Karen Mathis is a Designer, Stylist and Author. She enjoys creating and building at the start-up phase. Her fashion merchandising and marketing career exposed her to large scale, as well as private corporate operations, including owning her own retail businesses. Karen is a lifelong learner, completing a Master’s of Science in Executive Leadership, at University San Diego in May 2016. She took a sabbatical and spent time in England writing a new book, Power of Appearance. She continues to style an exclusive clientele. Karen is married with three daughters and lives in San Diego, CA. Her personal mission is to use her knowledge to empower women. She consults, teaches, and writes. You can find her eBooks at Amazon: Fashion Buyer, Darling Where’s Your Wrap, and 8 Easy Pieces.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Karen’s Father
When business started difficulties overcame:
“that’s definitely finance. My very first business required getting finance. And I was young, I was just out of college three years. Who’s going to give me money to start what I thought was such an important dress shop? Not very many. But there is something in America called the small business administration and I did go to the SBA and applied and because I had the market, I had the relationship with the clients, I had a very long list of clients as a matter-of-fact that would support my business as far as customers… They did they said if you get a co-signer, we will give you the loan. So, I got a co-signer and they gave me the loan. I had the foresight thank God to make sure that I had controlling interest in that company”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Master Your Motivation: Three Scientific Truths for Achieving Your Goals by Susan Fowler Book by Susan Fowler. Click the following link to listen to the Susan Fowler Podcast on the The Entrepreneur Way
- Brilliance by Design: Creating Learning Experiences That Connect, Inspire, and Engage Book by Vicki Halsey (Doing presentations)
- Self-Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Self Leadership Book by Ken Blanchard
- What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful Book by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter
Also mentioned
- Pushing Up People: The Secret Behind One Of The Most Exciting Success Stories In American Business Book by Art Williams
Favourite Quote:
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Recommended Online Resources:
- Bluehost is one of the largest website hosting providers and powers millions of websites
- WordPress is a free and open-source content management system based on PHP & MySQL. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system. It is most associated with blogging but supports other types of web content including more traditional mailing lists and forums, media galleries, and online stores.
- Canva – Create beautiful designs with your team Use Canva’s drag and drop feature and layouts to design, share and print business cards, logos, presentations and more
- ibis Paint X. Speed painting . ibis Paint X is a popular and versatile drawing app downloaded more than 45 million times in total as a series, over 2500 materials, over 1000 fonts, which provides 312 brushes, 58 filters, 46 screentones, 27 blending modes, recording drawing processes, stroke stabilization feature, various ruler features such as Radial Line rulers or Symmetry rulers, and clipping mask features.
- Art Rage – Natural Painting Software. ArtRage, stylish and easy to use painting software. Get creative with digital art tools that feel just like the real thing Create natural art
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“please, please, please build your team of stakeholders from advisers to employees. Get the team, explore what you are good at, what are your strengths, admit what your weaknesses are and hire your team accordingly. Plug those holes in what you are not good at. I would say use the DISC model to help build that team so that they can work together with greater understanding… And I don’t think there is a leader out there that should not know situational leadership is a tool in training and leading their team. Learn about your leadership style it will help you keep good employees and help keep good employees feeling better about their job’s that’s the key”…[Listen for More]
More About Karen Mathis:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Have the end in mind and every day make sure you’re working towards it” Ryan Allis
Other Quotes From the Chat with Karen Mathis:
- “you don’t sit there and open your doors and wait for somebody to come you go out to the market and invite them in and that’s how you succeed”
- “back when I got started, we didn’t have the resources that we have today. I would go to the bookstore and I read every business book that was on the shelf”
- “none of us is as Smart as all of us”
- “pushing up People pushes you up”
- “there is no doubt that education opens the mind to so many possibilities. But I do believe that that education that concept of team that none of us is a smart as all of us, the disc model, situational leadership, all of the things that I gained from that program I didn’t realise how valuable that would have been. And I had I started my career now with that education it would have been incredible, even better”
- “I think when someone has a vision and they are putting their energy toward that vision it kind of grows into success. I think that there is an energy force that when you have a vision and there is something that you are excited about, I believe that you are pouring a lot of energy into that and then it attracts. That positive energy tracks others and people want to be a part of a winning situation and they join in and before you know it you have created a movement with your goals. I do believe it starts with vision and self-motivation. I do believe that very important”
- “I believe that if you are self-motivated, I think that you can accomplish anything”
- “there isn’t much we can’t do once we know how to do it”
- “it is so important that you have the attitude I believe that I must do the things that I think I can’t do. Deconstructed and do it one piece at a time”
- “once you know how it’s easy”
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