Posted Under: Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today we are talking to Shelly Sun our next guest under the “Our Heroes” series. Former VP of Finance at Avolar, decided to start a business when she painfully saw the need for it firsthand. Compelled by the loss of a loved one for lack of dependable, supportive, and complete care, Shelly founded BrightStar as a family business in 2002. With 130 locations in US and International expansion in the works, BrightStar is an established elder care, child care and medical staffing provider today. Let’s dig deeper in her story…

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

SS: My name is Shelly Sun, CPA. I was working as the VP of Finance for Avolar, a former division of United Airlines.

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

SS: While working for Avolar, my husband and I went through the process of looking for care for my husband’s grandmother. We saw that the quality and service we were seeking was generally missing in the industry. We lost Grandma the day before we got married and decided that the experience was our calling to provide other families what we had been seeking and were unable to find.

DD: What did you do to break the 9to5 jail? How did you prepare for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

SS: I didn’t know better so I don’t know if I really prepared. I worked tons of hours in my corporate positions and it was no different as an entrepreneur. The hard work was easier and really didn’t feel like work as an entrepreneur since I was doing it for myself.

DD: What are your suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs?

SS: Find a peer group of entrepreneurs or those that have owned businesses in the past to be a sounding board and to offer encouragement. Cut anyone who is negative about entrepreneurism out of your inner circle – you need to surround yourself with positive people that can help you, support you and challenge you to be the best entrepreneur possible.

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

SS: I love owning my own business. Within 6 months of starting my company, I was unemployable because I could never work for anyone else again. I have never looked back and I love what I do every day.

DD: That’s Shelly Sun, CEO & Co-Founder of BrightStar, Providing dependable and complete elder care, child care, and medical staffing services for individuals, families and healthcare facilities, Shelly is a true hero for not only herself but for many more. Her advice of excluding negative people in your circle, hit home for me. The naysayers will keep complaining simply because they neither did anything nor tried, so they are just jealous and insecure of your future success, after all you stand a chance and they never would. Ignore the naysayers or better do as Shelly says ‘cut them out of your inner circle’.

Success To All!