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 succeed, so she started her business despite the warnings that she would fail. 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:

1. 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.

2. 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…”

3. Know when to ask for help.

4. Learn from other people’s mistakes. It’s less costly than learning from your own.

5. 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.”

By Anne Perschel