Lexington, KY - You can call it paying dues or paying attention, but all business owners learned something from entry-level positions - maybe not at the time, but certainly over a lifetime. We asked a quartet of self-employed people what their early jobs taught them.
Paula Antonini:
Simply Nutrition, simplynutrition.org. Current job: certified holistic health coach. Early jobs: retail clerk in a women's clothing store, switchboard operator.
I learned a lot about interpersonal communications, customer service and making customers happy so they come back to do business again. My dad was a public relations director; he made it a point to teach me how to win people over. I am in a business that depends totally on a trust relationship. If a potential client isn't comfortable with me or my style of communicating, there's no chance they will do business with me when we are talking about some of the most personal things in their lives, like what they eat every day.
Julie McEwen:
McEwen Creative, mcewencreative.com. Current job: advertising, marketing, web design. Early jobs: babysitter, camp counselor, waitress.
Two profound lessons I learned from my first supervisor as a college student were, "You never know who your audience is, so be sure to use communication that is inclusive and respectful," and "To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is unforgivable." I learned the value of a positive attitude when I was hired to work at an advertising agency and was sent to GM world headquarters within two weeks of my start date because my co-worker had a negative attitude, so my supervisor wouldn't send her to interact with our most important clients. I learned the value of a strong work ethic from my parents at a very young age. One thing that took me longer to realize was how time-consuming it is to develop proposals and price quotes. I never understood why the creative director at the advertising agency worked every single Saturday, but now I know.
Kyle Lake:
Done In Sixty Seconds LLC, www.donein60.com. Current job: multimedia, custom video producing. Early jobs: mowing yards, restaurant busboy, a state taxation department.
In high school, working at a Chinese restaurant as a busboy, I learned a lot about customer service and how you need education to excel and progress in life. After an undergrad degree in television and film production at the College of New Jersey, I worked for that state's department of treasury and learned how to write letters to angry taxpayers and be diplomatic in the process. Government wasn't as efficient as I thought it would be, however, I got my work done in a couple instead of all day, so in two years i was able to take the GRE, GMAT and LSAT and write three screenplays. I went to grad school at UK and got my MBA. A few months later, in 1998, I started my own business, Prosper Media Group. In 2007, I started a spin-off called Done In Sixty Seconds, a custom video business. I still fetch drinks and clean a few tables.
Shanna Perino
A Sense of Order, asenseoforder.com. Current job: professional organizer. Early jobs: production assistant, theater set painter, lighting technician.
After high school, I went into the entertainment industry, freelancing. Then I worked a series of administrative jobs while I
went back to school to study medicine because I wanted to be an acupuncturist.
A subsequent job was as a library assistant at a major film studio research library, where I discovered organizing.
Once I began working with organizing clients, I saw how all these disparate jobs had tied into my work as an organizer. The freelancing was conditioning me to be flexible; the administrative jobs taught me about systems. Even my studies of medicine came in handy because I had a basic understanding of how and why people create and maintain habitual behaviors.
In my case, the journey itself was truly just as important as the
destination.