What my Mom taught me...

Mother’s Day was this past weekend and I wanted to honor my mom this week in the newsletter.

She’s taught me many lessons, but 3 really important lessons she taught me stand out and have translated directly to success in my business life. 

Support + Belief

My mom always supported me and believed in me, even when I didn’t. She would drive me to dance classes as a teenager, 5 - 6 nights a week, without complaining. I knew the cost was very high, yet she believed in my ability. She knew dance was my passion and she was going to do everything in her power to be a support system for me to reach my dreams.

She taught me what it means to truly support someone. As I work with my clients, I strive to be that support for them. The one that believes in them, knows their potential and pushes them to grow. 

You want to be an accounting company regularly closing 6-figure contracts? You have the skills, ask for the work. 

Owning My Value

Early on in Slater Success, I was contemplating raising my prices to navigate the growth of my business. I told my mom I was moving to the next level when she said, “Yes, I wish you would have asked me earlier. I could have told you you were selling yourself short and you would have difficulty scaling your business at the prices you were charging.” As a business woman herself, she’d navigated those tricky financial waters and when I started listening, I really learned. She’s a big proponent of women earning their worth and stepping into their value with confidence. She would meet my clients and ask them if they were charging enough. Many still ask about her all the time!

Working with my corporate clients, owning value is a big one. You want to be a law firm that does 3 million in sales this year? Then do it. Why not you? If not now, when?

Staying In Touch

My mom has such a wide circle of friends from every time period in her life. She does a great job of maintaining those relationships despite distance, time or even a global pandemic! 

Relationships are the cornerstone of my business and my strategies of relationship-based selling are part of every client conversation. 

When a name comes to my mind or across my desk of someone I haven’t connected with in a while, I reach out. It doesn’t matter if there is business to talk about or not, what matters is staying in the conversation, seeing what that person is up to, how I can be a resource or how they might be one for me. I recently had the pleasure of having dinner with my mom’s friend from kindergarten who owned a very successful business from my childhood until last year. Her son joined us, as well, and we talked about relationships and business today. It was a blast and incredibly educational!

As a mom myself to now adult children, I try very hard to pass on the lessons I’ve learned from my mom, as well as what I’ve learned in my 25 years in business. Watching them begin their careers and grow into the next generation of leaders is truly a gift. I tell them all the time to value the relationship they are building and know the greatest value and the golden ticket to success are those relationships.