Failure as a Roadmap to Success: The School for Startups Podcast

I’ll never forget the day that I reached for my infant daughter and she wanted nothing to do with me. She cried and lunged for my mom. I spent all of Stella’s waking hours in my studio, trying to stay in business. No wonder she preferred my mother over me.

That was the moment I realized that not only did Stella not recognize me, but I hardly recognized myself. I’d always dreamed of running my own business so I could be a present parent and contribute to my family in a way that fueled my own passions. On that day in 2014, I felt like I was failing at motherhood and entrepreneurship. Can anyone relate?

There are days we all feel like our worst decisions will forever define us. Like we’ll never crawl out from under the suffocating burden of failed expectations.

I’m here to tell you: that couldn’t be further from the truth.

If I had let failure consume me, I would have been just a statistic. One of 50% of all small business owners who close their doors after five years.

But I didn’t.

Instead of being crushed by disappointment and difficulty, I let failure point me to a successful business and a balanced life.

Last week, on The School for Startups podcast, I shared my journey from a kitchen store in Conway, Arkansas to the pages of People magazine.

Want to know why there’s more to starting a business than just printing business cards? How I went from working 100+ hours a week and constantly losing money to working 30 hours a week and running a seven figure business? How my husband’s illness inspired me to turn an expensive side-hustle into a real-deal business that supports my family of five?

Give this podcast a listen!

Thanks so much for having me, Jim! You ask the best questions.