Celebrate your team, don’t sweat the small stuff and believing in yourself
Dailisha Eve Rodriguez affectionately known as Dee has been a legal secretary for a major insurance carrier for close to twelve years. She received her Associate of Applied Science degree in Paralegal Studies from Nassau Community College in 2009. She is currently completing her Bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University in Legal Studies while steadily focused on her law school pursuits. She serves as National Vice President of Finance on the National Board of Directors for the transcendent Theta Delta Sigma Society, a multicultural fraternal organization that promotes the advancement of men and women through education, leadership, scholarship and service to the community. During her tenure with Theta Delta Sigma Society, she served as President and Director of Programming. As Director of Programming, she created, engaged and implemented programming for over 250 members, facilitating dozens of workshops with the Boys and Girls Club of Hempstead, New York. Moreover, she led Theta Delta Sigma in all community and volunteer based activities with the support of her siblings.
In 2016, she was honored with the prestigious Volunteer of the Year Award for her efforts to support the mission, vision, and future of the organization. She was also a shelter counselor for a non for profit organization in Long Island, New York which provided housing, training, and guidance to homeless families and their young children as well as individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS. She has facilitated events at the University of Connecticut, United Federations of Teachers Queens Headquarters in New York, New York City Board of Education, homeless shelters as well as local community centers. She has conducted teambuilding workshops for the corporate entities such as Madison Gems as well as various non-profits organizations. She was an invited guest for Career Day at South Shore High School in Brooklyn, New York inspiring students to live their dreams. Hey There Beautiful Inc. is a dream that has been embedded in Dailisha since she was a child. Her hope is to create a lifelong foundation empowering the world to live their dreams while continuing to create sustainable opportunities to serve future generations. Empowering, uplifting, educating and encouraging communities are principles strong to her heart. She is the founder and President of Hey There Beautiful Inc.
Where did the idea for come from?
Hey There Beautiful Inc. was an idea that came to me after my wonderful grandmother passed away in 2014. I wanted to create a safe haven for women and young girls as she did for our community. My grandmother’s philanthropic nature is what inspired me to create Hey There Beautiful Inc. She always made people feel welcomed, loved and supported when they walked through the doors of her home. This is the type of space I wanted to create and have not only in my community but globally.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
A typical day for me begins at 5:30 AM. I create a list of the top three things I will accomplish the night before. After my morning routines, I send my team an update for the day by 8:00 AM. I then tackle the most important goal first to knock that off my list. I assign out what could be delegated or automated. This frees up more time for me to think and be creative. I enjoy working on creating buzz for the organization and developing content for our workshops. In addition, we have created a vivid vision for the organization that I like to review to ensure we are being productive towards those goals.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I bring ideas to life by discussing them with my mentor and my team first. We figure out the best way to implement them. Overthinking, overanalyzing and having a plan for a plan for a plan cuts the focus off the idea. I like to develop the goal, work backwards, then jump in and just do it. It always works out. We figure out the kinks from there.
What’s one trend that excites you?
The trend that excites me most is the women’s empowerment movement across the country. It is so refreshing to see the country discuss ideas and see the implementation of ideas come to life. I enjoy seeing photos, blogs and understanding the perspective others have about women, our agenda and our movements.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
The one habit I have that makes me more productive is that I do not sweat the small stuff. I realized during my journey that I am unable to control every facet of the organization. Things are going to change every day. Life moves quickly. Getting emotionally caught up in minor mistakes, details and being controlling does not serve me or the mission of the organization. I love what I do and that makes me even more productive as well. The passion fuels my productivity every single day. Find something you are passionate about, the rest is history!
What advice would you give your younger self?
The advice I would give my younger self is save money, you are beautiful enough to wear whatever you want and just do it already!
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?
The universe is always listening.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
The one thing I do over and over is praise my team, speak using “we” not “I”, support my team and check in often. Teams are the lifeline of organizations. They are comprised of dynamic, hardworking, smart individuals who sacrifice themselves for your vision. It is important to praise them, reward them and sit with them one on one. I recommend everyone do this at the very minimum biweekly. It allows entrepreneurs to gain real time feedback, increase production while promoting openness verses exclusivity. This allows entrepreneurs to see what is really affecting their bottom line, how to work on things quickly and opens the door for open, honest communication.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
One strategy that has helped grow the business is a vivid vision. This vision is a magnet for others who believe in your mission. This magnet attracts like magic. Moreover, it creates a clear picture for your team to see how they affect the future of the organization, growth and how what they do daily supports it. It creates fluidity in how our team communicates to our clients, future clients and each other. Lastly, the vision allows us to focus up when we are working on other projects so we are always ready to align ourselves to make the vision a reality.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
One failure I had was controlling all facets of the organization to the point where we had no one show to one of our events. I was so focused on mundane details that we forgot about marketing. I assume people knew and would come out to support. I overcame it by enjoying the day with the team and being open with the opportunity we had to talk freely, engage and we then hired a marketing consultant.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
One idea is to create an application that supports entrepreneurs in relaxing. We would love that and your pocket may too.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The best $100 I recently spent was buying gifts for my team to celebrate our accomplishments. I know how it feels to be rewarded and I like to spread the love.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
We use Slack. This supports us as a one stop shop with communicating with the team at the same time, uploading files and working on projects. We use it as a means to communicate versus emails. It supports us being productive because it is real time notification. It is an instant messaging system for teams. We love it.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Read The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. There are so many tips, tricks, tools, real life and real world content. It is priceless.
What is your favorite quote?
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou
Key learnings:
- Celebrate your team, don’t sweat the small stuff and believing in yourself are the most valuable pieces of information from this interview. This interview demonstrates how team work really makes the dream work.
- In addition, connecting with your team, praising their work will support the brand and allow your visions to become reality.
Connect:
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.