An Entrepreneur's Journey

I've been wanting to introduce PINK readers to Carrie H Johnson since reading the manuscript of her book From the Pits to the Palace
- the story of her entrepreneurial journey and how it lead to a great
discovery - her Self.  Like Carrie many women put away some best parts
of themselves in childhood.  Those parts of Carrie emerged through her
business.  As you read perhaps the best parts of yourself will be
inspired to come out and play. 

A single mother of three boys, a history of substance abuse, failed
relationships, and an incest survivor, Carrie started her business not
because she believed in herself - much to the contrary.  She was plain
outright desperate to get off government assistance and support her
family. Before taking her first step as an entrepreneur Carrie took an
assessment  to see if she had the characteristics to be successful. 
She failed.  The test said she lacked the requisites - confidence,
creativity, persuasiveness, organization, discipline and the ability to
set long term goals. Carrie flunked because the part of her that could
and would eventually be and do all these things had been in hiding,
protected by the palace guards since childhood.  But she was desperate
to find a way to get off government assistance and support her family,
so she started her business despite the warnings that she would not
succeed.  Sparkle Cleaning grew to a multi-million dollar business with
more than 150 employees and operations in four states.   

During her tenure as founder and initially as a front-line worker,
Carrie discovered she has the ability to accomplish far reaching
goals.  She has learned that she is a leader, someone who brings people
together and builds lasting relationships.  She is a person people
depend on and is highly capable of carrying this weight.  She believes
being responsible for more than 150 employees helped her shed her sense
of Self as an insecure person unworthy of success and begin to see
herself as a strong, capable, passionate woman.

Carrie offers the following advice to women who are considering starting a business or those who have already done so. 

First - believe in yourself.  You will have many naysayers,
obstacles and disappointments.  You are the one constant.  Belief in
yourself is necessary, albeit not sufficient to move through the
challenges you will face. 

In addition, you are your business' most important asset and the one
factor that sets your business apart from your competitors.  People
react to you the way you present yourself.  They will pick up on it if
you feel like you can't make it happen and you don't have what it
takes.  As a result you will not get the job or the contract or
whatever it is you want.  It is all about you.  It's personal. 

Second - lay a solid foundation for your business. Do the research.
Create a business plan.  Write a well-thought out and researched
document that defines where you want to go; how you are going to get
there and how much time it will take.  Think about the potential
obstacles and create strategies to maneuver around them.  The most
important pieces of your business plan are finances and marketing.  How
will you fund your business and how will you get paying customers?

"I didn't have a business plan, so it took a long time to make
headway.  Growing pains almost closed our doors many times. What we
eventually grew to be a $3.5 million dollar company could have been a
$10 million dollar company and I could be set for life!  If I only had
a plan..."

Third - Know when to ask for help.

Fourth - Learn from other people's mistakes.  It's less costly than learning from your own.

Finally - Make the time to participate in networking groups for
women.  "Twenty five years ago, when I started my business there were
few if any such groups that brought women on all levels together. 
Today women are learning how to help each other up and through this
thing called business - professionally and as entrepreneurs.  Men have
been doing it forever and it has made them successful. Networks are a
great opportunity to learn from each other, gain contacts and build
relationships that will be invaluable to your personal and professional
success."

 Dr.
Anne Perschel is president and founder of Germane Consulting. 
She specializes in coaching women leaders and those with high
potential.  She also designs programs to ensure companies realize
significant competitive advantages by removing obstacles to the
success, contributions, promotion and retention of talented women. You
can visit her site at www.germaneconsulting.com
where you will find a rich library of articles and posts on leadership
and other topics related to work-life effectiveness and joy. 

Posted
May 19 2009, 07:59 PM
by
Anne Perschel