I love watching movies that inspire me to get up and do something different with my small business. We are in a world of sitting behind a screen watching other people do things. Why? It’s not necessary. We are here to do and we can do it if we put our mind to it. Here are my top 6 inspiring movies for small business owners. Feel free to click on the image or title of the movie to watch the trailer and read more about the movies on IMDb.
6 Awesome Inspired Movies for Women Entrepreneurs
Coco before Chanel
It’s a story of Coco Chanel’s rise from unclear beginnings to fame in the fashion world. She changed the world of fashion and never looked back.
Baby Boom
It’s a movie about a woman who inherits a baby from a distant relative. She left her corporate life and moves out of the city and creates a new baby food business that becomes famous. It’s not a true story but it could be. This was one of my favorites when I was a teenager. It showed me that women can make it no matter what obstacles or changes happen in their lives.
Julie and Julia
This movie is my favorite right now. Both Julie and Julia come from not knowing what they want and then finding their passion and moving into it even if they didn’t know what they were doing. They persisted and succeeded.
Legally Blonde
This is another one I loved when I was in college. It reminded me that even if you are judged upon, you can change other’s opinions or leave and still succeed and you can succeed when you are a nice person too.
Erin Brockovich
An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and helps brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city’s water supply. Fight for what you believe even if you think no one is listening.
Joy
It’s about Joy who rose to become the founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty. This one inspires me to go beyond and if you have a vision go for it. Find a way to make your vision or product a reality.
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Women Entrepreneur Movies Honorable Mentions
And, while doing some additional research, I found some more movies that you may want to watch to get inspired to make the leap into entrepreneurship.
First Wives Club
This fancy comedy movie is about three ladies who are middle-aged and they team up to create an agency to revenge their exes. It’s nice to see their determination, while the topic is a little negative.
Chocolat
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s about a woman and her daughter that move into a town right at the time of Lent and she opens a chocolate shop. Watching this movie, you realize how important timing is when starting your business. And, how having a unique product makes a world of difference.
UPDATE 2020: I had to mention this movie too!
Well, folks, I found another movie that I feel is worthy of this list of awesome movies inspired by women. While they are not entrepreneurs they are brilliant women that challenged society and because of their strength changed the viewpoint for all of us. Which in turn, gave us the opportunity to work on our own and be our own boss. The movie is, drum roll, please…
Hidden Figures
The strength of these fine ladies changed the way men and societies view us in the workplace. While we are not completely equal yet, I can see how far we have come from where they had started. I hope one day in my lifetime I get to see women being truly equal in the workplace.
Well, that is it for now. To be honest, I saw most of these but not all, but, these are definitely on my list of movies to watch in the near future. =)
What are your favorite inspiring entrepreneur movies? Please leave the name of the movie below.
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Thanks for sharing these beautiful movies. I have already watched Erin Brockovich, Coco before Chanel and Baby Boom. They are awesome messages for women.
Sabrina, what a delicious post! Thanks so much for sharing these film titles. I’ve seen a few and enjoyed them. I love movies that are empowering. Now I’ve got a list to get me through the summer. Thanks again!
Sabrina – I have seen all of these with the exception of Coco before Chanel. I loved the other 5, so now of course I MUST see the move about Coco. On a slightly different note, the book that EASILY most influenced my life was “A Woman of Substance” by Barbara Taylor Bradford. It is old but timeless. I believe it was a bestseller in >60 countries, & I can see why. It is a rags-to-riches story about a female entrepreneur also.
Hey, Sabrina,
Legally Blonde and Erin Brockovich have are my favs, by far! I even pulled some lines from Reese this week in my Rhetoric class, lol. Women got it goin’ ON! 🙂
I have watched most of these and loved them (didn’t see Coco (hadn’t heard of it) or Joy (hadn’t decided yet)).. but the others… I am totally there with you.. .loved em.. very empowering women!
Hi Sabrina!
Awesome list of movies inspired by some really powerful women! My all time favorite is Erin Brockovich!!! Absolutely LOVED this movie! I lost count on how many times I have watched it lol 🙂
Thanks for sharing all of the wonderful and powerful movies of women entrepreneurs!
Joy is the next movie on my list to watch. I rarely watch movies in the summer so it will wait until the weather cools. Thanks for the inspiration.
I highly recommend these as a legitimate reason for taking a break from what you are doing and conduct some market research. Preferably, with you feet up and favorite beverage in hand.
Yes, awesome movies for sure..I have not seen Joy but know I want too…thanks for sharing this.
I am so out of it as far as movies go. The only one I’ve see is Coco before Chanel.
I saw Erin, Legally Blonde, Julie & Julia & recently saw & loved Joy. I’ll put Coco before Chanel on my list. I appreciate lists like this & read the comments from others to add to my list.
Yes, I love BABY BOOM! I also loved Working Girl with Melanie Griffith.
Having seen all these movies, except “Coco Before Chanel”, I agree that this is a great list of inspiring movies for female entrepreneurs. I love movies that add humour to the story and all of these that I’ve seen have that. I can’t think of any other films to add to the list, but I love Susan’s reminder about “A Star is Born”. I adore movies and what a great way to get both entertained and inspired at the same time.
I just watched “Joy” this week and am glad to see it on your list.
What a great list of movies! I’ve seen some of the ones you recommended and want to see others (I’ve been dying to watch “Joy” so now that it’s at Redox I think I’ll pick it up this weekend!). What a great post idea and source of inspiration 🙂
Oh, I too loved Julie and Julia! And have had Joy on my list for some time. One of my all-time favs is about the artistic side of entrepreneurship–A Star is Born, the Barbara Streisand version. It sounds odd but when I need inspiration, I watch it again. Works for me!
Nice, I will add that one to my to watch list. Thanks for sharing!
Working Girl
Great one, Elaine! I have to check that one out.
Great list. I loved Erin Brockovich! I also enjoyed Legally Blonde and Baby Boom. Joy is on my list.
I just saw “Coco Before Chanel”. Heads up: The entire movie is in French. But it was very well done.