Erica Harris

I would say my most notable accomplishment is staying in business as a solopreneur through all the ebbs and flows - through COVID, through the current economy, through everything - and staying focused and doubling down on the vision that I had. Accomplishments for me don't always come with a number. I've been staying revenue positive this entire time, but I think it's really about staying in it, because there are so many opportunities to give up on your dream or not expand it when things need to change, or not be able to shift. The secondary piece is knowing that I've had a real true impact on people. Being able to hear them say that I did the work and my coach helped me to do the work, supported me in that, and having returning customers or people who constantly send me people saying 'you have to work with Erica, she'll push you' - that means something to me. Their lives have been changed because of the work that we did together. When they win, I win. The wins for myself, but more the wins that they've had, have been tremendously humbling but also a great accomplishment, and I'm very proud of the work that my clients do.

I would tell anybody to maintain the stability that you need until you're ready to jump into entrepreneurship, because it is a real phase for sure and comes with a lot of ups and downs. But I have so appreciated what I've learned - the folks that I've met, but mostly what I've learned about myself. I am capable of big things, and I have ideas that I can bring to fruition with the collaboration with others, but sparked by the catalyst that's in me. Learning that has been humbling but also inspiring. I think I'm on a crusade or a mission to really help people, both old and young folks who are already in their career, but also really passing that along and doing that with young people. The sooner you can learn about yourself and find the thing that makes you special, the better, and you don't have to have the midlife crisis that many people are having, asking 'who am I and what do I want to do with myself?'

As an entrepreneur, especially as a solopreneur, there's a lot of things that happen. You're doing everything - the actual art of coaching, which is what I love to do, and the business of coaching, the science behind it, which is how do you make this into a business that's profitable. The economy's changing right now. People are holding their own discretionary funds, organizations are cracking down, and unfortunately they consider development, people development, to be discretionary, which is really interesting because people are your biggest asset. So you need to develop them to keep them happy and motivated, but also so they can be really productive. The biggest challenge is that the economy's shifting, and so we have to revise in some ways our business models to make sure that the business continues to be profitable as well as impactful. In this economy, people have lost grant funding, they're reducing their employee base or workforce size, and so just being able to find alternative packages or ideas about how to work with people has been a challenge in the current economy.