We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amber Ybarra. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amber below.

Amber , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

It’s an interesting title I feel has been blown up to be an “Entrepreneur” now a day. To own a business is a serious thing, and the number one most important thing I’ve learned is that doing it for money alone will not lead you to success. That being said, I’m so grateful to be in the position to keep pushing through with my companies. I have owned a construction company almost 9 years now. 4 years of that was with a business partner, and the last 4+ years have been on my own.

I think of all of the many jobs I had previously, from being a waitress, bartender, a working model, working at an IT company, being a struggling artist and Painter, to producing events. I feel each of those roles set me up for success. All of that experience helped me fine tune the woman I knew I wanted to be owning a company.

Being a woman in construction, it makes me happy. I am great at what I do and I love it. Now having another extension of myself in the coaching world and online education industry, as well as being a best selling author, I know I couldn’t have it any other way. I am living what I’m meant to do, and now it’s about exploring all of the different avenues and heights I can take myself and my business to.

Amber , 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?

Most definitely. My name is Amber Ybarra and I’m a business owner, best selling author, High performance coach and dog mom to puppy Zara!

I got a very early start in the work force when I graduated high school early and moved out of my home and hometown at the age of 17 years young. I remember having to ask a friend to help sign a lease for me because of my age. To me, that was the first big step I ever made because I got to prove to myself that my dream of chasing my dreams was something I was indeed serious about. I proved to myself, that I was capable of putting that into action and taking the risk.

I’ve worked so many odd jobs, and have allowed myself to fail at things I thought I wanted to do forever, just to discover that I didn’t. One example is of my painting days… I was living in Atlanta, GA as a signed model and had time to open a business as a painter. I painted on canvas, I did commissions and had art shows. I even landed my work is some Bed & Breakfasts. I had amazing experiences and truly traveled the world and lived throughout the United States. By age 24 I came across a person who saw something in me, and before I knew it we opened a construction business together.

We said we’d give it a year and see how it goes. Well, that business was such a success we ran it together nearly 4 years until we parted ways. Today I can say, I’ve been a Woman in Construction for almost 9 years, with 4+ of those years being in the company I started from the ground up on my own and continue running to this day.

I love working to be the best leader I can be. I love my work and am grateful for what it pushes me to do daily. The last few years have been the roughest I experiences, yet the most rewarding. Our industry has gone through lumber shortages, unimaginable increases in pricing with both material and marketing, not to mention working around Covid-19 with customers and keeping our workers safe as well. I’m so proud to have pushed through that and this last quarter of the year has been the best for Cityline Fence Co. LLC yet!!

The most exciting part is, I get to also coach other business owners using high confidence and high performance strategies so that they are able to show up as their best selves for their business.

I’m able to carve out time to continue writing books as a Best-Selling author, with my latest book ” Thriving into Thirty” which was also available on Target.com and place myself around other like minded individuals whos goals are to live life on their terms, and in the healthiest way possible for their mind, body and soul.

We truly only get this one life to live.
I’m inspired every day knowing that it is up to me to make today count. To do today, what my future self will thank me for. We’re all built for greatness and it’s our duty to ourselves to explore that and strive for our best.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I’ve had to unlearn would be to stop over hustling. There’s this hustle culture I got caught up in for a while in the beginning of my journey as a six figure entrepreneur. I used to feel like I had to work 14 hour days. That if I wasn’t waking up at 6:30AM, working out 6 days a week, attending all the networking events and working to get to 7 figures that I wasn’t taking my life seriously.

Today, I’m able to find balance in my life.
I work hard and not all Sundays are for self-care because I always get the job done, but that doesn’t mean I can’t squeeze in a spa day on a Tuesday.

I’m making my schedule work around me, vs me working around my schedule all the time now.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’m pretty sure Pivot, was the word used most for business owners around the globe the past few years. There were so many times I’ve had to pivot in my businesses.

One of the biggest times I had to pivot was when I thought I might lose my business during the pandemic.
I live in South Texas, so on top of a winter storm that shut our grid down, Covid-19 and major spikes and shortages in lumber prices, it was a difficult time to navigate my team and customers with such rapidly changing times.

The silver lining to me was that because of this, I started a 2nd and 3rd business so that I could have more streams of income. This helped my financial stress, thus adjusting my entire team, marketing strategies etc… to come back better than ever and keep Cityline Fence Co. thriving.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amberybarra.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberybarra
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberybarra
• Other: Most of our company reviews and ratings are on Home Advisor ( VS Yelp) at the link below, and we’re proud of our 88 reviews with a 4.7 out of 5 star ratings and listed Best Company of 2020. https://www.homeadvisor.com/rated.CitylineFenceCoLLC.80097303.html