We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lorin Beller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lorin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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?

Being a business is the most valuable decision I have ever made. Working for someone feels so claustrophobic to me… but being a business owner, for me, feels like freedom. I work hard – but I choose it. I set my own hours. I choose my work. I choose my offerings. I choose my impact. I feel that being a business owner is something that if someone wants it, they are capable of. It teaches us personal and professional growth. I literally never have the thought of what it would be like to work for someone else. I am grateful every day for my life, my life style and the impact I get to have in the world and on my family. Learning is precious to me – and when we are business owners there is no one else to blame but instead – only me to take responsibility for creating my extraordinary life and in turn I love to empower others to do the same.

Lorin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have had a few businesses… one of which was one of the first internet access companies in the country. I owned this with 2 other partners. I learned that sales is really serving well. I learned that if we serve well, we sell more. I learned that when we create a culture in the work place – where people are seen, heard and valued, they love where they work. And that inspired me to help others do the same – which is what my coaching practice is all about now.

I work with leaders and their teams now – supporting leaders to create clarity for themselves and their teams. where their work place inspires their team members to bring their best selves to work. We do this through creating a clear vision, super clear values, and excellent team communication. We face the hard stuff – straight on.

Im super proud of the fact that have been doing this for 24 years while raising my daughter (now 19) and this business afforded me a life style that allowed me to drop her off at school, pick her up and be there for as needed. I didn’t miss her growing up years.

It is super important to me to walk my talk as a coach – when I make a suggestion to people it comes from something that I either would do or all ready do… integrity and being a woman of my word is critical to who I am.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

I have sold a business… and it was one of the greatest learning lessons of my life, if I were doing it over again, I would do it very different. I hired a business broker that we never ended up using, but instead sold to a friend of a friend.. – MISTAKE. They took our awesome business and really destroyed its culture… if I were doing it over again, as a business owner I’d instead sell it as an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) where the employees end up being the owners and the owner get his/her money out of the business and the employees do not need to take money out of their pockets to buy the business… this to me is a brilliant exit strategy for an owner who has build a business that they care about, impacts the community well and has team members that have a sense of responsibility when it comes to the business. I love working with owners to set themselves up for this transaction. It makes my mistakes all worthwhile.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

A long time ago when I started one of my business, I could not afford not to let go of the job I had.. so I negotiated with them to allow me to work 7am – 1:00pm for them (30 hours per week) so that in the afternoons I’d work my business doing 2-3 sales calls (in person) per day… 4 days per week… I did the proposals at night. The money I got from the business I saved and until I quit my job a year later, so that when I did, there was a cushion… it worked miraculously and taught me the rigor of sales. That rigor and work ethic is what it takes sometimes to start a great business. I ended up selling that business for multi-millions and it started in my house.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lorinbeller.com
• Instagram: lorin.beller
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LorinBellerCo/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorinbeller/

Image Credits

I took them or my assistant did.. I own all photo rights to them.