Catherine M. White

I attribute my success to determination and tenacity. I love the word tenacity - actually, somebody called me that once, and it was not in a positive way. It was my husband's ex at the time, and she didn't like that I was helping my husband with their custody case, so she referred to me as tenacious. It wasn't a good thing in her mind, but to me, I was like, thank you so much for the compliment! I also attribute my success to my thirst for learning. I believe that as entrepreneurs, we're always, or at least we should be, in order to stay in the game and be successful, always learning. Because entrepreneurship is a challenge with so much responsibility that you're always building yourself, always becoming stronger, always learning something.

The best advice I ever received was from a friend who was in leadership in an organization I was part of. I was working in financial services at the time and had this dream of being very successful, like a millionaire. I expressed a concern to her one day that I wanted to make all this money, but I felt guilty in having that desire. I was worried that being wealthy might ruin me and turn me into a greedy person or something. She made a statement to me that has really stuck with me - she told me that money does not change who you are, it enhances who you are. If you are a giving person when you have little, you're going to be a giving person when you have a lot, and you're going to have a lot more to give. If you're a greedy person when you have little, you're going to be a greedy person when you have a lot. And the thing is, you can have very little and be very greedy. So money enhances who you are. I found that to be so true, and it helped me. Anytime I start to fall into that rut, I remind myself of that conversation. There's so much that I want to do to help other people that sometimes it's really frustrating because I can't do everything I want to do.

I think definitely immerse themselves in learning and choose things that they enjoy learning. One thing that I wish that I had had that I didn't - I pretty much paved my path and figured it out as I went along, which I do believe as an entrepreneur we do a lot of that. We can often have no idea what we're doing or where we're going, and so we just need to be willing to take the first step. One of the things that I wished that I had had was a mentor to guide me along the way and help me understand what is entrepreneurship, what are your options, and help guide me in choosing what path I wanted and then working in that field. I did work in the field of accounting, but I would have loved to have worked in more of a consulting field so that I saw firsthand how people are doing that, how businesses are doing that. So I guess my advice is: be open to learning, put yourself in opportunities where you can be mentored, and be willing to take the first step even when you don't know what that step is, even when you're not sure.

I think the biggest challenge, like any business or any entrepreneur, is keeping your pipeline full and always having clients that are coming in, because you've got to stay busy and you can't have a business without clients. So keeping your pipeline full, I would say, is everybody's problem or challenge. As for the biggest opportunity in entrepreneurship as a whole, I'm going to go with growing yourself, developing yourself, which is one of my favorite things about entrepreneurship. We're always, or at least we should be in order to stay in the game and be successful, always have to be learning. Because it is a challenge, there's so much responsibility that goes into it that you're always building yourself, you're always becoming stronger, you're always learning something.

Integrity is definitely a very important value all around. I also believe in professionalism and providing high-quality services in everything that I do. I make mistakes - unfortunately, I'm not perfect - and I believe in owning up to the mistakes and making it right. I also believe that personal growth is so important, and I believe that stepping out of our comfort zone is an important part of growth. I love to challenge myself, which is why a few years ago I did something I never thought I would ever do - wing walking, where you get up and stand and walk on the wing of an airplane while it's in flight. I've never been an athlete, but I literally started into activities like triathlons, half marathons, and 200-mile cycling rides about 5 years ago.