We were lucky to catch up with Ciara Stockeland recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ciara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

Most business owners have a dirty little secret…. Their business is growing, they are making sales and from the outside they look widely successful….but behind the scenes they are overwhelmed with debt and they never pay themselves.

I can relate. I had this same dirty little secret myself. I scaled my retail business to a “successful” seven figure business, I had a team of twelve, multiple locations and national accolades. However, I never paid myself which caused me to secretly feel like a fraud. When my retail empire came crashing down I found myself at a crossroads – rebuild the same old way, or use this opportunity to build different this time around. Learn what my numbers where telling me, stop with the hustle mentality and this time around take my profit first. Little did I know this new mindset would soon become a method I would share with thousands of other fellow entrepreneurs.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello, my name is Ciara Stockeland. I am a serial entrepreneur and business coach. I started my first business at the age of 13 and have never looked back. Like most entrepreneurs, I had an idea and a vision and I ran with it! Learning as I went, making one million mistakes but always charging full steam ahead. My biggest venture, my retail store chain, also became my biggest learning experience. From being invited to the White House to speak on behalf of small business to finding myself alone on my couch with a box of tissues and a bottle of tums, I understand the entrepreneurial rollercoaster.

It is because of those experiences that I now work with inventory-based businesses, equipping them scale and grow while rewarding themselves with a steady paycheck.

A business owner is the one priceless asset of any business, and yet business owners are always the first to get called on for every task and the last to get paid. Constantly wondering where all the cash is going while feeling neglected and overlooked because they are rarely, if ever, compensated for their contribution. I show business owners that sell products what I wish someone would have shown me – that profitability is directly related to their inventory and their inventory is the secret weapon that creates wealth in their business.

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

After over a decade of “working for free” in my business I had to 1.) learn to shift my mindset from “I will just re-invest back into my business. One day I will get paid” to “I am the most valuable asset in my business and if I take care of myself, I will have more energy to bring that ship in even faster”!
2.) I had to decide that I would no longer tell myself “Number aren’t my jam. I can just sell more – that’s what I do best” to “I will learn what my numbers are telling me so that when I do sell I am selling the most profitable products”.
3.) I had to realize that “While inventory is what got me into debt, inventory is my secret weapon to creating wealth and profitability”!

Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.

In my three decades of small business ownership I have launched, grown and sold multiple businesses. The most important thing you can do to prepare to sell your business is to create profit. Understand your numbers and the story they tell about your business and learn to interpret that story better than anyone else! I remember one of the last times I walked out of a bank meeting. As I made my way out to the parking lot I remember smiling and thinking to myself, ” I know so much about my business I know the questions the banker didn’t even know he should have asked me”! That is the confidence that profitability will give you as a business owner.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ciarastockeland.com
• Instagram: @cstockeland
• Facebook: @theinventoryworkshop
• Linkedin: CiaraStockeland
• Twitter: @ theinventoryworkshop
• Youtube: @ theinventoryworkshop

Image Credits
https://abbyanderson.com/