An Interview with Carol Bleyle from Pract.us
It
is not every day that you get to talk to a serial entrepreneur. We had the
opportunity to talk to Carol Bleyle, owner of Pract.us. It was an interesting,
honest and inspiring interview. We thank Carol for taking time to talk to us
and share her journey.
It is a pleasure to
be talking to you to learn more about your entrepreneurial journey and how you
have overcome the challenges in your way. Can you tell us more about Pract.us
and your responsibilities at Pract.us ?
Practice is a software platform. We
help companies improve employee performance through behavior tracking, behavior
encouragement and on the job training. My job at Pract.us is manifold. I am
primarily a client consultant and support person but I do most of the marketing
as well.
It seems like you are in a niche market with
little or no competition. There must be some challenges convincing customers to
accept a new product. Could you elaborate on your experiences.
Yes, you are right. We really don’t
have much competition. It’s a niche area and a part of work life that everyone
experiences. When you have to figure something out on the job or adopt a new
process, there are a few simple relatable tools out there to help us do that.
It does take some convincing. The
biggest thing is that people don’t see the efforts they make at work to improve
or develop new habits. They don’t see these processes as meaningful. Managers
sometimes think their employees should just do what they are told and not learn
how to do it. Employees accept that sometimes they have to learn on their own.
We help people value that effort and understand that with a little bit of
support and structure you can take every day experiences and make that much
more powerful for a company.
How difficult was it
to bring your idea to life and to make a proper business out of it?
It came out of the way the US Navy
does its training. It is a very sophisticated teaching organization that has
constant skill development. Everyone’s job in the Navy is to not only to learn
your job but know how to teach the person who does your job next. My husband
was the one who experienced this in the Navy and realized we could use it in
the civilian world while making it more fun. We used the Navy approaches but
created something that’s much more like an iPhone app. That is easy and fun to
use and does not get in your way.
You seem to have the
entrepreneurial spirit in you. You did establish few ventures before Pract.us.
Can you speak about what triggered you to handle multiple business
opportunities?
Pract.us is my third business and you
could call me a serial entrepreneur. I worked in academia and the corporate
world for a long time so I have had a taste of all of that and just felt that
by going out on my own I could spend more time focusing on what I could
contribute and making a bigger contribution to a particular goal then I could
in the academic and corporate world. They put you in a box and I felt like I
could have more satisfaction stepping out of that box.
What has been the
highlight of your entrepreneurial journey with Pract.us so far?
In terms of my entrepreneurial journey
I have really learned that I have an ability to identify a challenge and step
in and figure it out. That doesn’t always mean I always succeed in overcoming
the challenge but I’m not afraid of taking it on and trying different things.
That is something that did not surprise me, but it was good to learn about
myself. In Pract.us in particular the systems and program that I’ve been able
to setup and our team has is really something special. It is a well thought out
program with a strong user interface. I think it has a real power in a way that
our clients are starting to see and I’m looking forward to seeing that grow.
How did you prepare yourself for the
challenges and risks?
I didn’t prepare myself for these
challenges. I was completely surprised and floored by the challenges and things
that I expected that I would love about being an entrepreneur were harder. I
pretty much went in as a naïve person and learned on my feet.
Could you speak about the help and support you
received from your family and the business community
Yes, the business community in Loudoun
county is unbelievably strong and supportive. I have been a member for several
years now of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce and take advantage of the
county’s small business support programs, meetup groups, and business
education. There is no reason that if you are facing a problem or need to vent
that you can’t find someone to talk to here. It’s an incredibly vibrant and
supportive community. I also have an incredibly supporting family. You have to
have an understanding family as an entrepreneur.
What are pros and cons of being an
entrepreneur?
On the pro side, if you are someone
who likes to fix stuff by yourself or have the autonomy and love to wear a lot of hats this is the job for you.
These are all positives of being an entrepreneur. If you have a particular
passion especially and feel like the work every day that you are doing is
moving you towards a bigger goal, then that’s a great feeling. You really have
the freedom to pursue your passion.
The
Who are your role-model(s)?
Both of my parents own their own
companies so from that point of view it did not seem foreign to me. It didn’t
seem bizarre for me to branch out and start my own company.
Booker T. Washington was an historical
influence for me. This was a person who had unbelievable perseverance and who
had absolutely everything against him from the beginning and managed to
overcome it. And not through good luck or landing a big contract but just
through grit and enduring hard work. This is the person that I think about when
I asked myself “Should I go the extra mile?”
Why do you think
there are less women than men taking the risk of founding their own business?
I think it’s most likely going to be that
women often have family responsibilities. If you look at a successful man and
that he can put in a 60-80 work week it is mostly likely because someone else
is doing the housework and taking care of the family. Women don’t typically
have that luxury. They have to juggle both. The cost of jumping into your own
enterprise is higher for women because once you finish your 80-hour work week
you still have to go home and take care of everything else. It is more common to
think of men as entrepreneurs and talk
about whether there is gender bias and those are definitely out there,
but I think it has more to do with women not having the right support
structure. They will prioritize other things before a business.
Do you have any
recommendations to other women who have startup ideas?
I would recommend absolutely going for
it. Cover your bases, in other words say you have a job right now that is
paying the bills and you have an interest in developing your own business. You
need to make sure you can still pay the bills. If that means developing your
business on the side or part-time, just make sure you still have money coming
in. Until your business is up and running don’t put yourself in a precarious
situation where you can’t take care of yourself. Examine your assumptions about
who you are and who you should be. The messages we can get from our culture can
be insidious and we don’t really question them. If you have a family and want
to start your own business sit down with them and say to them that these things
aren’t necessarily my job and whose going to get it done so I can go start my
own business. Don’t assume that you should behaving in a certain way or have
certain values or priorities. Allow yourself to questions those because they
might not have come from you but what the culture has taught you at large.
What
does be “Be Bold For Change” mean to you?
It means someone sat in a marketing
room and thought that up. If you’re going to make change you’re going to have
to something that’s a little scary. You don’t have to be outlandish or wear a
funny color hat or go protest, but bold sometimes just means stepping outside
of your comfort zone. For example, saying you want to start your own business
but you have accounting fears. Go face your accounting fears, the worst thing
that could happen is that you click the wrong button on QuickBooks. Those kinds
of scary things takes some boldness to go out there and address it. It may not
seem scary to one person, but to you it is. If you are going to make change you
have to get used to some discomfort. Whether it’s a little change or big change
or a lot of little changes that add up to a big change.
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