SDH 177: How to Build a Supportive Tribe and Why It is Important to Have One With Stacie Brown, Kim Bosse, Debra Guinta, Liz Traines, and Jessica Zweig
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What does success truly look like in your eyes without comparing it to others? In what ways does your business enrich the lives of your clientele? Can you allow your business to act as an extension of yourself and the entirety of your being?
Amongst the flow of wine, She Did it Her Way dives into these questions at the Boss Dinner with a variety of successful female entrepreneurs. The event is a celebration of powerful women with a goal of creating strong networks aimed at promoting and uplifting one another.
Today, we meet Debra Giunta, Kim Bosse, Stacie Brown, Jessica Zweig, and Liz Traines. Debra is the founder and director of Design Dance, a community-based educational dance organization. Design Dance's classes are taught by well trained dancers who teach routines that have an elevated performance aspect to them. However, Debra wanted her classes to be available to students of all income levels, in order to provide easy access to a high quality dance education. Today they serve 1,500 students annually with over 120 classes a week.
Along her entrepreneurial road, her greatest epiphany and daily practice is learning to find and be happy with her own version of success. An exercise that keeps her in this mindset is 90-Day projects and goals geared towards growing her business and herself. By having these short term goals, she increases her productivity and it allows her feel accomplished on her own terms.
Another boss lady learning to thrive on her own terms is Jessica Zweig, founder of Cheeky Chicago and The SimplyBe Agency. Jessica began her self discovery after she started her first business, Cheeky Chicago; an online lifestyle magazine for women. After having to take a month off of work to recover from a sinus surgery, she entered into a deep depression. She had invested so much of herself into her business that when she had to stop, she felt as though she had lost herself and her purpose. It was after an emotional breakdown on a park bench that she bounced back and regained clarity.
She had looked down at a tattoo on her wrist from years ago that said, 'Simply Be, Girls can See it'. It reminded her to be okay with wherever and whoever she was in her life, and to live authentically. From there she was able to rebuild herself separately from her business, so it wouldn't define her. It also led to the creation of her second business, The SimplyBe Agency, which helps turn budding entrepreneurs into creative leaders by helping them create digital content to cultivate audiences and make an impact.
Stacie Brown, Managing Director of Carver Peterson Consulting, helps new entrepreneurs as well by giving new entrepreneurs direction, how to drive revenue, building a staff, along with other business counseling.
One thing she prides herself on with her business is creating a healthy work environment built off of trust and transparency. By building a business culture with these pillars at its core, it creates a working environment where everyone feels comfortable engaging and communicating with one another in a professional and constructive way; whether it be about the good, the bad, or the ugly. With this open communication, she is also able to make better decisions as a leader, and effectively solve problems to benefit the company and associates.
Kim Bosse, owner and co-founder of Birch Road Cellar, is learning the same thing and in different capacities. Birch Road Cellar is an event space for members of their club to throw gatherings. The intimate space is homey enough to host small get-togethers between friends or larger events such as the Boss Dinner.
For Kim, one of her best business decisions, but also a challenge, is delegating and tailoring areas of her business to fit her strengths and weaknesses. While as an owner this tactic is best for certain tasks, it can keep her complacent and too comfortable. She keeps herself evolving by taking control of sales or pitching to potential members. Admitting that sales isn't her strong suit, at some point there has to be growth, and she likes interacting with potential members, and evaluating if they are a right fit herself.
By getting comfortable with the uncomfortable in her business, Kim has taken this approach with her personal life, too. She actively tries to say 'yes' to things that may not make sense or is responsible, but wants to take that chance in order to learn and have that experience.
Liz Traines, founder of Liz Traines Coaching, went on a similar journey as she transitioned from the monotony of the corporate world to the freedom of entrepreneurship. Now a career and lifestyle coach, she focuses on helping other women find a career that they love.
A veteran to the She Did it Her Way Podcast, we previously heard how Liz spent years living the life she was told, growing in the finance world, and becoming what other people deemed 'successful'. But that path was not her truth, and when a stranger at a New Year's Eve party pointed it out, she was shaken from her trance.
She then spent a year living outside her comfort zone, traveling, and practicing self care. It still took her a while to finally leave her corporate job, but when she did became confident, and felt in control of her life.
Soak up this jam-packed episode as you hear more about these amazing women!
In this episode you will...
Learn how to create a platform and business that motivates others towards success
Find joy in achieving short term goals and how to rebuild your life and career around that
Start to be your own problem-solver in your business
Know how to build a productive, trusting, and open work culture
Begin to find fulfillment in your own version of success
Figure out how to establish yourself as a boss while keeping a positive relationship with her team
INSIGHTS
"If you want to be profitable, you really need to talk to your client...Take the leap, go meet with a client...go work with someone so you can have an experience that teaches you what people actually need and want and what they'll actually pay for..." -Debra Giunta
"When you don't have a boss, you're constantly defining your own success. And I think we are bombarded with versions of success that look like something we might want. And sometimes even when I think I have reached a point of success that I have defined for myself, I see someone else's point of success and I'll compare myself to them. So I think it's really about taking those moments throughout the day to re-center yourself and refocus on where you're at." - Debra Giunta
"When you set short term goals, what you force yourself to do is to really focus...and you're like, this is where I'm at...and I'm on this ride, and it's a sprint, and in 90 days I'm going to make a new goal." -Debra Giunta
"There's something to be said about having corporate structure that provides you with resources but it's pretty fun when you think through the problem, solve [it], and execute on the problem yourself." -Stacie Brown
"There's skillsets as an owner that are different than an employee; [you can't be] afraid to be humble, to ask for help, and seek out the support system that can really make you better. And frankly, that's just letting your guard down and being vulnerable with the things you don't know." -Stacie Brown
"I'm [my staff's] boss first, and their friend second, and that's been a shift in mindset...and I think I'm finding the balance between really loving my team and knowing that they love me too, but at the end of the day they respect me. It is an intentional practice everyday, and that was a very, very hard lesson for me to learn." -Jessica Zweig
RESOURCES
Carver Peter Consulting Instagram
Carver Peterson Consulting Twitter
Liz Traines Coaching Instagram
The Man in the Arena by John Bogle
