From jobless to successful entrepreneur
By Chandrea Serebro
Estie Rand went from fired and jobless to successful entrepreneur, after being told by a successful recruiter that she would never succeed at turning her dream into a real, profitable reality.
Nine years ago, working at a multinational profit as a CIO, Estie loved her job. She loved her boss. One day, they hired a middle manager, who came in like a bull in a china shop and created a very toxic environment. He shifted all the work responsibilities and basically told Estie that she was to be his new secretary. “I said to him – I don’t think you understand. I am the CIO, I have a team that I manage, and I am a terrible secretary. He said no. Your team is now my team, and you are my new secretary.” Estie knew what she had to do, and instead of shifting roles she basically said, “Bye! I’m the new leaving person.”
It was devastating for her; her job was her whole life and she depended on her income, being the sole provider for her growing family at the time. So Estie went in search of a new job, meeting with head-hunters and recruiters. While interviewing her, one head-hunter – a former McKinsey consultant – asked her:
‘Estie, what do you really want to do? What’s really the dream?’
“I laid out my dream for her. I told her I want to do business consulting and help small businesses (so many of which were starting to pop up at this time in 2011, the start of what has become a small business boom) and I really think I can make a difference to them. So many of them are missing the background, or a special skill, or some knowledge – and I really think I can help them.”
“She shredded me, and I was devastated. But the fighter in me woke up.”
Lucky for Estie, she had close family and friends who encouraged her in the face of defeat at the hands of this ‘expert advisor’, and Estie took on a few jobs at the same time as trying her hand at starting her own business. She began with a workshop in her area aimed at small businesses, which were popping up all over the place, but only two people signed up, so she had to cancel. “But that was the beginning. The entrepreneur in me had woken up.”
Today, Estie Rand is an internationally acclaimed business consultant and marketing strategist, and founder of Strand consulting – and what is more, her name has become synonymous with success. “The dream was, and still is, to help small business owners live their dreams. Nobody should shred them. And if they find that they are missing some key ingredient to making it work, I am there to help them find it. I love turning ideas into money, and helping others do the same.”
Estie helps small business owners with everything from marketing strategy to business plans, rebranding, to social media – and she absolutely loves it. Estie started as a freelancer, with the motto of helping clients earn “more money with less headache”, helping small business owners (from freelancers to multi-millionaires, some very successful but still considered small) who found themselves stuck – and that was the seed for her acclaimed Business Breakthrough Podcast.
“I find that people get stuck in their own world. They feel so limited, afraid to step out and get their hands dirty; their limited vision holding them back from realising that they can go beyond that. The world is limitless. You can’t jump up the ladder, or you will fall. But if you take each step up the next rung, you can get there. And this applies to everything in life – in business, in personal growth and development, in child rearing. We can always go beyond the clouds, where the sun is shining, and discover that anything is possible.”
This forms the core of her belief and advice to others, that anything is possible and helping people believe it and make it a reality through both inspiration and practical strategic advice. This success flies in the face of what the head-hunter told her when she found herself stuck. And she is loving making a success of and living her dream. “I love every day of helping people and seeing others succeed.”
Unlike a client of hers who described himself as a battery, waking up fully charged and running out of power as the day wears on, Estie thinks of herself as like a solar panel. “I wake up in the morning, a little bit groggy, and then I bask in the sunlight (I live in Los Angeles) and on the success of my clients – on helping them; working with them; helping them to find clarity; seeing their success. That is my sunlight.” And she helps businesses and people of all types and at all levels. A self-funded non-profit that can’t get off the ground, with the help of strategy and marketing deployment from Estie, reached to 120 000 dollars in donations in three months (the goal was 100 000 in a year). A personal organiser single-mother with an up and down business who needs stability went from a wavering four-to-five-figure business to a stable six figures with help from Estie at every level of her business from marketing, to staffing, and a complete systems overhaul.
“Anything is possible.” Estie sticks to her fundamental ideas when she conducts business, and believes that everyone can expect to as well. “You never have to take abuse from anyone in business to be successful. It is always okay to stand your ground, be professional, and create appropriate boundaries. Be yourself and don’t be afraid of that. Being yourself professionally is okay because you are the most successful when you are you.”
“You’ve got the dream; you need the tools,” the catchphrase that Estie offers to her clients, is the life-changing vision that Estie uses to help others. “You want to do what you love, or what you’re good at. You want to earn money to support yourself, and maybe your loved ones as well. And you want to make sure you can still have time for yourself and them in the process.” And by keeping true to these fundamentals, Estie helps you get there. All the advice Estie offers is tailored to the individual business owners needs, and this is what makes her advice so compelling. But, she also offers courses and strategies for people to start with at home.
Get special FREE access to Estie’s ‘5-Day Marketing Success Challenge’ for a limited time. This is an entry level mini-course to being successful in all your marketing endeavours, which went viral within 4 hours of being published. Visit: estierand.com/5daychallenge
