What has been the biggest and most surprising obstacle you’ve had to overcome as an entrepreneur?
Saying no to work has been a challenge. At one point we were in survival mode. It was hard to say no, but we found that staying true to our values and saying no to something meant we could later say yes to projects that did align. This takes an abundance mindset and trust that the God of the universe will provide. I do not believe in luck because running a business is about hard work, not being lucky. I am a woman of faith and while hard times were stressful, in hindsight, my trust in our team, the quality of our work, our partners and our network did result in tremendous success.
If you could describe your company in three words or phrases, what would they be?
Our cause is Growing Positive Impact
Why did you choose to start and grow your business in Texas?
Texas is home. We’ve traveled the world and we keep ending up here. I wish DFW had a beach. Michael wishes it had mountains and that the summers weren’t so brutally hot. However, at the end of the day, we’ve never found a place more warm-hearted and welcoming as Fort Worth, Texas. We enjoy all the beautiful sights our world has to offer, but we do miss the people and we always find our way back home.
What do you like best about being part of the RTI FORT cohort?
Both Michael and I are driven, self-starters. We read a lot and work hard, and Michael has started multiple businesses. However, the guidance we’ve gotten on implementing traction has been a huge benefit and we’ve never been more aligned as an organization.
What was your latest win?
Our latest win was bringing our entire leadership team to Fort Worth and over the span of 48 hours we laid out a plan for the next 10 years. We have a distributed team that works and communicates virtually from their respective home offices or chosen location for the day. There is great freedom from being able to work from anywhere and it also takes great discipline to keep balance. Bringing everyone together to lay out this plan was challenging, but a great accomplishment.
Part of being a FORT member is giving back to the community. How have you given back?
We spend a lot of our time giving back to the community because we believe it is of high importance and we enjoy it. Our family spent a day volunteering at another Fort member’s warehouse, The Welman Project, to organize donations for schools. I have been a girl scout volunteer for 10 years, while Michael co-organizes the local WordPress meetup. Rebecca, who is not local, but part of the CauseLabs team sits on the Colorado B Local board and organizes and participates in the B of Service community service events.
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Find out more about CauseLabs on their website: https://www.causelabs.com/
Applications for the FORT 002 will be open on March 15th on the Rising Tide website. The FORT is a group of real, genuine people helping make dreams come true through entrepreneurship, and we would love for you to be a part of it.