 Welcome our viewers to Ignite the Spark. My name is Shar Speck-Packnack. I am the founder and the CEO of an organization called Horizons for Girls. We mentor young women middle school and high school. We help them overcome a whole long list of obstacles, helping them as they travel the path, navigate that life journey. I'm excited today though because probably this is something deeply rooted in me as being an entrepreneur. Horizons for Girls created out of what I saw as a need. So I created a program and I've done that several times through my life of various careers. But today I'm able to have a conversation with two women that I'm very happy to be with. Let's start with you, Alyssa. Why don't you introduce yourself, who you are, what it is you do. All right. Well, I'm Alyssa. I am a freelance graphic designer and owner of Graphics Tech. So I provide freelance graphic design services prior to that I worked in a sign company for four years. So that is my occupation. Okay. And Erica, and I've known you for maybe what, two years now? Yeah, two years, I believe. But Erica, other than shabuigan visual artists, we've never met before. We've talked on Facebook. This is our first time face to face. Go ahead, introduce yourself. My name is Erica Block. I own a branding and design agency that specifically works with creatives. I work with the art, music, publishing, film and fashion industries. I'm also an entrepreneurial consultant for creative people who are starting their own businesses. I'm a contemporary abstract artist and art instructor. I have a jewelry line. I think that's it. That sounds like quite a bit to keep you busy. Again, I'm thinking both of you very creative in what it is you're thinking and in doing every day with your jobs. And I think that's kind of interesting. I wanted to explore this whole topic of being an entrepreneur because, to me, a lot of our students that we work with, I'm thinking, they're not going to fit into that square box. They are a little maybe defiant even sometimes in their outlook on life. So with being an entrepreneur, I think you're able to create something that you're proud of. You can create something you want to do that you want to get up in the morning and you want to go, yeah, I'm excited, I'm going to get this done. Again, you've worked with the students because you are also one of our mentors. What do you think about some of the pitfalls and some of the things that you think are a fit for the... I guess I think of both of you as that non-traditional person. I don't see either of you sitting at a desk. I don't see either of you working in a factory. I don't see either of you waiting on tables. And that's not to say there's something wrong with that. I think both of you are more creative and you want to do something that's different, that's unusual. You see a need and you decide, okay, I want to fit that. So because you've had some experience with working with our students, how do you see that as good and bad? What are some of the things of somebody's thinking about it? Well for the girls especially, I think it will be far more fulfilling. It's far more fulfilling for me anyways than working for someone else and not having as much control over what areas I want to cover or what fields I want to work in. I think for the girls it'll be specifically more fulfilling in that they get to make their own decisions. They have more control over what direction they want ahead. They have more say in what they want to do with their time and their lives. And I think for most people the best part is feeling fulfilled. I think every one of us is just searching for a way to feel fulfilled and to provide a service that affects other people in a positive way. So for the girls I think will definitely be more fulfilling for them than a traditional occupation. Part of the pitfalls especially for the girls and all kids as teenagers is that wrapping your mind around having to be responsible for all of your time management, for all of your supplies and being prompt. It's not a success is not for the lazy. So being motivated and being committed is very important and I think once you get your priorities in line you can head any direction you want to. So I think the girls would really be fulfilled by a career that way. Okay good. What kind of things are going through your mind Erica? Because I know you've had probably a lot more experience in the corporate world before doing what you do. So what are you thinking? I spent 10 years in the corporate world before starting my business and I felt like I was defiant during that time period. And I'm sure a lot of the people that I worked with I mean coming fresh out of college it probably did appear that way but I just I saw so much just inefficiency and waste and just so much that could be changed and I was probably more vocal about that than I should have been. But I've just I've always had that mindset of I could do this better. I know how this could be and I know how much better this could be and it was very hard for me to sit on the sidelines and do the job that I was assigned to and not get out of that box or from behind that desk and and kind of take over the show. And I realized very quickly that you know after I had three separate positions within the corporate industry and I thought I got to get out of here and start running my own show. I'm just not content like this. I can't sit by and see all of these things that could be so much better but not have the power to do something about them. What do you think if you had to think of one or two things that are really important if you're going to be an entrepreneur if you're going to run your own show what are a couple of things that are critical to be successful. Well as Alyssa had touched on I think discipline is huge. There is nobody to blame. There's nobody to help unless you get to a point where you hire a staff. A lot of people think that when you especially if you're a work from home entrepreneur that you get to get up when you want and you can work in your pajamas and I get up earlier than anybody going to work at eight o'clock. I am dressed make up hair when I sit down at my desk even if I'm not leaving the house that day it's a mindset and I put in more hours than the average person working an eight to five type of a job especially being at home. I never leave the office and it's so often that it'll be two o'clock in the morning and I have an idea for something and I'm running downstairs to make sure I don't lose it. So discipline is important and knowing that it that working for yourself doesn't mean that you've got a gravy schedule and you're working in your PJs and like she said for success that's not how it works. And I think to add to that definitely the discipline but also you have to be able to work with people when you mention defiance not in not expanding your horizons but defiance in you know refusing to accommodate people you really have to learn how to work with people and be able to accommodate their needs and have good customer service skills to keep your business going you know as far as establishing it and having it continue. Well and I think you know I spent 22 years in radio a lot of that as a salesperson and really responding to what the client was saying and listening to that client and hearing those little similar to what we do with the students you're listening for little cues that you can then snag and you can use those to complete whatever it is that you're going to work on for the client whatever it is you're trying to help a student with you know you've got to be able to respond to those you know don't just sit there and go well I'm right and you know don't you know you've got to be listening and I think that just becomes so important. Absolutely. One of the things I've been reading a lot about is motivational interviewing when we're working with the students and again it's turning on that sales technique almost so that if that student is saying well you know I'm tired of mom yelling at me because I'm not getting my homework done well you're going to turn that around and you're going to say well hey wouldn't it be really cool if mom didn't have to yell at you anymore guess what we can do to make that happen let's get your homework done well guess what all of a sudden it's something she wants to do and I think in a way you're almost doing that with the clients that you're working with now you were telling me a little bit before the show about the jewelry thing and that was interesting too now tell me a little bit more about that jewelry was something that I never expected to fall into for the last four years my my art studio was located in door county and I started teaching classes at a place called hands-on art studio located in fish creek and they they taught me they have multiple studios there and all of them were brand new to me and I got the opportunity to be paid to learn all these different art forms so that I could teach them to others and jewelry was the one that I really fell into and began teaching those classes there and it just stuck and it I had never touched a piece of jewelry before and suddenly I had my own jewelry line and I've continued that every year since wow that sounds fascinating I'm thinking of the and I know you've seen the boxes in the closet where there's there there's tubs full of beads and and stuff that will we we use it in a creative sense with our students but again using that creativity I think that's another thing that as an entrepreneur that you're able to do and use that you maybe don't do so much when you're serving a waitress I mean you can only serve that mashed potatoes and gravy so many ways okay I mean I watch these cooking shows and how these chefs are trying to present the food but as a waitress then how much are you doing to creatively present that meal probably not a whole lot whereas an entrepreneur you have to be pretty creative and I think that's kind of fun and exciting it is it's also interesting and something Erica said that made me smile as how she puts in more hours than most people as an entrepreneur the funny thing about that is she said 2 a.m you could get stuck with this idea so you get up and you you go put it on paper or wherever you need to put it the reason I think that's so adorable and cute and perfect is because it's true as an entrepreneur you're struck with ideas in the strangest places and at the strangest times and you're like I seem to stop what I'm doing I need to write this down real quick and you move on I think that's common for all entrepreneurs their brains are just constantly focusing on how can I improve how can I be more efficient how can I feel more needs and so you get struck with these ideas and I love that you said that particularly an entrepreneur that's in some sort of creative industry that's the thing that is the most difficult but also the biggest gift is that it just it never gets turned off you know you'll you'll be sitting at a restaurant and the chandelier will inspire a jewelry design and you're interrupting dinner to sketch on a napkin I mean it just it does not turn off ever I know it would it would always drive going crazy if we would when especially when I was working in radio if I'm work we're off for the weekend but we're driving somewhere and I've got pen and pad of paper and I'm making notes of things I'm seeing whether it's a billboard or some a business or whatever I'm going oh that'd be a great idea or maybe something I heard on a different radio station well I'm making notes I'm going yeah I don't think there's an off switch most of the time and I think it takes more effort to turn it off if you can even well and I think that's a very big indication that you are an entrepreneur or that you have that entrepreneurial spirit or that you are just a creative person in general and is that you you know most people take their vacations and have their weekends and their evenings and they spend them watching tv or they get out of town they do whatever to leave their job behind for you know the the few hours of a weekend or something and and as an entrepreneur I think if you are following your passion and you are truly on fire of you know with what you're doing you don't you don't need an escape from it you don't want an escape from it you're not looking to to necessarily turn it off or forget about it for a while it's it's actually exciting when you pass a billboard and and something inspires you or something you know there's something that you notice that you want to write down or make a sketch of or you know I think that's a good indicator that you're on the right path to me that that is just you know and you use terms like set you on fire and again I'm going to reflect and we talk about that with the students igniting that spark and I think I can hear that spark going in both of you and I think that's really what we try to do at horizons for girls is we're we're working with students that so often especially when I've got a brand new student you get this blank stare like oh god you know I've got to sit here because mom thought this was a good idea and this is the most boring thing ever and you know we're talking about tomorrow we've got this this fun thing that we're doing with the portable classroom from LTC and I remember last year when we did that in how engaged the students got with what was happening because there were so many different stations in that classroom that they they were moving from station to station and they they were doing welding and they were programming computers and there were these little robots moving around on the floor and even faith was kind of like okay what's this creature coming at me it was a lot of fun so you want to engage that young person and get them involved get them committed to doing something I mean I look at so many of these young people and they they feel hopeless they feel like they've got no control and I think as an entrepreneur you've got a lot of control and what you're doing and that that really makes you feel good so and the girls also sometimes won't have a lot of inspiration and you touched on you know when you're traveling and you see something that you're just like this is inspiring it gives me a great idea I think with the girls especially it's important to give them opportunities to not only get their hands and try things out but also to be inspired maybe this is what I want to do with my time maybe this is what I do with my life maybe that's a direction I'm headed I think when we feel most lost especially the girls as teens is when we don't really have a direction we're headed and you kind of feel a little bit lost that way so yeah I mean earlier well actually it was the end of last year I was speaking to a class in Sheboygan Falls and the teacher was doing something that tripped a trigger with me that I then copied and used in horizons and several of the students and I'm not sure if you've been there when they've been working on them but several of the students have identified national issues that they feel are important to them and I said okay that's the issue now bring it down to Sheboygan Wisconsin and what is it that you can do to impact and change whatever that issue is I'm sure you can think of the young lady who is very concerned about animal testing makeup all the makeup companies that are testing on animals where you've got another young lady very concerned about how many pets are in the humane society and that those should get adopted we've got somebody working on hunger the world hunger and the fact that there really is plenty of food out there it's just a matter of getting that food to the people that are hungry and the the one that probably really intrigues me is the one young lady that's working on sex trafficking and designed a t-shirt the front of the t-shirt says I'm I am not for sale and it's a for sale sign and then on the back side it's got the 800 number for sex trafficking what she's doing now is she's looking at ways of raising the money so that we can print the shirts so that she can then give them away so that people don't even have to buy a t-shirt they can have one if they're willing to wear it so but again it was grabbing that interest of each student and saying okay that's what you're passionate about now bring it to Sheboygan Wisconsin and how can you impact that issue right here that's been exciting to see the girls take ownership and want to work on it so yeah the passion and Erica found her passion in jewelry you didn't even know existed until that came about I think with the girls it's a lot of the same thing I think all people who want to be entrepreneurs need to find their passion otherwise you're not truly invested in it but once you are and you're in your passion you're very invested in how it's going to go and how it's going to turn out and keeping it running and being motivated so I think that's exactly right you need to find your passion in order to get moving yeah well and as we're talking I'm thinking of I stopped at the flower shop this this morning before I got here but I'm watching the women putting arrangements together and and I'm going they're not doing that because it's just just because it's a job they're doing it because they love it I mean you can see them measuring stocks of different flowers that are going to go into an arrangement and matching colors and I mean the the one lady that was doing these she was even matching the the ribbon on each of those because the flower on each of them is slightly different so she wanted to make sure that the ribbon matched the flower and she took pride in doing that so yes that's a job for her but she's got a passion for that so now I'm thinking in my head I wonder if any of the girls might even enjoy that as a possible career you know do they even think of that I don't know you know we've got a couple of girls thinking about getting into makeup or hairstyling or that kind of thing I don't know you know they've got to go out there and just try anything you never know where that passion is all of a sudden going to pop up and you're going to go oh I love this man exactly you don't know until you try so that's why I think it's great that um horizons provides opportunities for girls to experience things I mean when I I think all adults ask kids what do you want to be when you grow up even that's kind of silly when you're smaller I think I went through a whole list of them I asked children because I'm still looking for ideas well my first one was rock star so I don't know maybe you'll still pan out but consistently it was mother and I honestly I don't think that I would be doing all the things that that I've done and be the person I am if it weren't for my mother which she you know we didn't have a group like yours growing up but she was she was that group and she she had won an art contest when she was young and it was something that she hit she wanted to go into some sort of creative profession but her mother passed away and she ended up raising her little sisters and then starting her own family so I mean my mom drew our coloring pages the apples in our lunchbox were cut into swans we had fresh flowers in our rooms she any any opportunity that she had to bring creativity into cooking and home making and and raising her children she did and any opportunity that she had to start a home-based business before it was really accepted and she did a lot of upholstery and refinishing she put a box in my closet that she called my make-it box and every little scrap from anything that she had from a greeting card to a fabric swatch went in that box and that was my box to create anything with and I would make furniture for my Barbie dolls I would make jewelry for my friends and it was maybe only a year ago that I realized I'm doing all the stuff that I did then I just get paid to do it now and I have a much bigger box which is pretty awesome that's a neat way of thinking of it that is really cool but yeah I think that's something you know and my parents also the fact that they created their own business and I learned how to run a business and handle a budget and handle bills and just everything I just all those aspects of a business which is part of being an entrepreneur right my father owned a business my mom had a small business my husband's an entrepreneur so I think it's just a it's a thing when you when you're exposed to it you see all the possibilities and your mom clearly was genius in all of her ideas getting you into it I do too and I absolutely love that well and with my old my brother and sister being older than me and then my younger brother coming along when I was 17 I got this kind of prime opportunity to be alone with my parents and to and when they had to go on a business call in the evening I was with them and we were you know reupholstering the seats and horse carriages and putting up corner sports and churches and you know that I was just exposed to that every day when you got home from school you did dinner and then you worked and you know just it was just instilled from early on I can remember going on land surveys before I got taken to school with my dad because he's a land surveyor we would go surveying before school after school weekends I mean it's like you said it's just what you did to get things taken care of and finished before after and in between that those whole those values of what people that have their own business are really tuned into I think makes a big big difference so that they can follow through I'm going to kind of wrap up quickly and I'm going to ask either of you if there's anything you can think of that you want to share with our listeners that's happening in what you're working on that you think the public would want to know about I don't know I'm thinking with you I know you do a lot of work with rote america but you know there's something unique coming up with rote america that you want to mention huh well their season's getting started pretty quickly so ticket sales are open season passes are available they do have a lot of classes driving schools motorcycle schools group activities so I mean you can check all that on their website but yeah they're busy anything you can think of it now that spring is coming I'll be teaching classes at lake shore art supplies I'll also have my jewelry as well as possibly teaching some classes at thrive which is a new place that's opening that's it for local okay okay and for our viewers one of the pitches I always have to make is that we're always looking for additional mentors at horizons for girls as our organization keeps growing we have 38 students just in the shabuigan school district then we have students in outlying school districts that we also work with so we're always looking for additional mentors that can work with us um very it's a chance to be an entrepreneur very flexible hours the schedule fits your work schedule as Alyssa can attest to we make it fit however possible so go to the website the website definitely can give you a lot of information about horizons for girls as well as how to potentially be a part of what it is we do I want to thank everybody for tuning in today and I look forward to everybody being able to be a part of something that gives them a passion in what they're doing don't just go through life and be tuned out there is so much out there that you could enjoy and just one way of doing it is being an entrepreneur thank you very much