When Michelle Joosse married her husband, she also married into the business. She saw great potential in Hotline IT and she knew in her gut that she had to get involved in order for it to reach its full potential. She could have simply let it run on its own but she had a vision and a desire to make it come true.
“I decided that I want this business to reach its potential. I believe we have the systems and people needed to grow Hotline IT into a larger organisation with increased profitability.”
As CEO, Michelle enjoys being involved in the business from planning to implementation. Michelle continues to work in Hotline IT, focusing on providing managed IT support which allowed their clients to operate without the worry of IT infrastructure-related interruptions.
Despite the stressful moments at work, Michelle still considers her work-life balance of utmost importance. She makes sure to make time to be present in her children’s lives. She loves the flexibility in her work as a business owner.
When we asked Michelle about her favourite entrepreneur, she answered:
“My favourite entrepreneur is Oprah Winfrey because she hasn’t stepped on people on the road to her success. She has always been good to her friends and family. She doesn’t take her success for granted and she uses her success to help others.
I admire that she overcame two major barriers: firstly, being a woman in a male dominated industry and secondly, being a black woman when black women were not on mainstream television. She also achieved her success without acting like a man.”
The advice Michelle wishes she had when she started her business:
- Don’t take everything personally
- Back yourself.
- Listen to your gut/instinct.
The advice Michelle would give someone thinking about starting his or her own business:
- Good financial management is the key. Without good financial management, no matter how great your product or service, the business is doomed to fail.
- Get yourself a good mentor.
For Michelle, these skills and knowledge areas are essential for anyone starting out in business:
- Financial Management
- Marketing and
- Communications
- Also once you are at the stage you need to hire staff, you need to know how to manage people.
We asked Michelle to identify the problems in her company that HerBusiness membership solves:
I’m looking forward to my first Roundtables session in September.
HerBusiness gives me the opportunity to learn new skills and to promote my business. I can also bounce ideas off like-minded people from diverse industries.
