A Lady Who Launches

"Waiting any longer to start my own business would have sucked my soul."

I knew I wanted to do something creative and something that was for women, and I had a lot of wild product ideas and thought that I would develop those products while also leading incubators for a group called Ladies Who Launch. My own products didn't go as far as I thought they were going to, but I found that I could provide services for women starting their businesses. That was how my business idea grew. I had a passion for working with women, I saw that there was a lot that I could bring them as far as sales confidence and marketing confidence, and I was able to take a lot of their ideas and organize them for them.

"Others saw something in me that I didn't see in myself."

I worked with a business coach and she said I need to go practice on three women -- offer them services, see what they need, and do it in exchange for feedback. I found a book, a 6-week startup guide. I figured if this author could do it in six weeks, I could do it in 12 with my clients. So that's what I did.

"The traditional way to start businesses wasn't working for me."

I started to see a roadmap in my mind of where my business could go, and I would sit at the computer and try to write business plans. Then I took a drawing pad and started drawing stick figures and seeing what the images looked like. I drew out what my customer looked like with big question marks on her head and all the little areas that she needed help with. For me it wasn't a documented business plan that gave me direction. It was a cartoon drawing.

I was then able to find many other women through Ladies Who Launch who had done their businesses differently. Liz Lange is my favorite one. She's the maternity wear designer who is in Target now, and she never had a business plan. The founder of Spanks, who cut feet off of nylons, went around to different manufacturers to try to get support for two or three years before someone told her, "That's a great idea."

"It can be scary, because you don't even know what you're talking about.?"

I went to a women's group breakfast and started to talk about what I was doing with my business, and I was so excited and so fired up that at the end a woman came up to me and said, "I have no idea what you're doing, but I like your energy and I can help you.'

The major lesson I learned was not to let the fact that I didn't know what I was doing stop me and not to let it stop me from networking. Had I sat at home that Wednesday morning instead of going to breakfast, I would have been in the exact same place. But I took a risk, I put myself out there, and I had a lot of fun doing it. I didn't know what I was doing the first time I got on a bike either, and I figured out how to swim, so I took that attitude with me.

"It's all about baby steps, but baby steps moving forward."

I worked at an internet startup company before going out on my own, and I had a decent amount of stock. I didn't want to use that stock to buy a house or car or for my kid's college fund. Was I going to keep holding on to this money or was I going to take it and invest in myself and grow this business? I cashed out my stock, and I even walked away from some money I had coming to me. Along with the money, I made the time. I started to prioritize my health and my fitness, and by doing that, my head was clear to really focus on things. I'm single and I don't have kids, but I know a lot of married women and moms who are doing the exact same thing I am doing, and because it's a passion, you find a way to make it happen.

Actually, starting a business is very similar to having a baby, I'd imagine. You walk around pregnant a long time announcing that this baby is coming, and even when it comes out, it's still this little blob that needs developing. You don't expect to start a business with a college-aged child, you don't expect to have a business with stock and a huge office space and with multiple employees. You need to think about growing that business organically, the same way you would grow a child, by nurturing, food, investment, time. I didn't have an office, and it wasn't until I had several clients and an actual need for office space that I moved into one. If I had started out by thinking that I needed to open an office for Business Legs, I would probably be bankrupt. It's all about baby steps, but baby steps forward. Keep going ahead.

"I'm not afraid to make mistakes, because really, there are no such things as mistakes when you are starting a business."

The courage to start my own business came from me taking risks, and it has changed my life dramatically. I am the happiest I've ever been and the healthiest I've ever been. I've met the most incredible women who have enriched my life so much. I'm not complaining about the corporate grind, and I have time to do the things I really love to do, which is riding my bike, spending time with friends, being outdoors. I can go get my car repaired now and not feel guilty that someone's watching my cubicle. To take that pressure and tension away from your life leaves so much more room for happiness and freedom and fun. I am having the absolute time of my life.

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