Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today we are talking to Victoria Staten our next guest under the “Our Heroes” series. While working as Group VP at Kenneth Cole, Victoria felt as though she had stopped learning as her thirst for knowledge was not being quenched. She broke out of the corporate realm and into entrepreneurship while she was going through divorce. She recalls how exhilarated she felt when she finally decided to shut the big executive door and walk down the steps and finding a new degree of freedom. Let’s dive deeper into her success story…

DD: Who are you and what kind of corporate job were you at?

VS: My name is Victoria Staten and at my last corporate job I was Group Vice President at Kenneth Cole.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

VS: I felt that I had stop learning and was only imparting wisdom. I love to train and teach, however my thirst for knowledge also needs to be satiated. I finally came to the conclusion to quit my job while sitting on a surfboard in Costa Rica. That is where I came to realization about how little time I had left to make a new start, and became very sure that I didn’t want to die someone else’s employee. I also listened to Joss Stone’s ‘You’ve Got A Right To Be Wrong’ over and over again. It was a gut thing – I would rather regret what I’ve done, than regret what I wanted to do but didn’t

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

VS: Instead of accepting a promotion I asked for less responsibility, asked for the budget to hire my replacement, and came up with a re-org plan to work me out of the job. I got everything I asked for and one and a half years later I spent my last day as I described. It was a wonderful experience. I felt very much in control of my destiny.

DD: Victoria, you had so much going on, quitting the day job, divorce, relocation, starting your own business, please tell us the whole story!

VS: It took me six months to make the decision and 18 months after I told them I wanted out, for me to officially walk away from my position as Group Vice President at Kenneth Cole. After two parties filled with tears, not in my eyes but in those of my team members, I walked out of the office I had called home for much of my working life – a free woman.  Not that I was in bondage, in fact quite the contrary. As a senior executive, with the full support of Kenneth Cole and many others, I felt blessed to be empowered to run the business as I saw fit.  Still, I felt exhilarated that moment, as I shut that big iron door and walked slowly down the steps.

Our CFO told me, “Victoria, you will be successful in your new venture because you are so passionate.”  I knew that passion was the root of success.  I had plenty of it during my 15 year reign as the queen of men’s footwear at Kenneth Cole.  Unfortunately, a couple of months after I left the big city to work from home in Minnesota, (I commuted to The City each and every week) I made the stupid decision to also leave my husband.  My passion turned from my new business, to working through the logistics and the emotional roller coaster of divorce. To hold positive energy close by my side, I hired two younger spirited women, who kept me from sliding into the abyss.

I had saved close to a half a million dollars, and though the divorce cost me a lot of money, I thought that I had enough to get through at least a year.  Well, with a burn rate of $30K a month, my money ran lean fast.  I think that I spent WAY too much money on the wrong things because I was subconsciously trying to overcompensate for the emptiness and sadness that I felt inside.  It was like I had to prove something to myself.  Once my savings was depleted and I had to face the fact that I was a single mom needing to provide for my family on just my income, things changed.  I began realizing that every penny saved is a penny earned.  I cut my burn rate back to a bare minimum.

Since then, I have counseled many woman who have come to me wanting to make huge life changes all at once – job/new business/career, husband/boyfriend, and family/home. I wish that I knew then, the depth of emotional energy required to tackle just the change of leaving my job to start a company.  Had I known, I NEVER would have tried to get divorced at the same time.  I would have tackled one life change at a time.

Because I didn’t, I spent double the amount of time to get through my divorce, which definitely had a negative effect on my new business. I learned the hard way that no matter how strong you think you are, or how bad your situation is (my situation on both fronts was actually pretty good – just not enough for me) it’s best to hop on the little roller coaster first, and work your way up to the big roller coaster, one at a time.  Getting through one big life change is doable – three at once is NOT. Instead, try letting your hair grow then go out and buy a convertible.

DD: What are your suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs?

VS: Don’t try to make too many life changes at once. Focus on one big life change at a time. I even think that people should start their new business while they are still working their day job, at least until they have proof of concept. Then quit your day job. Take some time off to relax. Then groove into your new career full throttle.

DD: How are you doing and how do you feel now?

VS: I’m excited about what I see on the horizon. A possible reality TV show on Bravo, a large potential investor, licensing opportunities and more. Though I miss the gigantic paycheck and sometimes find it difficult to manage on my much smaller (for now) income, I feel really good about the decision I made. NO REGRETS!

DD: Victoria Staten everyone! Wow what an empowering story! Don’t quit your day job until you have a proof of concept, cut your burn rate, focus on one life change at a time, penny saved is penny earned, do something you might regret instead of a regret of not doing it…I feel like I can write a full blog post on how many thing I have learned from it! I’d leave you with what I found very inspiring “Though I miss the gigantic paycheck and sometimes find it difficult to manage on my much smaller (for now) income, I feel really good about the decision I made. NO REGRETS!” That is the very definition of a successful entrepreneur!

Check her out at – Victoria Staten

Success to all!