FEATURE | Feature Focus
Celebrating the Solopreneurs Stephanie Martin
A Chance Re-Employment and Training Agency, LLC
By Barb Sieminski
We’re celebrating six successful female solopreneurs in our community. These assertive women started their own businesses and have carried them through beautifully. If you’re thinking of branching out on your own, look to them as role models, and go for it.
Martin’s company assists individuals with occupational barriers by helping them obtain workplace skills in preparation for securing suitable and sustainable employment.
Greater Fort Wayne Inc. Bridge program where Ambassador Enterprises is my sponsor, and they have helped me make more strategic business decisions.
Challenges: Obtaining outside business capital funding and finding employers who are open to giving my candidates suitable employment opportunities has been the greatest challenge.
Advice for female entrepreneurs: Don’t let the male-dominated business world make you think you are not equal. Never give up on you because once you do, others will too. It is also important to do your research about the products and services you offer. This will help you gauge the competition to make sure that what you offer is innovative and scalable so you can have continued success and growth.
Support / advice you’ve received: I have a team of amazing mentors and an advisory board of business professionals who can help guide me through the challenging business process. Also, I am a recipient of the 2019
Founded: 2018 / Employees: 32
Nix’s business is a studio-based floral design company that provides weekly floral subscriptions for local businesses and customized full-service wedding and event floral design. Challenges: Marketing the business properly has been the hardest thing to learn in the age of social media. Because I do not follow the traditional flower shop model of providing retail services, relaying my services to the public has been a unique challenge.
Patti Nix Anne Grey Flowers
Founded: 2018 / Number of employees: 1
Support / advice you’ve received: My husband and I opened our first business venture (Anne-Grey Cooperage) in 2016. We have gained an immense amount of confidence and wisdom on entrepreneurship from simple trial and error—failing and
RCMS, Clinical Supervising Sonographer / Executive Director
22
| MARCH GLO 2020 |
Advice for female entrepreneurs: Confidence is the key to gaining any momentum. If you feel you have a calling only YOU can activate it; no one is going to turn it on for you. It’s your responsibility to build yourself into the person who can live a great life. It is important to develop the power to build your mental strength, emotional intelligence, and physical health. I would encourage you to stay focused on a creative plane, as opposed to a competitive plane.
Women’s Reproductive Ultrasound of Fort Wayne
Challenges: Expansion of services and hiring additional help.
Founded: 2007 / Number of employees: 2
Advice for female entrepreneurs: Don’t give up. Nothing about starting, building or growing a business is easy. But maintaining strength and endurance through hard times is what separates success from failure. Never be afraid to ask for help and lean on others; you need support to thrive. You cannot do this alone. There is no greater reward than building and growing your own business.
Van Zant’s business provides reproductive and OB ultrasounds.
Amanda Van Zant
learning and trying again. My husband (Matthew) is my greatest support system, and we have faith that we can achieve our goals together.
Support / advice you’ve received: Currently, I work on a monthly basis with a women’s entrepreneurial service to help develop strategies and business plans for growth and advancement in the imaging field.
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