UMGC Unstoppable Stories: Ronette Meyers

Ronnette Meyers:
Start where you are, right? And use what you have. Meaning the knowledge that you have. The finances or resources that you have to do. Whatever it is that you want to do. There's never really a perfect moment to start. You just kind of have to step out on faith and do it.

Narrator:
Welcome to the UMG podcast Unstoppable Stories with your host Lauren Cardona.

Lauren Cardillo:
Today I'm joined by Ronnette Meyers, who of course, is a UMGC grad and a mother of four, but is also an entrepreneur with a great like history of how everything happened. So welcome, Ronnette.

Ronnette Meyers:
Thank you. Laura, nice to meet you.

Lauren Cardillo:
Nice to see you. So I was reading through your notes and your interview, previous interviews, and you got inspiration early in life to be an entrepreneur. Tell us about that.

Ronnette Meyers:
Absolutely. I would really like to start with my grandmother, because she's the one who actually instilled entrepreneurship into me and my mother. And with me being a young child, I really didn't know what an entrepreneur was. My grandmother, she was a mother of five, and her husband worked in the steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio, where I'm from.

Ronnette Meyers:
And her youngest child was born with Down's syndrome. So she had to figure out, how do I take care of this child, yet still take care of my family and help to make ends meet? And so she was a beautician, and she built a hair salon on the front porch of her house. And so she was doing hair.

Ronnette Meyers:
She had customers, you know, managing cash flow, all of that. And then what she did was she taught me how to braid. And so I started braiding hair for my cousins and other little girls in the neighborhood. You know, I'd make a couple dollars, $5 here or there, but I actually had a little business and didn't realize what being an entrepreneur meant.

Ronnette Meyers:
And if you fast forward a little bit, my mom, she was a, she divorced my dad when I was two. So she was a single parent of two. She was on welfare and, eventually worked for General Motors, but then she joined the military because she wanted to provide a better life for my brother and I.

Ronnette Meyers:
And she also needed benefits for us as well. Because, you know, working at General Motors, you get laid off every so often. The plant closes all of that. And so she joined the military and just took us around the world as a single parent. I grew up in Germany. And then as you go forward, when she retired from the military, she started working for the Federal Aviation Administration as a contractor.

Ronnette Meyers:
And she became the go to person for everybody at the command center in Virginia. And her boss came to her one day and she said, Jan, you know, you're a female, you're, minority. You're a service disabled veteran. You know, you could start your own business so we don't have to pay a middleman to get to you. And she called me.

Ronnette Meyers:
I was working for the Federal Aviation Administration. I worked at San Jose Air Traffic control tower at the time. And now my husband's in the military. So I've traveled my entire life. Well, he's he's former military. And so she called me while I'm climbing the tower somewhere in California, trying to fix the radar.

Ronnette Meyers:
And she said, hey, I'm thinking about starting this business. What do you think? And I said, well, absolutely. And so we came up with the name. And then three years later, she received, contract award, a direct award from the Federal Aviation Administration for $6.3 million. And they wanted her to train other air traffic controllers. And so she said, well, I need you to quit your government job and come help me run this business.

Ronnette Meyers:
And that's what I did. I, quit my job. I helped her with her back office support. So I was, managing her payroll. I, also wrote her employee handbook, managed her contracts, and then one day, she was walking through the halls at the FAA. And she saw someone that I used to work for when I was in DC.

Ronnette Meyers:
And she said, hey, I'm starting a new organization and I need it to come and help me build out my organization. And so my mom said, well, her name is Rebecca gave you.

Lauren Cardillo:
She gave you away. She said, you can go to a different job. Wow. Like, well, wait.

Ronnette Meyers:
No, wait. So what she said was, I have my own business. And so if you want Rinat, you'll have to give me a contract to get her back here. And that's what she did. She gave her a $4 million contract to bring me back to DC to help her build out her organization. And so I hired all the respective people that we needed to fulfill this contract.

Ronnette Meyers:
And that right there is really, was the beginning points of me understanding business, really learning as an adult. Right?

Lauren Cardillo:
But but in between all that, you graduated high school in Germany, had a child, you know, tried to go to college. You know, at the Ohio State University, right? I mean, there was a lot going on. Yes.

Ronnette Meyers:
You know.

Lauren Cardillo:
But yet you found a way to, you know, learn things and and go forward. I read through your notes and it's like you were climbing towers. Yes.

Ronnette Meyers:
Yes, I was climbing. I mean.

Lauren Cardillo:
Was that something you ever imagined yourself doing?

Ronnette Meyers:
Never. I never imagined myself driving a pickup truck with, tools and wearing work boots and climbing a tower. No. So the FAA actually had a program because I was on the administrative side of the house, and they had an upward mobility program to bring, admin people onto the technical side. And so they paid for me to go to college.

Ronnette Meyers:
So I did get my associates degree. But then I also spent two years in Oklahoma City to learn how to work on radars voice, which is and, and it was radars, voice switches and also, what was the other thing I did? Oh, gosh, I can't remember, but it was all technical, right?

Ronnette Meyers:
So but then I had to go to climbing school. I had to learn how to climb to.

Lauren Cardillo:
So does that, like, show you, like, with the hooks and everything and a oh my gosh, yes. I was like, hook. Okay, so you're from Youngstown, Ohio. You were braiding hair. What are you thinking when you're walking going up that tower?

Ronnette Meyers:
What was I thinking? How did I get into this? Because I, I am terrified of heights. But in order to do the job, I had to do it. And so I had a group of guys with me. Mind you, I'm the only female. Except we did have a supervisor. She was a female, but she didn't have to climb anymore.

Ronnette Meyers:
And so she was encouraging me. You can do it. You got it. You. And then all the guys are passing me up as they're go.

Lauren Cardillo:
But hey, you did the work.

Ronnette Meyers:
I did the work. I did the work, yes, I did, yes, there were some challenges there, but, you know, I would say resilience is really, something that is really instilled in me because I remember the first day that I went to to the tower, because I worked at the center first, and then I got to the tower and I was working for a supervisor, and he he said to me, why did they send you here?

Ronnette Meyers:
I was like, I don't know how to take that. How am I supposed to receive that?

Lauren Cardillo:
It's that like a trick question or is it a test?

Ronnette Meyers:
Exactly, exactly. So I worked there long enough to prove him wrong, and I showed him why they sent me there.

Lauren Cardillo:
I love it so. But meanwhile, also, you get married. You have four kids, right? Yes. You come back here, you start working for your mom. I mean, how are you juggling all of this to become a successful businesswoman, right?

Ronnette Meyers:
This is. It was really a challenging time for us, with, you know, my husband, because he, just got out the military. He was working for a company, got laid off from that company. Then he started working for the VA. I took a leap of faith. My customer, Rebecca, she really wanted me there. And so she knew what type of skills that I had, to help her build out her organization.

Ronnette Meyers:
And so I moved back to DC. But what I did was I stayed in DC for three weeks, and then I would go back to California for one week when my husband was there with the girls. Now I had all the hair appointments scheduled. I made sure that they had tutors if they needed them. You know, I made sure all the logistics work was done until I was able to find him an opportunity here in DC.

Ronnette Meyers:
So I found him a job and then I moved everybody back to the East Coast. And I'm grateful for that because my children kept saying to me, well, mommy, I don't know who my cousins are. I don't know who my aunts and uncles are. And so the opportunity to bring them back, to get to know family, I thought was very important, for them growing up.

Ronnette Meyers:
And then, you know, then we found a place to live. And, you know, I just been doing it every since. But it has been it hasn't been easy. When my daughter was in middle school, my youngest child, she said, mommy, you travel a lot. You know, you're never here. I need you here. I need my mommy.

Ronnette Meyers:
And that hurt. You know, it just it just hit me. And so in my mind, I'm thinking, hey, I'm trying to grow this business. I'm trying to help us create some generational wealth and then build out, this business so that maybe one of you could take over or, you know, start your own. Right. So create legacy businesses.

Ronnette Meyers:
And my mother and I had talked about that one day while we were talking about strategy and how do we grow? How do we get to that next level? Because we're not we weren't born into money, right? So we have to work for it. And so, you know, that was a pivotal point for me where I said, okay, I'm going to branch off from you and start my own business.

Ronnette Meyers:
And so my business is called Jalen Solutions. And it's the initials of my four children, Jamie LeMay Asia and Neha, because I wanted to instill entrepreneurship in them. And so they've all been doing very well to.

Lauren Cardillo:
Does your does your daughter remind you of that at any point? Like, you know that I wanted you to be here and you weren't or she gotten over that.

Ronnette Meyers:
She's she's over it now. But I heard it for a little while. But what I did was, so I'm a continuous learner, so I attended, executive level courses, meaning I went through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business program. I also completed the SBA small Business Administration's Emerging Leaders program. And then I also, I participated in the inner city Capital Connections program through Catholic University.

Ronnette Meyers:
And a Goldman Sachs was through Babson, College. And so these programs helped me realize that the reason why my business wasn't growing to where I wanted it to be is because I was the single point of failure. And I learned that because with my mom business, I was her back office support. I said, oh, well, I can do this, right.

Ronnette Meyers:
I can do H.R. I can do accounting. I can do all that stuff, even though I was never fully trained on it, but I just knew how to do it. I figured it out. And so, after I finished a program, I said, I'm the single point of failure. I need some subject matter experts to help me.

Ronnette Meyers:
My daughter needs me at home, and then I'm married to remember that guy. Oh, yeah. He met somebody.

Lauren Cardillo:
So? So if you can describe for me what a single point of failure is, what does that mean?

Ronnette Meyers:
So, so I, in my eyes, I needed help to grow my business. I needed a CEO to help manage day to day operations. Someone who could also do some of the traveling that I was doing, attend some of the, conferences on my behalf, so I didn't always have to be there. And then secondly, I needed a chief strategy officer, someone to help me figure out my pipeline on growth.

Ronnette Meyers:
You know, based off of our past performance and the service offerings that we provide, how do we translate that into an actual pipeline and agencies that we want to, work with? And then thirdly, I hired a marketing manager, and because I needed somebody to help, distinguish between me and my mother, because whenever I walk into a room, they say, oh, you're Jan's daughter, you're Jan's daughter.

Ronnette Meyers:
You work for her, right? So I had that for them. I needed for them to see me as a CEO and to see me as my own company. And it worked.

Lauren Cardillo:
Yeah. I mean, and. Well, it's great. Yes. I am my mother's daughter. Yes. You needed to carve your own identity to succeed.

Ronnette Meyers:
Absolutely, absolutely. And even though, you know, you won't always see us in, pictures together, now you just see me because she's actually on the other side, taking the pictures once again.

Lauren Cardillo:
You're listening to Ronnette Meyers on Unstoppable Stories. If you want to hear more stories like this, don't forget to like or subscribe. So let's jump back. Frenette, how does your your mom feel now? I mean, you guys have been through a lot together and now she's taking the photos.

Lauren Cardillo:
She's like enjoying your success.

Ronnette Meyers:
Shares.

Lauren Cardillo:
How does Edison make the two of you feel?

Ronnette Meyers:
It brought us so much closer together because we can now talk strategy, we can talk family. We can talk about anything. And one thing that I tell my mom all the time is that I'm grateful for her, because she always allowed me to have a seat at the table, no matter what room she walked into. She brought me in there.

Ronnette Meyers:
She was exposing me to what was out there, meaning, you know, different industry days, walking into customer meetings, understanding the language, you know, what they were asking for or what we were looking for and how to sell our business and our service offerings to them. And, you know, so many rooms I've walked in where I've been the only female, the only black female, you know, the only black person in the room.

Ronnette Meyers:
But because I know and understand my line of business, I can speak intelligently about it. Sit in the front of the room. You know, and gain that respect from everyone else in the room. So we are very close. We travel together. Now, you know, my youngest daughter, she's at Penn State, so I'm doing now.

Lauren Cardillo:
So for someone watching this, can you give me like, your small like one liner or two liner? What does your business do?

Ronnette Meyers:
Sarah Jalen Solutions provides, full lifecycle acquisition support services, organizational development and training and information technology. And when I say information technology, we provide services in the areas that help best cloud and cybersecurity for the federal government. And we train acquisition professionals across the United States. And being a small business, you know, we are very nimble. And whenever the government calls because I am a, certified, woman owned small business, and I'm also a certified Ada, which is a small, disadvantaged business, a government can give us sole source contract awards.

Ronnette Meyers:
And so if they call and say, hey, I need somebody to help me with facilities management or shredding, we'll say, well, that's not necessarily our line of business, but we'll we'll make sure we can support that as what we do a little bit of those one off things as well.

Lauren Cardillo:
So how did that that, that job, you know, what you're doing end up with you testifying at a Senate hearing here on Capitol Hill? Yeah. Because that's a long way from Braden here.

Ronnette Meyers:
Exactly, exactly. So I'm a true advocate for small businesses. I was actually up on the Hill last week to, actually having another conversation. I wasn't testifying, but I was actually having conversations because, with the new administration, they're rewriting the federal acquisition regulation. Right. And so those are our guidelines on how we do business. And we actually teach this course as well.

Ronnette Meyers:
And so I was advocating for small businesses about, the role of two, which means that if two small businesses state that they can actually do the work, then the federal government has to set it aside for a small business, right? Otherwise, it's open to everybody. And so we were advocating for that. And then also for to maintain the Ada program, the woman, our small business program service disabled veterans loan program.

Ronnette Meyers:
So all of these social economic set aside. And then, secondly, they're closing down, minority development business agencies. And these are agencies that help small businesses grow, no matter who you are and no matter what type of business you have. And so we were advocating for that. But we're why I'm back to the Senate Small Business Committee.

Ronnette Meyers:
When I did testify, I was talking about small businesses trying to help us, you know, maintain, but then also about how some of the large businesses take advantage of our small. And what I mean by that is, you know, they'll bring us in on their teams to win the work. And then sometimes we never see the work.

Ronnette Meyers:
So between not seeing the work and, or we'll get it later in the day, meaning excuse me later in the, option periods at the contract award, that happens as well, whereas we're expecting to receive the work early on. So those are some of the challenges that we face. And then also you have, Native American owned companies, whereas, they can receive contract awards at $25 million or 100 million direct award.

Ronnette Meyers:
Whereas me as a at a small disadvantaged business, I can only receive a contract award direct award for 4.5 million. So there's some disparities in the program, right.

Lauren Cardillo:
Interesting. So that's what you went to the Hill to talk about this. So how did that feel for you to have to be up on Capitol Hill. You know, coming from, you know, being a single, you know, not a single mom, but being military and moving all over the country. How did that make you feel to have these people in power listen to you?

Lauren Cardillo:
I mean, it's not an easy thing to do it.

Ronnette Meyers:
It's not an easy thing to do. I was nervous, I had, imposter syndrome. I just went in there with a lot of doubt. Not really thinking that they would hear me as a small business owner, as a female, as a black female. All these thoughts went through my head. But and I understand and I know the challenges that we face.

Ronnette Meyers:
So I wanted to be that voice for other small businesses who were not afforded this opportunity to express what was happening to us in small businesses, and what came of that is follow up meetings. I now have cell phone numbers for my congressman. They call and ask me questions, you know, and staff. I'm more comfortable. But I was afraid.

Ronnette Meyers:
But, I was determined also, to ensure that they heard us and.

Lauren Cardillo:
You know, a little further on, you would then end up meeting President Biden. Correct?

Ronnette Meyers:
I didn't know, and that.

Lauren Cardillo:
Just blew my mind when I read that, I'm like, okay, she needs to to to record more. So what happened there?

Ronnette Meyers:
So first of all, I received the, Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteer service. I someone in it wasn't me. You know, someone submitted my name and I received that. And then shortly after. Now the president doesn't always give out these these awards, right? These are organizations that actually give out these awards. And so I went to a fundraiser for, the former governor.

Ronnette Meyers:
Virginia. And President Biden was there and President Clinton was there, and everybody. And so when he finished speaking, he came down and shook our hands. And so I had my medal on and I said, thank you. So much for this honor. And he was like, oh, yes. And I'm so, you know, thankful for what you've done and, you know, for volunteering.

Ronnette Meyers:
And he said, I'm really grateful. And then he proceeded to tell me a story.

Lauren Cardillo:
I live like you. That's friends.

Ronnette Meyers:
We were best friends. It was great. It was great.

Lauren Cardillo:
I love it when one of my neighbor's kids actually took classes from her. Oh said, she said she was. She was great. But that jumps me to my next, my next subject. So you're doing all this and you don't have a bachelor's of science degree. You don't have a bachelor's. So when we walked past you at Grad Walk, I listened to your interview and I was like, this is fabulous.

Ronnette Meyers:
So it was really important to me because it was a journey that I had started 38 years ago and was not able to finish because I was a teenage parent. You know, I went to college. My mom, took care of my son while I was in school, but I don't think my focus was there. I don't know that I was really prepared mentally, to be living, at the Ohio State University.

Ronnette Meyers:
And my mom was in Greece or in Greece, and that's where my son was. I mean, my my dad and my, extended family. They were in Youngstown, Ohio. I was in Columbus, but I had been in Germany for seven years, so I'm still reconnecting with my family here. And yet, you know, I only got to see them, you know, maybe twice a year because they would come up to visit me.

Ronnette Meyers:
But it was it was a great experience. I love the school is still my school. You know, it's always going to be my school. But, with all that said, is it was my personal goal to graduate. I would be the for I am the first person in my family to graduate from college. And when I told my, my grandmother that I wasn't going back to school, number one, I needed money.

Ronnette Meyers:
I didn't have any money to go back. And then, you know, my grades were just subpar at the time, and they were so disappointed because I was the first one. And I said, you know what? I have got to fix this. I have got to finish my degree. And so when my mom came back to the United States, she was stationed at the Pentagon.

Ronnette Meyers:
And so she came to Youngstown and she said, hey, do you want to go to DC with me? And I said, absolutely. And I packed up and laughed and, and then I started school on base. I went to Central Texas College. I went to Catholic University, I went to, another college. Well, when I was in California, I went to another college.

Ronnette Meyers:
But every duty station we went to, I applied for school, but I would only take one class. And then I met my husband, and he was in the military. And literally right after we got married, we went to Bahrain for three years, and I had two more kids.

Lauren Cardillo:
In.

Ronnette Meyers:
Bahrain. And then when we came back to the United States, I got pregnant again and had one child at Andrews Air Force Base, and then he was stationed in California. So I stayed here for a little while. Then we packed up and then we moved to California. So no matter where I went. So we were in California. I registered another school and that's what we eventually went out of business.

Ronnette Meyers:
And then when the FAA came up with this opportunity to, you know, work, on the technical side, I took advantage of that because I didn't have to work. All I had to do was go to school. That was my job, and I still got paid. So that was perfect. But then when I came back to DC, I really felt like I needed my degree because now I'm managing people and managing processes.

Ronnette Meyers:
You know, I have to pay people, make sure they get paid on time. So. And then I have to be that voice, that face of the company. And I felt like I just needed more skills. And so that's when I registered for you on GC because it was perfect. You know, you can take classes in the evening during the day, and it just helped me with my analytical skills, decision making skills that some of the courses that I took.

Ronnette Meyers:
So it was really day. It was perfect for me to do.

Lauren Cardillo:
And how did your daughter feel about you getting there before she did? Because she graduates this year, correct?

Ronnette Meyers:
Yes, yes. I'm so excited for her. She is happy that I, accomplished my goal. And that's what was important to me. I when I took my first accounting class. I have a daughter who graduated with her degree in finance. I was like, hey, I need help. I'm taking this accounting, this county and Commander Standard and how would countless here do this for me?

Ronnette Meyers:
But I need to understand what I'm dealing. And she was like, mommy, you can do this. And she did help me, though. She she gave me some advice and she showed me how to work some formulas when I was taking the class. And so it kind of work that good.

Lauren Cardillo:
Were you at any point doing like homework, you know, while they were there and you know, you're doing it at the same time and they're wondering what you're doing.

Ronnette Meyers:
And absolutely, absolutely. We were sitting across the table like, I'm doing my my discussion post request is a discussion process. And it's do you know, on Saturdays at 1159 or Tuesday at 1159? And, I will remember to when I had to write my first paper and I didn't understand what APA style seven was. And so my daughter had to explain it to me because she was doing it in high school.

Ronnette Meyers:
So yes, we were all working together to get through school.

Lauren Cardillo:
Love it. Did, have you been able to convince any of them to come work with you now?

Ronnette Meyers:
Oh, absolutely, yes they do. So actually, so my son, he's, married with, five children. So five grandchildren. And he actually, owns a, he played basketball all through high school and college. And so he owns a basketball. He's a shooting coach. So he teaches children how to shoot and shoot that basketball. And so he has some going into the professional leagues as well.

Ronnette Meyers:
And so, but he's out actually 100% disabled. He has Crohn's and epilepsy. So he can't really hold a steady job during the day. So he works when he can. But my, next daughter, she has her MBA, and she actually actually helps manage my training contract. And then my finance daughter, she works in my accounting department, so she does payroll, all my accounting, so she knows where the money is.

Ronnette Meyers:
Right?

Lauren Cardillo:
So if the money disappears.

Lauren Cardillo:
She's on the hook. Got it. Yeah. So with with all this family around, is there some funny stories about, like, working together that you just think this would never happen if you weren't related to me? You know what I mean? Like, you have some inside knowledge that actually makes this sort of a funny circumstance, you know? Do you have any of those sort of things that have ever happened in your business?

Ronnette Meyers:
Let me see. So let me just get real quick, revert back to the last child. So she's getting her there. She's chase her major from she's changed it a few times. So she's a photojournalism major now. And so she's still in the school of communication. So she interns in my marketing department. So of course she helps with our social media.

Ronnette Meyers:
Right? So the goal was, and I have this whiteboard where I showed my children, I said, okay, here's our company, Land Solutions, right. Here's you. You have your MBA finance, you know, communications. So each of you can have your own business and support each other back office support and or take over Jay Land. And then each of you, you can have an accounting business.

Ronnette Meyers:
You can do marketing, right. You have your MBA. You can do either work. So that's our plan. And so when I sit and talk to them about it, I talk to them about it every time. Where all three of us are together, the girls get together at a show. Which one of you are going to take over the business?

Ronnette Meyers:
You know, which one are you going to keep it going? And they all just be like mommy.

Lauren Cardillo:
Could you stop being a mom?

Ronnette Meyers:
Yes. And you know what I hear that way? I hear it sometimes while they were growing up, they would say, mommy, can you take your CEO hat off and and be our mom? You know how hard that was? That was.

Lauren Cardillo:
So don't you realize a mom is a CEO? Come on.

Ronnette Meyers:
Yes.

Lauren Cardillo:
But they had to figure that one out.

Ronnette Meyers:
Yeah, exactly, exactly. But we do have these. We do have these talks. Because I try to take them out to dinner every quarter. At least whenever my daughter's a year from school, we'll go out to dinner and and we'll have these conversations and they'll say, well, mommy, we're not ready yet. We're not ready. We're still trying to figure out what we want to do in life.

Ronnette Meyers:
But I keep planting the seed and planting the seed, and I talk to my husband about that. Hey, you know, talk to the girls about it, because sometimes they can't hear me. They have to hear either him or a peer to talk to him about the opportunities that they have in front of them. And so, one of them came to me the other day, the oldest girl, and she says, well, mommy, I get it now.

Ronnette Meyers:
I get it.

Lauren Cardillo:
Victory. But it just.

Ronnette Meyers:
It hit me.

Lauren Cardillo:
I guess.

Ronnette Meyers:
Okay.

Lauren Cardillo:
Yeah. Because you're trying to build towards a future that you can see, but they're not really worried about yet.

Ronnette Meyers:
Exactly.

Lauren Cardillo:
You know, and that's that's a hard concept.

Ronnette Meyers:
Exactly.

Lauren Cardillo:
Exactly how big is your company now.

Ronnette Meyers:
So we have about 45 employees right now. And we're, we have people in ten agencies, government agencies, and we also do some work in private industry for you.

Lauren Cardillo:
You know, if someone's watching it, watching this, what's your hope for? You know, your family, your company, the next generation of entrepreneurs meets sort of where do you see the future?

Ronnette Meyers:
So, so I have a lot of things in the works right now. I actually just invested in a women's professional soccer team.

Lauren Cardillo:
I love it, yes.

Ronnette Meyers:
And my mom is, one of the owners of the soccer team. So, like I said, she always makes sure that I have a seat at the table. So she's, showing me how to invest, right? I'm investing in hotels now as I'm trying to teach my children how to invest. And then I'm also looking at how do I acquire another company to keep growing this generational wealth, right.

Ronnette Meyers:
And creating legacy businesses. And how do I set my children up so that they could be the owners of these companies? You know, I listen to Warren Buffett. I listen to him on my, through podcasts and other things. And he came out, Max, he spoke to us, at the Goldman Sachs, alumni event, and, you know, just hearing him, hearing his story and then talking to other entrepreneurs, I'm always picking their brains about, how do I do this?

Ronnette Meyers:
Because I was not trained on, you know, acquisitions, right? Mergers and acquisitions. And so I take every bit of information I can and actually apply it to what I'm trying to do. So I went to, the women's presidents organization. They had a conference, in Texas this year. And once I unpacked everything that I learned, I realized that there were 800 women in the room.

Ronnette Meyers:
It was probably 20 black women in the room. All CEOs from zero to over a thousand employees. And so how do you get there? Right. How do I how do I get there? What does that look like? And what I learned was that they actually have products versus services, some of the ones with the larger employees. And so with the way that the government is shifting, from professional services to more so products and I so I'm looking at maybe I need to acquire a company with a product versus services so that my revenue would be sustainable.

Ronnette Meyers:
Right? I'm still growing as an entrepreneur because I don't know how to stop. It's in me. I have no idea.

Lauren Cardillo:
How to turn it all.

Ronnette Meyers:
And so my husband, he'll say, what are we doing this week? Are we are we still buying a company? What? Where are we gonna.

Lauren Cardillo:
You need to send out, like, little, like, email or, you know, blurbs. And this is what we're doing. So last question for you. Like your story is just one of constant like growth. I mean, what is your message to someone who thinks they can't do what you've done? You know, coming from, you know, a small family and making it all work.

Lauren Cardillo:
What's your lesson? What's your message?

Ronnette Meyers:
So I will say, start where you are, right, and use what you have meaning, the knowledge that you have, the finances or resources that you have to do, whatever it is that you want to do. There's never really a perfect moment to start. You just kind of have to step out on faith and do it. But also surround yourself with people who have a vision, who are going different places, especially places that you want to go.

Ronnette Meyers:
These are the people you want to surround yourself with, because they're going to instill so much knowledge in you that's going to help you in your future or help you grow to where you where you're trying to be. And, and always be a continuous learner because that's who I am. You know, that's another reason why I went to, GC because I want to continue to learn.

Ronnette Meyers:
I want to make sure that I'm doing it right, and I want to be an effective leader for my team. Right. Because if you're not an effective leader, they're not going to follow you. They're not going to want to help you grow. So if I could say anything is start where you are, you know, step out on faith and surround yourself with the right people.

Lauren Cardillo:
And be resilient because clearly you have done that. So thanks so much for sharing your wisdom with us today and your life journey. We love having you here and we hope you're our audience. Love that too. And for everybody listening and watching, please remember to like and subscribe to Unstoppable Stories on your favorite podcast channel. You can even catch up on last season or some of our episodes this year.

Lauren Cardillo:
So thank you so much again, Renetta. It was fabulous and good luck.

Ronnette Meyers:
Thank you Laura, and so nice to meet you and thank you again for this wonderful opportunity.