A lot of the gals we think of as our audience out there (hello internet!) are those of you who would define yourselves as turning your craft into a business. Be it making bags, screening t-shirts, making jewelry or say truly awesome beeswax lipbalm you had a hobby, it became a passion and now you’re looking to make it a career. I threw in that reference to lipblam back there, because as hard as it may be to believe these days when you see those quaint little yellow tubes next to the checkout of pretty much every natural foods store in North America, Roxanne Quimby started Burt’s Bees doing the country fair circuit, before years of serious dedication eventually turned the company into an entrepreneurial force to be reckoned with.
This interview with her over at Inc.com isn’t a new one, but as I read it I couldn’t believe how many points in her story struck home with me or the tales of women I know running businesses (particularly those of you in product manufacturing). On a personal note, I really enjoyed her story about kind of finding this business on her way to a waitressing gig, as it resonates very strongly with my own entrance into the IT field. Anyhow. It’s well worth a read, she’s a very smart, savvy and dedicated business gal who isn’t afraid to admit she’s made some mistakes in the past. In fact, the interview wraps up with her describing her business as an exercise in personal growth and challenge more than the pursuit of profit. While that may be easy for the CEO of a multi-million dollar company to say, I believe her.
