Business growth expert and investor Candy Valentino gave birth to adolescent parents in the small town in Pennsylvania. Her family lived in a trailer park and relied on the well -being and help of the government for much of Valentino’s life, and when her father lost his work as a mechanic, he had only $ 200 in his name. When Valentino was five years old, her father negotiated a deal to start his small business in a basement garage.
Image Credit: Candy Valentino’s courtesy
“From [that] Time until I was 16, I grew up in that small automatic mechanical store every day while my dad was fixed the welded car and metal and did all the things you do in a greasy, gloomy garage, ”Valentino says entrepreneur. “Instead of learning dance or football, I learned about small business. I answered the phones, prints in the typewriter and interacted with the customers. I grew up inside a small business.”
So Valentino was well equipped to handle the daily day of entrepreneurship when she decided to start her business at the age of 19. Although Valentino had thought to be the first in her family to attend college, she read a book that said she should not pursue an expensive education to be successful-and make a lot of money.
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“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 business when I was younger was because I didn’t want to be poor. I wanted to have another 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 was looking to finance women entrepreneurs. In the decade that leads to that point, women in business had experienced a lot of turn: by 1988, women could not get a business loan without signing from a male relative.
Valentino’s first business idea? A bath, inspired by her first visit on one on a trip to New York after high school graduation (her first overseas time). Someone had given her a gift card. Not only was the bathroom a relaxing place, with a pleasant smell to be, but it also seemed to be good business, attracting a sustainable stream of customers. Wouldn’t women love it anywhere? Valentino thought. I have to turn this into my small town.
Valentino raised her idea in SBA, and the panel, which included five women from her six members, decided to give her a loan. “I often think it was a little by a divine moment,” says Valentino, “because they had experienced all these [barriers in business] that I didn’t, and they gave me a loan. “Valentino had 45 days to set up business and jogging; she had only enough money to open doors and hire some people.
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Spa was a success, and Valentino continued to pioneer in space, laying the foundations for an impressive business career that includes more than two decades. So far, the self-made millionaire has begun and sold two companies, helped build businesses in the industry, founded the rescue of Heal Heal animals and created a real estate portfolio flowing into cash. It is also the host of Valentino caramel display and a more selling author, most recently EDGE 9%: Secrets that change life to create more income for your business and more freedom for yourself.
“I basically made CFO inside my company without a degree.”
One of the most important keys for so much growth and success, according to Valentino? Being ready to work more than anyone else, especially in the early days.
“Even when you do not have all the right answers, even if you do not know what to do at first, to be successful in nothing, we must have the courage to engage and the strength to continue,” Valentino says. “We need to take care of our dreams than other people’s thoughts.”
However, starting a business is one thing, but keeping it – not to become one of the many failing – it’s another. Maintaining the moment of a business requires a set of completely different skills, says Valentino.
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“Grit is what started me,” Valentino explains, “but the financial acumen is what made me continue. And it’s the only thing that made me come out twice. The only thing that will separate you from everyone else is your ability to lead the company as it is related to income and benefit.”
Lack of income, funds and profit is why most businesses fail, Valentino adds. Fortunately, Valentino loved mathematics and excavation in her business finances: accounting, taxes and p & l – “all the boring things no one else wanted to do.” So she treated those tasks and hired employees for everything else.
“I basically made CFO inside my company without a degree,” Valentino says. “I developed the habit [of considering], What should I pay attention to? Which numbers within my business are you talking to me? What data and metric do I have to learn? This shifted everything. This is when we went from only a small business that was successful in escalating and setting ourselves to the exit. “
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“She became an example of real life of what is to be brave [and] lead to a space dominated by men. “
Valentino has also learned a lot about leadership over the years – inspired, in part, by some leading women. Like many girls raised in the late 90s, Valentino says she heard a very common career question: “Do you want to be a teacher or nurse?” This is when she started looking for leading women like Mary Kay Ash, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Oprah. She remembers crushing quotes from them and touching them in her bedroom.
As Valentino entered the business world herself, one of her most important personal mentors was a woman named Anne Degre.
“She became an example of real life of what is to be brave [and] Run in a space dominated by men, “says Valentino.” It was in production, which I later entered, and even though our stories were very different-it was born into a very large company, and I had to build it-it was still opening up to see how it sailed the spaces men sometimes didn’t want it to be inside. “
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Since Valentino began her first business at 19, her early leadership style was mainly involved after the “golden rule”, treating others as she wanted to be treated. However, while the teams that Valentino led grew from 20 employees to 30, 50 and beyond, he saw value in another type of leadership: being good AND firm
“Both can exist,” says Valentino, “” and “is what is important – being kind, understanding and expecting greatness. Most people working for me will say that I expect greatness not only of them but from us and the whole organization. When we [accept] Mediocrity, the company will not achieve what it can. To see people for those who are, even when they don’t see it themselves, is very important -[as is]calling them to that higher version of themselves. “
“I knew exactly what I was talking about so that no one could throw me.”
As a woman in business, one of the biggest challenges has been often – and is still – making people take it seriously from the beginning. If she walks into the room with a man, it is not uncommon for people to assume that she is in a supportive role, she says. When Valentino was younger, the assumption worried him more. Then, she began to see it as a “superpower”, an opportunity to prepare and set the tone.
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“I knew exactly what I was talking about so that no one could throw me,” Valentino says, “and within a conversation, they knew who was responsible. It made me sharper than some of the men I interacted because they had the only advantage of walking in the room and they would always be assumed. prepared like me. ”
There is still a lot of room for growth when it comes to supporting women in business, says Valentino. She notes the need for more professional women in finance, venture capital and private capital. If a woman is interested in penetrating those areas, it’s time to double and realize that she is more capable, according to Valentino.
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“[It’s about] Knowing that you have done some of the most difficult things in your life, “Valentino explains.” Realizing that finances in your business are really nothing [compared to] Submitting a child you need to get out of the hospital and grow. Let’s be true: that’s the hardest way.
“Sometimes women underestimate their power because they think, Oh, I didn’t have this experience, OR They are not taking me seriously“It continues.” But we are not taking us seriously so seriously to command the rooms we walk in – here is the biggest level of growth that still lives for women today. “
This article is part of our constant series of women entrepreneurs who highlight stories, challenges and triumphs of a business as a woman.