Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Brownlee.
Dana, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I received dual undergraduate degrees from Spelman and GA Tech, then received an MBA from Emory while working in the telecom industry. After working as a business strategy consultant for years with IBM Consulting and EMC Corporation, I decided to leave corporate America in 2003 and hang my own shingle as a corporate trainer/keynote speaker, and it was the best decision I ever made. While I feel like I had a good run in corporate America (and the experience was awesome), there’s no substitute for complete autonomy! At the time, I was in my 20s, unmarried and childless so the autonomy was an awesome luxury, but now that I’m married with two small kids, it’s a necessity (and such a blessing). The autonomy affords me the ability to jog on the Beltline (most mornings), sit in carpool most afternoons, take much of the summer off and do most of my errands during the week when I can actually find parking at Publix and Target!
Starting my business didn’t feel like a big deal back in 2003 (but looking back I think I didn’t know what I didn’t know so ignorance shielded me from fear). Since I was providing training, facilitating meetings and conducting team-building retreats for clients while I worked in corporate America, I just decided to do it on my own! I started by primarily working through local university professional learning programs, moved on to develop a course with an international training company and now work exclusively with my own direct clients. I’ve been blessed to work with many organizations – large and small, around the U.S. and beyond. I’ve really enjoyed this work for 17 years now because I feel like I’m working within my gift. I love conducting training sessions and speaking events, answering real questions about workplace challenges and feeding off the energy of the audience.
In 2017 a publisher approached me at a project management conference in Chicago where I was giving a talk on managing difficult bosses. Ironically, I’d developed the presentation years earlier because the #1 question I’d get during Q&A at virtually every speaking event was some version of…”But how do I deal with issue x if my boss/senior leader is the one who is the challenge?” It was definitely a “hot topic” and the publisher wanted me to author a book of practical advice. I worked with them for about a year and a half and my book (The Unwritten Rules of Managing Up) was published in early 2019.
As a corporate trainer, I’ve contributed to several publications including Working Mother, Entrepreneur, and HuffPost, but I’m super excited about having become a Forbes Careers Contributor in early 2019. As a Forbes Contributor, I post articles on a range of topics about weekly so this keeps me really busy. This new role has afforded me the opportunity to not just interview amazing thought leaders (like Dr. Meria Carstarphen, Shaun Robinson, and Justice Leah Ward Sears) but also participate in the national discourse on current events and pressing workplace issues. It’s really an honor.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have to admit that I’ve been tremendously fortunate. Having started a small business 17 years ago, I completely understand why most small businesses fail. It’s really tough! While I struggled in that I didn’t have a mentor, guide or framework to follow, I essentially created my own strategy and framework, and it worked! At least so far, it’s worked 🙂 I made really dumb decisions for sure, but that’s just part of the process. For the first five years, I was single and had to make it work. The first 18 months, I essentially lived off savings while getting my business’ revenue stabilized enough to support myself, then I worked on growing the business the next couple of years. For the past decade, I’ve been blessed to make more money than I ever made in corporate America while working a part-time schedule.
I think one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is thinking that because they’re good at their particular talent, they’ll automatically have a successful business. Negative! You may not have a profitable business model. For example, I love restaurants and my friends always come to me to make restaurant pics. Does it mean I can develop a viable business model based on that? Probably not. Yes, it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the concept still holds. I’ve had friends with great hobbies/talents and they automatically assume they can make money doing it. Not necessarily. Also, business development is HARD! For most entrepreneurs doing “our thing” is the easy part. The hard part is securing clients, consistently feeding the pipeline, consistently marketing, managing the backend of the business (e.g. IT, website, distribution, inventory, etc.)
My advice would be as follows:
1. Save a significant nest egg (to support you the first two years if needed)
2. Make sure you pick a business that you’re really passionate about (in an area where you’re truly gifted)
3. Do your research!
4. Find role models, reach out to them and soak up as much as you can
5. Work hard early on!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Professionalism Matters, Inc. – what should we know?
I conduct speaking events, facilitate team-building retreats, and conduct training workshops. Some of my topics include:
– Managing Up
– Project Management
– Facilitation Skills
– Leadership Skills
– Building Effective Teams
My differentiator is that I try to provide sessions that are highly interactive with really practical takeaways. I hate those sessions that you leave thinking, “That’s an hour of my life that I’ll never get back” so I try to make sure participants never feel that way when they leave my events.
Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
I can’t think of one particular incident, but I remember always having really high self-esteem as a child. I think that that high self-esteem and strong sense of confidence has always been an important element of my success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://professionalismmatters.com/
- Phone: 6787777188
- Email: danapbrownlee@professionalismmatters.com
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/c/DanaBrownlee; www.linkedin.com/in/danabrownlee
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danabrownlee
Image Credit:
Professionalism Matters, Inc.
Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
