Business growth expert and investor Candy Valentino was born for teenage parents in a small town in Pennsylvania. Her family lived in the trailer park and consisted in helping prosperity and government by most of Valentino’s life, and when her father lost his job as a mechanic, he had only $ 200 in his name. When Valentino was five, her father negotiated the contract to establish his own small company in the garage in the basement.
Image loan: Courtesy of Candy Valentino
“WITH [that] Time up to 16 years Entrepreneur. “Instead of learning to bounce or football, I learned about small business. I answered the phones, entered on a typewriter and interacted with clients. I grew up in a small company. “
So Valentino was well equipped to deal with on a regular basis entrepreneurship when she decided to establish her own company at the age of 19. Although Valentino considered the first in her family to review, she read a book that said that she didn’t have to proceed their costly education to succeed-and earn a lot of cash.
“I would like to be able to say [my initial motivation was] Super inspiring, “says Valentino,” but the only reason I wanted to start a company when I was younger was that I didn’t want to be poor. I wanted to have a different environment. I wanted to have nice things, a beautiful house, all the things you see on TV. “
It was the late 90s, and the small business administration desired to finance women’s entrepreneurs. In the decade preceding this moment, women in business experienced quite a return: until 1988, women couldn’t receive a business loan without a signature from a male family member.
Valentino’s first business idea? SPA, inspired by her first visit to New York after graduating from highschool (her for the first time outside of their condition). Someone gave her a gift card. SPA was not only a relaxing, nice fragrant place, but also gave the impression to be a good business, attracting a constant stream of shoppers. Will women adore it? Valentino thought. I should bring it back to my small town.
Valentino handed over her idea of the SBA, and the panel, which included five women from six members, decided to grant her loans. “I often think it was a bit of a divine moment,” says Valentino, “because they experienced them all [barriers in business] That I didn’t do it and they gave me a loan. “Valentino had 45 days to start out the company; She had enough money to open the door and hire some people.
SPA was successful, and Valentino continued the pioneer in space, relying on an impressive business profession lasting over two a long time. Until now, the self-proclaimed millionaire founded and sold two corporations, helped build corporations in various industries, founded a non-profit organization Heal the rescue of the animals And he established the real estate portfolio in real estate. He is also a host The Candy Valentino Show and the best -selling writer, recently 9% edge: changing my secrets to get more revenues for your organization and more freedom for yourself.
“Basically, I became a financial director in my company without a diploma.”
According to Valentino, one of the most vital keys for such a large growth and success? The desire to work is harder than anyone else, especially at the starting.
“Even if you don’t have all the right answers, even if you don’t know what to do at the beginning to succeed in anything, we must have the courage to commit and temperate to continue,” says Valentino. “We need to take care of our dreams more than other people’s opinions.”
However, launching a company is one thing, but its support – to avoid becoming One of many who fail – This is one other one. Walentino says that keeping the rush requires a completely different set of skills.
“Grit has just started me,” explains Valentino, “But the financial willow is what continued me. And this is the only thing that forced me to go out twice. One thing that will separate you from everyone else is your ability to manage a company because it is related to revenues and profitability. “
Walentino adds that the lack of revenues, financing and profit is the overwhelming majority of corporations fail. Fortunately, Valentino loved mathematics and delving into the funds of her company: accounting, taxes and P&L – “all boring things that no one else wanted to do.” So she took care of those tasks and hired employees for all the pieces else.
“Basically, I became a financial director in my company without a diploma,” says Valentino. “I developed the habit [of considering]IN What do I have to pay attention to? What numbers in my company talk to me? What data and indicators do I have to learn? This changed everything. It was then that we came from a small company that effectively scales and prepares for the exit. “
“She has become a real example of what it is like to be brave [and] lead in a space dominated by men. “
Over the years, Valentino also learned leadership – inspired partly by several women’s leaders. Like many girls growing up in the late Nineties, Valentino says that she heard a too common query about her profession: “Do you want to be a teacher or a nurse?” Then she began to look at women’s leaders equivalent to Mary Kay Ash, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Oprah. She remembers printing quotes and recording them in her bedroom.
When Valentino entered the world of business, one of her most vital personal mentors was a woman named Anne Degre.
“She has become a real example of what it is like to be brave [and] He leads in the space dominated by men, “says Valentino.” She was in the production in which I later fell, and although our stories were very different-she was in a very large company and I had to build it-it opens, how she moved the spaces in which men did not want them to be in. “
Since Valentino began her first activity at the age of 19, her early leadership style mainly concerned the “golden rule”, treating others as she desired to be treated. However, when the teams led by Valentino increased from 20 employees to 30, 50 and more, they saw the value in a different form of leadership: being nice AND strong.
“Both can exist,” says Valentino, “and” is what is essential – being nice, understanding and expectation of greatness. Most people who work for me would say that I expect greatness not only from us, but from us and the whole organization. When we we. [accept] Mediocrity, the company is not going to achieve what it could. Seeing people, who they are, even if they do not see it themselves, is extremely essential -[as is]Calling them to this higher version of yourself. “
“I knew exactly what I used to be talking about so that no person rattles me.(*1*)superpower”, an opportunity to arrange and give a tone.
“I knew exactly what I was talking about so that nobody dislikes me,” says Valentino, “and as a part of one conversation they knew who was responsible. It improved me. It made me sharper than some of the men with whom I interacted because they’d the advantage that they were entering the room and everyone assumes that they were the boss and they do all the pieces they said.
Valentino says that there is still a lot of space for development when it involves supporting women in business. He notes the need for more women -specialists in finance, Venture and private equity investments. If a woman is interested in hacking these fields, it is time to double and understand that she is greater than capable, in line with Valentino.
“[It’s about] Knowing that you did one of the most difficult things in your life, “Valentino explains.” The use of finances in your company is really nothing [compared to] Having the child giving that you have to leave the hospital and raise. Let’s be real: it’s much more difficult.
“Sometimes women underestimate their power because they think, Oh, I didn’t have this experience Or They don’t take me seriously“He continues.” But we do not take ourselves seriously enough to prove the rooms we enter – this is where the highest level of growth for women still lives. “
This article is a part of our current series of ladies entrepreneurs, emphasizing the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a company as a woman.