Black and White Strike Gold: Practical Nuggets to Grow Your Business from the Women who Launched Consultants 2 Go, A Multi-Million Dollar Company 

By Sandi Webster and Peggy McHale

 

Sandi and Peggy were colleagues at American Express who lost their jobs after 9/11. Having worked well together over many years, they decided to strike out on their own, which eventually led to them “striking gold.” They wrote “Black and White Strike Gold: Practical Nuggets to Grow Your Business from the Women who Launched Consultants 2 Go, A Multi-Million Dollar Company,” to share their journey and “a-ha” moments and to offer  advice to anyone thinking about launching their own business.

 

They take turns telling their story, sharing their challenges and lessons learned, hoping to save would-be entrepreneurs time, headaches and heartache along the way! They provide over 50 “golden nuggets” to help take a business from start-up to success.

 

Peggy had an entrepreneur mindset starting at an early age. At only eight years old, she came up with “Peggy’s Posies” – with the idea to sell flowers to anyone, anytime, anywhere – way ahead of 1-800-FLOWERS! However, as an adult, the fear of failure and not believing she could pull it off held her back. So it’s no surprise that Peggy titled Nugget #1in the book, “Believe in You!” As she notes, “no one will ever support your dream if you don’t.” She also makes a point to be aware of negative people who “stomp on your dream and create doubt in your mind.”

 

Sandi describes herself as “simply black” although some would say “Jamerican” as she is Jamaican-born and American-raised. One of Sandi’s first entrepreneurial experiences was turning on lights for the religious Jewish population, after sundown on Friday evenings for $1, in her Brooklyn neighborhood. By the time she was 15, she had gone from babysitting to running a nursery school out of her basement – clearly Sandi possessed the “solopreneur” gene from an early age. As she notes, “I would be the boss simply because I was…well, bossy!”

 

Some “advice nuggets:”

• Sole Proprietorships are the easiest way to get started

• The SBA (Small Business Administration) and SCORE (Service Corps Of Retired Executives) offer free seminars

• Put everything in writing

• Involve an accountant at the start; don’t wait until you are making money

• You must always ask for the business

• Decide what you want the outcome to be before you deal with people you don’t like

• You need a roadmap to chart where you’re headed; otherwise you will never know where you’re going

• How you interact with colleagues, personnel and bosses form your brand reputation – be sure it's one that would make you proud

• Your gut and instincts will be just as important as any plan you make

 

Quotable quotes:

• At some point you have to stop thinking about something and just do it

• Your biggest failures will be because of things you are afraid to do

• A contract is like a condom - never leave home without it

• Learn the power of silence

• If you don’t like change, owning a business is not for you

• There is no standing still when you own your business

• And if they could only offer one nugget, it would be to “Get rid of the ‘Debbie Downers’ in your life"

 

Consultants 2 Go® is an award-winning consulting firm providing marketing and analytic consultants to some of the world’s best known and most respected organizations. www.consultants2go.com