Corporate to Company Owner

For 25 years, Jea Gackowski was the only female VP of a manufacturing company worth $250 million.

Then she quit.

Gackowski wanted a change, so she struck out on her own as a Mary Kay independent sales director.

“It was time for me to give back and use those skills I learned setting up companies in other states and countries, to help women run their own,” she says.

So, how did her corporate America experience light the way?

Developing strategic plans for obtaining capital, determining goals and laying out tactics for achieving results are all skills Gackowski learned from her office job. She now uses them in her new venture.

Tracking expenses and drawing out plans can help entrepreneurs maintain focus, like their work at high-powered offices. Gackowski says big corporations have the ability to “speak money” – or “ take the plan from theory to fact and make adjustments on the fly.”

Having a thick skin is vital, say experts. Much like having an idea or request rejected in a corporate job, entrepreneurs may be denied funding, support or interest in their product.

Cubicle workers turned entrepreneurs often cite the value of learning to build client relations. If you collaborated with customers from various backgrounds in your corporate job, you can confidently approach new clients, as an entrepreneur.

Bonus PINK Link: Having a hard time deciding between career and passions? Meet a woman who lives a double life.

Have you or a friend gone from corporate to entrepreneurship?

By Christy Rogers

“It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.”
Mary Kay Ash