In this episode of The Unsexy Entrepreneur, we sit down with Tracy Irby—entrepreneur, advisor, and small business expert—to explore the real mindset shift that turns side-hustlers into owners: leverage.

Tracy shares what most first-time founders get wrong, why hustle is a trap, and how building systems is the only path to true business freedom. Whether you’re starting from scratch or acquiring a small business, this episode will reshape how you think about growth, freedom, and ownership.

🎯 What You’ll Learn:

• Why many “entrepreneurs” are just self-employed (and stuck)
• How to build systems that scale instead of jobs that burn you out
• What leverage actually looks like in a small business
• The difference between doing the work and owning the process
• How Tracy helps entrepreneurs escape the corporate mindset trap

💬 Ideal for Listeners Searching:

• Entrepreneurship mindset
• How to build a business, not a job
• Small business systems
• How to scale without burnout
• Millennial entrepreneurship
• Business leverage
• From corporate to entrepreneur
• Women entrepreneurs in business
• Smart business ownership

👉 Subscribe and leave a review — we read every one.

Got questions for Charles and Seth? Submit them HERE.

welcome to the Unsexy Entrepreneurship podcast. I am your cohost, Charles Harris. I'm joined as always by Seth Jensen. And then today we have a very special guest on the phone. We have Tracy Irby. ⁓ She is the director of the Center for Women Entrepreneurs at Texas Women's University. She's been a mentor to countless small businesses and a seasoned entrepreneur herself. Her ventures are spanning from retail, fitness, rentals.

online commerce and insurance. She has both an MBA and a bachelor's in marketing and professional certificates in entrepreneurship and economic development. And we're so glad you're joining us here today. Hopefully we can call you Tracy and that's probably how we'll refer to you going forward. So the first question is what does the Center for Women Entrepreneurship at Texas Women's University actually do?

Okay, great. Well first, thanks for having me. Glad to be here today. So the Center for Women Entrepreneurs is actually funded by the state legislature to promote women entrepreneurs anywhere in Texas. You don't have to be affiliated with our university system to do that. So our goals vary a little, but we help a lot with small business advising. All of our services here are free.

So ⁓ free small business advising and we help it with all stages of entrepreneurship from startup to exit planning and everything in between. We have many different training events. We have Women Rise. It's the second Tuesday of every month. We have it in person and virtual because Texas is a big state, so we have to have that virtual component of everything.

But we have networking online and in person before and after the event. We have the Accelerate Her training program. We have done that throughout Texas. It's a 12 to 15 week entrepreneur program that we take across the state. It started in Denton, then we had one in Dallas, Austin, Abilene, Houston, Mission, Texas.

It's growing and what's nice is as it's growing is more and more communities are now coming to us asking us to bring the program to them. We. It's way down there. We did one in Corpus too, so that was fun to go visit that one as well. So we do that across across the state. We also have grant funding.

Hmm.

Yeah, because I've never heard of Mission Texas before.

Okay.

We have given over 2,500,000 to women-owned businesses in Texas. And actually, our Start Her grant opens on the 26th of this month, where we're giving 10 women $5,000. Those who have been in business less than five years. And we don't just give money, because we're with an educational institution. So we make sure they all receive three hours of small business advising.

Wow.

⁓ They have to go through our small business training course, which are some of the basics of business. They do a complete business plan with three years financials as well, and then they send their receipts for the first half, and then they can get the second half of funding. So we help in many different ways across Texas.

Amazing. ⁓ Kind of given all of that, you just listed a bunch of things and it's amazing just that your center does that much, that many projects and you've got that much reach across the state is honestly incredible. What are some of the things that you wish women just knew were out there more? Just like available, what resources come to mind where you're like, if only they knew this was here, they could really get a lot out of it.

So cool.

Well, I think they just need to know that there are so many free resources for entrepreneurs out there. Many times people aren't seeking them out. I came from small business development centers and when I came over here, we're all advising the same people, but they need to know that there are free resources out there because really being an entrepreneur can be really lonely, especially if you're a solopreneur, ⁓ that it's great to get around other people.

Nuh-uh-uh.

⁓ Other I love being around entrepreneurs with my friends who aren't they don't understand it So it's really a great place to come and meet other entrepreneurs and talk about what's working and what isn't working For you, so they need to know that there's many Places they can go and get help and be active in the community meet where other entrepreneurs me

But some of the other resources they don't know are some women owned certifications, hub certification with the state. All of these are given priority when you're going out for government contracting or bids. Many people want to work with state agencies and they don't know how beneficial it is to have a hub certification, which is free through the state. And then of course, there are

Entrepreneur Centers at universities, those are owned too, really we just wish that they knew there's so many resources out there to take advantage of and you're not alone in your entrepreneurial venture.

Absolutely.

That's awesome. So

we're talking specifically with you, you're really, you know your Texas stuff really well. Are there similar programs and things scattered throughout the nation?

So some are a little different because we are funded by the Texas State Legislature, but there are other programs out there as well. And I would say, and this kind of goes with, I think the next question, I think they can all kind of be put together here, is that small business administration, there's small business development centers everywhere. So.

Mm-hmm. ⁓

They cover every

county in the United States. The SBA has women-owned small business, well, has the certification, but they have women business centers as well that are throughout the United States where women can go and get some one-on-one guidance there as well. So each state is a little bit different in what they have, but there are some other entrepreneurs.

Obviously, entrepreneurship at universities, I'm not sure how many states are actually funding a program like ours.

Yeah, but I think, mean, you've, yeah, that's true. Texas is a great place to start a business for lots of reasons. ⁓ But I think I love, I love this kind of reminder you've given us that again, there's something near you. There's something happening. And again, there's lots of women's business centers all over the place. Small business development centers. Again, that's a government and state program that are just super common. If you've got a university near you, there's probably some type of entrepreneurial resource.

it up from Texas. We're the best.

Ha

baked into that. And I think people don't realize you often don't have to be a student to participate in those things. That's true. Sounds like your university, your statewide and helping all types of people. My university is the same thing. Anybody can come walk in. You don't actually have to be in a class to find a community, find workshops, find great mentors. And so it's usually a Google search away. Most of the time you can kind of just find a lot if you're willing to just hop online and and look. And so

I'd love to ask, again, this is something I'm really passionate about. We were talking before we started recording. I've done a lot of research on early stage entrepreneurship and the path for a women entrepreneur can be different, especially depending on your context. Everywhere is different. There's certain parts of the world where it's very different, where there's still very strong kind of patriarchal lean in the business world where it's very difficult. The U.S. obviously is a place where anybody can start a business, but still the fact is

That's only within the last decades and centuries that the economy has really been open to women in a full way. You couldn't even open a bank account or a credit card until the 70s without a man's approval in the US. And so I think people don't realize just how much catch up we've had to do to make sure our economy isn't just tooled for men and has opened women in the same ways.

And so in your experience, what are some of the barriers that keep women from starting or growing a business specifically? Maybe some of those women-specific issues.

Oh, so there are so many different things. And one of them is probably essential to all entrepreneurs, but maybe more so for women is access to capital. I mean, as you said, they couldn't do loans not that far long ago where they could do that without a man signing on it. capital is still a barrier for them.

Right.

There's the work-life balance as well because many times a lot of the child raising is left to the mom. So then it's like, okay, how do I balance all of these things together? There's a confidence gap, I think, as well that some, you know, building networks, doing others, some of this is different, but they can, we can all do it actually.

Some don't know some of the things they need to know when they're coming in, but that's why it's great there are services like ours, like your university, all of those that are helping women entrepreneurs. Some don't know who they need to help with their business as well. And I don't know if you've ever heard this term, but we say every entrepreneur needs these on their team. We call it the bail team. Have you heard that acronym? ⁓ okay, banker.

Hmm. No, I haven't. Yeah, I'm excited to hear.

So we really stress you need a banker and you need to be going into the bank and they know your face. COVID was a great example of what not to do when people had never been into the bank. They weren't given priority for any of the SBA funding, etc. And you may not even be in a stage of business yet for the banker, but you should still be making those relationships. I'm told others my banks like 150 miles away from here.

Yeah.

Yes.

but I can call them and get a loan over the phone because they know me. You know, so you want to have, yeah.

Absolutely. Can I just add to that? Because

I was recently talking to some SBA lenders. So there's kind of some specific kinds of loans that are specifically geared for entrepreneurs, usually in the early-ish stages, they've got revenue, but maybe there's some capital constraints. And what I hear from these loan officers all the time is I wish people would come early. Like at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey,

so they could learn what's gonna be necessary for them to qualify when they actually need the money. So I think that's just incredible advice you're giving here of like, even before you think you need it, go establish those relationships and find out what you don't know about the process so that when a year or two years down the road when you're like, I need to buy this piece of equipment or I need some to go into my inventory, I need a big loan, you know exactly what ducks you need to have in a row beforehand and you're ready for that moment.

Right.

And so, again, that's one of those things where most people don't know that, you know, they're like, oh, I'll just go in when I need a loan. It's like, no, that relationship should start even earlier.

Right, right, because they don't know you then. So that was just the first part of bail. But the next is, and I think you'll like this one, Charles, an accountant, numbers person. I mean, they truly need to do that and pay attention because having a good accountant person to work with can really help guide you along the way. What are some deductions I can take? A lot of people think they can do certain things that they shouldn't be doing.

Yeah.

You

Yeah.

It's good to have them on your team. I is for insurance agent. You need to make sure you have the right coverage for your business. If you are driving and you have not changed your insurance to commercial or ⁓ business use, you could be in big trouble if something didn't happen. And Al, the last one's a lawyer. I'm not saying you need to have somebody on a retainer, but just that you know and for those times you may need legal advice.

So they can be on your team, but you know, not using them. So bail, that's your bail team. Yeah, so those are some good resources for them. But you know, when you talked about some of the other common barriers, I mean, there's also lack of support and there really was for mentorship too for women. ⁓ And as they are coming into entrepreneurship more and more, it's really important

I love that.

Yeah.

that they have those relationships and can go places, get mentorship, get advising and whatever to help along the way.

Yeah.

Is that

mainly due to the fact that historically speaking there haven't been as many female entrepreneurs? So there's just less to mentor and men generally want to mentor men and women want to mentor women. Is that kind of what happens? Is that why there are less mentors?

It could be and it could be where they are in their careers. Are there as many women in the higher positions where they can help those that are coming in behind them? And I don't think I mentioned that we're part of the larger Jane Nelson Institute for Women's Leadership. So under our center we also have, we focus a lot not in this area but in the other on women's leadership and the changes there.

Yeah.

Mmm.

And there was something mentioned before called like a broken rung, whereas women are going up. But if they don't have that very first position, you're not going to be able to go up further that rung. So I think there just weren't as many that were ⁓ really mentoring and helping women grow in their business.

Hmm.

Yeah. And

I think that's so important to realize, because I think a lot of people think, ⁓ like, is this a discrimination issue? And unfortunately, that still happens, right? That is not completely resolved. But there's so many other layers to what's going on here that you don't even have to touch the discrimination part before it becomes so much harder. And to like bring this more concretely in people's understanding, I'll ask them like, name five entrepreneurs off the top of your head.

And chances are, if it's not all five men, maybe it's four men and one woman, right? They're Mark Cuban and Mark Zuckerberg and, know, Bezos. You can come up with all the names that we're saturated with when we think of entrepreneurship at the national and global level, but also our local communities. The men jump to mind. And again, we've got this kind of long historical context behind that. And the reality is, like, we're social creatures. And so we, you know, I went and

When I first went to school, I signed up to be a chemical engineer. Why? Because that's what my dad did. Like was just the thing I was used to, right? It was the thing that I kind of, in academic literature, we call it the adjacent possible, but it's something that was just the obvious choice. We don't have all of the life paths laid out and we don't rationally choose. We kind of choose what's kind of next to us and the patterns we see in our.

in front of us and the reality is the patterns at a societal level and local levels still are very male when comes to entrepreneurship. So a lot of women aren't considering entrepreneurship when they could because they just haven't been exposed to it. They haven't seen people like them out there being successful entrepreneurship. And then, you know, they have less maybe close friends that are women that have been there, done that, that they can then again have those mentoring relationships with and ask those uncomfortable questions.

Cause everybody feels like an idiot when they start a business, right? There's so much you don't know. That's an, that's a eternal principle is it's a humbling experience and you need safe places to, to go. You you talked about like, don't do it alone. There's people that want to help you. There's a communities you can be a part of. And, and unfortunately it's just not as obvious for women that might have those aspirations where to find communities that look like them, that sound like them. And other women to aspire to when in reality,

They're there. There's so many incredible women that are crushing it in your local communities. They just might not be as visible, unfortunately. But yeah, it's not just discrimination, right? It's about the patterns we see and kind of these subtle fabrics that are really influential in our lives.

Right, right. Well, I mean, with that too, there are things like venture capital where women are only getting 3%, but they're still applying. So there are things that are still happening and whatever we can do to change, we're glad to do.

Yeah.

There's some interesting research about that that shows that the likelihood of a male investor to invest in women is directly correlated to whether they have a daughter, which I think is so fascinating. And it just goes to show again, if you get a bunch of men that are only exposed to men their whole careers, they're not less likely to take women entrepreneurs seriously. And which means, A, they're making bad economic decisions because women are out there building amazing businesses that they're not investing in.

You

but it also makes it so much harder for women to have the capital they need to be successful. So you're right. I think we're above 2 % of VC, but it's just barely at this point. Did you say three? Was that the number you had? Yeah, yeah, it's astounding. And we're at 10 % of the Fortune 500 are now women CEOs. And that's only in the last 10 years. It used to be like one for like in just like...

I said less than three, three or less, yeah.

15 years ago. And so we're making progress, but it's still a fraction.

what it should be, definitely.

Absolutely.

Interesting. So speaking as myself as a small business owner, I'm a guy. How can I assist women entrepreneurs? Because I mean, I can bring you on this podcast, can tout TWS offerings, and I totally will. But like, how can I help assist those women run businesses in my community?

So.

I think it's important to listen to them. I think it was in your community where ⁓ I was on a panel one time and many men don't realize the difference it is for women entrepreneurs than it is for males and maybe sometimes just letting them know, hey, they aren't getting the funding. They don't get as much mentorship, a lot of the things and help them realize how they can help. Of course, be supportive. Go to the things in your community.

if there are, you know, promoted, if there are things for women entrepreneurs, you know, if you, on social media or other places like that, share networks and connections when you're going. If you have people that they can connect with, say, hey, I really think this person would be great for you to meet. And we do that often with women here, but men can do that as well. I'd like to make a connection. I think you two have something.

very similar or this person is starting this type of business. I know somebody that you know might be able to help you with it. So those are ways that that you can help and then listen without assuming the same approach that works for men is always going to work for women as well. But really opening those networks be there.

Hmm.

be a mentor even if you can, if that's of interest to you. So there are a lot of different ways that you can do that. Not just you men. All men can do it, Yeah.

That's amazing.

I can take it personally. and it's one of

those things that I probably need to do a better job of too. and I don't think it's, it's natural, right? And I think that's kind of where men miss misstep a lot of times is cause, naturally, if I'm just out there, I get close to guys just cause I feel more comfortable with them generally speaking. and so then sometimes

I could see myself easily forgetting about a woman entrepreneur who's doing an amazing job. And so it's keeping that top of mind and just being aware of our biases and our idiosyncrasies, right?

Right, right. Well, we find many times the women who come to the programs, one thing they've said is that they feel very comfortable in that environment and they will ask questions where they may not have asked those same questions in a group of men and women.

Hmm, yeah.

Absolutely. It's interesting too, like I think we like to pretend that markets are this like even playing field and it's just like inefficient and there's ideas and the people that want them are gonna go out and do their thing, right? But the most successful people tend to have people championing them, right? Like I, and you know, before I took this role and was kind of in the academic world,

you don't get anywhere in academics if someone doesn't have your back. If there isn't someone more senior, more experienced, like pulling you up and you can kind of ride their coattails, like that's a little dirty little secret of academia, which is supposed to be just complete meritocracy. But when it really comes down to it, you've really got to have someone supporting and championing. And entrepreneurship is absolutely that way as well. It's about relationships and people caring about your success. And so I think us being open, like you say, to make that connection for people that we know in our community, like reach out and try to actively.

give people a hand up and support. That's how work gets done. That's really, that's building our economy no matter what. And if we're not being conscious about who we're giving those invites to and that support to, then we're just gonna kind of perpetuate the same holes in our economy and the same, like you say, these broken rungs. And so I love that. ⁓ We'd love to hear Tracy a story ⁓ from someone that you've worked with that really inspires you or you're really excited about.

you

So, I mean, obviously there's a lot of them. It's hard to even just one or the other because we were recently at DFW Startup Week and it was amazing the women that would come up and just thank us for what we have done for them. So that's always the best part of our job, you know, when we get to hear from those that were out there.

I mean, we've had some really interesting businesses that we've helped. Sometimes they're in very different industries. So we did have one who owned a funeral home and she was part of our grant program and she bought a hearse with the grant funding. ⁓ But what's nice is she's really wanted to help other women and this

Wow, that's a fun time right there.

This was our third year for the Rural Grant. There was somebody from her community that she referred and said, you really need to apply for this Rural Grant. And so the woman did and of course won a grant from us. So it's really exciting when you see them helping another. And she just kind of stands out because of her attitude about it. And actually this woman is now mayor of her community.

Wow.

Awesome.

So

it's like amazing to see. But what else is so nice in Seth, if you are working with entrepreneurs, you see it sometimes it's like there are children too. And as they grow and they are speakers and winning big grants and a lot of funding, it's so exciting. So it's hard to just say one or two people because so many of them were just so proud to be.

absolutely.

a part of their lives.

Yeah, no, I think we have the best jobs in the world, Tracy, because it's just, yeah, you get to watch people just flourish and blow your mind at what they're capable of and come in usually in a place of insecurity and vulnerability and leave building just so much value in the world and taking these confident leadership positions in communities and things. I love it. It's, we're lucky.

I love your example too,

a hearst perfect. How many people want to run a funeral home? Right? Not many. So it's a great unsexy business in honor of the podcast title, that, know, is a requirement of life. and I think those are oftentimes the best businesses to get into. So good for her way to be smart. And, and then also I love that she became mayor later. Cause in my experience, at least personally,

I guess.

my confidence and ability to get things done. I never would have put certain things on my radar that I'm now doing. And I think running your own business can just blow your confidence up. can increase your ability to get things done. And it's just so cool in the long run. And that's why I'm so passionate about entrepreneurship is because for me it's changed my life and what I can do.

Yeah.

And I just want other people to experience that too. And that's no different if you're a woman or a man. Like we can all have that same experience and that same growth that can happen.

Yeah, I will stand by the fact that you will learn more becoming an entrepreneur than any other activity you could do in life. Like it's worth it just for the human capital growth and learning, discovering yourself in all of these different ways and it doesn't have to be big. It can be a small thing that's, you know, or it can be just you're trying to replace your income. You're not trying to shake, you know, markets or anything like that.

but you will learn so much and become a different person for it. And that's the story that doesn't get told enough, right? We focus too much on the, you know, hundred million dollar raise instead of lives being transformed and communities being transformed by much smaller scale, but just completely transformational business journeys. Tracy, is there anything we haven't touched on that you're like, man, I'd love to talk about that or bring it up.

well there's so much and some don't realize even how much in the economic impact it is when these women are starting and growing these these strong businesses, I mean throughout the state. It's local spending, it's job creation. One thing we hear a lot of and I don't know if you guys hear it as much, a lot of people talk about generational wealth as well.

They want to get in and have a business and something that they can truly pass on onto their families as well. But I don't know, there are just so many different things here that we could probably talk for days about entrepreneurship. But yeah, I know.

Yeah.

You

And if you're not careful, we will. Charlie and I started this podcast to do so.

Good.

Well, I just

want to point out one thing you said though, Tracy, almost like an estate planning type of situation with entrepreneurship. One of my favorite clients, I love her to death, her husband, her husband works full time. She's done a bunch of other jobs throughout the years ⁓ and they were looking kind of at

Mm-hmm.

how to say it nicely, later half of their life, later quarter maybe, third probably is where we're at. And they really wanted to be able to create something that they could pass on to their kids and ensure that their kids are taken care of. And they thought about it and they're like, we're not millionaires, we're not hundred millionaires, like we can't do that.

But what we can do is create a business that works. It can become a family business. We can force them into the business. And if they don't want to take it, then that's fine. But then they'll have an opportunity to sell it and really create that wealth. And it's been really cool to kind of watch that process happen. And I think it can be really, really powerful. And again, talk to an estate lawyer, talk to a financial planner, probably more so than me.

Hahaha

But you can transition that over a period of time and allow it for a nice cushiony transfer of wealth from one generation to another and really enable your children to succeed. And I've always talked about with my wife, like, I need one of them to be a CPA so that I can give them the business when I'm done. But I think there really is a lot of power in that kind of statement and that thinking.

Okay.

Well, I was going say, I mean, that's great though, because truly every business owner from the moment they start, they need to know how they're going to exit. Do I want to sell it? Do I want to give it to my family? And many don't think about this and working with numbers. It's important people are many times they are tax planning.

You should have. go ahead.

Yeah.

until it comes time to sell their business. It's like, okay, we gotta be really showing the income that's going on here. So that's a real important part of it too. I love what you were saying before and if there were any other questions, and I know I said entrepreneurs make so many mistakes when they start. I almost don't like that word. I like to say we just haven't learned it yet.

You know, because there are things in life, in entrepreneurship, it's not going to be 100%. But man, do we learn from those. We may not have done it quite correctly in the beginning.

Absolutely. Yeah, it's just, that's all entrepreneurship is. It's solving the next problem. It's getting the next answer to the next question, right? Like nobody knows everything they need to know at the offset to be successful. No one, right? Even though it's successful entrepreneurs, it's just constant learning. And what's beautiful is you have an amazing business at the end. You're a different person at the end. You've changed other lives in your community. You've employed people. Like it's just, everybody wins, which is so exciting.

Mm-hmm.

And that's why we've got to help, again, the fact that half of the population, all these amazing women that are holding up society in so many different ways, like, purely from an economic standpoint, we're gonna unlock so much value in the world. Just if we could just really empower every human being to be as successful as they wanna be and build what they wanna build. And so it's really just such an exciting time because we've got everything laid out, we just need to.

make it happen. We just got to make sure everyone's getting that invite and that support they need. And we're in an exciting moment, I think.

Yeah, love that. And I mean, we love seeing it ⁓ day to day. What's happening? I didn't want to kind of circle just back just a little as we were talking about the general generational wealth. One thing entrepreneurs need to be aware of, because many of them opt to come in as a nonprofit, but they don't realize that is not a woman owned business because no one owns it. You can't give it to your children.

Mm-hmm.

and you are forever going to be fundraising. ⁓ We love nonprofits, but they are not eligible for our grants. We're funded with tax dollars. They're opting to be tax exempt. So there are different things there. But I think it's really important when starting out, they talk with somebody about this so they know ahead of time. I had someone come in the office one day and I kind of explained that. She was like,

Yeah.

Yes.

How come no one's told me that before? And they don't realize that they're going to be continually fundraising if it's a nonprofit and that there are some entities. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

and limits their income too, right? Like think

of the biggest example I think right now has been Sam Altman and Chad GPT, right? It was originally a nonprofit. I think it still is at this point in time, but I know they're looking at changing it and it's gonna cost billions and billions of dollars. It's a huge mistake.

Ha

Well, and to your point, Tracy, you can do so much good. Whatever good you're trying to do, there's a for-profit version of that that you can go in and make that happen, right? Nonprofits have their place and we're grateful for them, but for a lot of people, there's a for-profit route that can really make the impact you're hoping for anyway in a lot of ways. And that's a more sustainable model than fundraising because like you say, there's a dirty little secret of any nonprofit is that's mostly what you're doing is just raising for the next year.

Mm-hmm.

Right, right, and we see that so much that we really try to help them. But we've seen some of the women that we've had, they have their for-profit business and they have a non-profit. And sometimes the non-profit can help them in their for-profit business. So there are ways to do that as well.

Yeah.

Yeah. Amazing.

So this is kind of an interesting question too. And again, this is generality. So this isn't necessarily saying one thing or another, but are women more apt to try and make a nonprofit than men? I've honestly, I've never run into this concern or question before. Cause everyone I talked to is like, yeah, I'm gonna, usually the issue I have in business formation is they go S corp before they can afford to, or they make an error that direction.

Right.

Is that more common with women to have non-profit issues?

It could be because women are very nurturing anyway, so it may seem like a natural fit. I can go in and I can help more people this way that they're looking at maybe going into a nonprofit that way.

you

Interesting.

Yeah, think they, I think, again, I don't have the numbers, but I think there is a slight overindex on women running on profits as related to for-profit. And it's funny, in my experience, I'm curious if you run into this as well, Tracy, but there's some societal norms that sometimes women feel like, so I'll meet women who are running amazing businesses, just they're generating income, they're strong, they're healthy.

but they'll talk about it in a way as if it's, this is just travel money for the family, or this is a project I'm doing, where their male counterparts are like, no, I built this awesome business, this is amazing, but they feel like societally, for whatever reason in their particular context or communities, they feel more comfortable calling this a side project or whatever.

And I'm like, money is money. Like you are building economic value. That revenue, you can call it travel money, but it's just cold hard cash that you've earned by providing value to customers. I'm curious if you've run into that as well. And I wonder if that's related where in some societies, ⁓ like saying I'm running this cool nonprofit on the side is more socially acceptable than saying, ⁓ I'm an entrepreneur doing this risky business thing. Have you run into that at all?

Well, think truly I do think there is some of that. ⁓ Again, they want to give back and do those things and maybe are afraid to achieve it. You know, I should have put this in the part we had before though when you asked anything else. People need to start a job. I mean, start a business while they have a job.

Mmm.

They need to get that going in those numbers going those first get to those two years where many often fail. I think many times people are going in without thinking of everything there. I'm going to replace the salary. Well, that's not going to happen more than likely for a few years. So yeah, so I kind of got a little off track, but it was one of those that I always like to really help people.

Yeah.

It's a long road.

You know, you can start. And one thing for women, and I wish I had found this out earlier in my entrepreneurial journey, is that multiple income streams work. Women often become the sole provider, et cetera, in a home. I know now with what I do, if for some reason I lost my job, I'd be out selling something this weekend, that we have to be able to have those things and

Yeah.

I'm also an insurance agent. And so for years, when I took a job that wasn't high paying, but I had those renewals coming in. So there are things that, and you know, people can create, they don't always think about this, multiple income streams in the business you have. COVID taught a lot of them that we need more than one income stream.

Yeah.

Absolutely. Diversification, you gotta have it. absolutely. Whether it's an inside one business or whether you've got multiple things happening, that can definitely... And Charlie and I talk a lot about entrepreneurship through acquisition as you mentioned that gap between if you're gonna quit your job all of a sudden, don't expect to make money day one of your new business. But entrepreneurship through acquisition can be kind of an interesting way where you can step straight out of a job into a new job of a business you own.

I'm curious if you have anything to say about acquisition as a pathway in general and also for women specifically.

Well, I think in general that is a good idea, but again, you really need to look at the numbers too. I know with my experience at the SBDC, a couple wanted to buy a bar. Well, if you like to drink, doesn't mean you should have a bar. I'm not saying that they did, but they rolled a 401k into it and the advice from the SBDC is like, not. ⁓

Yeah

you

Yeah.

So it's about really doing your due diligence beforehand because you don't want to be putting money into something that is not going to be that moneymaker for you. What if the owner of that company had all the knowledge in his head and no one else is going to be able to come in and operate the business the same way? But there are many of them that they could acquire and especially if they've been in that field or

Yep.

Yep, yep,

yep.

They understand it, it's easier for them to go in and do it. In mine, I owned one of the first Sears hometown stores. And I remember going, we went to training and all of that, but wherever you go, it's like, okay, it's my first day, I know nothing. I mean, it doesn't matter how much training, but it is. When you go into a business,

Yeah. huh. Yep.

You don't know because there is so much to learn. But acquisition can be a good way in for many people. But do your due diligence first and make sure you see all of the forms, all of the paperwork, all of... You could help with that.

Yeah, yeah. And

I've seen a lot of issues with it, but some really good situations too. And one of my favorite women run businesses locally that I know, she runs an auto repair shop and she bought it. She is awesome. And every week she comes in and, or to a networking group that I attend and she rags on men because they always come in and they say,

Mm-hmm, yes.

I know enough about cars and this is not what happened. And then she's like, no, you just didn't change your oil for 20,000 miles, you And so I, you know, she's just awesome. And so it's totally doable. And even, even businesses that aren't typically run by women can be run by women. Cause I don't think an auto shop is typically run by a woman, but she is more than capable and runs a fantastic business. So.

You

I love that.

Well, and I

love that reminder, Tracy, that there's no such thing as a business that runs itself, right? So acquisition is not this magical. We had someone on the podcast earlier who had just bought a business and he took us through that painstaking process of vetting it and everything and how many businesses he had to look at before he found one that really had solid legs. And it is not an easy path, but it can be an incredible path if you do put the legwork into it.

And you can mitigate some of the risks of the zero to one process for sure. But there's no business that runs itself. It's a lot of work no matter how you slice it.

Definitely.

Yep, great. No.

and no perfect business. All right, Tracy,

we've had so much fun and I'm sure we're gonna continue this offline. But for our listeners, is there any way that they can get in touch or learn more? Any way that you'd prefer them to reach out to you?

Well, we have several different ways they could ⁓ reach out to us. Our website at twu.edu slash cwe.

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining us. And again, I hope people, what you're doing is so cool. And I wish people could see through your eyes all of these incredible women-owned businesses flourishing and being built across Texas and here in Utah on our side and across the world, because we just need more people that, obviously it's not for everybody, but if it is for you, like go find that community. Go find that.

Thank you so much for coming.

that person, that mentor, that group of friends that you can help each other build awesome things. Because we, again, I think we have the best job in the world. We get to see all this magic happening around us every single day. People building incredible businesses, incredible lifestyles, incredible community impact. So thank you for coming and taking the time to talk with us.

Thank you for having me. It's been my pleasure.