late nights, weekends, and putting work at the top of the priority list.
Reflecting on her career, Frankel noted that she built her success in a time before “cancel culture”. It was also before widespread discussions of work-life balance. For her, building a career meant hard work, no excuses, and relentless commitment.
Frankel also touched on her evolving role in media, explaining that today’s content creation is worlds apart from her early days on television. She shared how she took her television job “very, very seriously.” However, she acknowledged that the expectations, platforms, and strategies of content creation have shifted dramatically with digital and social media.
Her speech left attendees with a blend of inspiration and straight talk. It was a reminder that while industries change, the foundations of hustle, intuition, and adaptability remain timeless.
