Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today under the “Our Heroes” series we speak to Laurie Maddalena, a former Vice President of Human Resources turned entrepreneur and founder of Envision Excellence. After having a desire to escape from corporate America, Laurie started her business offering a range of services including executive coaching and organizational development.    Today, Laurie derives great fulfillment out of helping others and believes breaking the 9 to 5 jail was one of the best decisions she made.  Let’s hear more about what Laurie has to say…

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

LM: My name is Laurie Maddalena. I previously worked for a credit union as the Vice President of Human Resources & Organizational Development. I was at the same company for 9 years. Currently, I own Envision Excellence, where I am an executive and team coach and organizational development consultant. I provide services such as leadership assessments, management training, facilitation, off-site retreats, and coaching.

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

LM: I worked my way up in the organization rather fast. At 30, I was a VP. A few years later, I felt like, “this is it?”  I had reached my goal, but I wasn’t fulfilled. I couldn’t imagine myself working in that type of role for the next 30 years. I was stressed out, burnt out, and tired. I wanted to make more of an impact in my role; be able to focus on the aspects of HR and organizational development that I loved, and also make my own decisions. I realized that I wanted to drive the bus and create my own destiny rather than plod along in a role at another company for the next 30 years.

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

LM: Before leaving my corporate job, I decided to take executive coaching classes to prepare myself. I also took classes on coaching groups and systems in organizations. I really thought through what it would take and wrote out a business plan. For advice and suggestions I interviewed many people who owned their own businesses and were coaches. The initial months were exciting, yet difficult. I was excited to create my own company and accomplish certifications like Myers-Briggs and 360 degree assessments. However, it was difficult not having a steady paycheck. Another challenge was marketing; I now had to get out there and start marketing my services more assertively. Through it all, I felt so much more fulfilled, despite the challenges.

DD: What are your top 5 tips for employees who want to be entrepreneurs?

LM: 1) Have a safety net you are comfortable with (savings, funding, etc.). Having a safety net will allow you to ride out the building of the business without the worry of having to go back to regular employment.
2) Create a business plan: think through all of the details of what you need to do to be successful (certifications, where you will work, how you will market yourself, etc.).
3) Choose at least one way to market yourself and your business right out of the gate: for example, I am focusing on speaking engagements to get in front of people. Make sure you are out making connections and not expecting business to find you.
4) Create a “success” mindset. Mindset is so important. Make sure you believe in yourself and your services and condition yourself to do whatever it takes to make your business work.
5) Become assertive! Follow through on leads and condition yourself to be ok with feeling uncomfortable.
6) Focus on a niche: don’t attend every networking event out there. This could really suck up a lot of your time. Pick a niche and attend events in that relate to it.

DD: How are you now? Are you still in the same business, and how do you feel?

LM: I am still in my business, and I love it! I have made a lot of progress, and things get easier every day. I feel so fulfilled in what I do, and I feel like starting my business was one of the best decisions I ever made.

DD: Thank you so much Laurie! It is so great to hear about another successful entrepreneur who is ecstatic about having started her own business and is still going strong with her idea and growing as well! I wish you all the best with Envision Excellence.

LM: Thank you, Devesh, for supporting entrepreneurs like me who are sick and tired of the corporate world and just want to do something a little bit different in order to make a difference. I also wish you the best of luck in the future.

DD: Laurie Maddalena everyone, corporate Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Development turned entrepreneur and founder of Envision Excellence, providing services such as leadership assessments, management training, facilitation, off-site retreats, and coaching. That sounds like a pretty good business to me! And remember what she said: “Mindset is so important…create a ‘success’ mindset.” That sounds like something we all should do! Thanks Laurie!

Success to all!!