We asked some brilliant entrepreneurs, artists and creatives to reflect on lessons they’ve learned at prior jobs. We’ve shared highlights below.

Sarah Kleinmann

I firmly believe that everyone should have a job in sales or be a waitress at some point in their youth. The lessons learned about having superior customer service and earning your living based on your personality and ability to become a chameleon and get along with others is essential to life. And, for a double whammy, I did both so I feel uber prepared now as a business owner! When you waitress or work in sales your tips or commission are based on how well you do. From the minute you meet with your clients until that very last goodbye, everything you do and say and even HOW you do or say it will determine your connection therefore equating to a monetary gain. In waitressing, you alone are responsible for how your guests feel about the restaurant and if they’ll enjoy their time out with their loved ones. Read more>>

Robert Cohen

I was being offered my first CEO position, running a division at a Fortune 500 company. The Chairman of the Board looked at me and said “Rob, would you rather be slow and wrong or fast and right.” Neither seemed like a good option, and not knowing the answer, I thought I might loose the job before I even started. Thankfully he jumped in to offer the answer before I made a fool of myself. “If you are slow and right, it won’t matter that you were right. By the time you have implemented the solution, many things may have happened that now make you wrong. The economic environment may have changed, capital may have dried up, or more likely, the competition got there before you and beat you to market. But if you are fast and wrong, you have a chance to course correct and make incremental improvements along the way. Read more>>

Christie Niq Williams

The most important lessons learned while working in corporate, as a Strategic Account Manager, were time management and self-discipline. Flexibility is one of several benefits to being self-employed, however, this benefit can easily kill your business if you don’t properly manage your time and prioritize needs over wants. When I left corporate, I already worked from home unless I was meeting with clients and I managed clients, who were Fortune 500 companies, all over the country. This experience allowed me to easily transition into building Niq Williams Events. From prioritizing meetings and clients as needed, to being able to manage multiple brides and special event clients all over the world, the experience gained in my former job has been invaluable to the stability of NWE. Read more>

Dai Baker

The most important lesson I learned is to value my time. I had a prior job that I was making myself available 24/7. However, my time was not respected nor appreciated by management. I was exhausted but wanted to be the best in my position. After a year of operating without “clocking out,” I begin to set boundaries for myself, such as not responding to emails on my off days or after hours. Once I realized they did not value my time, I stopped giving more than required. I need to establish clear boundaries with clients as a business owner, such as business hours. While establishing business hours is easy, adhering to them is not. I had to learn not to be available outside of these hours. I had to train myself to schedule emails for the next business day to prevent any responses during a late-night work session. The biggest mistake I make is setting boundaries but not enforcing them for myself. Read more>>

Kamilah Jolly

When I started my legal career, I worked as an administrative hearings officer. Essentially I would conduct hearings. all day. I would listen to people present information about why they should or shouldn’t receive unemployment benefits. It was already a grueling job, but it became especially brutal at the time because the country was in a recession. I would sit for hours and hours on end and hear stories upon stories about how people got fired or left their jobs and wanted unemployment. I usually heard at least 40 cases a week and was encouraged to increase my caseload if I could. I learned so much about efficiency and paying attention to detail. Even though I had a heavy caseload, and many of the cases seemed to have the same facts, they were all different from each other and had to be treated that way. Read more>>

Vanessa Woods-White

One of the most important lessons I learned during my career in corporate America was that presentation is everything. When I was growing my career, I was young, inexperienced, yet coachable and eager. One of my first big promotions was becoming a Training Coordinator where I learned how to put together training programs for employees and most importantly, get the buy-in from others. Not only did the content need to offer learning, but “how” it was packaged was just as important. So the aesthetics of the presentation and marketing materials needed to be on point. Those words have stuck with me over the years. Even as I was raising my daughter, that is one thing that instilled in her. When it came to her homework, her job applications and even how she approached sports, presentation was everything. Read more>>

Nicole Wright

I’ve held many different jobs, all types of positions within various industries. In each of these roles, I took something away that has helped me in my entrepreneurship journey. In college, I was a business administration major, fashion merchandising minor and my dream job was to be a fashion buyer. However, after working in fashion retail management throughout college and for 2 years after my graduation, I was burnt out on working weekends, late hours, all for very little pay. I took a risk, quit my job, packed my bags and my apartment, and moved from Houston to Dallas for an opportunity in a totally different space- the car industry. I accepted a position as service cashier for Sewell Automotive, and anyone who knows Sewell knows that excellent customer service is their number one priority. Sewell has best-in-class customer service training and this training gave me a great foundation for understanding the importance of putting my clients first. Read more>>

AJ Williams

I was fortunate to spend 25 years in corporate America sharpening my business skills. I finished my career as the Vice President of Information Technology for a Aerospace and Defense company. I worked in a high tech business environment that required really good staff to accomplish your goals. As a leader, I quickly learned that no matter how great your ideas, skills, work ethic, or experience, you are only as good as your team. I realized that you have to surround yourself with great staff who share your passion for the vision and want to be a part of that vision. I’ve been able to carry that lesson with me into entrepreneurship. By focusing on building a good team, the business has not only been able to survive some tough times with COVID, but also thrive. Read more>>

Shannon Barnes

Early in my career as a mental health professional, my supervisor said to me, “If you are not growing, then you are dying.” She meant this to be received as a seed of business wisdom. She modeled this belief as she chased opportunities to help her counseling agency grow. She did not believe that doing the minimum, and putting all of your eggs in one basket would help her business grow. And she was right. A person must look for opportunities, be willing to step out of your comfort zone, and apply old fashion hard work in order to grow. I have seen many who did not do this, and they did not grow. This lesson certainly did take root in my young mind and I was always able to apply the concept to any goal. Once I achieved that goal, I would ponder the next goal so I was always growing and not dying. That wisdom has served me well in my career in the mental health field. Read more>>

Liz Seitz

One of the people in my life who had the greatest impact on me was my father. I was truly fortunate to have been raised by one of my most gifted mentors. My dad was not a therapist, he was a congregational rabbi, but in addition to his preaching and teaching, he did a lot of pastoral counseling. I saw the very meaningful role he played in so many people’s lives. He was a brilliant, wise and very compassionate soul. He was there for his congregants in the best and worst of times. People turned to him in their darkest moments, when they were very troubled, in the depths of crisis or the throes of grief. He was the voice of reason and wisdom in our family. Read more>>

Katherine Altneu

Before I made the career move to be an acupuncturist I had two very different and important-to-me jobs – one was in finance, and the other was as a rafting guide. In finance, I was a buy-side analyst for a small investment fund which meant, in a nutshell, that I picked stocks. I was fresh out of undergrad with a magna cum laude degree in Economics… and they let ME pick the stocks… little-old-me! The lesson I learned was that maybe no one actually knows what’s going to happen and can predict what will go up or down. I did my best and the stocks I picked that year were ironically for a needle-disposal company and an electronic health records company – it’s ironic when you consider that now as an acupuncturist I use both of those things constantly throughout my workday, lol. They both went up that year and I got lots of high fives. Read more>>

Tasos Hernandez

When I started as an independent DJ, I was doing contract work for some local wedding entertainment companies. I learned a lot about the standard approach in the industry, and I knew there had to be a better, more authentic way of doing things. I was the most affected by the the DJ/couple relationship. Everything was automated and impersonal, and there was hardly any face-to-face time before the day of the wedding. I decided to create an entirely new process centered around the unique vision of each couple. I love diving into a collaborative planning environment, and our DJs are highly trained in cultivating a deep, genuine connection with our couples. Read more>>

Vivian Thwaits

The most important lesson that I have learned from my career as a Registered Nurse is practice what you love. I believe that those of us who are in “healing” professions often have a story to support why we are attracted to this field. Anyone who wants to work in a healing profession should understand what their motivating factor is. In my Gestalt practice, we call this “your unfinished business.” I entered the nursing profession for a couple reasons: I had experienced the death of my father at 26, which was a long, painful process. The other reason is that, despite my ambition to become a working artist, I was told that artists don’t make enough money to survive, a.k.a., the “Starving Artist Story.” When I eventually became a nurse, I quickly learned that I was excellent at easing sorrow, providing comfort, and advocating for patients and families. Read more>>

Jackie Robinson

At a previous job, I had the unpleasant experience of being targeted through what I consider to be office politics, To be honest, I was apalled that I was going through what I was going through. I guess you could say that was my initiation into “standing your ground” in the workplace. I was director of my department at an education institution and really enjoyed the work I did. One of my colleagues, whom I had developed a friendship with, was the director of another department. I had no problem with her at all. She was funny and really had a kind heart. She and I often worked together because our jobs were interconnected. We had some similarities and went to lunch together frequently. Read mote>>

Michelle Carson

Stories are how we connect to one another Learn how to unpack story for different perspective Writer, director, star of our own life drama The actors in our lives help us to heal our stories EI = self-confidence, expectations, relationships
Both Personal & Professional = expectations, gap want vs happened Professional = relationships Corporate America = stark contrast to my personality Vernon = Learn Not to React, Lead by Example, Successful relationshipLearned = respect and compassion Respect =discernment vs. judgement Compassion = other people’s behavior not about me. Read more>>