Last night I went to an entrepreneur Start-Up Grind event with my friend Jessica at 1776 on 15th St. NW, where the two sisters and founders of Georgetown Cupcake gave a fireside chat about the joys and pains of starting (and growing to now 7 locations) a business.
“An entrepreneur knows with everything inside of them that they are not meant to stay in a company. That something else is calling them,” founder Sophie Kallinis said. This spirit resonated with me, along with her discussion of an Entrepreneur’s ability for risk-taking. Sophie left working for a VC firm, and Katherine left Gucci in order to start their cupcake business.
The act of leaving a company to build a start-up is by itself a leadership move. It is living in congruence with who you are and choosing how your life will play out. It is proactive, rather than reactive. I want to (and will) do the same, and I will help Leaders have the most positive influence possible on their employees.
As I sit with my coffee in my favorite chair and reflect on the affirmations I heard last night, I think – how fitting, to take an out-of-the-ordinary evening (going to an event after work instead of to the gym or straight home to cook dinner- thank you Blue Apron), and make it an extraordinary evening (slippery roads, dodging stopped cars on highways, running gas on empty, two hours to get home).
Entrepreneurs would call that ” A sign, Celina.”