And So, She Left: Wisdom from Women Beyond the Corporate World Cansulta

This is a special bonus episode from our friends at the Amazon & JAR Audio podcast "This Is Small Business."

This is Small Business explores the journey to success for small business owners by diving deep into the pivotal moments they have faced and conquered along the way. Brought to you by Amazon, this show is delivered through the unique perspective of a curious millennial trying to figure out what it takes to be a successful small business owner today. Episodes feature small business owners and industry experts from all walks of life who offer trends analysis, life lessons, and a different point of view. This is Small Business invites you to dig deep and find the tools you need to start, build, and grow your small business.

If there's one thing we’ve learned over the many episodes of this show, it’s that owning and operating your own business is hard. You have to overcome challenges you didn’t even know existed. Thinking of becoming an entrepreneur or you’re wondering if you should stick it out? We have Dr. Laura Morgan Roberts, scholar, speaker and consultant, who studies the science of maximizing human potential, to guide us through. “I do think for every market need, for every human desire, there is an entrepreneur who is inspired and equipped to meet that need and to help for people to connect with that desire”

And Pamela Wirth, of Hello Health, will share what she’s learned on her path to entrepreneurship. Learn from an expert and those who have been there!

In this episode you’ll hear:

(03:49) Why connecting with others is one of the most important traits of an entrepreneur

(05:23) What qualities you need to be an entrepreneur 

(08:17) If you can't go all in on your business because you need the financial security of a 9 to 5, how else can you start your business journey?

(10:24) How do you start a business if you have too much on your plate?

(12:56) An entrepreneur is also a leader, so what qualities do you need to be a great leader?

(15:38) What are some hurdles that entrepreneurs might have to overcome when they're thinking about starting a business?

(18:45) What are some of the qualities you need to help you get through the tough times?

Back in 2006, Kiersten Hathcock was just trying to figure things out.

She had left her job at A and E Television Networks a few years before and was bouncing around from town to town with her husband and their two kids.

As she was, Kiersten did the very last thing that anyone expected: she founded a children’s furniture company called Mod Mom Furniture. Then in 2024, after the brand received international recognition and acclaim from Shark Tank, Elle Décor, Better Homes and Gardens, and more,  she made another unexpected move: she simply walked away.

Today, Kiersten is the Chief Marketing Officer at Moonshot. It’s a non-profit helping to spur economic development in rural Arizona. But to get there, Kiersten walked on some pretty uneven ground. She navigated a tumultuous appearance on Shark Tank, childhood trauma…even hearing the voices of dead children.

This week, I sat down with Kiersten to hear how she went from working in the television industry to building children’s furniture by hand in her garage. Why did she make such a drastic jump to an industry she had no experience with? How did she differentiate her products in such a saturated market? And how did she learn to trust her intuition, even when she had no indicators of success to latch onto?

Growing up in the South Side of Chicago, Amanda Moncada-Perkins wanted power.

Her family had few resources to make do with, so she became an attorney when she grew up to unlock a better future. And today, Amanda’s the Founding Attorney of her own firm, Stoutegy Law. But stepping into her power as a lawyer wasn’t without some major caveats.

Amanda was pulling brutal 70 to 80-hour weeks while she was working at major firms. She recalls crying every day at work, stretching herself to the absolute limit to outperform her colleagues. She was even put on suicide watch during a particularly dark period.

This week, Amanda talks about how she navigated countless obstacles in the daunting world of law to found her own successful firm. How did she cope with the immense pressure and strain as a high-profile attorney? Why did she find stepping away from work to be so difficult? And how did she eventually learn to put her mind at ease without compromising the quality of her work?

When Janice Person was first talking about farm-to-table in the 90's, people thought she was crazy.

Even with a journalism and communications background, she found it tough to share the perspectives of a minority group that we don’t think about very often: the farmers who grow it.

When Janice started out, she was doing PR for the agrochemical juggernaut Monsanto. At Monsanto, she was given tools and resources to amplify the voices of farmers, a goal she’s still pursuing today through her podcast Grounded by the Farm and her company Grounded Communications. To hear Janice talk about farming is to learn what it means to speak with passion and conviction about your business.

In this episode, Janice about her time working in the agriculture industry. What has she learned about communicating key issues about farming to people who know nothing about it? Why is she so passionate about agricultural advocacy? And what can we learn from Janice when it comes to talking about our own businesses?

Kaylin Marcotte’s early career wasn’t particularly fun.

But when she was training as a management consultant at IBM in 2013, she met two promising, young female founders who wanted to start a media company...called theSkimm. So, she left to become their first employee.

Kaylin’s days were pretty demanding, and she often played with jigsaw puzzles at home to unwind. But she didn’t always love the stock imagery she was putting together. So, in 2019, she founded JIGGY. It’s a direct-to-consumer company creating jigsaw puzzles that…actually look pretty cool. And its very existence is a reminder of how important it is to have fun throughout the entrepreneurial journey.

Kaylin talks about how she went from getting hired as theSkimm’s first employee to becoming the Founder & CEO of JIGGY. How did she transition from working at a media company to manufacturing a physical product? What was it like to create a business out of her hobby? And how do we make fun a core part of the entrepreneurial experience?

Lisa Lloyd will be the first to tell you that she’s not a genius...though she certainly seems like one.

She invented her first product at 23, a hair styling tool called The French Twister, which eventually grossed $20 million. And over the years, she went on to license seven other products; getting featured on Shark Tank, Good Morning America, USA Today, The Big Idea, and more before starting the Lisa Lloyd Marketing Group. She’s also the Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at the Invention Accelerator, a program that helps busy innovators to get their ideas off the ground.

But not all of those inventions turned out; in fact, Lisa had still been paying off the debt from one of her products until…pretty recently. And before she started inventing, there were no early signs of entrepreneurial greatness. She actually didn’t think she was smart enough to become an entrepreneur, period.

In this episode, Lisa shares what she's learned over 30 years as an inventor and high-profile business owner. What were her most costly mistakes, and what did they teach her? What’s the key to persisting through prolonged periods of uncertainty without becoming cynical? And what are the two types of discipline that you need to keep moving forward as an entrepreneur?