We recently connected with Emily Green and have shared our conversation below.

Emily, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

When I gave my TEDx Talk, The Weaponization of Love, my world changed. I realized that my voice mattered. Others, like me, had overcome toxic relationships and clawed their way out and up to create amazing lives.

I have a calling to not just tell the triumphant stories of survivors of dark love, but to support them through connections, resources, and the power of community.

As I said in my TEDx talk, “The reality of love as a weapon is that leaving doesn’t feel good and neither does staying. However, I have never regretted leaving. When I left, I chose self-love. And like any weapon, self-love can be used in a positive way to protect, provide, and conquer. Use your love for yourself in that way. Use it to set you free.”

With the Love Means Business podcast, I can give voice to incredible stories. This is incredibly meaningful to me because I often felt that my voice was stifled and controlled to the point of not being heard. To be able to build a platform where others can feel safe, inspired, and supported is what it is all about for me.

Beyond the podcast I am on a mission to help leaders use love to grow. Within their professional lives that means with business coaching, peer to peer groups, networking events, and teaching through seminars and workshops. With the Love Means Business program I am combining my marketing and business background with a fun dating/love theme.

With the podcast and program, I am bringing together people who know that the best businesses are born from things that we love and the lessons that we’ve learned.

I strive through my podcast, speaking engagements, and programs to be the map that someone needs to guide them to healthy love, freedom, and the opportunity to build a life that they choose.

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

Emily Green has founded two successful businesses during her career; Grace Communications, a marketing agency with clients across the country, and Emily Green LLC, her personal brand that provides public speaking, solopreneur consulting, as well as personal and professional development workshops. Emily created Grace Communications from the ground up and scaled the agency in 5.5 years with a presence in over 10 states. After selling the company, she brought her personal vision and passion to life by launching Emily Green, LLC to inspire audiences by sharing her unique experiences through speaking and consulting.

Emily is also an accomplished TEDx speaker who has been featured in conferences around the country. She focuses on a variety of dynamic topics that include everything from business growth and marketing strategies, to personal development with presentations on confidence, toxic love, wellness, and gracefully “saying no.” She is also currently in the process of writing her first book focused on her TEDx topic, “The Weaponization of Love.”

Emily is a wife, mom, entrepreneur, animal lover, philanthropist, runner, and avid traveler which adds depth and value to her speaking engagements and consulting. Her ability to relate to, and engage diverse audiences inspires deep thought and action, inevitably impacting the lives of many.

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

In 2018 I started working for Northwood Retail as a National Sponsorship Director. I was recruited from my previous position with Simon Property Group to help lead the creation of their sponsorship program for all of their retail properties. I was beyond excited for the opportunity to be in a corporate, national position. However, after only 8 months in the role the position was eliminated.

I was shocked and extremely worried about my next career move. In the past I was always able and willing to relocate if needed to climb the corporate ladder. That all changed a few months before my position was eliminated. I met my now husband and due to his custody arrangement with his daughter from his first marriage we were not able to move outside of the Charlotte, NC area.

So, I started looking at other jobs and figuring out what my next step would be. While I had always dreamed of starting my own marketing agency, it wasn’t something I had ever voiced publicly…and not something I felt ready to do at the time. The world thought differently than me because I had 3 people unsolicited reach out to me and say they thought I should NOT be working for someone else…but that I should start my own marketing business.

That and the support of my husband gave me the courage to start my first business, Grace Communications. It was a marketing agency founded to help make a difference in the world through the organizations we worked with. In only 5.5 years I grew the agency into 10 states and led a team of 7 dynamic women. The culture, clients, and reputation that I built were so strong that I attracted an international buyer who I sold the agency to in 2024.

I always love sharing that story because I believe sometimes fate or whatever you want to call it moves us in the direction we are meant to go. If I hadn’t taken the short-lived position at Northwood Retail I would never have met many of the clients I ended up working with at Grace Communications. Clients that helped me build a very successful agency in a relatively short time.

Everything you do leads you to the next thing you’re evolving into. It’s exciting to think of even “failure” as just another steppingstone in your career journey.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

In 2024 I sold my first business, Grace Communications after only owning it for 5.5 years. I get so many questions about it that I thought it might be most helpful to just say the common questions I get asked and my answers.

1) Why did you sell your business?
I sold it because I felt that I had done everything (and more) than I had set out to do when I created it in 2018. Also, I didn’t expect that my public speaking, consulting, and love for content producing would become basically another full-time business on their own. When that happened I realized that now I had an even bigger calling to pursue what I am now doing with Love Means Business. I knew it was time to move on.

2) How do you know for sure you are ready to sell?
I knew because I felt a stronger calling to do what I am doing now with my new business. I also felt extremely burnt out and like the “spark” I had was dimming. I never wanted to sell my business when it was declining. I wanted to “go out” when we were at our peak. So, I sold it before I was totally burned out. I did research and many small business owners wait until they are so burned out that they have checked out which means their business has usually already suffered. I was strategic in selling when we were experiencing our biggest sales growth.

3) What are some lessons I learned selling my business?
Just like when you are interviewing someone to hire…make sure you really, really get to know the person or company that is buying your “baby.” By baby I mean your business. I would strongly suggest, if possible, requesting that you see samples of their work, talk to references who they have supervised/worked with, and in general do your own due diligence to ensure they are who and what they say they are. Business brokers are essential in that process so also make sure you get the right fit with your broker who represents you with your sale. Communication before the sale tends to be hyper focused on but I found after the sale was even more important for a healthy transition with your team and clients. I recommend having a set communication plan in writing before you sell of how you will communicate the transfer of ownership to team members, vendors, and clients. This is something I did not think would require formality but would have been executed much smoother, in my opinion, if it had been ironed out in writing before the sale.

4) Why didn’t I just close my agency?

This questions kind of boggles my mind to be honest. I just always thought most entrepreneurs, like me, had the intention of building something that would live beyond themselves. So, just closing, over selling or passing it on to another person seems so strange to me. I looked at selling as the best option to get paid for my legacy and so that legacy would not end with me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emily-green.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/love_means_business/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-green-9ab76732/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LoveMeansBusiness

Image Credits

purple dress image: EYT Photography
Speaking with navy skirt: Pat Appleson Studios
Speaking at podium: Aloha Studios