Holly Reisem Hanna and is the founder of ‘The Work at Home Woman’, a website dedicated to helping women and moms fulfill their dreams of working at home and/or becoming self employed, while providing inspiration, motivation and support.
Holly is a true inspiration for moms struggling to translate their traditional career skills into a creative service-based business. She has successfully taken the important research skills she gained during her years as a nurse and converted them into a business that helps other women start their own businesses.
Read on to learn more.
From Nursing to Networking
An Interview with Holly Reisem Hanna
Noelle:
How did you decide to start The Work at Home Woman? What were you doing beforehand that led you to this idea?
Holly:
I didn’t initially start out wanting to be an entrepreneur. Before my first daughter was born in 2007, I had a full time job as an RN Clinical Research Coordinator. But, from the minute my daughter was placed in my arms, I knew that I would not be able to return to my full-time job. I decided at that point to become a full-time stay a home mom.
However, after 9 months as a stay at home mom I got motivated to find a way to make some extra money from home. I started asking past employers and friends if there was any work that I could do for them while caring for my daughter at home. My networking efforts paid off and in December 2007, I started working from home by completing marketing research, establishing joint ventures and working as a social network liaison for a small publishing company that a friend was working for.
Noelle:
Wow. So ‘The Work at Home Woman’ website wasn’t actually your first business!
Holly:
Not actually! During the time I spent looking for work at home opportunities I learned a lot of valuable marketing skills and became very familiar with the work at home market. This knowledge motivated me to find a way to help other women and mothers find work at home opportunities, so I decided to create the ‘The Work at Home Woman’ website. Today, I still do some work as a social network liaison in addition to running the site.
Noelle:
What a great idea you had! The site is truly a great resource for women looking for work at home opportunities. How long did it take you to put together ‘The Work at Home Woman’ website?
Holly:
It took me 16 months to launch the site. I launched it on March 19, 2009 and I have been growing the business ever since.
Noelle:
Super! You mentioned however that you still working part time as a social networking liaison. I think it’s important that people realize you are essentially working two jobs at once while the site is in its start-up phase. Sometimes that is what you need to do!
Holly:
For sure, but I’m passionate about building a career from this site and it’s worth the extra work.
Noelle:
How will you generate income from the site?
Holly:
I did a lot of research on how to make money with a website, and I think advertising and affiliate marketing are the best way to generate income from a website.
Noelle:
Well, that’s awesome. Have you replaced your former income with your new businesses?
Holly:
I haven’t yet replaced my former salary, but I am also not working as much as I used to. I have income coming in, and although it may not be as much as I want it to be, I think the most important thing is that I enjoy what I do!
Noelle:
So true! What has been your biggest challenge as a mompreneur?
Holly:
The biggest challenge is certainly having enough time! I have a busy two year old to keep up with!
Noelle:
How do you manage childcare? I know that’s a great concern to the aspiring mompreneurs I work with.
Holly:
I build my work schedule around my daughter’s schedule. I always try to spend some time working before she wakes up. I also do additional work while she naps. However, as she gets older, her schedule continues to change, and I am currently evaluating a Mother’s Morning Out program that would give me set number of hours to work two days per week.
Mompreneurs with young children need to know that their children’s routines will constantly change. It’s important to remain flexible and modify your work habits as you go.
Noelle:
I agree. What’s been your biggest surprise about mompreneurship?
Holly:
I’ve been really surprised that I don’t miss the social interaction I had during my former career as much as I thought I would. My current business gives me the opportunity to interact with so many moms both online and in person. I also really enjoy working from home. I can get so much done in a short period of time without the interruptions!
One thing that isn’t is a surprise, is that I got rid of a major commute and I don’t miss that at all!
Noelle:
Ha! I’m so glad to hear you don’t feel you are lacking social interaction as a work from home mom. One of the things we mention in our book is that working at home can get lonely, but it’s great to see that you have been able to avoid that through aggressive networking. Do you have any final advice for aspiring mompreneurs?
Holly:
Sure. Now is a great time to start a work from home business. There are plenty of great opportunities out there. Some hot industries include virtual assistants, copy writers and social network marketing consultants. If it’s your goal to launch a work from home business, do one thing to move that goal ahead today!
Noelle:
Thanks Holly! I encourage all readers interested in starting a work at home business to visit your website today.
Tricia Dempsey is the founder of Agile, a technology talent firm that enables today’s technology leaders to hire and develop superior performers. Her path to entrepreneurship is proof that sometimes you don’t choose a business – a business chooses you.
Six years ago, while serving as president of growing staffing agency, Tricia was diagnosed with breast cancer. Although she wanted to continue in her role, her treatment was not allowing her to work on a consistent basis. She felt this was unfair to the business, so she left it to focus on getting well. Upon her departure however, she still had clients knocking on her door, so she decided to start a small company under which she could invoice her clients “until her hair grew back.”
Within 90 days, she had ten consultants contracting under umbrella and by the end of the first calendar year, her business had generated half a million dollars of revenue. She hasn’t looked back since.
Although her success may at first sound like pure luck, it has been Tricia’s attention to and focus on her core strengths from the very beginning that has enabled her to achieve so much.
Targeting Helps This Entrepreneur Hit the Bull’s Eye
An Interview with Tricia Dempsey
Noelle:
The recruiting industry is a crowded marketplace. There are the “Big 5″ Generalist Firms, loads of small boutique firms, and dozens of other options in between. You’ve been extremely successful at setting Agile apart from the competition. Tell me a little bit about how you established your niche and how your focus has contributed to the company’s success.
Tricia:
Well, I start by saying that I think branding and positioning are evolutions versus revolutions, or at least that has been the case for me! Since Agile’s inception, we’ve gone from small Atlanta-based boutique staffing firm to a larger regional player, but one thing we’ve always remained true to is our focus on hiring and developing superior technology talent.
Noelle:
How and why did you decide to focus on technology talent?
Tricia:
Well, I really am the quintessential technician turned entrepreneur. I grew up in the technology staffing space. I spent about 8 years recruiting technology talent for a company that went from being a $5 million business when I started to a $1 billion dollar business by the time that I left. After this experience I understood the space top to bottom and left to right! I got to know many of leaders in this space and that has opened doors for me since the beginning. I think being in one space for so long has been a real advantage for me and my business.
That being said, I have always been tempted, as I’m sure the people reading this book will be, to serve all audiences, which in my opinion, equals the death of a business. I think the best way to plant yourself and ensure growth, is to define and stay true to your core business. Once you’ve mastered that and it becomes a predictable revenue stream, then match a new market, product of service to your business and focus on making that a success. It’s critical to have some predictability in place, otherwise trying to launch a second offer becomes extremely distracting – especially when you already have limited time and resources to grow your business.
Noelle:
You’ve differentiated your business by focusing recruiting technology talent, but you’ve been successful at differentiating your business by using a unique recruiting approach. Tell me a little about that.
Tricia:
We looked at what our competition is doing and we really turned that on its head. Most of our competition does two things. 1) They turn to job boards for talent and 2) they use standard job descriptions to recruit their talent.
At Agile, we believe in fishing in ponds versus fishing in the ocean. Our recruiters average about 12 years of experience meaning that each recruiter has a strong network of top talent to source from. This smaller, stronger, deeper talent pool means we have ready access to resource with the right skills.
We also start with the end in mind when recruiting for a position. We consider what our customer will access during a resource’s end of year performance review and from there we craft a job description. We’ve found that this approach really turns out top performers.
Noelle:
What other unique angles have you taken to differentiate Agile?
Tricia:
We’ve made a real effort to differentiate our business through community service. We’ve taken very active roles in two organizations, Women in Technology (WIT) and Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Our work with these groups has enabled us to interact with many potential clients on an informal basis.
We’ve also been very successful at leveraging the brand equity of these larger organizations. A potential client may not recognize our name before we meet them, but we gain some instant credibility by being associated with such great organizations.
I’d guess that our work with WIT and Komen has helped us open more doors than any other marketing or business development initiatives we’ve undertaken. Plus the work has been so fun and rewarding for our team!
Noelle:
That’s really great. I know Agile fundraisers have raised over $100,000 for Komen over the past 5 years and that’s really something to be proud of!
Tricia:
For sure! Our fundraisers are a big part of our strategy to engage with our clients in unique and meaningful ways. We’re not fans of banging on our clients’ doors and saying, “Can I have a job order? Can I have a job order? Can I have a job order?” which is very much the model of 400 of our closest competitors.
Noelle:
Tricia, thanks for all your time today and for all the great advice. Is there any parting advice you’d like to offer aspiring freelance moms?
Tricia:
I advise aspiring freelance to focus on the things they do best and to outsource all the rest. It took me some time to get here, but I have a very solid model at this point. The core parts of my business, recruiting and selling, are managed in-house. Everything else including, human resources, marketing, accounting, finance, legal – you name it – is outsourced to experts in those areas.
This may seem like an expensive model, but if I add up the cost of all of these professional services, it only equals the cost of about one full-time equivalent. I’m leveraging many expert-level resources, the best in their field kind of resources, for just the price of one full-time internal employee. It’s made such a difference in my business and I enjoy my business so much more because of it.
