Leadership is not about building a platform, it is about building your people, which ultimately forms a successful organization. “When you are a leader the most important thing is your people,” believes a proficient leader, Stephanie Latorre.
Stephanie’s journey to become a leader started in the corporate world. She began her career at the young age of 21 managing private country clubs in the restaurant area. It was a crash course in how to run a business and how to manage people. It was one of the best experiences she could have ever had to help herself launch her own successful business. Working in country club not only gave her the chance to learn from some of the top minds in the country but also taught her how to create a team. A loyal team that work together. Currently, Stephanie is the Founder and CEO of EGM Management Consultant and driving force behind the company.
After many years of studying her market, learning what they didn’t want, she was finally able to learn what they did want. Some people want personal attention. Some people want to group environment. And some people just want to do it on their own. Taking this into consideration, she through EGM created programs for every type of personality to help them build their website and make it their best employee ever. This took years for her to figure out. She had to test so many different programs and processes in order to find this out.
According to Stephanie, innovation is the essential ingredient of entrepreneurship. She is of belief that there would be no innovation without entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs by definition are the innovators. They are the ones who see things differently. They are the ones who can look at a puzzle and solve it in a way different from the directions. To shed a light on this, she puts an example of Seth Godin, who opines that there is a difference between a business owner and an entrepreneur according to. He says a business owner sees an opportunity and takes it. He sells flowers better than anyone else. But he is not an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone who sees a missing step in the flower industry and invents something new to bring more flowers to more people. Therefore, to be an entrepreneur is to be an innovator.
Stephanie’s entrepreneurial journey was not so easy. She says that the biggest roadblock for an entrepreneur is themselves. When she started her business, she did not know that it would send her down a road of personal development. She did not know that at some point she would hit a wall. A wall that could only be taken down by removing the wall inside her head. It was the one that was preventing her from moving forward and having the ideas others were not having. It was the one that she had to work on before she could truly go from small business owner to entrepreneur.
Further, she asserts that personal growth is the key to business growth. Thus, she has created a life that starts with personal growth. She starts her day by taking care of herself. And, technology helps her doing that by bringing meditations to her smartphone and yoga into her living room. It has become her journal and her planner. It allows her to connect with people and resources to expand her personal growth, podcasts during rush hour, read over 100 books on her kindle. And who knows what crazy entrepreneur will innovate something next. While the technology has opened so many doors for her and her business, she is also of the opinion that there must be a balance between personal life and social life. While scrolling down the apps on smartphones, one should also consider taking a walk in nature and spending time with family.
Through EGM, Stephanie is helping her clients to not waste their time on activities that won’t help them achieve their goals. She mentions that with more social media channels and ways of communicating available, it can be one of the hardest decisions possible to figure out what channel they should be focusing on. Or worst of all trying to be on all the channels at the same time. Not all social media channels are equal. Not all channels will produce the results one is looking for. She helps her members to choose the right channel and strategy that works best for their business and their goals. If someone is not getting results, there is a reason for it and thus, she takes time to look and see what those reasons are and how they can course correct.
In the future, Stephanie is hoping to increase the number of resources that are available to its members of the SET (simple, easy tech). While many people join to learn about WordPress, what they don’t expect is self-care routines and an introduction to removing blocks. EGM plans to expand this section of the membership to offer more resources and information in this area.
When asked about the crucial traits that every innovative entrepreneur must possess, she emphasizes on the attribute of patience. She smartly portrays the importance of patience by stating, “For every amazing technological and innovative invention ever created, there were at least 100 throw away versions before that. Any entrepreneur who says they are having $50k launches and making six figures in five days, is not including the 10 years of experience and failed launch and making zero figures before that. The only difference is that they had patience. They threw away 100 different versions of their product that no one wanted until they found the version that everyone wanted.”
In her advice to enlighten the upcoming entrepreneurs she asserts, “Every time you post on social media, you are sending a message. You are giving the world more information about you. You are communicating a piece or yourself to the world. Today it is easier than ever to be heard in a noisy world but just as difficult because there are so many others that want to be heard. Be yourself. Express yourself in a way that makes you you.”
