Category: Featured

Ameer Jumabhoy of utu: The Future of Travel in The Post Covid World

An Interview with Candice Georgiadis

I try to encourage people to take time off to be with those close to them. If there’s one positive that has come out of the pandemic, it is that I feel more connected to my loved ones and we should not take these important relationships for granted in a post-Covid world.

As part of my series about “developments in the travel industry over the next five years”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ameer Jumabhoy.

Ameer Jumabhoy heads up Community & Consumer Technology and is co-founder at utu, the travel startup transforming global travel by empowering tourists with higher VAT refunds.

While at graduate school at MIT, Ameer’s research brought him to the study of niche industries like tax free shopping. A number of these, he found, had serious inefficiencies that could not be solved purely through digitization, requiring instead significant business model transformation.

In 2016, he co-founded utu with the mission of transforming the global VAT refund industry and putting the traveler at the center of retail tourism. By creating a rewards layer on top of existing VAT refund services, utu is able to upsize these refunds for travelers, which are typically only about 60% of the actual tax paid for their shopping. As well as helping travelers, utu’s business model innovation helps drive value for the partners in the travel industry such as airlines, hotels and retailers.

Ameer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government from Rice University and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from MIT.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

At the time, I was operating a rewards platform in Thailand together with my current co-founder. We eventually realized that a VAT refund was actually a type of reward as well — one that countries provide to drive tourism sales volumes. While my co-founder had deep domain expertise in the VAT refund industry, I had studied the technology behind it. And so the idea emerged of creating a product that would have tax refund at its core, but which would be enhanced with rewards, a complete novelty in the industry.

We decided to investigate further by taking a trip to London and do some market research on the ground. This was just before the UK decided to scrap VAT refund altogether. We ended up getting matching ties from a major retailer in Knightsbridge, one of the city’s main shopping districts. We were shocked to see that, despite all the advancements in technology of the last few years, we were only receiving a 45% refund for the VAT we had paid. The long line at Heathrow airport when we were leaving did nothing to improve our mood, and validated the need for digitization and business model innovation in the industry.

Our trip to London confirmed what we already knew. But it helped reaffirm our conviction to make a difference for millions of consumers. So, we recast our business by making VAT refund the central pillar of our business model and layered it with rewards. Combined with the technology we had developed, we are able to find a way to upsize the amount that shoppers get on their VAT refunds, so that instead of 45% or so, they could get a number much closer to 100%.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

We were about to launch utu Tax Free, a product aimed at giving tourists a minimum of 85% refund (an upgrade from the ~60% refund the tourist currently gets), in Italy in December 2019 and were leveraging a partnership with a foreign exchange group to distribute our product. 48 hours before we were to go live, they decided to withdraw from their agreement with us and we were left without a distribution partner. Lacking time, we were obliged to scramble a solution on our own as our customers would be expecting the higher refund we had promised. Within 48 hours, we set up a physical utu pop-up lounge right in the heart of the shopping belt in Milan, just off via Montenapoleone.

I will never forget the experience of renting furniture, setting up the systems and manning the lounge together with the enthusiastic utu Italian team and going two straight days without sleep. The great reception we received from tourists visiting Montenapoleone street was not only a testament to the strength of our product but also to the passion and dedication of the team!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I don’t know if this was a mistake per se but when we first started the company, I remember having been in Geneva to meet with a major retail group. Fifteen minutes before my meeting with them, my suit pants ripped down the middle. In a total panic, I ran to the first shop near my hotel and had to buy the first suit that looked like it would fit me without trying it on. I managed to make it to the meeting on time but I probably did not look overly fashion forward. Now, I always carry a backup suit. Lesson learned, always have a Plan B.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? Can you share a story about that?

It’s important to say upfront that life at a startup can be extremely chaotic and that the unexpected should be expected. With that in mind, there are three tips I suggest. The first is to get the right minded teammates and collaboratively resolve and build. The second is to be inclusive and create a conducive environment where colleagues are comfortable and open to share their opinions and creativity. It is about building a strong culture based on teams that can develop and empower individuals.

Finally, I try to encourage people to take time off to be with those close to them. If there’s one positive that has come out of the pandemic, it is that I feel more connected to my loved ones and we should not take these important relationships for granted in a post-Covid world.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards OR who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

In a company like ours, there are so many individual heroes on a day-to-day basis. However, what has been a constantly inspiring force has been the unity displayed by the team, especially in the face of great adversity. During the pandemic, we tragically lost our lead iOS developer to Covid-19 in India despite the company ensuring he received the healthcare resources he required. The entire company was shaken. This was a very special person that will be remembered for a long time by many people, and it was tragic.

After the team had gotten over the initial shock of losing someone so incredibly talented, the response from our team was amazing. Individuals across all teams around the world came forth with ideas on how we could support his family. Some individuals took it upon themselves to be pillars of support to those most affected. That sort of selflessness and deep sense of empathy is what I am most grateful for.

Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?

Two of the biggest complaints that I receive from friends who travel are that the tax refund process is incredibly laborious but more importantly, they receive so little of their refund that they feel short-changed; it is not worth their time — between high fees and foreign exchange charges, tourists only get between 50–60% of their refund. I hold a firm belief that digitization will occur in every aspect of our lives and the efficiencies from digital and mobile services will be bestowed on the travel industry as well. Innovation most often comes from new companies with fresh ideas on customer service and user value.

Companies which display an ability to transform business models in order to put the traveler back in the center of the travel retail universe will succeed. To that extent, our strategy to empower travelers with choice and convenience up-sizing any any tax refund across the world will be a path breaking innovation as it will layer the utu service across the entire industry. Not only will shoppers delight in getting more, but so will refund companies as they can continue their high-priced service to start with!

Which “pain point” are you trying to address by introducing this innovation?

We are working on solving systemic friction. There are too many micro-experiences within the refund process that frustrate travelers. We are baking machine learning and artificial intelligence into our products to move every transaction to becoming digital and mobile, all while giving more back to the tourist. The most important thing is to get people accustomed to the idea that the new normal of tax refunding is not going back to the way things were done but to a combination of digitization and business model transformation.

How do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo?

We must remember that it is the tourist who does the shopping. Shifting tourists to a mobile-first solution will be transformational for the industry. Mobile-first means that tourists take control of their refund — which we at utu believe is their fundamental right. The regulations in the EU are supportive of this. However, as we found in our beta test pre-Covid, practice needs to adapt because technology says that now, you can take control of your refund. It means that the individual who makes a conscious decision to purchase an item also becomes a conscious claimant of the refund rather than relying on intermediaries like shops to decide which operator to pass the refund to because of their cut of the shoppers’ refund. This will create a seismic shift in the status quo, putting the tourist at the center of the transaction.

As you know, COVID19 changed the world as we know it. Can you share some examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers will prefer to travel?

I believe that there will be pent-up demand for shopping and retail will have to adapt to being more customer-centric than ever before, ensuring people feel like they are being put at the center of the shopping experience.

Also, with work-from-home being more commonplace, people will want to travel and even extend their visits to work from abroad. Tourism will be a beneficiary as cities, accomodation and short term workspaces will augment the new demands for shopping and activities this transition offers. I believe that value and a sense of fairness will take center stage within this evolving opportunity.

You are a travel industry insider. How would you describe your perfect travel experience?

I love to walk in places I have never been to — it helps me get a better sense of the rich tapestry that makes up the place and a first hand look at the great cultural aspects of a city. I love traveling to Europe and my perfect experience would be to walk in a city I’ve never been to before, checking out fantastic restaurants that locals suggest and visiting culturally significant attractions. Of course, I always try to buy something special from every place I visit and I would certainly want the best and easiest way to get a refund on my purchases! Amsterdam, Lisbon and Oslo are high up on my list!

Can you share with our readers how you use your success to bring goodness to the world?

I believe that we could all bring goodness to the world by using the skills we have developed through our professional and personal journeys to inspire people to take a leap of faith in solving their society’s challenging problems and elevate the consciousness within their communities.

In the last month I was fortunate to visit the Habib University in Pakistan — an institute that is looking to turn the conventional model of tertiary education in the country on its head. I was inspired by the mission of the university to use a liberal arts curriculum — a fairly new concept there — to shape future leaders of the Pakistani community. One element where the university wants to push further in inspiring its student body is to get them to take the plunge towards solving some of the country’s biggest problems. In meeting with the university president, I realised that it was within my capability to help his effort by laying the groundwork for developing an entrepreneurship culture within the university.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

This is probably a better question for a politician or a philosopher! There are so many important causes being brought to the fore — equality, empowerment and financial inclusion to name a few. I think most of us are aware of the grand challenges that exist in the world, the difficult bit is understanding where we can make an impact as individuals that will add to the whole.

An area where I feel I can play a role is in the promotion of customer rights, specifically in the tourism space. Tourists travelling for short periods of time in new countries and different cultures are a prime target to be taken advantage of, especially because they have no voice.

We’ve seen enormous advances in industries such as finance in the last few years. A number of innovative entrepreneurs have leveraged technology to make it easier for consumers to send and receive money across the globe, for instance. We want to start a movement that brings a similar transformation to the world of travel. There is a lot to simplify, clarify and, most importantly, a lot of potential to make travel a more pleasant and rewarding experience. Customer rights are especially dear to me, as it is an area I’m familiar with, and where I know most travellers aren’t. What we observe is that the asymmetry in information leads many in the travel industry to harvest the unsuspecting rather than innovate to delight tourists and upsize spend. The higher the number of people who understand and exercise their rights in tourism retail, the more the overall industry will be reform towards customer-centricity and the more they will earn through valuable services and delivering efficiency. But for that to happen, there needs to be a mindset change, more education and proactive involvement.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ameerjumabhoy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameerjumabhoy/

Twitter utu: https://twitter.com/UtuGlobal

LinkedIn utu: https://www.linkedin.com/company/utuapp/

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Ameer Jumabhoy of utu: The Future of Travel in The Post Covid World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Adebusola Akinyele of The Love Dynasty On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up…

Female Disruptors: Adebusola Akinyele of The Love Dynasty On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Candice Georgiadis

Disruption in an industry can be positive when it is serving a good purpose and filling a void or a need in people’s lives, especially when it triggers something new and significantly different that has never been done before. However, disrupting in some industries can be negative when it’s not easily welcome or when people are stuck in their ways and not easily adaptive to change. Some people may not completely understand the need for the disruption, and that is ok, because not everyone will understand your vision.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Adebusola Akinyele.

Adebusola Akinyele is a Certified Matchmaker & Founder of The Love Dynasty Matchmaking & Dating Services. Based in Houston, TX and surrounding areas, they service Elite African Professionals.

Adebusola is a lover of God, a wife to an amazing husband, and a mother three beautiful children. She is also a health care professional and being a problem solver has always been a passion of hers. She believes everyone deserves to love and be loved. Having found love herself in an unconventional way, she found inspiration in many people and places which influenced her dating profiling style and process.

Her top priority is to facilitate the meeting, courtship, and eventual relationship of like-minded individuals with her primary focus being personalized matchmaking.

Her profiling style is best described as modern-day love meets divine intervention coupled with motivations of divine guidance, cultural norms, shared interest, and deep-rooted family values. For inspiration she looks to God and attempts to connect individuals with varying compatibility trait and shared values in effort to form lasting relationships. When people see her work, she hopes they experience the redemption of love and loss and the finality of everlasting bliss.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

First of all, I would like to Say thank you for the Wonderful opportunity and for allowing me to introduce my business to the world. I hope reading this article will give you a glimpse of who we are why I do what I do. I am a wife to a wonderful man and a mother to three beautiful children! Saying this after almost six years of marriage sounds so surreal, but through the grace of God, I can honestly say that marriage can be sweet when you marry the right person, and I am a living proof of that! Growing up, I had always loved LOVE. I loved watching people express sincere and undiluted love to each other, a love that was not necessarily perfect, but still chooses to love despite each other’s flaws and imperfections. I was always trying to bring two people together with the sole purpose of them loving each other and forming long lasting relationships. But after having a couple of failed relationships myself, I got to a point where I completely gave up on one the most important thing I always admired and desired, true love. It took me exiting a long-term relationship of almost 4 years to realize that I had been dating without purpose or intentions. Although I wanted to get married, I did not take the time to think about what I wanted in a relationship or the core values I desired in or wanted to share with a life partner. However, when I least expected it, love smiled on me again and I met my husband in an unconventional way. Unlike some other people, my husband didn’t just fall in my lap. I had to step out of my comfort zone and change the trajectory of my love life by trying something totally different. I tried online dating for the first time ever, which was totally out of my element. And through divine direction of God, my husband and I fell in love and got married: 6 years and 3 kids later, we are still going strong. Finding love reignited that passion in me all over again…that desire to help bring back hope and love into the hearts of men and women and help them find their ideal life partner.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

I am very passionate about love and having healthy relationships. I believe that true love exists and marriage, or even a relationship, can be sweet when you’re with the right person. I also believe that a healthy relationship can be achieved, when we have a clear profound understanding of who we are as individuals, and want we want. if only we can be open minded, trust the process, and not compromise on our values and beliefs. Our Matchmaking service is for single African Professionals who are looking to meet interesting, intellectual and exceptional individuals who not only shares the same cultural values, interests and beliefs, but are also looking to be in a serious monogamous long-lasting relationship that could potentially lead to marriage. We want to help build a rock-solid foundation of love and friendship.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

One of the funniest mistakes I made when I first became a Certified Matchmaker, is giving everyone the benefit of doubt and agreeing to work with anybody. Although I believe everyone deserves to love and be loved, I realized there were some people that like the idea of love and being in a relationship but were not willing to put in the work and sacrifice need to sustain a healthy relationship. In order to find love, you must also be willing to give love and be committed and dedicated to the process. A lot of people want love but don’t want to put in the work.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

One of my mentors is Patti Stanger. I love her business model and her tough love attitude towards her clients. And although they may not realize it, she always has their best interests at heart. She is hardworking, dedicated to her clients, and she is committed to helping people find love. I also get inspirations and insights from being a part of the Marriage Ministry at my home Church, Living Word Chapel as well as elderly couples who not only have successful marriage, but continues to put in the work that will make their marriage last forever

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Disruption in an industry can be positive when it is serving a good purpose and filling a void or a need in people’s lives, especially when it triggers something new and significantly different that has never been done before. However, disrupting in some industries can be negative when it’s not easily welcome or when people are stuck in their ways and not easily adaptive to change. Some people may not completely understand the need for the disruption, and that is ok, because not everyone will understand your vision.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

As much as you want to help everyone find love, not everyone will be match.

able: so, you don’t need to feel the pressure to take on every client. There are some people whose ideology, vision or core values may not align with the vison of your business or that might have unrealistic expectations or people who may not be ready to put in the work. IF you cannot work with them, politely refer them to someone else who can. A woman’s intuition is one of your best assets, use it and listen to it…If you ever get to a point where you feel like giving up, keep in mind that Love is a Beautiful Thing! And remember that you just want to change the world one heart at a time.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

Well, we hope to continue to build our database, and bring more awareness to Matchmaking, especially in the African community! Which can also expose people to the African culture and heritage. Who knows, I may be the next Patti Stanger or the Indian with my own Matchmaking Show

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

I think some of the biggest challenges faced by women disruptors is that women have to work 2wice in not 3 times more than men to be able to prove themselves; women are also held to higher standards than their male counter parts. And in the quest of trying to prove themselves, some women might lose their self-confidence a sense of who they are . It is important for us to continue to encourage women to be confidence in the skills, knowledge and resources they possess.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

Some of the books that had a deep impact on my thinking is “Why you Act the Way you Do”, and “The Five Love Languages” by Tim LaHaye

This book helps you to identify and understand your personality traits, your strength and weaknesses as well as your temperaments. It helps you realize how you are different from others and why you act the way you do. It is especially useful for singles or people struggling with relationships because it helps you have an insight on the kind people you can have a successful relationship with based on your personality. The Five Love Languages helps you understand how you give and receive love.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

If I could inspire a movement, it would be a movement that continuously promotes Self Worth and Self Confidence, especially with young women. I would also want to start a movement that will help women navigate through the process of knowing who they Are; knowing you value and self-worth helps you live a more fulfilling life. This cannot be over emphasized. It is one thing to say it, but it is another thing to believe it and walk in that truth every single day of your life. Imagine how exhilarating you will feel as an individual, understanding that you can do anything and everything you set your minds to do. This movement will provide a better and brighter future for the younger generation. When you truly believe in yourself and understand who you are as a person, you will have a positive self-esteem and you won’t be seeking self-validation from other people.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Never give anyone the satisfaction of holding on to your happiness”. This has been relevant in my life because I have learnt the hard way that when you give someone the control of your happiness, they have the power to keep you in bondage… And when they keep you in bondage you deprive yourself the ability to live your best life. Happiness is your choice and your responsibility! This was a lesson I had learned from being in a difficult relationship in the past.

How can our readers follow you online?

To find out more about us, please visit our website at www.thelovedynasty.com

Facebook: thelovedynasty

Instagram: thelovedynasty_

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Female Disruptors: Adebusola Akinyele of The Love Dynasty On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Shyla Day On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Candice Georgiadis

Show up, and show up with your best foot forward. I can’t stress enough that if you don’t show up for yourself, no-one is going to show up for you! You should always represent yourself the best way you can, you never know who you’ll meet even on a normal day.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shyla Day.

Shyla Day is an Award-Winning Music Artist, TEDx Speaker, Best-Selling Author, Social Media Mega-Influencer and International Humanitarian. She has garnered dozens of global awards, nominations and recognitions in the fields of music, humanitarianism, social media, and entrepreneurship. Claes Nobel, of the Nobel Prize Family, stated “Shyla…represents our very best hope for the future”.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I am a big city girl on a mission to make a positive difference in the world. I know, that might be a lot to chew! I am a music artist, inspired by the works of the music activists — for a quick example, LIVE AID, Bob Marley, and Tom Morello. I was inspired as a young 14 year old girl, when I joined a music group called “Tunes for Tots” — I spent many summers touring with that organization, raising millions for charities as a teen only to realize how impactful playing music can really be. Today, I use my gifts, talents, and passions to create positive change in the best way I know how. Music!

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

I founded “Influencers Impact”. Influencers Impact highlights influencers and change makers utilizing platforms on and offline to spread positive messages of kindness, while also creating awareness about social issues that are important to them. Many influencers have a bad reputation- and as a person who’s been in the public eye since my teens, I do know how difficult, and downright intimidating it can be to share those important (and sometimes controversial!) parts of us so publicly so I set out to highlight and elevate those voices that are speaking out even further.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Always pack another dress!! One year, I believe this was in 2017 I was a top-nominee for a prestigious Entrepreneur Award by The World Networks. When I was invited to attend the red carpet celebration in Los Angeles, of course, I accepted the invitation! I live in the city of San Diego, which is about 2 1/2 hours from Los Angeles on a good day- and this particular day it took a little under 4 hours. My dress, however. Had fallen into a peculiar position in the car, and ended up sitting scrunched up and wrinkled the entire way. I didn’t have another dress, so I had to rock it! That one, was a tough lesson learned the hard way. Im pretty sure there are stock images of me in that wrinkled dress all over the internet. No big deal!

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

Many of my greatest mentors in life have been my family, my mom, my sister, and all of my supporters online helping guide me along the way. Nothing would be possible with out every single one of them! Im actively looking to align myself with heart-led mentors in the entertainment and humanitarianism spaces who also have a greater goal to do good and create a positive and measurable change in the world. You can never have too many people cheering you on!

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

The main difference between good and bad disruption, has everything to do with intention. This reminds me of a quote by the civil rights activist, John Lewis about good trouble. For example the recent BLM protests are good trouble — although they are doing the right thing fighting for the collective, some were jailed. This is called ‘altruism’. Altruism is selfless concern for others, sometimes at their own expense. Bad disruption, would be the moment it went from peaceful protest to a riot — where people were hurt, and the whole message was ultimately polluted. A greater point would have been made had we stayed in good trouble.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

Find a way to find the way. Growing up with a single mother, we had to get pretty creative in order to achieve our goals. Whether it was a creative dinner, or a creative Halloween costume, we always found a way.
Show up, and show up with your best foot forward. I can’t stress enough that if you don’t show up for yourself, no-one is going to show up for you! You should always represent yourself the best way you can, you never know who you’ll meet even on a normal day.
Seek opportunity. One thing I think is often misunderstood, is that opportunity will just knock at your door one day. Every single person you look up to, searched for opportunities that aligned with their greater mission!

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

I have so much up my sleeve for the next couple of years! There are many projects in the works I wish I could share more about with you, but Im not cleared to at this time. What I can say, is that I hope to inspire future generations to use their unique talents, backgrounds, and skillsets to raise awareness about the causes they believe in. Just by one person following a bigger mission, they can then inspire many others and like cause & effect, it will continue to be the catalyst to a larger positive change in the world!

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

Ive had many of my peers and male counterparts alike try to minimize what I achieved through many forms of harassment, and straight up malicious pre-meditated bullying. Ive even been asked on live radio if I had slept my way up! This is the kind of treatment that, if I was a man, wouldn’t be tolerated; let alone wouldn’t happen in the first place. Regardless, I am a woman who learns, who grows, and who elegantly handles each adversity.

This is a perfect time to pull out some Taylor Swift:

“Wondering if I’d get there quicker, If I was a man

And I’m so sick of them coming at me again

’Cause if I was a man, Then I’d be the man

They’d say I hustled

Put in the work

They wouldn’t shake their heads and question

how much of this I deserve”

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

The best book, is the book of life. The lessons learned from each of your steps and how you can continue to get 1% better every single day. The best podcast, is listening to your mentors. They will hone in and guide you in the right direction. The best talk, is talking to supportive family and friends. Speaking about things that are concerning you, and asking for advice from your friends and family make all the difference.

Thank you endlessly for those kind words. If I could inspire any movement, I would say to use your talents to serve the world! The world is so balanced in the way that we each have unique talents that go hand-in-hand with each other, if we were to work together instead of against each other, the world would be a much better place!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I adore this quote from a fellow musician who goes by the name of Aphex Twin; “It’s not about what equipment you have, it’s what you do with it.” The biggest lesson I’ve learned throughout my career is that you already have everything within you, to achieve your biggest goals. Your equipment IS YOU! Utilize your biggest asset, and brainstorm how you can use what you already have to achieve what you are looking to achieve.

How can our readers follow you online?

My official website is www.ShylaDay.com, and my Instagram and Twitter handles are @Shyla_Day.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Thank you for having me, and thank you again for continuing to publish feel-good, positive content online!

Female Disruptors: Shyla Day On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Brittany Bettini of Bettini Financial On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and…

Female Founders: Brittany Bettini of Bettini Financial On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

The Art of Delegation. This was the hardest part about business for me. It was so hard to trust anyone with my baby. As a founder, your business is your brainchild, it’s important to you, and letting go of the reins to let someone else help you can feel like a foreign language. Find the tasks in your business you love, then do those things. Delegate the things that don’t help you grow your baby. There are trained professionals out there who will help you scale your business faster than you ever thought possible.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brittany Bettini.

Financial literacy and credit repair is an area many people only learn about when they are forced to, often under a state of duress. Brittany Bettini, founder, and CEO of North Carolina-based Bettini Financial has made it her life’s work to help people repair their credit and has also taken on the task of trying to change the way financial education is approached in schools. Bettini knows that introducing students to these concepts in school can have great benefit to their long-term financial competency and success and believes this is an area lacking in education for adults and children.

I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, my parents owned a successful janitorial company which I took over and have been running since 2018. My grandparents had a very successful electrical contracting business. So, I always saw myself founding my own company and following along that path.

I attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Majored in Arts with a focus in Graphic Design.

After college I was quickly married and gave up my short-lived career in banking to become a wife and mother.

I had this deep desire to be an entrepreneur but was experiencing the hardest thing I would ever go through being a victim of domestic violence.

When I was able to come out on the other side of that experience as a survivor in 2017, I was left in horrific financial shape.

I was visiting food banks to feed my small children; I lost my home because my landlord said I couldn’t afford the house without my husband’s income. My credit score was so low that I couldn’t get approved for an apartment without a cosigner. I couldn’t afford a better vehicle, and even if I could have afforded it, I never would have been able to get approved for financing.

It was in the parking lot of the food bank, watching my children play with their stuffed animals the sweet lady gave them, that I made a promise to myself and my children that I would change our financial future, That I would fix my credit, learn to budget, save and invest, and that we would never be back to that place. I was going to do what I had learned to do from my parents and hustle my way out of a problem. It was that day that unknown to me, my company Bettini Financial Solutions was born.

I took a job in collections at a medical supply company. I quickly excelled and broke records for collections within the company. My parents took notice of the changes I was making in my life, and when one of their key employees quit without notice I stepped in to help them with bookkeeping and sales. Within a few months of excelling for them at their company I was asked to take over operations and allow them to retire.

After working to rebuild my life and my finances after leaving that marriage everything just fell into place to fulfill my lifelong dream of founding my own company. I met my Husband Bryson while running my family company. I finally had a supportive, encouraging, and loving partner who saw the potential in me and nurtured it. I saw a desperate need for a credit repair company that could be trusted. A company that operated with customer service as important as results. I wanted to be different and offer my clients something that would change their lives and give them opportunities they may not have known about if it weren’t for my service. I wanted to focus on educating my clients about credit and finance so they could ensure they never made these same mistakes again. I started Bettini Financial by offering FREE credit repair services to victims of domestic violence. I wanted my first act of business to be giving back to my community because that is what I would have needed when I was in my situation 3 years prior.

I act daily with the thought; how can I help someone today? How can I encourage someone who is ready to give up? How can I help someone avoid the hardships I faced?

I believe all of my success in business is because of that.

This year alone I have been nominated for the prestigious Athena Award for Henderson County.

Our company has earned the Rising Star Award from our chamber of commerce.

I am working with State legislators to help spread awareness about financial literacy in our schools, and I am working with area schools to develop a curriculum to teach our youth in middle and high school about the importance of financial literacy, credit, and budgeting. We are doing our children a disservice by not educating them about these things in public schools and expecting them to be able to handle adulthood without that knowledge.

Our company is working with an amazing program in our community called “My Daddy Taught Me That” to offer FREE financial literacy seminars to middle and high school students.

I mentor and teach free classes for small business owners about how to build and leverage their business credit.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

99% of my company is online based. Especially because we were founded during the pandemic. Recently an elderly woman called my company, she had been sent from her hairdresser. My assistant asked me to personally speak with her because she was having trouble using our online interface. I called her and within just a few minutes of talking with her I knew I had to do whatever needed to help her. She was local to me so I had her come to my office to sit down with me in person. She told me her story how she had been taken advantage of by a high interest lender and now she was paying $800.00 a month for a 2012 vehicle, that was in and out of the shop. She needed repairs done to her house, and she wanted to visit her grandson who was graduating from college. I helped her look over her credit reports and remove a collection that was not reporting accurately. Within 30 days we were able to refinance her home, pay off that high interest loan, leaving her the money she needed to do repairs on her home, and visit her grandson. She was in tears; I was in tears. That is one of the proudest moments of my life. A lot of other companies might have sent her away when she couldn’t figure out how to use the online system, but for me it’s about really helping people and changing their lives, that story is a true example of that.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I feel like the mistake I made was the same one a lot of new business owners make, dumping lots of money into social media ads, without any knowledge of how they worked or how to be successful with them. I literally just flushed those startup funds down the toilet.

I learned to be very careful about how I invest my marketing funds.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

In my industry there are thousands of people selling their get rich quick system or promising to turn you into a millionaire in 90 days. I had to figure out how to wade through all the muck early on or I would have spent my life savings on coaches. I met Derrick Harper in a private Facebook Group where he and his team gave information to other credit and financial literacy companies to help them get off the ground and how to do it the right way. I immediately connected with his no-nonsense attitude. I have since enrolled in his trainings and classes, along with switching my entire company over to his new software. He is a business genius and I’m honored to have had him to speak life into my business. He told me early on I would be a success story, and I believed him.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

Honestly, belief is the main thing holding women back from their potential to be founders of their own companies. I have conversations with women all the time who say, how do you do it? These women are highly educated, and highly capable women who would make amazing founders. They are full of amazing ideas, and they are giving those ideas to the huge companies who have hired them. For generations the huge accomplishment for women was to get their degree and then a high paying career working for a large company. Entrepreneurship for women is made to look like something small. A little bakery, or a side gig making greeting cards. I think the real shift in thinking has to be made for women to see just what they are capable of. When I say to a woman, “So you’re qualified enough to make millions for (insert giant corporation here) but not qualified to hire yourself?” I see a lightbulb come on. The sparkle in their eye of hope, that maybe they too could lead a company.

Men have had the belief of entrepreneurship, and career success pumped into them since the beginning of time. Men have always had the option of being the bread winner, the CEO, or the head honcho. I believe the number of women founders will continually climb because we are just getting our feet wet. We are learning exactly what we are capable of, taking thousands of years knowledge, empathy, team building, nurturing, and love, and turning it into businesses that cannot be broken.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Individually, we need to support and uplift female entrepreneurs. Supporting female entrepreneurs and offering encouragement is a key component to making those numbers climb.

Society continues to change; women aren’t viewed as the homemakers whose place is the kitchen any longer. We are opening our minds to expanding gender roles. Women have proven we can conquer it all. I believe we just need to continue on the path we are on. The more we see women growing successful businesses the more we will see society make that a norm.

Government needs to offer more incentives to female founders. Starting a small business is hard, having tax incentives, and support exclusive to female founders would be helpful.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder, but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

The empowerment that comes with founding your own company is something that more women deserve to have. The feeling of owning something so much bigger than yourself. Employing people, contributing to your community, changing lives. Those things allow me to really feel peace in my life. As a female founder you have opportunities to enter rooms you wouldn’t have been able to before, people listen to you, and respect your ideas.

Even more than that, being a female founder allows you as a mother to leave something for your children. Creating generational wealth that could go on to support your grandchildren’s children. As a woman that right there was enough for me to launch my business.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

Myth: “You need a business degree and a lot of experience to be a founder”

The truth is, you just have to want it more than you want anything else, and you have to have work ethic to back it up. You can get though more in your business with grit than you can with a degree. The experience that you think you will need to start; you will develop over the years of growing your business. Yes education, and experience will help, and they are important, but I have seen people go from complete ruin to an amazing success story in a year with no experience, because they had non-negotiable goals and a work ethic that couldn’t be matched.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

Everyone isn’t cut out to be a founder. My husband has a saying that sticks with me. There are piano players, and there are piano carriers. Everyone has a job, and the pressure and responsibility that comes with being a founder isn’t for everybody. We couldn’t start companies if we didn’t have employees to help us operate them. I do believe every person should have multiple streams of income, but that doesn’t mean everyone is going to have what it takes to be a founder.

If you enjoy clocking out and not thinking about your job duties until the next time you are scheduled to work, you most likely aren’t a founder. Being a founder requires you to immerse yourself deeply in to your

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

Passion and Purpose — The thing that will set you apart from your competitors in any type of business, no matter what it is, is why you’re doing it. If you don’t have a real purpose, and overflowing passion it will be so much easier to give up when things get hard, and they will get hard.
Ethics — Something I learned early in my industry was that my ethics would matter way more than the money. I would find myself with droves of clients who had been wronged by other companies, I had to spend twice as long building trust because another company tarnished the entire industry for a client. Your business ethics will come up, and you want it to be a good conversation. Once your business reputation is tarnished, there is really no getting it back.
Customer Service — The customer might not always be right, but if your company doesn’t treat your clients and customers with respect, and the best customer service experience you will find yourself neck deep in complaints and negative reviews. In the interne age, news travels fast, and getting ahead of an unhappy client can really help your business grow. Happy clients who have good customer service experiences tell their friends and send more clients your way.
Time Management — The most frequent question I hear is “how do you do it all?” The answer is time management. I prioritize my time, and I focus on the things that are going to create revenue, and create growth. As a founder it’s easy to get lost trying to finish just one task. One minute you’re wearing your marketing cap, and 20 seconds later you have a thought and now you’re the bookkeeper. Schedule your time and be non-negotiable with your time.
The Art of Delegation — This was the hardest part about business for me. It was so hard to trust anyone with my baby. As a founder, your business is your brainchild, it’s important to you, and letting go of the reins to let someone else help you can feel like a foreign language. Find the tasks in your business you love, then do those things. Delegate the things that don’t help you grow your baby. There are trained professionals out there who will help you scale your business faster than you ever thought possible.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

When I was recently nominated for the 2021 Athena Award, I immediately thought, I have not done enough to be deserving of an honor of this magnitude. The Athena Award is presented to a woman who has supported women, and given back to her community is a huge capacity. When you are presented with that type of nomination you have a few options, one of them being that you step into that role in your community. I honestly do believe I have used my success in business to make the world a better place.

I am working with the domestic violence outreach program that helped me to educate women about financial literacy. I am working with multiple women’s giving societies and I’m a new member of the Kiwanis Club.

I help people all over North Carolina and the country with financial literacy classes and help them repair their past mistakes to become financially stable. I get calls and texts from clients daily telling me how I have changed their lives. It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever been a part of.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If I could inspire a movement it would be to have every child in our country educated on financial literacy starting before they reach high school. Before they work their first job, before they have the opportunity to make a bad financial decision with their own money. So many of us would be so much farther in life if we had been educated on financial literacy early in our lives.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

If I could have lunch with any celebrity, it would most definitely be Rihanna. Not only is she an amazing female founder and business woman, she is also a domestic violence survivor. Having the opportunity to speak with her would be a dream come true.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Brittany Bettini of Bettini Financial On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Jenna Lofton On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Embrace failures as learning opportunities — they’re inevitable! Hopefully, this one should speak for itself because there are many people who will tell you otherwise — but your opinion of yourself is something that others seem to pick up easily when you’re failing continuously. This kind of defeats the purpose of working towards goals if you don’t even like yourself at the end of it all…right? You can only improve so much when you have a negative mindset. The word I use to describe the process of getting back on your feet is “ENERGY”. You have to find a way to get positive energy flowing again — even if it’s just a simple mental exercise such as watching a motivational video or reading something inspirational that will keep you going in the right direction.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jenna Lofton.

Jenna Lofton is a Certified Financial Advisor, stock trader, and small business owner currently living in New York City. Jenna holds an MBA with a Financial Focus, as well as an MBA in Business Administration from the University of Maryland. Her experience also includes several years working at different firms on Wall Street before deciding to pursue higher education and her own endeavors.

Hi Candice, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you today! I started buying stocks when I was 18, with $1,200 that I had saved up. Those shares are now worth over $2 million. All the while, I’ve been learning about how money works and investing in my own funds, so they work for me instead of the other way around. That experience led me to this career path because nothing would be more rewarding than helping others achieve financial freedom and earning a living by doing so.

I founded Stock Hitter in 2018 and now have 5 employees working under me full time in New York City. We’ll show you not only what to do but also why it works — because a plan without an understanding of why it will succeed is just wishful thinking in disguise.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

I remember two months after I quit my job to start Stock Hitter, a guy named Dylan called me and said he was about to invest $50k into the markets. We talked for a bit, and it turned out that he’d lost most of his savings in just one year because of bad advice from his previous advisors.

Our conversation convinced him not to make an impulsive move like buying ten stocks with his entire investment capital without doing any research first. Instead, we went over various options for investing and decided that by using many strategies at once, he could maximize his gains while reducing risk. He invested $15k in different positions of high-growth companies, $15k in low-risk government bonds, another $10k in gold, and $10k into real estate.

I got a call from Dylan the following month, and he told me that his portfolio was now worth $60,000 while he still had $35k available if an investment opportunity arose down the road.

I’m proud because I prevented him from investing with an inexperienced broker who would’ve made money off of his ignorance and lack of experience, which is why most Americans have no idea what to look for when it comes to finances.

Yes, Stock Hitter is all about investing in the stock market, but my ultimate goal is to help people understand how money works so that they can start doing it themselves instead of paying a middleman like me or a financial advisor to do it on their behalf.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I remember in 2011, I bought Apple shares when the price was around $150. My plan was to sell them right away and make a quick profit, but then Steve Jobs died unexpectedly. His death caused panic among people who didn’t know much about investing and Apple’s stock dropped by 15% on that very day.

Now before you think that my plans went up in smoke because I acted without thinking, it’s important to note that I put only a small amount of money into this trade (about 5% of my $15k portfolio) while using stop-loss orders so that the sale would only go through if Apple dropped below $130. Of course, everyone else panicked and immediately sold their stocks at $145. As a result, Apple didn’t fall below $130 and my order never went through.

In the end, I was lucky to escape with only a small loss because most of the people who bought during that frenzy ended up losing over 50% of their money shortly afterward when Apple’s price continued to rise. That taught me not to risk too much on any one trade and to remain calm if things don’t go my way at first.

When I first started, I tried to make things happen too quickly and as a result, I focused more on the end result instead of the actions that needed to be taken in order for me to reach my goals.

I would tell myself things like “well, if I invest $100k into this stock, then it goes up by 30% next week and I sell it for $130k, then all of my problems will be solved!”. That’s when an advisor friend named Carl told me that optimism is just another form of blindness; you need to understand exact risks before going out there and betting your life savings on some tiny likelihood.

At one point he literally stopped me from putting money into a company because he knew how nefarious they were in their business tactics. The lesson was that you have to understand the intricacies of a company and how they conduct themselves before investing in it, otherwise, it’s like buying a lottery ticket without knowing if there are any winners or not.

Only 20%? Wow! Well, I grew up with an extremely successful businesswoman as a role model, so I was always aware that it’s possible for women to both raise families while also being extremely proactive, competitive, and driven in their careers.

However, in my experience talking to other female entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed that many of them are trapped by stereotypes created by movies and TV. A lot of them were brought up thinking “oh this guy is good at business because he yells a lot and he wears a tie” which prevents them from launching ventures based on their own ideas because they feel like those things are expected out of men but not out of women.

The thing is, I found out that they’re often actually better with numbers than men are and they have more tenacity when it comes to giving up on a goal. We need to change the way people think about women in order to achieve gender equality — not only in business, but also in politics, sports, art, and other fields where there’s still inequality.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

I honestly think that the best thing we can do for women is to change how everyone — including parents, teachers, media personalities, and other influential voices in society — thinks about them. We need to give girls an example of a female character who’s promoted as being intelligent instead of being cute or beautiful or whatever.

After that, we should encourage people (especially parents) not to keep their daughters down by telling them “oh you cannot be successful if you have kids” which is ridiculous because I had both my daughter and business before I turned 30…something that I’m sure wasn’t possible without the support of my husband.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Well, I think the number one reason why women should start their own businesses is that they have an idea! The best ideas out there could make a billion dollars and that’s something you’re going to regret if you don’t take advantage of it.

If your only excuse for not starting your own business is that “women aren’t interested in businesses” then you’re exactly part of the problem. I would wager a guess that at least 1/3rd of all the great companies founded in the US were started by female founders.

Everyone needs to stop stereotyping women as being less successful than men! Women rule the internet, so let’s keep going 😉

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

In my experience, one of the biggest myths about being a founder is that you are going to be sitting at your desk with your computer, and then BAM! magical unicorn carts will roll in from the sky filled with cash. I don’t know if it’s the same for men, but I definitely think that women need to be made aware that there’s going to be a lot of work involved in starting a business — even if you do have an amazing idea.

Another major myth I’d like to dispel is “women are too emotional to be good business owners” or even “women cannot be as successful at business as men”. This goes back to the whole stereotype about women being less rational, vindictive, and having feelings. It’s simply not true!

I’d also like to dispel the myth that a founder needs to walk around in a tie while yelling at employees all day long — something most female founders could never pull off. Instead, I want people to understand that there isn’t just one way of behaving or style of working and that we can all do whatever it takes (within reason) to achieve our goals.

And lastly…how many times have you heard “you’re a female in finance, you must be so much better than the guy next to you”?

This one made me laugh! I think it’s funny that people often assume that being a woman is the only thing that makes you unique. That statement may be true about 1/4th of women and for the others — we’re all different!

Like all other groups, there are some awesome female founders who would make great examples for others and there are some terrible ones too. By disregarding everything else about them as human beings, their faults are magnified by gender bias and stereotypes which isn’t right.

That said, I do want to stress again that no matter what your personal qualities or characteristics are (being an entrepreneur, a woman, or even having a good mood) — to be successful you need to have an idea that no one else has and that’s your only path to success.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman — what matters is the idea! The number one thing I’d tell someone who wants to start their own business is to follow your interests instead of following the money. That way you will be going after an area of opportunity where there’s no competition yet (especially since most people don’t think out-of-the-box). In my experience, I’ve found that this one strategy pays off far more than chasing after already saturated markets because people simply do not look in those areas for opportunities, so there’s no competition.

I think this is what people are trying to say when they encourage women to start businesses but it usually comes off as more condescending than helpful. Really, we all have different reasons for wanting to be entrepreneurs or employees and it has nothing to do with being a man or woman.

I think the most important traits for being a founder are:

1) The ability to be a good manager and delegate tasks to others. Otherwise, you are going to spend all of your time doing work that someone else could do just as well if not better.

2) A thirst for knowledge — it doesn’t matter if you’re an engineer, designer, or in finance — there’s always going to be something new in the world that you need to learn about so that you can adapt and keep moving forward with your business idea. If you don’t like learning new things, then becoming an entrepreneur is probably not right for you. You should only start your own company if it’s something YOU want to do — otherwise, nobody will take your idea seriously.

For example, if you love fashion and want to start your own business focused on that industry — there will be many things you didn’t even think about needing to learn before because no one else is tackling those problems in the same way. You can read all of the books on how to start a company but there is no substitute for hands-on experience. I’ve found that having a mentor for someone who’s done something similar helps tremendously too.

3) You need some/some formal training in marketing or sales because it’s simply impossible to sell anything without understanding what works and doesn’t work when talking to people. If your answer is “oh I just talk to everyone like they’re my best friend” — then great! But if you’re like most people, you will need some kind of training so you’ll know how to talk to people about the value you have and not get distracted by trivial things.

If that’s not your thing — then be prepared to hire someone who is good at it because your business might not last very long otherwise. In terms of where a person would want to work — I think those are equally valuable to working as an entrepreneur but simply require different skillsets. For example, if you’re going into software development — there’s a lot of people who can develop and design things, but being able to sell an idea and communicate with your clients is a much more valuable skill. I think it’s a lot easier to find a job as an employee where you’re in control of your own destiny than to start your own company because there are so many factors outside of just technical skills.

If any student doesn’t already know what they want to do, how can they discover their passion and find their true purpose? What steps should they take?

I personally don’t think that people come out knowing exactly what they want to do. Self-awareness is something really important for everyone — not just entrepreneurs or software developers — but I feel like all too often people go with whatever the popular choice is instead of examining whether or not it really fits them. For example, if someone realizes that an accounting degree isn’t for them after getting all the way through college — why did they even go that route in the first place? It’s not to say that you should run out and do whatever it is you want because otherwise, things will never change. But too often people don’t fully explore options until after they’ve already felt like giving up on their original path.

Here’s another example: if you’re studying computer science at university but decided to get a business degree instead — why didn’t you stick with computer science? Did someone tell you that was the right thing or were you afraid of failing so much so that it held you back from trying? Ultimately, I think only when we select our own paths instead of conforming to our peers do we realize the true value of doing what we enjoy and being able to make meaningful connections with other people in a way that’s unique.

#1. A rock-solid support system that is willing to do things differently

This idea of having a “rock-solid support” can come in many forms. Sharing the same values, care for each other as if they were family members, or even working together as a team based on mutual trust and respect. In my case, I’m fortunate enough to have an amazing group of people supporting me along my journey. What makes our relationship unique is that we built something from scratch over years by learning new skill sets and building it into something better from the ground up with just pure hard work. And when we sort out all the political drama — you realize that there’s a genuine bond between us because of how much we all care for the company we founded together.

I think that this is important because as a female founder, you will most likely face some kind of discrimination. If you have a solid support system in place — it’ll make everything easier to deal with and give you time to focus on what’s really important — building your business or whatever goal it is that you wanted to accomplish with your life.

Finally, I want to add here that the values don’t always have to be the same — just having people around who bring out other parts of your personality can enrich your experience as an entrepreneur in ways you wouldn’t expect at first glance. This also works well when you’re working with clients and customers too since everyone communicates differently: some will be more direct, some will be softer spoken, and this helps balance out the types of personalities in your organization.

#2. An extremely high work ethic and drive to learn

This one may sound obvious but sometimes it’s not easy if you don’t have a strong support system: what happens when something goes wrong? What do you do then? Do I just give up or keep going? Making those important decisions can take a toll on anyone — especially someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. If you want to stay motivated throughout the journey after your initial motivation has worn off over time…you need to look inward. And that means taking the time to look at yourself and identifying your true motivations. That’s how you’ll stay effective as a woman founder.

As for me, one of my motivations is that I don’t want to look back in 10 years and think “what could have been…” I’m not saying I woke up one day and said “I want to be an entrepreneur!!!” but after graduating college — I realized that even though some people may assume they know what they’re doing with their lives — the truth can be far from it because we’re so limited by our own experiences which directly influence the way we make decisions.

So my advice here would be to take time out every now and then (maybe on a holiday or just when you don’t have anything else to do) and ask yourself: “What am I doing with my life? What’s next?” And then, look inward. It might be scary at first but the first few times may reveal quite a bit about your true motivations and that can help you in building a business that gives you satisfaction on multiple levels beyond your own pride.

#3. Be open minded to different perspectives

I’ve worked closely with men who bring out new ideas and methods of doing things — but I’ve also learned from women founders as well by being able to see the world through their eyes (men tend not to talk much about emotions or feelings!) Being flexible and open minded will allow you to examine your own strategies as a founder and figure out ways to improve them.

This is important because no one person knows everything — but by talking with multiple people who have different experiences, you’re more likely to find better solutions for the problems that arise in a business relationship or even solve issues you didn’t know existed before until they were brought up. It’s all about gaining new perspectives.

Once again, my time working with both men and women entrepreneurs has shown me that most founders will be able to share their stories with other founders and compare notes on how each of us can evolve our businesses in positive ways since most of the information exchanged between us is based on real life situations we’ve faced at some point. This makes our conversations more productive and we can learn from each other in a much better way.

#4. Take the time to improve yourself and your skills

I think this is one of the most important points on this list — because chances are, if you’re running a business by yourself or with others…you’ll be living around that business for at least 24 hours a day (sometimes more). If you don’t like what you’re doing it will show up faster than an ice cube melts in hot coffee…and that’s not what anyone wants once they start their own company! You want to take pride in what you’ve built, so if there’s something that needs improvement…then fix it. That means never taking anything personally — especially when you can do something to improve a situation.

I think I’m very open-minded when it comes to feedback and criticism — especially from people who are also in the business community. We’re all trying to build something important here — so why not share that passion with others? That’s where knowing your true motivations as a founder comes into play. Because if what you say is bold and brash in nature but, deep down..you don’t actually believe what you’re saying because of how much you love your own company…others will see right through you. So take time out every now and then (maybe on a holiday or just when you don’t have anything else to do) and ask yourself: “What am I doing with my life? What’s next?”

And then, look inward. It might be scary at first but the first few times may reveal quite a bit about your true motivations and that can help you in building a business that gives you satisfaction on multiple levels beyond your own pride.

#5. Embrace failures as learning opportunities — they’re inevitable!

Hopefully, this one should speak for itself because there are many people who will tell you otherwise — but your opinion of yourself is something that others seem to pick up easily when you’re failing continuously. This kind of defeats the purpose of working towards goals if you don’t even like yourself at the end of it all…right? You can only improve so much when you have a negative mindset. The word I use to describe the process of getting back on your feet is “ENERGY”. You have to find a way to get positive energy flowing again — even if it’s just a simple mental exercise such as watching a motivational video or reading something inspirational that will keep you going in the right direction.

I think most people are naturally flexible and adaptable as long as they’ve learned from past mistakes — but I’m also sure there are some out there who simply don’t want to change for their own reasons (stubbornness, pride, etc.) and that’s fine too! But no matter what — someone else is ready with open arms waiting to help those who are ready to learn from past failures.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

My company has given back to the community in so many ways through local and international outreach programs designed to connect with underprivileged communities around us. We’ve donated money, food, books and many other supplies which result in improving lives on a daily basis.

If you can afford it, I strongly believe that a simple act of giving back will make you feel much better than any materialistic gain or even monetary success ever could — because at least you’re doing something good for someone else out there!

If I were able to inspire a movement of massive change in the world it would probably be one that tackles the impending global food crisis and challenges how we are living our lives on this planet.

The reality is that this planet we call home doesn’t have enough resources to support “business as usual” any longer, and if something isn’t done soon things could go very bad very quickly.

It’s crazy for me to think about what life will mean 100 years from now without taking these realities into account. If those currently in power don’t want society as we know it collapsing, they’re going to have to start seriously considering alternatives. That can only come from voting out lawmakers who refuse alternative energies and sustainable practices and vote in people who are serious about progress. It’s really that simple — but it’s never as easy as it seems.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” — African proverb.

I had to give this one about 1/2 seconds’ worth of thought! My choice would be Richard Branson — The Virgin Group Founder

Richard Branson has been one of my heroes for many years; his risk-taking and inventiveness are unmatched.

What would I ask him? “How do you make so much money while doing business in such a way that creates value?” At the Fortune Brainstorm Conference in 2018, he said “The pie is getting bigger because everyone is getting richer.”

I love what Richard Branson does — he is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur, and can truly walk the walk. He is no dead-in-the-water, armchair type. He’s still out there taking on the world and building amazing companies!

He said in an interview that he always knew his Virgin brand would make it big because “Virgin” has been a word synonymous with “Fun”, which is why it was perfect for his airline company when he launched it.

This high level of energy and drive doesn’t just happen; you have to be constantly pushing yourself to keep going harder than the next guy, every day — and thus living a better quality of life. I would love to pick his brain.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

It’s been a lot of fun, thanks for having me!

Female Founders: Jenna Lofton On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Carine Schneider of AST Private Company Solutions On The Three Things You Need…

Female Disruptors: Carine Schneider of AST Private Company Solutions On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Candice Georgiadis

The first piece of advice is to practice patience, because everything takes time. You must wait for things. I am generally not a patient person, but I learned it takes time to develop a brand, a company or to develop a team. In the past, when I tried to force things too quickly, it did not work. When I am launching new products, which I have done often in my career, I want everyone to love it within six months, use it and be talking about my product. However, it often takes three or four years for that to happen and I always find that by that point, I have moved on to the next thing. Looking back, I wish I had been more patient.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Carine Schneider, President of AST Private Company Solutions, Inc.

Carine Schneider, FGE is a prominent leader in the private market and global compensation industries with deep experience working in consulting, technology and financial services. She is the President of AST Private Company Solutions, Inc., an AST Company, based in Menlo Park, California. She was named one of the 100 Influential Women in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and one of 17 “Women to Watch” in 2017 by Brown Brothers Harriman Center on Women and Wealth. Carine is a Fellow of Global Equity (FGE).

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory?” What led you to this particular career path?

I started my career in the financial services and the tech industries at Oracle. I was with Oracle when they went public and later I was a partner at PwC. I founded my own company and raised the investment money. I became CEO of a software company, which led me to become president of Nasdaq Private Market (NPM), then eventually I started working with privately held companies. Now, I work exclusively with private companies and help entrepreneurs, founders and investors manage their ownership and prepare for exit.

I studied psychology and sociology in college and have always been interested in what motivates people and more specifically, how money motivates people. When you work in the private world, most people’s focus is on obtaining life-changing wealth and hoping to win the lottery by starting a company that will make billions of dollars. There is synchronicity in how you motivate employees and how you inspire people to start their own company. Today, I am focused on making sure you that once you start your own company, you keep track of what you own.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you are doing that is disruptive?

Traditionally people put their information into a system and in terms of ownership, a cap table system. When the time came to exit, people would look at how they had split up the pie and who owned what. We help people become aware of what raising money and investment dollars can do to your ownership stake. In talking to many founders, I realized they did not understand what it meant to have an investment from sophisticated investors like venture capitalists and PE firms. They didn’t realize how much of their company they were giving away. We are focused on assuring people understand and have a model and tools to easily obtain the information needed to make prudent decisions. To do that, we use blockchain technology and artificial intelligence.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I’m sure everybody has made the same mistake, the dreaded “reply all” error. I was working with a difficult client she had written an email saying she was unhappy. I wrote my team a note regarding how to resolve the issue. It was around Halloween and I remember saying, “Well, don’t say that because it will spook her.” She was copied on the email and wrote back immediately asking what I meant, and I quickly replied, “It’s Halloween, we don’t want to scare you.” I learned a valuable lesson that day — “reply all” is dangerous.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

There were people early in my career who helped me develop my skills. I also had several people on various board of directors at the companies I ran who have made an impact. One of the board members, Rich Moran, really helped me not only understand how to communicate with my board, my investors and management, but also how to be a CEO. When I left one of the companies I was running, we had a poignant meeting and talked about what it meant to leave a company when you are the CEO, especially emotionally. That was the first time someone had pulled me aside and told me there can be trauma in your business life. We think trauma only happens in your personal life, but it happens in your business life as well and you must deal with it. He really made an impact on me and I pass that lesson along to others.

I feel strongly that there are times when we should not be disruptive. Certainly, there are technological advances that move our society forward and those are good, but I also believe there are regulatory requirements in place for a reason. I wrote an article about the first corporation in the world, the Dutch East India Trading Company, which was started in the 1600s. They were the first company to issue stock and the first to have a stock certificate. The reason I bring this up is that the issues that brought down the Dutch East India Trading Company are the same issues we deal with today. When you look at Enron, Bernie Madoff or some of the other reasons why we have corporate governance in place, it is because we made mistakes in the past and we must learn from them. I worry that when we disrupt too much, we forget these things. We have banking laws for a reason. We have security laws for a reason. When these laws are discredited and there are claims we should be able to do certain things with new technology, I am always more conservative. I start the discussion asking about the purpose of the regulation. Is the regulation there to protect people or is it just a pain? For example, could we move money more quickly from place A to place B because we now have the technology or is there a reason it needs to take a few days to move money from place A to place B? Is there a good reason? I feel strongly, we always must look at the lessons from the past.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you have gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

The first piece of advice is to practice patience, because everything takes time. You must wait for things. I am generally not a patient person, but I learned it takes time to develop a brand, a company or to develop a team. In the past, when I tried to force things too quickly, it did not work. When I am launching new products, which I have done often in my career, I want everyone to love it within six months, use it and be talking about my product. However, it often takes three or four years for that to happen and I always find that by that point, I have moved on to the next thing. Looking back, I wish I had been more patient.

Secondly, I would say confidence. If you really believe in your idea, you must commit. There were times in the past when people discouraged and criticized me. What I found is when I believe in my idea and keep at it, it worked out. When I started a global nonprofit organization, there was a similar US-based organization already in place. Everyone said, “Why do you want to start this global organization when there is one here in the U.S.?” I felt strongly that bringing people together globally was very different than bringing together Americans and by pushing my ideas forward, I was successful. The organization is now over 22 years old because I was confident in my idea.

The third piece of advice is diversity. I refer to diversity differently than it is commonly used today. What I mean it is you must have different people on your team and at the table from diverse backgrounds. There is a great book called The Medici Effect that talks about this phenomenon. I want a team with diverse backgrounds, people who studied different things in college, from all age groups, because that is how we are best. When I was in consulting, we had had a long meeting with several reports the client had given us to review. I looked to the junior associate, who was in her early twenties and asked her to go back to the office and scan the papers to get everything organized and ready for the project. She looked at my in a weird way and said, “Do I have to go back to the office, I could just scan it all from my cell phone.” I thought, “Of course I am still thinking about a copier/scanner machine while she is thinking about her cellphone.” It is important to have people who can remind you that there are different approaches to a problem.

We are sure you are not done. How are you going to shake things up next?

Currently, I am focused on finding ways to expand the private market for investors. My focus over the next few years will be to support founders in different parts of the world who are coming up with ideas who should be using our product to manage their ownership. We really want companies to track their ownership from day one. I recently spoke with an experienced serial entrepreneur who told me that she and her partner started a company, they knew they should put everything into a cap table but did not. They ended up having a disagreement, separated and now she does not have any equity in the company. My goal is to make sure founders protect themselves anywhere in the world. I call it the democratization of the private market and that is where I am focused.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

I believe women are not always taken as seriously as men. We are viewed as more emotional and sensitive and men are considered innovative and forward-looking. I feel like that is the general impression we are given in society. As founders of companies, it is much harder for women to raise capital than men.

I have worked with many women founders over the years and there are a couple things I see happening when women are founding and running their own companies. The first is that they do not spend money where they should, they do not seek professional help and they try to do everything themselves. A good friend of mine who is a female VC told me that when a man pitches a company, he will say, “This is the next billion-dollar idea.” When a woman pitches a company, she will say, “We think we could conservatively grow this company to hundreds of millions of dollars at some point.” So, if you are going to put money into a company, there is a big difference in how that message is delivered and the company in which you choose to invest.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that has had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

One of my favorite books is The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham published in 1944. It is a very poignant story about how going to war changes a person and how we are looking for meaningful experiences. It had an impact on me and made me think about how everything is on a razor’s edge. Much of the story follows how the main character, Larry Darrell, chooses to react to things. It has always touched me. I often give it as a gift to people when they are facing their own existential crises.

On the business side, I love The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. It is a great book that discusses why you must use checklists in your career, regardless of what you do. It also demonstrates what happens when you do not use a checklist. My husband is a pilot who teaches flying and he always uses a checklist because pilots must be correct 100 percent of the time. I believe in checklists and I believe it is good discipline for any business.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I talk to people all the time who do not understand what a stock option is or the value of working as an employee. Focusing on helping people of all ages understand their financial matters is very important. During the pandemic, I saw a story on the news about a woman who lost her job because of COVID and was going to be evicted. I tweeted about it and we were able to raise enough money in 24 hours to help.

As I kept thinking about her, I realized we only solved her immediate problem, but we did not solve her long-term problem. There is often a lack of understanding of how finances and budgeting work. How does rent work? How does a mortgage work? How does a bank work? How do checking accounts work? Why are paycheck lending services so bad? If we do not teach people to manage their finances, we will continue to have societal problems. If I could change anything, I would work on expanding access to financial literacy and education.

Can you please give us your favorite life lesson quote, and can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My children hate hearing it, but I always say, “You are exactly where you are supposed to be right now.” I think it is relevant because sometimes in that moment, you are depressed, angry or frustrated about why something is happening. When I look back, I always see there was a reason why I had an experience, especially the negative (and painful) ones. It was there to guide me, and it made me better. So, I always tell my kids, you might be ready to pull out your hair, but there is a lesson later. It will present itself when you need to learn from that lesson.

How can our readers follow you online?

I am on Twitter (@carineschneider) and LinkedIn (Carineschneider). You can also find blog posts and additional information on www.astrella.com.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Female Disruptors: Carine Schneider of AST Private Company Solutions On The Three Things You Need… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Debora Pokallus of Bel Essence On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed…

Female Founders: Debora Pokallus of Bel Essence On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Support. Someone (even just one person) who knows your strengths and weaknesses and speaks truth to you, but also believes in you more than you believe in yourself. Running a business can be incredibly lonely and stressful and having someone who can help you be a better you is a gift. I have turned to my support network countless times for new perspectives, a sounding board and brainstorming, or just to vent frustration.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Debora Pokallus.

Debora Pokallus is the founder of Bel Essence, a natural and organic skin care company based on the concept of nutrition for the skin — healthy skin is naturally anti-aging. Previously, she spent 30 years in the fashion industry promoting independent designers, advocating for ethical practices in the industry and working to develop socially and environmentally responsible suppliers for the fashion industry. Ethical and sustainable practices are the foundation for all her business pursuits as well as the causes she supports.

I spent 30 years in the fashion industry, first as a designer then as a promoter of independent fashion, focusing on ethical fashion. I spent many years learning about sustainability, fair labor and social justice, and spoke on these subjects at universities and industry events. They have become the cornerstone for all of my future work, I incorporate these principles in my business and in my support for projects and organizations that work towards these goals.

Skin care came along by accident. When I entered my 40s, I did not like the look of my skin, or the way I was aging. I ran through drug store skin care brands, all of which worked but the results were not permanent. I researched what doctors and scientists required for healthy skin, and looked for natural, sustainable ingredients that provided the nutrition science said was essential for healthy, anti-aging skin. For more than a decade, I developed products only for my personal use that gave me the results I wanted. I was frequently asked what I used on my skin, and I happily distributed my formulas and instructions on how to make the products. The response was always, “I don’t want to make it, I want to buy it.” So, not one to turn away an opportunity, I started out selling the two products I created for myself, which still remain popular with customers. Now we are up to 17 and continuing to expand the collection. Staying true to the original process, I use and test the products first and assess the results — I’m extremely demanding — then expand the testing to others, so all products are human tested and human approved only.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is Providence. I spent decades working to promote independent fashion. With the rapid changes in the industry, the decline in retail and the growth of social media and apps, promotion and marketing changed profoundly, moved online and became easier for designers to manage themselves. They did not need to depend on fashion week events and live presentations to reach their audience and they could now market directly to their customer. As I was winding down the fashion business, an opportunity came along to bring the skin care to market. I was able to segue into a new career with very little difficulty. I learned that life does provide answers and gives us direction, we just have to be open to however and whenever those answers and cues appear. Sometimes a new career starts over a decade before it manifests. I still continue my advocacy for sustainability and social justice, and now I have expanded into a second industry with this work.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

We were developing our first new product to add to our line of two. Into the cauldron went all kinds of great oils and extracts, boiling and bubbling. We felt like wizards, creating this wonderful elixir of youth and our excitement grew with every ingredient we put in. After hours of adding and stirring and stirring and adding, we had our product. It was AMAZING, one of the best creations ever. And if we ever figure out how we made it, we will definitely bottle it. Lesson learned: Notes are helpful.

I also have studied voice and opera for many years. I walked into my teacher’s studio with virtually zero ability and just a desire to learn to sing to appreciate the art form. She taught me as if I were one of her most talented students, giving me every bit of her knowledge and expertise. She never wavered in her belief in me and when I felt frustrated, discouraged and inadequate, she always found a way to move past difficulty with encouragement and kindness. The small and consistent victories I achieved in the years of study taught me that slow and steady wins the race, hard work and patience eventually pay off, and don’t ever stop learning — we are never a finished product. My voice lessons gave me the basic confidence that I applied to starting a business, and I often look to them for inspiration in life. When an obstacle seems insurmountable, I remember my vocal journey, something I never thought I would accomplish, and I am reminded that even impossible is possible. Sometimes success comes in countless small steps; we should not just look for the big leaps. I will always be grateful for my teacher’s friendship and the lessons on voice and life from a truly great and gracious lady. Her belief in me gave me belief in myself.

Despite how far we have come just in my lifetime, how much we have achieved and how much we have proven ourselves, we are still fighting the “weaker sex” label. We are not fully allowed to have grit, determination, strength, power — all automatically attributed to men — and we are even maligned if we exhibit “masculine” qualities. This attitude is pervasive in school, communities, and even in the national discourse to the detriment of women and girls, creating doubt in our ability for success and affecting our access to resources, and most harmful, this gender perception perpetuates self-doubt.

Women also still have to consider family issues more than men. It is assumed that women are the caregivers and men are the hunter-gatherers, so family and home responsibilities are disproportionately placed on women, encouraging and even forcing us to put our career or self-employment ambitions on hold. Even when we do start businesses, family issues can force us to slow down growth, or even put a business on hiatus until personal matters are resolved. You don’t often hear about men who re-enter the workforce or business world.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

On a practical level, the human infrastructure bill currently being developed in Congress will be a massive help if the final version contains adequate child care support, family leave and elder care. Women are most likely to be caregivers to children and elderly relatives, so funding to increase access to quality outside care will ease a huge burden on women. We need to tell our legislators how important this is to the lives and livelihoods of women and families.

As a society, we have to keep moving forward blurring gender roles and changing our attitudes toward women leaders. Starting in grammar school, girls need to be exposed to STEM and business education and be encouraged to pursue whatever talent and dream they have regardless of traditional pigeon-holes. We have to close the gender and race pay gap. Persistent income inequality influences society’s assessment of our value in the economy and affects our sense of self-worth.

Individually, we all play a part in how women are perceived and treated, and how we see ourselves greatly impacts how we are viewed by society. When we pursue a life without limits and recognize and claim our own value, the next generation of girls can believe that anything is possible for them. Leading by example realizes powerful change.

We also all must work to cause change and be heard because the louder the chorus, the more difficult it is for a song to be ignored. We are finally recognizing the history of discrimination built into our institutions and systems, and we are starting to confront it and demand solutions. However, this is only a beginning and there is much more activism and work necessary so that race, ethnicity, gender identity, etc., will not be obstacles for anyone.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

The innate caregiving, supportive, nurturing qualities that women possess are actually business assets, and these qualities are lacking in current business structures to our collective harm. The qualities that women naturally hold are also strengths for effective leadership. We have so many intrinsic attributes that make us great founders, but we have been taught to repress and disdain the very qualities that make us valuable leaders. When we embrace our nature and use it fully in what we create, we have better products and services and better companies.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

You are never too old, or too anything to found a company. I started this business in my 50’s. Age doesn’t disqualify you. If you have a viable product or service that you believe in, you can create a business. We are too quick to come up with the reasons why we can’t and too often don’t take inventory of why we can — and should.
It’s HARD. When we hear stories from business leaders, the struggles are often summed up in a couple of sentences. We don’t hear details about the years of wandering in the desert, the repeated failures, the sleepless nights, so when we start up and hit brick wall after cement piling, we blame ourselves. It must be us, because all these other business owners sailed to success. Struggle, disappointment, frustration are part of your journey, but these challenges lead to some pretty remarkable “aha” moments and are vital to keeping your business on a grounded, sustainable path. Every challenge you overcome helps you face the next one. Know that every difficulty you face has been encountered by at least a hundred people before you.
There is no one type of leader or founder. There are many personality types that make successful leaders. Leadership styles need to change and evolve as a business evolves and grows, and we should not be afraid to explore different ways to lead throughout the life of our business.

Most of the time we learn traits like resilience, perseverance, confidence as we grow our business, so not having the qualities of a founder before you start does not preclude you from going down that road. There are no definitive traits that make or break a founder or leader, founding a business is an idea plus skill and talent (innate and learned) that meet opportunity. When we know ourselves, our strengths, weaknesses and what we want to accomplish, we can determine the best path to get there, whether it is as a founder or employee.

A “regular job” as an employee should never be viewed as a lesser option; great leaders thrive and succeed in the employment ranks of a company and contributing your skills and abilities to a business is a definition of success. As a founder, our success cannot be measured in the size or revenue of our business. Successful founders can be multi-national corporations, or home-based cottage businesses that provide for the needs of a family. It is about pursuing an idea and a passion and providing a product or service that we believe in.

Sometimes founding a business can lead to a successful career as an employee. Starting a business teaches you skills that can translate into a position in another company. You can bring your experience and knowledge to an established business and thrive and even grow much further. Likewise, what we learn in a regular job can be the inspiration for a business and working in a company teaches us business operations. We should not accept any definition that may limit or perhaps discourage us from pursuing our desired goals in life. We should pursue a path that allows us to develop and use our skills and talents to their fullest and gives us the best opportunity to grow as a business owner or employee and as a person.

Support. Someone (even just one person) who knows your strengths and weaknesses and speaks truth to you, but also believes in you more than you believe in yourself. Running a business can be incredibly lonely and stressful and having someone who can help you be a better you is a gift. I have turned to my support network countless times for new perspectives, a sounding board and brainstorming, or just to vent frustration.
An open mind. Don’t think in a straight line. Seemingly inconsequential contacts, offers, or opportunities can end up having an unexpected and profound impact on your business. Hold onto any contacts/information that come your way and build a database of resources to turn to when a need or problem arises. I had a chance meeting result in a business opportunity for a fashion event. A random business card stuffed in my pocket turned into a solution to a problem. However…
Focus. Don’t get lost in the weeds chasing every butterfly. You have to focus on your fundamental mission and assess opportunities in that light. Does the idea conform with the purpose of your business? Many of the product ideas or projects we come up with are great, but when we look at how they fit in with the overall collection and mission, they would take us in another direction that our business cannot support and develop properly.
Trust yourself. Just because a billionaire or business guru did it doesn’t mean you have to. It is very easy to follow successful people and try to mimic what they do, thinking that it is the key to success. Every business and founder is different and you have to trust your sense of what is right or wrong for you.
Don’t skimp on marketing! I found working with fashion designers that they thought their product would sell itself and did not have any budget for marketing beyond modeling photos. It’s easy to spend your capital on just the product or service you offer because it’s amazing and life changing, but marketing is vital to the future of your business. People need to know you created the next greatest idea. New businesses notoriously under budget this area. There are many ways to promote that are free and low cost, especially today, start with that and then build. Be creative — don’t overlook ways to promote your product or service that may even seem a little crazy. Saving money is crucial to a start-up, but don’t be cheap to the point of stalling your business.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

In a youth obsessed society, our company focuses on wellness and health — the actual fountain of youth. We create products that use natural ingredients, even the most unsexy, that have healing and nutritional properties and WORK. We inform our customers not just about our products, but also about the ingredients so that whether they buy from us or someone else, they can make educated choices about what they put on their skin. We continuously work to source our ingredients from environmentally and socially sound businesses, and are always looking at more sustainable packaging. We stay informed about advances in sustainability so that we can incorporate new ideas, materials and processes that will continue our evolution into a sustainable and responsible company. We are certified cruelty free and we take that seriously. We are currently testing a promotion to help the small, local, underfunded animal shelters increase attention and donations, and we support organizations and causes focused on conservation and preserving habitats.

I spent many years sitting in entrepreneurial seminars, webinars, conferences, etc., learning about launching a business. The most common quote I heard in courses on how to start a business was, “Find a need and fill it.” We usually look at that statement as: find something the market lacks, provide it, and you can make lots of money. But what if we as business owners looked at that statement differently? Instead see it as, the purpose of business is to fill the needs of the community. What if businesses actually chose to serve the needs of their customers, employees, vendors and community before profits and share value? What if businesses based their decisions on what would improve the lives of their community, preserve the environment, and establish equity and fairness? When amassing wealth is the priority, every aspect of life on Earth suffers. We can have tremendously profitable businesses that do not exploit labor, consumers or our planet.

One person I have always wanted to meet is Tina Turner. I listened to and loved her music all my life and I have admired her as a person and performer. She made a comeback in the music industry and became a successful solo artist. She faced challenges in her life with incredible grace, and her philosophy of life inspires me. She achieved tremendous success in the face of difficult circumstances, and she chose to have her life embody peace, forgiveness, acceptance and joy. I would love to have a chat.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Debora Pokallus of Bel Essence On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Lissele Pratt of Capitalixe On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a…

Female Founders: Lissele Pratt of Capitalixe On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Resilience: Like it or not, things are going to go wrong. A good female founder will know how to address this full-on and overcome any problems they face. Every mistake I’ve made in my business has become a lesson, and I don’t shy away from talking about them with my team. I love to have sit-downs with my co-founder Ivan, where we evaluate what we’ve done in the last month and how we can improve on this.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lissele Pratt.

As Director & Co-founder at Capitalixe, Lissele Pratt helps companies in high-risk industries, obtain the latest financial technology and banking solutions.

With 6+ years of experience in the financial services industry and her global perspective, the entrepreneurial-minded Lissele is a recognized expert in foreign exchange, payments, and financial technology.

Lissele was the first-ever female to be awarded top salesperson at her previous company and has recently been listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe Finance 2021 list.

Growing up, I moved around a lot. I was born in London, then moved to Spain, then moved to Thailand, and finally settled in London when I was 15. Because of this, I missed a lot of schooling and when I was there, I hated it. I knew that university wasn’t for me, so after college, I went straight into a career in finance working as a Junior FX broker. I’ve always been interested in economics and how the financial world works. I love that the industry is always rapidly changing due to the adoption of financial technology.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

This year I was lucky enough to have been listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe Finance 2021 list. This had always been a dream of mine since I was a teenager. I remember looking through the list every year at work thinking, ‘one day I’ll be in Forbes’. It just goes to show, with a little hard work and determination, your dreams can come true.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

A few weeks after starting my business, I decided that it would be a good idea to attend a client meeting, even though I had the flu. Well, it’s safe to say the meeting wasn’t my best. Halfway through, I had to excuse myself to find a tissue because my nose was running like a tap and I also kept on coughing. Lesson to self, take a day off if you’re sick, you’re no good if you can’t work properly!

I’m most grateful to my co-founder and life partner Ivan Kovachev. I’m extremely lucky to have found someone who shares the same vision as me, as well as the same entrepreneurial spirit. Launching and running a business definitely has its ups and downs. Having someone to support and motivate me through the challenges and celebrate the successes with me is what keeps me going.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

It’s a known fact that companies with female founders get a lot fewer investment opportunities than their male counterparts, so I think this is a good place to start. Investors should be finding ways to remove unconscious and conscious bias towards female founders. This seems like a no-brainer as there’s so much evidence to highlight the value a female founder brings. Women-led teams generate a 35% higher return on investment than all-male teams. Strategies to ensure that women are represented more in the investment world need to be implemented.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

I think one of the most important reasons is to inspire other women, particularly the younger generation, to launch their own companies. As a female founder, in an extremely male-dominated industry, it’s really important to me that young women everywhere know that there is a place for them in the finance world. There’s been so many times in my career, where I’ve been the only woman in an office full of men and I really hope that, as we get more representation, women everywhere can believe that they too can start their own businesses in any industry they’re interested in.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

Myth 1: “Women are too emotional to run a business.”

Women are not fragile or overly emotional at all. The emotions they do bring to their business are actually strengths that can massively benefit their company. Tapping into your own emotions, as well as the emotions of your client’s, employees, and senior leadership team is crucial. Why? Because It highlights how passionate you are about your company and the people you work with.

Myth 2: ‘Entrepreneurs have to work 20-hours days and spend all their time on their business.’

I think it’s so important for people to have a good work-life balance. I love attending yoga classes, keeping fit, reading, meditating and spending time with my loved ones, and the occasional night out. I feel that doing all of this helps to keep the mind healthy to ensure I’m always on top of my game whilst working. It’s super important to be able to switch off as well. I usually set myself a deadline that I am not allowed to look at my emails past 9pm

If I didn’t do these things to balance my life, I may achieve short-term success, however, I don’t believe it would last for the long term. Finding the right balance between working hard and enjoying yourself is key. After all, what good is life if we can’t enjoy it? It’s extremely important to prioritize your health and mental wellbeing.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder, and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

Becoming a founder is definitely not for the faint-hearted, there is a huge amount of risk involved. For example, I gave up a well-paid career to start my company and went without a proper salary for months. You have to be able to deal with calculated risks. I always say “high-risk high rewards.” if you’re not prepared to take risks, then you may not be cut out for this journey. It can also be extremely isolating. You’re leaving the hustle and bustle of a busy office environment and are trying to make it on your own two feet. Finally, you have to be really self-disciplined because you’re working on your own schedule and there’s no one looking over your shoulder making sure you’re sticking to deadlines. If this sounds like something you’d be happy to deal with, then go for it!

Self-Confidence: I’d definitely say that the most important quality a female founder needs to have, is a belief in herself. Women are much more likely to suffer from imposter syndrome, but if you let that self-doubt take over, it can stop you from achieving your dreams. I’d never felt imposter syndrome quite as much as when I landed my first client. Sure, I was thrilled, but I also questioned if I was good enough. To tackle this, I reminded myself of how far I’d already come and of all of the accomplishments I’d achieved. That client is still with us today and is also one of our partners referring us to new business on a continuous basis.

Fearlessness: Starting a business is scary. For me, I left an extremely well-paid career in finance to start my business, and I was terrified. However, in these cases, it’s important to remember that the benefits will outweigh the risks.

The ability to ask for help: There will come a time where you may find yourself stuck and not knowing what to do. When this time comes, don’t be afraid to ask for help. I have a wonderful support system in my mentors, my co-founder Ivan, and my peers. I can honestly say my business would not be where it is today, without their help and support.

Resilience: Like it or not, things are going to go wrong. A good female founder will know how to address this full-on and overcome any problems they face. Every mistake I’ve made in my business has become a lesson, and I don’t shy away from talking about them with my team. I love to have sit-downs with my co-founder Ivan, where we evaluate what we’ve done in the last month and how we can improve on this.

Vision: When I first launched Capitalixe I didn’t have a clear, growth strategy. Sure, I knew I wanted to grow, but I didn’t have any set targets or KPIs. Now, I have a clear vision of where I want the business to be in the next quarter, the next year, and the next 5 years. Setting goals helps you to focus and use your time more efficiently.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I love mentoring other young women who are looking for some help and guidance and currently have two mentees. I find it so important to encourage and empower other women who are wanting to start their own businesses. I am also a regular donor to charities that support children in need in developing countries, as well as animals.

I’d love to eventually launch a not-for-profit that provides free training, funding, and resources to young women who want to launch their own finance companies. It’s definitely time to close the gender gap in the industry!

I would absolutely love to have a private breakfast with Barbora Corcoran, I love her story of pure resilience and determination to succeed and prove the people who doubted her wrong. She started her business with her boyfriend at the time and caught him cheating with their secretary, thereafter they split and he told her she’d never succeed without him. Of course, she proved him wrong and became the queen of New York real estate, and paved the way for women in this field. I feel like she’s someone I can relate to and would learn so much from.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Lissele Pratt of Capitalixe On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Dr Andrea Furst on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s…

Women In Wellness: Dr Andrea Furst on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview with Candice Georgiadis

Shake up your clever, but lazy brain: our brains like patterns and trends to conserve energy — so to make behavioural change you will have to direct your brain to dedicate the effort and work required to achieve your goals.

As a part of my series about “5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Andrea Furst.

Dr Andrea Furst’s experience working with World and Olympic Champion teams and individuals from a variety of sports has meant she has been ‘in the corner’ for some incredible highs, and some woeful lows. She’s malleable, resilient, honest, and herself a high performer.

Specifically, Andrea has been involved in five Olympic and Paralympic Games campaigns (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020/21), with Great Britain women’s hockey, Australian sailing, sprint canoe-kayak, 100m hurdles, long jump, triathlon, as well as Singapore sailing and swimming, combined with consulting for Singaporean and Australian state and national sporting organisations, schools, private academies and individuals, has provided decades of experience improving performance and mental health, for an enormous range of athletes in team and individual sports.

A new survey by Gibsons — the British jigsaw puzzle and board game company — shows how elite athletes from the worlds of tennis, hockey and rugby are turning to performance-enhancing jigsaws to unwind.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the story about how you first got involved in fitness and wellness?

I grew up on a farm in rural South Australia and my parents were incredibly sporty. Living in the country sport is often the central activity and it definitely was for our family. I played tennis and swam in the summer and played netball in the winter. However, it wasn’t just sport, it was keeping fit and healthy. My first memory of fitness and wellness was when I was around 6 or 7 years old and participating in 1980’s aerobic classes taught by one of the mums from a neighbouring farm. There were leg warmers! And, quite a bit of ‘Beat it’ by Michael Jackson!! Also, I used to drive our car up our driveway, which was approximately 2.5 kilometres while my mum ran alongside. Mum would also make us banana smoothies with eggs and Sustagen on the morning of tennis or netball. This was in the early 80’s! I had great role models when it came to fitness and wellness.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

This is a really hard question…

The ‘best’ part of my job is being fully integrated into the team surrounding an individual athlete and/or a team of athletes and then being present at the world’s biggest events in their sporting calendar. Two examples would be (1) The Open Championship in 2017, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious; and (2) the Olympic Games in 2016 for hockey.

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

This is an easier one… It wasn’t when I first started out — it was about 4 years into my professional career as a sport psychologist. I was caddying for one of my professional golfers at the British Open Qualifying event at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. We were on the third green and I went to tend the flag. The flag was stuck and I was using my left hand (non-dominant) to lift it out. However, it was a not budging so I started to twist it slightly. As I did so, I was causing grass around the hole to lift. Very quickly the caddies and players in the group were shouting at me to stop. We then had to get the rules officials to come to the hole to ensure that there had not been significant damage to the hole. This meant all of the groups behind us had to wait. When my player went to take his put, all that I could do was pray that the green had not been effected to influence his putt! I didn’t want to be the reason for sub-standard performance, I was meant to be helping his performance!! Luckily, it did not and we all walked off the green having a good laugh about it. We still laugh about it when we see each other.

Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the fitness and wellness field? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?

I am unsure if I am an authority in the fitness and wellness field… I have 20 years of practical experience working as a sport psychologist with elite athletes from all different sports, ages, cultures, countries. My authority would include being an applied, hands on psychologist with elite athletes in high performance environments, travelling internationally.

Dr June Canavan was a Sports Physician in one of the first sports medicine clinics that I worked out of in private practice. She was a doctor who was passionate about the psycho-social aspect of athlete health and well-being to perform at the highest level. I learnt a lot from her in the time I worked alongside her. She unfortunately died in a plane crash in 2009 however her ways of working have stuck with me.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?

Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman — It was introduced to me while I was an intern at an army aviation centre in Australia as a clinical psychologist. It cemented my approach as an applied practitioner with very practical ways to learn to change or fine-tune your thoughts and provided the stimulus for more research into optimism, which I did in my PhD dissertation.

Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”? (Please share a story or an example for each, and feel free to share ideas for mental, emotional and physical health.)

Train your mind like a muscle: adopt the same approach to training your mind as you do your body’s muscles. Take the time to learn about yourself and your mental approach, to then enable the improvement to your mental skills.
Shake up your clever, but lazy brain: our brains like patterns and trends to conserve energy — so to make behavioural change you will have to direct your brain to dedicate the effort and work required to achieve your goals.
One. Thing. At. A. Time: slow your thoughts down by focusing and engaging on one task at a time, multi-tasking typically results in a very busy, exhausted brain!
And breathe: learn how to breathe effectively as breathing techniques will give your mind something to focus on and in turn, relax your mind and body.
Be present: find activities to be fully engaged in, such as jigsaw puzzles as they can help quieten the mind and be in the present moment. When your attention is on shapes and pieces, rather than split every which way, it creates a calming effect and can help reduce stress and anxiety.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I have a couple that are floating around in my mind…

Minimize the need to compare in a self-destructive manner. This would mean some serious changes to the world of social media and the way humans use social media.

Reduce smartphone use. The human race has gone nuts on the use of smartphones — limiting the ability to being present with the world we live in — relationships are being affected as is our ability to take in the natural world around us.

Develop a greater sense of responsibility for the communities we live in — how people can start to ‘look up and around’ a little more vs be so concerned with their own lives.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

“The harder you work, the luckier you get.” I had this quote pinned to my notice board throughout my postgraduate studies and at least the first five years of developing my private practice. It was also very similar to the mentality instilled in me by grandparents and parents.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

I have a few social media channels that I irregularly post to:

Instagram: @drandreafurst

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drandreafurstsportpsychologist/

Twitter: @AndreaFurst

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

Women In Wellness: Dr Andrea Furst on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Melanie Rembrandt On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman…

Female Founders: Melanie Rembrandt On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

From funding, finding customers and team members, developing systems, and more, there are many ups and downs when starting a business. A strong determination to succeed has to be at the root of all you do. When I first started my business, I had no choice but to move forward and get to work in order to pay my bills, so I was determined to succeed. Plus, I wanted to prove all of the naysayers wrong!

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Melanie Rembrandt.

Melanie Rembrandt is an award-winning copywriter, publicist and speaker, the author of “Simple Publicity” and “Secrets of Becoming a Publicist,” and the host of the “Simplify Your Small Business Podcast.” As the founder of Rembrandt Communications®, LLC, https://www.rembrandtwrites.com, she helps clients boost sales, awareness and credibility fast with targeted content strategy and public relations. When not at her desk, you can usually find her kickboxing, dancing or scuba diving with sharks!

<a href="https://medium.com/media/144444272278f380de1af760c87029a5/href">https://medium.com/media/144444272278f380de1af760c87029a5/href</a>

After winning a toy frog in a writing contest for the local newspaper at a very young age, I was hooked! It was a small prize, but it set me off on a lifelong writing career. I discovered that I could use my writing to get into a good school, win awards, meet great people, raise money for various charities, and more.

Later on, my copywriting skills became ultra-important because they helped me get work to pay for my college tuition. While having a full class load at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television, I held several public relations and communications jobs to pay the bills. It took a massive amount of time, effort and work, but I was able to get on the Dean’s list and graduate magna cum laude in four years.

I then worked for various production companies, large business and tech start-ups over the years… and was laid off twice. After the second layoff, I thought, “this is ridiculous!” So, I took control of my life and started my own public relations and copywriting business that same day.

Over 15 years later, I still help entrepreneurs, non-profits, Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, and more reach their goals and love it! With my unique experience in the entertainment industry and in-the-trenches knowledge of content strategy and PR, I now help business owners boost sales, awareness, and credibility so they have more time to do the things they really love to do.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

As soon as I started my company, I realized that I could take it wherever I wished without limits. I could choose the people I wanted to work with and set my own schedule. This mindset change allowed me to work with top businesses and celebrities… and even travel to places like New Zealand.

But the best thing that happened is that I was able to do what I liked to do. Accountants, bookkeepers and legal teams took over the numbers and details I didn’t want to deal with (and wasn’t very good at!). And I hired skilled assistants, graphic designers, web technicians, and more to do additional work.

This way, I could really focus on helping my clients with their PR and copywriting needs. But more important, it allowed me to have more time to have some fun and enjoy life away from my desk!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Do you like chocolate-covered strawberries? Well, I love them, and at the beginning of my career, they taught me a big lesson. A big promotional event was just ending, and there was a big tray of these leftover goodies calling to me. I thought I’d give myself a little treat. (And we can’t have these delicious morsels go to waste now, can we?) So, I enjoyed a few and returned to my work activities.

I thanked several people and finally got a break to use the restroom. Then, I looked in the mirror.

Guess what I had? A chocolate-covered face! Ugh!

The chocolate from the strawberries had melted all over my mouth, cheeks and forehead. Plus, I had plenty of strawberry seeds in my teeth. (You know it’s good food when you don’t notice this!)

Well, at least I knew why people seemed so happy to meet me that evening. I definitely made a (sweet) impression! Thank goodness it was at the very end of the event.

Lesson learned. Do not eat messy stuff where you want to look your best. (Or eat away and then dash to a mirror!) You just can’t rely on others to let you know if you have something on your face or in your teeth!

When I first started my business, I was driven by the people who said I couldn’t’ do it. There were many overbearing bosses, jealous co-workers and just some really mean folks who wanted to make me feel insecure and powerless. Little did they know that their negativity fed my drive to succeed!

Once I got rid of these “toxic” naysayers, I focused on finding people who could truly help me. And there wasn’t just one.

Lawyers and accountants via the SCORE organization helped me set up my business at no charge. Many people I had worked with in the past signed on as new clients. Plus, I devoured numerous entrepreneurial articles and guides along with stories from successful, female business owners.

Basically, I conducted research and looked for help in all of the different areas I needed for my business. With zero funds, I found many, experienced and smart people to help me who I really appreciate to this day. If you want assistance, it’s available. You just need to find and ask the right people.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of pessimistic people out there who don’t pursue their dreams, limit their goals and intimidate others. This negativity rubs off on numerous individuals who want to start their own businesses, especially women. Founding a company is all about mindset. You need to surround yourself with positive, smart people who believe in you and your dreams to succeed.

I think a lot of women get nervous, listen to naysayers and just “settle” doing what they think they are supposed to do in their particular circle of society. This can be a very difficult situation to escape without having some kind of support network in place.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

It would be fantastic if children learned about entrepreneurship and financial education at an early age in school. This way, they could establish a good foundation for the future and know that no matter who they are or where they come from, they can create a business and pursue their dreams.

By developing, and promoting, more entrepreneurship groups for all ages that focus on learning about mindset, sales, core business essentials, and more, anyone who is thinking about entrepreneurship would know where to go to get the information and support they need to pursue their dreams.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

On a global level, “women performed an estimated US $31.8 trillion in consumer spending in 2019” per World Data Lab, “MarketPro” (2020). With these large numbers, it makes sense to have female founders creating, marketing and selling products and services to their fellow, target audience. Women tend to understand other women and are often able to pinpoint timely problems and offer solutions specific to their needs.

Plus, there are numerous, young teens out there who may have an idea for a business and really look up to successful, female entrepreneurs. They see that it’s possible to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams while having a family, traveling, and doing the things that they really want to do in life. If we can promote more female, business success stories, we can build enthusiasm for more women to become founders.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

Being a female business founder is not about being a micromanager, controlling others or showing off. There is a myth that many female leaders got to the top via ruthless and unethical means or through their family’s money. Most successful founders have done the “in-the-trenches” work and are not overnight successes. They’ve struggled financially, physically and mentally to make their dreams a reality. This is how they learn to manage people, create and market great products and services and experience big results. Plus, they know that once they succeed, it’s up to them to give back and help others.

There are specific characteristics necessary to be a founder. It’s essential to have grit, take risks and be able to get through tough times in a positive way. You definitely need to have a strong work ethic and be able to deal with deadlines, disappointment and various personality types. Without drive and determination, it can be very difficult to succeed as a business founder. Because of this, I think that people who like to just “clock in,” follow specific directions from others, and have the security of a regular paycheck without risk are not meant to be business owners.

Drive — Once you get a good business idea, it’s essential to have the drive to turn that spark into a fire. The day I was laid off the second time, I knew I needed to take control of my career, financial situation and life. So many people told me that I couldn’t do it, and that made me want to achieve success more!
Determination — From funding, finding customers and team members, developing systems, and more, there are many ups and downs when starting a business. A strong determination to succeed has to be at the root of all you do. When I first started my business, I had no choice but to move forward and get to work in order to pay my bills, so I was determined to succeed. Plus, I wanted to prove all of the naysayers wrong!
Positive Mindset — As a business founder, you deal with family members, friends, associates, and more who can be very negative and destroy your dreams. Many years ago, I stopped spending time with these “toxic” people, started reading books by successful entrepreneurs and learned about having a positive mindset. The way you think is very important to your overall success!
Support Network — You can’t be successful on your own. To grow and get through challenging times as a business owner, and in life, it’s important to have a support network. Since day one of my business, I’ve tried to surround myself with positive, successful people who are smarter than I am and believe in what I’m doing. They provide valuable insights, assistance or just a listening ear when needed!
Lifelong Learning — As Heraclitus said, “The only thing that is constant is change,” so it’s important to be aware of new trends, emerging issues, technologies, and more. Business founders need to be lifelong learners so they can plan for the future, act instead of re-act and shift accordingly as things change.

Over the years, I’ve seen the public relations industry focus on media relationships and pitching to pay-for-play advertising processes and the latest technologies. By attending events, reading, talking to people, and more, I’ve changed with the times… not only to help my business grow but to give my clients the best products and services possible.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

It’s important to give back. That’s why I only accept clients who help others in some way and promote worthwhile products, services and causes. Whenever possible, I try to assist others who want to become entrepreneurs, work with charitable organizations, and write content or give presentations that provide valuable information my audiences can actually use right away. It’s not much, but I do what I can!

I would love to see more children get a financial education at an early age. This way, they can obtain an initial understanding of how money works and what they need to do to be financially secure in the future.

Sara Blakely

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Melanie Rembrandt On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.