Today on The Ops Authority Podcast I’m sharing my 8-year journey from corporate to entrepreneurship, how I got started, the challenges I faced, and the strategies that have helped me navigate my path to business success. I’ll also discuss 8 powerful things that have helped me stay in business, kept me motivated, and allowed me to achieve great success while staying true to my purpose.
My Journey: From Corporate to Entrepreneurship
I left corporate America in 2015, and later that year, I launched my first business, which focused on building women’s networks and supporting mothers. In 2017, I started an iteration of the business I have today, The Ops Authority. Initially, my business name was just my own because it was the easiest thing to do as a fact-finder. Like everyone else in business, I had a hard time finding a business name, and the best advice I got was to get started now and use my name, which was unique enough, to get to work, so don’t let the name hold you back.
I began by leveraging my operational skills. These were the skills that came the easiest, and people affirmed to me that they were my greatest strengths. I also realized very quickly that if I was going to grow a business, it was important to find the skills that came naturally to me. This was a turning point on my journey to business success and gave me the confidence to move forward faster.
How to Create Your First Offer
Leaving corporate means you need to find a way to establish a steady and reliable income, or you risk having to go back. After assessing my skills, my very first offer was around project management. I believe the base skill you have as an operator is the unicorn skill that people are attracted to. You have amazing project management skills, and it’s the reason you volunteer for things, holiday events fall on your shoulders and your family leans on you.
I began by managing events, online course launches, website swaps, and more. These projects not only allowed me to learn about the industry and its tools but also helped me lay the groundwork for my own business success.
My work primarily focused on project management. I built lasting relationships with clients because they valued my strategic approach. Unlike traditional virtual assistants, I offered management and strategy, which kept clients coming back and helped me transition into a more holistic high-level leader or Director of Operations.
Niching Down: The Path to Becoming a Unicorn
The marketing side is as big as the operational side, and to be successful, I had to debunk the theory that the right hand of the leader needed to be an expert in both sides of the business. It is too big of a title to hold and a responsibility to deliver on.
The reason people kept coming back and referring me to their peers was because I was an expert and very strategic. I was good at the operations side, and I had a value proposition and a differentiator in being solely focused on operations, which made me a unicorn. Niching down enabled me to become an authority and to build my business into a six-figure business in less than six months. Niching down was critical to my business success and helped me create a strong value proposition.
Because people trusted me, they also allowed me to get in front of their audiences. I did a lot of speaking on stages, podcast interviews, and guest teaching, which not only increased my reach but also helped me to have my own platform.
The Turning Point: Building a Certification Program
In 2019, I started developing the foundations of what would become the Director of Operations (DOO) certification program. While I was still serving clients as a Director of Operations, I realized the need for a structured way to equip others with the skills and frameworks I used to drive business success and scale in businesses. Creating this certification became my focus, allowing me to mentor and train others while maintaining the quality and standards I believed in.
Shifting from One-to-One to One-to-Many
This transition wasn’t easy. Moving from working one-on-one with clients to a cohort-based, one-to-many model required a significant change in how I approached my business. Up until then, my client base grew primarily through word-of-mouth. To scale the certification program, I had to rethink marketing, team structure, and delivery methods. This shift was essential to achieving long-term business success, as it demanded formal marketing systems, greater visibility, and a deeper investment in my business infrastructure.
Navigating Growth and Complexity
By the time we launched the first DOO cohort in 2020, the business had transformed completely. Today, we run multiple cohorts per year and have certified over 470 Directors of Operations, with plans to reach 500 by early 2025. Building a team, implementing systems, and creating a scalable model required resources, time, and a willingness to embrace challenges. These efforts were driven by the goal of fostering business success for both myself and the team.
8 Tips for Navigating and Scaling Your Business
What has allowed me to get to this point in business? It’s been a journey. I’ve seen it all, and I’m surrounded by people who have shut their businesses down, eliminated their teams, and pivoted completely, and even multiple times. Through it all, I’ve navigated challenges, embraced opportunities, and built a foundation that has stood the test of time. These 8 strategies have been instrumental in my business success, helping me stay motivated and achieve 8 years of success.
- Value Before Growth: This is the difference between visionaries and operators. Visionaries are great at creating big ideas, and we, as operators, are good at fulfilling those ideas and making them come to life. A lot of times, when there are challenges, it’s because the client puts the sale in front of the delivery. Choose one product, perfect it, and bring on a team to help you make the product even better.
- Be Strategic About Investments: There have been very few times in my company when there has been the liberty and profit margin to invest in myself and my team simultaneously. If you want to invest in yourself, be very clear on what you need and how you need support, then go after it and operationalize it in a way that helps grow your business. Don’t forget to also invest in your team as we can’t do all of this by ourselves, I know I couldn’t.
- You Can’t “Set It and Forget It”: We have systems that function like well-oiled machines and a team of people who show up and do their jobs well, but no system, person, or product is truly “set it and forget it.” Just because you have a successful product doesn’t mean it can run on autopilot. Consider investing in someone who can monitor and ensure that the product or service continues to get excellent results.
- Never stop looking for leads and prospects: If you’re going to grow a business, whether it’s one-to-one or one-to-many, you need a consistent flow of leads and prospects. Bringing leads all the time is essential for your growth, stability, confidence, and evolution. Leads give you the opportunity to have conversations, test your systems, and, ultimately, make a sale.
- Put money into a business savings account: Anytime you profit from your business, especially in the early days, make it a habit to put money into a business savings account. Start today by setting up an account that earns interest. See if you can get it to 5%. If not, put aside what you can, keep going, and adjust based on your earnings. Whatever that looks like for you, make it a priority to put money aside and build that financial cushion for your business. This has allowed me to invest in big projects, take a personal draw, or give bonuses.
- Financial forecast: You don’t need a multimillion-dollar business to create a forecast. Forecasting is essential for businesses of all sizes, especially in the early stages when you don’t have the complexity of high overhead costs, big tech stacks, people, salaries, or rate increases. Forecasting helps you make decisions, stay confident, and correct your course along the way.
- Contingency planning: When the market is in a tough spot, there is less money going around, making business seem more difficult. This makes CEOs consider bleak options such as firing the team or quitting altogether. Contingency planning helps you stay focused and rational when navigating unexpected twists and turns in business instead of getting to the worst-case scenario.
- Know Your Purpose: As an operator, you possess a unique gift that can be monetized. Take the time to look inward, do a soul search, and find your purpose. Knowing and serving that purpose will not only help you grow your career and earning potential but also provide the flexibility to align your work with your passion and become your next best self.
These are my 8 tips but take the time to reflect on what are your learning opportunities you have had along the way that have helped you stay motivated in business and continue to press forward even when things get hard.
“Knowing my purpose has been my guide for saying yes and no. It allows me to focus on what aligns with my mission and the vision I have for my life.” — Natalie Gingrich
Take control of your career this Black Friday with the Ops Academy Bundle, featuring expert-driven and ready-to-apply skills designed to boost your confidence, sharpen your expertise, and fast-track your success!
Weekly Ops Activity
What’s one lesson you’ve learned on your business journey?
Current promo:
Stay Connected:
Subscribe on your favorite podcast app
Join the Ops Insiders FREE Facebook community!
Other Ways to Connect with Me:
Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network
Share with your biz bestie