Don’t settle if you can help it. And don’t do it alone.
I was recently interviewed by One Source Direct—a B2B platform and Trep House supplier—and I’ll be honest:
some of my own answers surprised me. They might surprise you, too.
This conversation wasn’t about overnight success or tidy career arcs. It was about how entrepreneurship actually happens, what it costs, and why community matters more than we like to admit.
Becoming an entrepreneur (by accident)
I grew up surrounded by entrepreneurs—my dad, my grandfather—but I didn’t set out to become one.
I earned a degree in secondary education and planned to be a middle school teacher. Instead, I graduated into a job market with far too many teachers and far too few openings. After years of subbing and very few interviews, I had to pivot.
That pivot led me to a volunteer role with an archaeologist at a museum, where I learned historical building research—and eventually built my first consulting practice doing National Register nominations and heritage tourism work.
That was business #1.
There have been three businesses since, across very different fields, plus roles inside planning and engineering firms.
It would absolutely bewilder 20-year-old me.
But in hindsight? Maybe the writing was on the wall all along.
Tools I actually use (and keep using)
If you’re building something of your own, a few things I swear by:
🕒 Motion – task + time management for people who always have too much on their plate (and are easily distracted).
🎨 Canva – because good-enough design done fast beats perfect design never finished.
📘 Business Model Generation – the single most practical book I know for shaping (or fixing) a business idea.
These tools don’t magically solve things—but they help you focus, clarify, and move forward when everything feels overwhelming.
Biggest failure
My first business partnership went badly.
I made assumptions I shouldn’t have. Trust broke down. If I knew then what I know now, maybe it would have ended differently.
It didn’t—and I still wish it had.
But that experience shaped how I think about power, alignment, and communication in every collaboration since.
My biggest advice for women entrepreneurs
First: don’t settle—if you can help it.
So many women start businesses simply to replace a job with something more flexible. Sometimes that’s exactly what’s needed, especially when life is heavy.
But if you do have room to imagine more, I’d love to see more women ask:
What if this business could be bigger than me?
What if it created jobs, change, reach, impact?
What if we built companies that actually work better—for women, and therefore for everyone?
Instead of yelling at broken systems, we can build better ones.
Second—and just as important: don’t do it alone.
Entrepreneurship is lonely. Add in the lack of real social support for women and families, and the burden can be crushing. Friends and family may love you deeply—and still not understand why you’re taking these risks.
That’s why finding your people matters:
🤝 women who are also building
🤝 women who understand the fear and the ambition
🤝 women who can carry you when it’s heavy
That kind of support can make all the difference.
Want to go deeper?
If this resonates, there are a few ways to keep the conversation going:
📚 Buy the books – practical thinking for building better businesses
📰 Subscribe to Future Here Now on Substack – essays on leadership, systems, and the future we’re actually creating
🎤 Book us for speaking or workshops – strategy, entrepreneurship, leadership, and building organizations that work
💬 Reach out if you’re exploring what’s next and want to think it through together
👉 DM me or follow the links in the comments
👉 Share this with a woman who’s building something—and shouldn’t have to do it alone
✨ Don’t settle. Don’t disappear. Don’t go it alone. ✨
#WomenInBusiness #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #FutureHereNow #Founders #ThoughtLeadership #Speaking #Workshops #BuildBetter
