Her Story
About Elizabeth
I've been in my field for over 20 years, or 13 years specifically as it relates to consumer platforms. I stumbled upon construction technology when I was living in Maryland, where I grew up, working in an industry that was becoming dated. I met the founders of Meridian Systems, an up-and-coming project management software company for construction projects, and they offered me a job. I moved to California as employee number 20-something, taking on various roles with my primary focus always around partners and reseller management and business development. I helped grow that young company along with hundreds of other employees, and we sold it in 2006. Throughout my time at Meridian, I kept saying why is it that we can manage all these beautiful projects but I can't manage my home - this doesn't make any sense. I looked for 10 years and couldn't find a platform, so some team members from Meridian and I left and built HomeZada. I never had any desire to be a business owner or entrepreneur - I was content working for other forward-thinking companies - but I started asking myself, if you don't do it, someone else may not do it, not someone else will do it, just nobody may do it. Today I have approximately 7 major roles within my company, and each day is slightly different. My average day looks like outbound reach-outs to potential partners and customers, answering calls and clarifying questions, operationally managing teams and contractors on how to message HomeZada through social media, blog posts, and PR, and managing finances and other business elements. We're very experimental - we get to try new types of marketing and programs and working relationships before we make an investment into staff. My main area of expertise is definitely business development and partner management, because I believe there is a win-win-win for as many parties as possible. I don't believe there's ever a loser - everybody can win if you craft the right contracts.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elizabeth
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to not giving up. That's the first thing. Because I've been in sales all my life, a lot of people hear the word no and they think it's massive amounts of personal rejection. I just think it's another word. In my opinion, no is very empowering. It might mean it's not yet, but they didn't know how to say that. It may be saying I don't understand the value it provides us, but they don't know how to say that. If they say no and they really mean it, then it bought you back time so you're not wasting time and you can go focus on the next thing. I think no is really important when people are people pleasers and they don't know how to say no. I use no often because I either cannot make it because I've already got another commitment, I don't really want to do it or it doesn't fit our business, or I want to help the other person buy back some time as well. There's a lot of people that struggle with that because the definition has a negative connotation, when in my opinion it's an absolute positive connotation. There's the concept of FOMO, the fear of missing out, and I told a lot of women there's a book out there called The Joy of Missing Out. Just join JOMO. You don't need to do everything everybody else is doing. It's amazing because you'll end up doing the things you want to do.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received came from my mom when I was younger. She took my sister and me to see Saturday Night Fever when we were about 7 or 8, and after we left, she said, do you see that scene where they were on the Brooklyn Bridge? She said, if your friends are on a Brooklyn Bridge and they're stupid enough to jump, let them. She told me, don't you dare follow the crowd when your intuition or something else is telling you no. It is okay to be different, and it's okay to stand out and do something different. She said if you follow everyone else, then you may not be doing what you truly want to do, and it could cause you serious damage. She said you need to make other arrangements, you need to think out of the box and stand your ground and be okay doing it. You don't need to fit in. I think that also gave me the fortitude to start a company, because when you start companies and you're starting something that's different, people will always tell you no, no, no, and there's a lot of naysayers. You need to stand your ground in order to continue to have fortitude to move forward, especially when you're trying to create something brand new that no one's ever heard of.
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