We were lucky to catch up with Abigail Burnett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Abigail, appreciate you joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

Usually when I tell people I was homeschooled from through high school, they are surprised. People have an idea in their mind of what a “homeschooled person” is like– typically shy, introverted, awkward, or withdrawn. If you know me, you know I’m none of those things. I do know that homeschooling isn’t always good, I’ve known people who got a less solid education because their parents didn’t put the time and effort into their schooling like mine did. But for me, it certainly had a positive impact for a few reasons.

Number one, I was an advanced student and was not held back by the pace of my peers. I taught myself pre-calc and trigonometry as a freshman, was reading and writing at an advanced level early on, and was able to deep dive on topics that were actually interesting to me which meant I gained a love of learning and school at a time when many kids are bored with it. My parents encouraged me to study in any direction that suited my fancy, and truly helped me to believe that I could succeed in any job or area, with enough hard work. That unwavering confidence may be partially my innate personality, but it’s also certainly because of the support I was given to chase my dreams. And that’s a large part of what being an entrepreneur means, having the backbone to go after things even when they seem impossible.

The second reason why my education directly led me to success in my career is because I was always my own boss. I was in charge of my learning and schedule. I had to learn time management skills early on since I wasn’t in a typical “class” structure like many kids. Those time management and self-motivation skills have directly impacted me in my business. Being an entrepreneur can either mean you overwork or you procrastinate too much, and either direction will impede the success of your business. From an early age I’ve been balancing my own schoolwork while also having a job as a waitress and engaging in hobbies. I’m proud of my ability to balance multiple things at once without getting overwhelmed, and having the ability to pick myself up again when I fail. This is why I’m thankful for my homeschooling experience, and for the encouragement my parents always gave me to take ownership over my life and succeed.

Abigail, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My main company is Galusha Technologies, LLC. We are mainly an R&D company, bringing future-focused products and solutions to the market. We design and patent products, mainly for the agricultural and energy industries. Our research and development side is core to our identity, never settling to sell products that aren’t truly innovative and best-in-class. When we see a problem we want to solve it.

We design and install solar solutions, everything from small residential grid-tie systems to large-scale solar farms and off-grid manufacturing facilities. We are passionate about the energy industry and believe every home should be its own independent power source. We specialize in anything energy-related, including generators, wind turbines, and have even supplied products to the oil and gas industry. In the near future we are also going to expand our knowledge in off-grid living to RVs, campers, and totally off-grid home development.

As far as what we are known for, I would certainly say innovation and expertise in off-grid solar installations. Large-scale solar farms require complicated engineering and excellent products to ensure they will function as designed for as long as possible. We are always open to work from companies who are looking to either supplement or replace their traditional energy sources and encourage the independence that off-grid solar power provides.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

After graduating from college I got a job in Colorado and moved down the very next month. It was my first “real” job out of college, and I went into it starry-eyed and confident that I would bring a lot to the company. I had been hired to help them develop their business processes and to organize the business, as it was growing fast and needed to transition from a small business into a larger company. With my degree in corporate management I was ready for the challenge and excited to get to work. The very first day, the head of Accounts Payable resigned, and my boss (the CFO) asked if I could take up her position in the short-term until they could hire someone else. Although I had only taken a few accounting classes in college, I was up for the challenge and suddenly my expectations of this job shifted.

So, I did my best, I taught myself the position and learned to do it well, but as the weeks went on I realized that all was not well with this company. My boss would repeatedly pull one of my coworkers into her office and yell at them, shouting profanities and belittling their performance. She started to do it to me as well, and my first job out of college became an abusive environment where I was working long ten-hour days everyday and was absolutely miserable. But what could I do? I had just moved to another state, I had no connections outside of this job, and was being paid decently well, I couldn’t afford to quit. I gained weight, I went home crying, I felt absolutely stuck. Then one day, three months in, I reached my breaking point. My boss pulled me into her office because I hadn’t vacuumed up the area around the paper shredder in a timely manner. She proceeded to belittle me, shouting profanities, telling me no one liked working with me and that I would never make it in the business world. I cried in her office and took my lunch early.

I made a call to my brother, who was an engineer and had always wanted to go into business with me. I said, “If I quit today, can we do this?” He gave me an “absolutely, yes” response, and that was it. I walked back into that office, gathered my things, and quit. Over the next five months as I was establishing my new business I sold some of my things and lived off of savings to get by. It was terrifying, but I bet on myself and became the entrepreneur I had always wanted to be. And I vowed to never be the boss that I had experienced at that job.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I was strongly impacted by the following books:

“How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
“Strategy Pure and Simple II: How Winning Companies Dominate Their Competitors” by Michel Robert
“The Advantage” by Patrick Lencioni
“The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber

Contact Info:

• Website: https://galushatechnologies.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigail-burnett-490a8a93/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@galushatech
• Other: https://aiandicreative.com