The Keys to Entrepreneurial Success: Eboni Green Shares Her Words of Wisdom
Eboni Green is an expert media consultant and founder of the rapidly growing Twenty Twenty Visionary media production company based out of Atlanta. As a successful, self-made business woman, Eboni’s journey to success certainly had some stumbling blocks along the way, but it is her resilience in the face of adversity that makes her a role model for all aspiring entrepreneurs. I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Green recently, and I’d like to share with you a couple of her words of wisdom from which business owners at all stages can benefit.
Eboni’s Journey
With a sound educational background in audio production and a recording engineer by trade, Eboni Green’s career path includes working in ad agencies and recording studios all across the country, consulting for churches in Baltimore, and creating content for large corporations in the Raleigh area.
Like many ambitious people, at some point working for someone else no longer worked for her. Eboni was no longer satisfied as a subcontractor, especially when she found out she was getting paid a mere fraction of what the clients were actually getting billed. She decided she could go after the same contracts and cut out the middle-man. In 2010, she took the initiative, and using her diverse experience in the audio/visual world, she put together her own full-service media agency, Twenty Twenty Visionary.
It was not all an easy, or even a very clear, path, however. She said she lost dear friends along the way, made new crucial relationships, even had a period of time when she was homeless. But now she’s bidding on million dollar contracts and even co-founded a second company recently, called One Light Solutions, which is an LED light distribution company based out of Nashville. One thing is for sure, though – throughout her journey to success, she never let her determination falter.
Eboni’s Keys to Entrepreneurial Success
Here are Eboni’s top tips of advice for achieving success along the entrepreneurial path:
Persistence
Eboni’s commitment to achieving her goals is infallible. Even when she had major stumbling blocks, especially the period of time when she was homeless, her immutable drive powered her through. “A lot of people try to take the easy route,” she says, “But I would encourage people to not be afraid of the journey. To not be afraid of the process.”
Even in the face of adversity, Eboni advises you to “just keep going,” keep moving, keep learning, take what you’ve learned along the way and stay committed to your vision. Even when she was flat broke, she managed to buy textbooks at thrift stores in order to learn about marketing and advertising. She read articles on the digital content industry and figured out how to build strategies despite her financial situation.
This mentality of resilience in the face of adversity is a common theme throughout our interview, which is brimming with helpful advice for entrepreneurs. Listen to the full audio below:
Do What You’re Passionate About
One thing’s for sure, Eboni is passionate about business. Even though she is not the only woman in Atlanta with a marketing/ad agency, what sets her apart is that she is extremely passionate about her work. This passion translates into quality work, satisfied customers and, as a result, a rapidly growing business.
Know When to Give Up
It seems counterintuitive, but Eboni concedes that part of her success was knowing when to give up. Even though she loved doing the ground-level audio/video work, she knew that she was capable of doing more and earning more. She smartly learned when to delegate out tasks and ended up building a stellar team of skilled individuals who together could pursue even larger contracts. By “giving up” and outsourcing labor, everyone on her team was able to make the money they were worthy of making.
[Tweet “Eboni Green is an #entrepreneurial role model. Here are her keys to a success for #bizowners.”]Build Key Relationships
Eboni is a self-proclaimed “relationship person.” What this means is that over her 15 years in the industry, she was able to build important relationships with excellent graphic designers and other skilled workers in her field. They say “it’s all about who you know,” and for Eboni’s case, this certainly rings true.
Believe in Yourself
A country girl who grew up in the rural suburbs of Atlanta, Eboni was definitely not born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her secret to success, she says, was having a great deal of faith in herself, just knowing deep down that she could do whatever she put her mind to.
During her hard times, she had to keep reminding herself that she is a key influencer across industries. She had to stay positive and refused to succumb to adversity. Believing in herself kept her motivated to keep going and keep learning. As advice for other budding business owners, Eboni shares:
You have to really figure out what it is that you offer.
Seize Opportunities
Even though they are in two very different industries, Eboni recently pursued an opportunity to partner with two colleagues and open an LED lighting distribution company in Nashville, called One Light. Why? Because she took advantage of an opportunity to grow and seized it. She asked herself, “How can I make money off the opportunities in this city? If I can’t sell you marketing, what do you need? Lights? Okay, I’ll sell you lights!”
It’s as simple as that. Opportunities are everywhere, it’s just a matter of sorting through them and seizing the ones that will get you closer to where you want to be.
Learn From Your Mistakes
As Eboni reflects on her mistakes, she sees them as opportunities to learn and grow. A few of her “mistakes” include not believing the people around her that said she was great; giving too much of herself and skills away; procrastinating her time away; and scaring herself away from some really great deals, contracts, and situations because she didn’t think she was ready.
These periods of self-doubt, procrastination, and undercutting herself are not mistakes; rather, they are opportunities to learn. Now, she admits, at least she knows her worth, she knows what she’s capable of doing, and she doesn’t take some contracts if they’re not worth the hassle or the money. What’s more, she doesn’t regret going through these mistakes because she’s stronger now and knows what she is capable of. Eboni says:
I don’t lose. I either win, or I learn. Either way, take it and keep going.
Entrepreneurs can learn a great deal from Eboni’s journey: building a successful business requires the right combination of persistence, passion, key relationships, confidence, seizing opportunities, and learning from your mistakes. And along your journey, keep in mind Eboni’s most quotable words of wisdom: “None of us know what we’re doing. We’re all just doing the best we can. We’re all figuring it out as we go. We’re just throwing spaghetti on the wall and hoping that it sticks.”
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