Entrepreneurs discuss trials, triumphs with Athena League
September 17, 2015 | Ashley Jost
Embracing chaos and persistence.
Those were the two main themes that arose from Athena League’s Techweek event Thursday morning.
Athena League worked in conjunction with Techweek to host Hailee Bland-Walsh, owner and CEO of City Gym KC, and Jill Minton, founder and CEO of t.Loft, to speak to a crowd of roughly 100 about their trials and triumphs in entrepreneurship. Athena League is an organization that focuses on providing a community of support to female entrepreneurs.
Both women highlighted diligence, among other things, while talking about how they started with their respective businesses.
Bland-Walsh said she was raised in a house of entrepreneurs and was told from an early age that if she wanted something, she had to find a way to pay for it. A babysitting business and a college degree later, she applied the same mentality to her company.
“Entrepreneurship is a personality trait,” she said.
Let go of the idea of having a work-life balance, Bland-Walsh continued. Instead she said that businesspeople need to find work-life alignment and embrace the chaos that results from owning their own business.
Minton shared with the crowd at Union Station the sacrifices she made when launching a business.
“I had a great career… and when I started to dream about going out on our own, we had to make a decision to downsize our lives,” Minton said.
Her resilience appears to have paid off as t.Loft now has three locations that make health food and drinks. The company is planning to open another location soon in the Country Club Plaza.
To learn more about the Athena League and its VOX events, click here.
Featured Business
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Biz class to barista: UMKC student’s mobile matcha cart hand-whisks crowds of thirsty fans
Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter. [divide] HerCafe, a matcha business founded by a University of Missouri-Kansas City student and her friend, has found success with its…
Tim Tebow to entrepreneurs: Embrace the heavy lift if you want to reap life’s real profits
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Business should be about driving impact, not just scoring another win, said former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow — challenging Midwest entrepreneurs, community builders, and investors to consider outcomes that boost others, not just one’s personal pocketbook. “Probably everybody in this room has been super blessed with skill sets, resources, relationships, opportunities, companies,…
Here’s how a Prospect renewal project invests in both those who built KC and the city’s future
Economic development initiatives are measured not just in buildings, but in opportunity, said Melissa Patterson Hazley, lauding the use of the Central City Economic Development (CCED) Sales Tax Program to transform underutilized parcels in Kansas City into modern, energy-efficient housing that support long-term neighborhood vitality. “Projects like Prospect Summit represent the intentional work of making…
Fusing talent, passion: Serial founder trades his Screamin Cow for offshore talent hiring platform
Brad Starnes’ itch to lean into a newly realized pain point at the end of 2024 led to the acquisition of his Screamin Cow Marketing Group and the launch of another passion project, the former UMKC Student Entrepreneur of the Year shared. With the move — which sees Screamin Cow transitioned to Builders of Authority…