At the Chamber, we were excited to welcome four successful women to share stories about what they have learned as founders or CEOs. They joined us for our latest Coffee with Leaders series event: Coffee with Female Small Business Leaders.
“Put your vision on paper and make sure you have enough funding,” advised Harriet Mills, founder and CEO of the Wine & Design franchise, based in Raleigh.
Mills was joined by Nicole Oxendine, the owner and director of Empower Dance Studio, and Kristine Sloan, the CEO of Starting Bloc. Wendy Gates Corbett, the president of Refresher Training, LLC, moderated the discussion.
Each discussed a typical day in the life of a business owner.
“In the mornings, I’m very strict about using my time to do administrative work,” said Oxendine. “I’m at a place now where I have an amazing staff. It’s so important to find those moments of freedom in your schedule. They will make you a better, more productive person.”
The panelists talked about the importance of finding balance between life and life as a business owner.
“I always make time to go work out for an hour,” said Mills. “Working out for me is an outlet. Finding balance, especially as a woman, has been the most difficult thing.”
For Sloan, she said the time to think is critical for a successful leader.
“Before I started, I didn’t realize I would need the space and time to just think,” she said. “Sometimes, you just need to go for a walk and think.”
Gates Corbett echoed that sentiment.
“When I started my business, I scheduled meetings and networking events back to back to back. I would think in between,” she said. “Now, I schedule a get-stuff-done day where I will not have meetings.”
Gates Corbett also mentioned how she had no idea how much time would be spent networking and the importance of it.
“The Raleigh Chamber has a been a great resource of the kinds of people that I want to meet and do business with,” she said.
We are very grateful to all of our speakers for sharing their great insight with our audience. We also want to thank our sponsors, Duck Donuts and Duke Energy, for their support and partnership.
Our next Coffee with Leaders event will be on March 26 for Coffee with Gregg Lowe. Register today to enjoy a conversation with the president and CEO of Cree, Inc.