Did you take on a partner in your business at any time?
My new business did not originally start with just me. I originally started this business with a neighbor, who was already an entrepreneur. We made some progress together, but she had other businesses going on at the time, and she decided to focus on them. I told her I was entirely committed to this concept, so I’d like to transfer the business to me, and bought her out of the business. Now, it is just me.
If you had to start another business, what have you learned that you might do differently—either about yourself, or about how to run a business in general?
I think the ownership piece I would do differently if I had to start over or start again. Knowing what I know now, it is hard to have a partnership. You need someone to set a strategic direction and having a partner sometimes slows you down. But, through this first business I started, having a partner initially was a blessing, because I don’t think I would have had the confidence to do this alone. I gained the confidence when I started to get more into the concept and by the time I bought my partner out of the business, I was able to reshape the vision of the business to a place that is a better fit with the market need. Starting with someone else gave me the confidence to drive the business on my own. Owning a business truly is experiential learning. You have to go through the experience in the real world to truly learn how to run a business. It is a process of doing, constantly learning, and understanding how you are going to assimilate new information into the business.
How important were mentors in your entrepreneurial career?
I wouldn’t say I have one mentor. I have different role models in my life. My father has been a good role model, as a business oriented physician—practicing good medicine and running a solid business. I find role models in a lot of places. For example, Harvard has outreach programs to women alumni who are in career transition. When I went to my 15-year business school reunion, I enrolled in the Charting Your Course program where I spent 2 days with 48 women, and they had good role models there; some were entrepreneurs. I have kept in touch with some women on those panels and ask them questions on occasion even now. That has been very helpful. Another good role model is my partner in life. As I previously mentioned, he’s an entrepreneur too. Even though I’m self-funding my own business and he has had venture capital for his, there are a lot of other issues around entrepreneurship that are similar between his business and mine. I’ve learned a lot just by watching him go through his experiences.
How important are your social and personal networks to the success of your business?
I do think networks are important, and right now I’m learning what networks I should tap into.
Why do you think more single/divorced and widowed women start more businesses than men in their respective categories, and does your theory match your own rationale for starting a business?
I think flexibility is a big piece. I also think women may have a broader vision than men because they have more career breaks. They exit their corporate roles (especially when becoming a mother) and it gives them the chance to create a new vision for their careers. I think sometimes you have to take yourself out of the corporate world to see the new vision. You can think independently outside of corporate America. In the corporate world, you are trained to think within the corporation. You’re not supposed to use your full capabilities. But when you remove yourself from that mentality, you can start seeing more opportunities and how to solve problems in an entrepreneurial way. Women have that advantage because of the career breaks.
What is your personal definition of success, and have you achieved it?
You have to define success in your own terms. My definition of success is to do interesting, high impact work, while also enjoying the other dimensions of my life. One piece of that life is being engaged in my children’s lives. Also, success to me is giving myself time for my relationship, my friends and being involved in my community, and taking care of my personal health. I have achieved that. I am doing very interesting high impact work and am fully engaged in all aspects of my life, so I have achieved my own personal definition of success.
What else hasn’t been asked that you feel passionately about sharing?
I feel really strongly about this: I want women to know that their gender does NOT have to hold them back. Whatever a woman wants to do, independent of her personal relationship status, or deciding to have kids, her choices should not hold her back. She must believe in herself and find the right environment to utilize her skills, and if that means she should be an entrepreneur, great. If she can find what she wants to be in corporate America, great. But as an entrepreneur, you create the corporate culture and decide when you work, who you hire, what types of people you will partner with, etc. and it is liberating to be able to create your environment, rather than trying to fit into a corporate structure and culture that already exits.
Tracey Brame
West Point Financing
Tracey Brame is an Indianapolis native from birth. At age 9, she declared she was going to a top 10 school, putting the Newsweek list under her bed. At age 18, she was accepted to every top ten school in the country. She settled into West Point because it felt closest to her Pentecostal upbringing. After leaving the Army, she created an IT recruiting firm, working almost exclusively for EMC2’s channel division. The downturn in IT during the early 2000s left Tracey looking for a new angle. In 2007, she started West Point Financing, a national equipment lease and financing firm. Her biggest deal to date is designing a $50 million vehicle lease program for the city of Indianapolis’ Department of Public Works, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and Indianapolis Fire Department. She is in current contention for leasing agent for one of the state’s largest hospital systems. Her company is online at: www.westpointfinancing.com.
What advantages do you think you have as a solo business owner that married people don’t have?
I have to succeed. No one is standing behind me with a safety net in case things don’t work out.
What about disadvantages?
I don’t have a safety net. It’s a dual-edged sword. When I network, no one else in the room has vested interest in talking about my company except me.
Do you think business ownership has led you to remain single?
No. Once I get more experience under my belt, I will settle down.
What advice would you give another single woman who is thinking about starting a business?
Make sure you have the guts to do this. If you doubt that you have the resolve, you may lack it. There is no crying in baseball or ownership. Own your success, and own your failure.
Do you think there are advantages/disadvantages to being a single business owner? Do you think it is harder, or easier?
I do not think