Like these women, adopt the tools used in a man's world and take your business to the next level. Don't be afraid of the thin air you'll find at the top of the mountain. Wrestle with your financials. Know your key critical ratios. Learn how to use the equity in your business and develop an exit strategy and liquidity model. It'll take some discipline, but if you do it odds are you can make it in a man's world.

(Voiceover) Each woman you have met so far can be studied at smallbusinessschool.org. Now let's go in-depth with one more strong woman.

VICKY: (Voiceover) We sell environments. We sell productivity. In an office building, for example, that you've seen many times you'll see, they're called cubicles. That's what we do. We consult with a customer to find out, how do you operate? What are your goals? What's important? Who needs to work with one another? So that we can understand the long-term strategy.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Located in San Diego with 45 employees and 20 million in revenue, Vicky Carlson is the owner of Office Pavilion, one of the few Herman Miller office furniture dealerships that is owned by a woman.

VICKY: Way back in 1986, I'm fresh out of college and I'm a little strapped for cash and I went to work as a temp. I had one job for a week. The second job I had in the second week, they had to talk me into it, but they called and said Vicky we have a job for you and before you say no we want you to hear us out. There's a company in Denver. It's up and coming. There are only a few people in the organization right now. It's downtown. But they're building a bigger organization, they're just getting started and we really think this is an up and coming company. We really think it's really up your alley. The name of the company is Office Pavilion. It's a Herman Miller dealership and they need a receptionist. I said absolutely not. I'm not going to be a receptionist. I didn't go to college all of these years to start as a receptionist. They said, we knew you would say that, however, we think it's a foot in the door. They're not going to get to know you if you don't take this opportunity. We think once they get to know who you are, that there will be opportunities for you.

HATTIE: Well I think you were right to be scared because we can get pigeonholed.

VICKY: Well that's what I said. If I go in as a receptionist they're going to think I'm a receptionist and that's where I'm going to get tagged. So I went on interviews because I wanted them to know, yes, I like your company and I asked a lot of questions and I learned while I was there. But this is not what I'm going to do and I'm not happy doing this and I'm not going to do this for a long period of time. Long story short, it wasn't very long before they offered me a position and they hired me. So my official job with Office Pavilion taking the temp job away was Showroom Manager.

HATTIE: So people should ask for training. They should raise their hand and say I want to learn.

VICKY: Ask for training, but also pay attention to your surroundings. Learn on your own. Ask questions. When they see that interest and that intelligence and that you really are -- you care about what happens and you want to learn and you have the appetite for this knowledge, I think it just says to them, "Wow, we need to take a serious look at this person." I was in Denver, Colorado for 5 ½ years, and in that 5 ½ years, by the time I left I was Vice President of Operations. I had everybody in the company reporting to me except for the sales team. The sales team had a VP of Sales reporting to them. But part of my responsibility at the end of my time there was to call on the architect and design community, which is a sales role as well and then I developed that role and then I hired an A&D rep. So I had a little piece of the sales as well. And we were doing, at that time, probably $30 million.