We recently connected with Charlene Walters and have shared our conversation below.

Charlene , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I am such a big believer in entrepreneurship and setting your own career goals and trajectory. In many ways, I wish that I had started my business sooner as I love being an entrepreneur and have seen so much growth in myself since I’ve launched out on my own.

On the flipside, however, the many different positions that I’ve held within organizations, both large and small, have given me a lot of the insight and the knowledge that I have today. I have leveraged that knowledge to build my business and grow as an entrepreneur. I believe that there is a happy medium here. It’s good to experience working for someone else before launching out on your own. The point is to eventually do it and to keep evolving. For me, there are still many more entrepreneurial adventures to come.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a business mentor, consultant. and entrepreneurship coach (www.charlenewalters.com) who enjoys working one-on-one with a variety of entrepreneurs, businesses, and professionals. I’m also a writer/ghostwriter and the author of Launch Your Inner Entrepreneur (McGraw Hill). Additionally, I’m a featured expert on QUORA’s Business, Education, Technology, and Society & Culture spaces, an Entrepreneur Magazine ambassador, and a TV host on Launch with Charlene Walters (DBTV) now streaming on Roku, AppleTV and Amazon Fire.
I also teach business and entrepreneurship courses for the University of Connecticut and the University of Alaska, and serve on the advisory board for CCEI (The Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UCONN). I am featured among other influencers and experts on the BAM Network, am a frequent media contributor and guest (Forbes, Thrive Global, Apple News, Entrepreneur, Medium, etc.) and was identified as one of 150 Marketers to Follow by Rubicly.

I provide consulting and project-based services (business, higher education, ghostwriting/writing, curriculum and entrepreneurship), one-on-one mentoring (for entrepreneurs, writers, mindset and personal branding), and corporate training/workshops (on work life balance/integration, remote and hybrid teams, innovation, mindset, leadership, high performing teams, intrapreneurship, entrepreneurial thinking, women in business, and optimizing culture).

I love my work because I am passionate about business, writing, and entrepreneurship. I also love helping others make their dreams and goals become a reality! With the right mindset, I believe that we can all achieve whatever we put our minds to!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been to be active on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. That’s how many new clients have found out about me. I’m a huge networker so that has also been very helpful. People in my network have approached me with work on numerous occasions and I am always very grateful.

Something else that has led to my gaining clients has been looking for my own opportunities and pitching a lot. I’ve done this in so many ways: emails, messages, snail mail, and more.. When it comes to sales, it’s a numbers game so the more that you reach out, the more likely you are to have someone say yes to what you’re offering. I’ve also found that it’s vital to follow up quickly from your initial meetings with a proposal.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’ve had to unlearn being overly optimistic. It’s great to be confident and expect to succeed, however, you need to blend that with a healthy dose of realism. At times, I thought I would win or hit my goal on the first attempt, and that has usually not been the case. I’ve had to adjust and keep pivoting in order to get to where I’ve wanted to be. I still tend to be very optimistic but try to temper it with the probability of failure. Failure can be a good thing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ownyourother.com/
• Instagram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlenewaltersphd/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlenewaltersphd/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CWaltersPhD
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM2uVnYoXVc3oZ9f_JyL7sw?
• Other: https://www.threads.net/@charlenewaltersphd