Behind the Curtain - Part 1
When we look at successful entrepreneurs we think, wow they just naturally fell into this or wow, they must have had a lot of support along the way. Sometimes that may be the case, but so often it’s not. So often we don’t see the struggle behind the success. The Wizard of Oz might have said “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” but this Dorothy isn’t afraid to do just that, especially in recognition of Mother’s Day this month.
Let’s take a quick peek at the start of this entrepreneur’s journey and how I went from a single parent leaving corporate America to a badass outsourced CFO and advisor.
An accidental entrepreneurial journey
I wish I could say, like so many successful entrepreneurs, that I come from a long line of small business owners, but frankly I didn’t. I’m the daughter of a man who worked for the same company (NBC/30 Rock) for nearly 40 years and a woman who spent most of my life as a stay-at-home mom and then worked for the Girl Scouts. But they did raise me to be self-sufficient, independent and ambitious.
In 2014, I found myself divorced with 4 sons and recently laid off. I had worked enough long-hour jobs with long commutes to know that the corporate game would never be sustainable as a single parent and I knew that going back to leaving the house at 7am and returning at 7pm would not work.
So I took a chance on myself, maybe even truly for the first time in my adult life. Was I scared? Heck yeah! But I made a point of surrounding myself with supporting and collaborative people who continue to lift me up as I do with them. I cannot stress enough how important emotional and mental support is to anyone’s success no matter where their road takes them.
Managing my work/life load
Ah - money! With very, very little in the bank and no financial support, keeping my family afloat was entirely on my shoulders. Initially I had to take some initial contract work as a part-time controller to keep the lights on. Two of those clients I still have to this day! But before I knew it, they were referring me to their networks.
The second biggest hurdle to overcome as a single parent business owner was how to manage the emotional stress of starting a business (when would money come in, long hours at my desk, worrying about my pipeline, trying to get my own processes set up so they would eventually be scalable) around raising those 4 kiddos. I started my day at 6am, got them off to school and scheduled all calls while the house was quiet (this of course was pre-pandemic when working from home and having the dog bark during a call wasn’t quite so accepted!). This freed up my evenings which were (and still are) reserved for sports games, practices and family dinners.
Success is mine!
How do I know I’m succeeding? On International Women’s Day, my son commented “hey mom, this is your day because it’s about women like you who are kicking butt and making it work.” All my sons have the mindset that they can make their own money and drive their own businesses because I’ve now shown them that it can be done. They have no fear and I commend them for that and encourage them to continue to think that way.
In Behind the Curtain, Part 2, I’ll tell you how I approached finances early on to become profitable and how to utilize them for scaling once money starts rolling in.
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