Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today we are talking to Leta Hamilton, the next guest under the “Our Heroes” series. Working as an Executive Assistant to the CEO of a London Private Equity firm, Leta wanted to spend more time at home with her new born child. When her second child was born, she turned into a full time mom who read self-help books looking for ways to contribute to the family income.  Leta decided to write the book she could not find, thats when The Way Of The Toddler was born. Let’s dig deeper in her success story…

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

LH: My name is Leta Hamilton. My corporate job was as the highly paid Executive Assistant to the CEO of a Private Equity firm in London.

DD:  What made you leave the job?

LH: After having my first child, I went back to work full-time. The glamorous world of Private Equity and the “maternal” like nature of the Executive Assistant role were no longer compatible with my at home life as a mother to an infant. The job required 100% of me, but so did my child. I soldiered on for a year in absolute misery before making what was at the time the most courageous decision of my life. I had to completely reevaluate how I defined “success.” I could no longer pretend that being successful meant bringing home a lot of money and having what appeared to all outsiders as a great career. When you are dying inside, it’s time to start making your own definitions!

DD:  When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

LH: Becoming a full-time mom after the birth of our second child meant diving deep into some duty inner work to make peace with the fact that I was no longer contributing anything financially to the household income. I started reading (and listening to on tape so I could multi-task better) every spiritual growth, self-help book out there about the keys to finding inner peace and fulfillment. Pretty much all of them were written by men and certainly none of them addressed the unique challenges of attaining inner peace with a 3-year old ninja fighter and a chronically attached 1-year old. In desperation, I thought to myself, “Damnit, I’m going to write the book that I cannot find! I put the laptop up on the kitchen counter top and literally wrote a book while breastfeeding, stirring the stir-fry and changing poopy diapers. What resulted was a book about the craziness of modern motherhood and the spiritual lessons we can learn from our kids. The premise of the book is that we can use the time we actually spend with our kids to learn the spiritual truths about which those best selling authors write so eloquently, but oh-so impractically for someone in my position. Once I had a manuscript, I took a haiatus to have another baby and move into a new house. Two years later, I was ready to jump off the proverbial cliff and so I went for it. Now, I am a speaker and radio show host (I host a parenting show called “The Way of the Toddler Hour” that is broadcast in Seattle, Detroit and Boston to 1.3 million listeners) in addition to my writing on the spiritual lessons we can all learn from kids.

DD:  What did you do to break the corporate jail?

LH: Mustered up all my courage, wrote a letter of resignation and handid it in.

DD:  How did you prepare for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

LH: Good question. Not sure I really did all of my homework beforehand. I did receive coaching help in the process of publishing my book.

DD:  What are your suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs?

LH: NEVER, and I mean NEVER, compare yourself to another. Each and every one of us is here on this planet with our own unique story and path. What works for another may or may not work for you. The simple truth of it is that we all have to live our own lives and that means making our own mistakes and learning our own lessons along the way. You can drive yourself completely insane when you start comparing your story to the stories of others and then making value judgements about it. Do the best you can, keep moving forward every day, and you will get there. Patience and persistence are the key words.

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

LH: I feel great. I have a career that literally defies the whole work/life balance conundrum that so many moms struggle with. My kids are my career and I have created a job that adds to, rather than distracts from, my internal sence of peace and fulfillment. I champion the spiritual path of motherhood. I write every day. I get to spend time with my kids. I am not beholden to a corporation and their rules. I’m still working towards greater goals practicing patience and persistence every moment of every day. My kids are 1, 3 and 6. I have plenty of fodder for my workshops, speaches and articles. I could not imagine going back to an office outside my home. I am very grateful for everything in my life

DD: Leta Hamilton is a great example of diving into the water head first and that this dive (strategy) works as long as you know what you want and you stick to your commitments. Just like Leta while being a full time mother, decided to embark on her entrepreneurial mission.  Today she is 100% committed to her work and family and also maintains a healthy work/life balance, one she was looking for since working at a private equity firm. Definitely check her out at The Way of The Toddler

Success to all!