Your Scale and Sustain Seven
We don’t have many memoirs and resources about keeping your business rooted in your values. Pushing back against that toxic capitalism can feel lonely. People will be out there telling you it means you can’t care about social justice and also charge your worth.
But Dr. Mindelyn Anderson is out here running Mirror Group and doing exactly that. She isn’t alone. On a panel together, Mindelyn mentioned that every entrepreneur needs a Fab Five at their side.
I’m smiling and nodding in agreement but in my head I’m thinking What’s a Fab Five and how do I get one for myself?
I knew you’d wanna know too so let me introduce you to Dr. Mindelyn Anderson.
She’s the Founder and CEO of Mirror Group, an evaluation firm that focuses on data and equity, where, as a Black woman, she’s hired a roster of staff that are almost entirely women of color.
The thing I love most about her is that she’s really good at working on the business and not just in the business. From that perspective, she can now better recognize when her team gets burned out and set the conditions and resource the support to fiercely protect their time and energy. She’s a good boss and she can be a good boss because she isn’t trying to go at it alone.
Speaking about her support system, Mindelyn said “My Fab 5 has expanded fully into a Scale and Sustain Seven!”
Here they are, how often Mindelyn meets with them, and the biggest burning question she brings to each.
Supportive Loved One
Meets Daily/Weekly
Biggest Burning Question
To My Husband Donovan: When do we get to take a vacation? A grown up, just us and not our 4 children whom we love and adore vacation. In Paris, France! 🙂
To My Sister Dana: When is “auntie and uncle camp” open again? You missed the kids’ Winter Break, but Spring Break will be here before we know it. Your nieces pieces (our 3 daughters) and nugget (our son) miss you and their Mommy and Papi would love a break.
Stephanie’s Note Ok, so Mindelyn’s supportive loved ones have a specific role of pressing pause on life’s stressors and creating a space to breathe.
Mentor
Meets Monthly/Quarterly
Biggest Burning Question
Restructuring takes a long time, and I know that is part of the rhythm of business as you told me all those years ago. I am starting to see the silver lining in all of this and I know there is more to come that you have experienced time and again. Tell me, what’s next just beyond the horizon?
Mindelyn’s Clarification My mentors are seasoned folks who happen to be in the same field as me (evaluation, learning and strategy consulting).
These mentors provide guidance about our content area (evaluation), consulting (how we do the work) as well as leadership, and holistic work and life considerations when you are an entrepreneur/business owner with family and community obligations.
They range from 20-40 years of business experience and I remain grateful for their time and the mutual mentorship and support we have developed over time.
CPA/Tax Accountant
Meets Every 2 months or quarterly, more frequently during tax preparation and filing season
Biggest Burning Question
It’s tax filing season, so we have the usual things to do. Yes, I am gathering those documents and yes, I am placing them in the secure portal. Will we be able to profit share through the 401k again this year even though we did not meet our projected 2023 revenue goals?
Stephanie’s Note Juicy question! Most of us only view our accountant as a bean counter but Mindelyn’s asking for strategic thought partnership here.
Lawyer
Meets Monthly or every 2 months, more frequently during an active risk management event (Stephanie’s Note OMG I want the tea on what “active risk management event” means.)
Biggest Burning Question
I adore you. You are always here for the contract reviews, risk management, mediation and more. Now that I am t-minus 5 months from fully settling into the CEO seat, is it time to start board development planning? Or am I getting too ahead of myself?
CFO/Management Accountant
Meets Monthly or twice monthly, more frequently during budget prep and audits
Biggest Burning Question
I miss you. You were there to upgrade us from spreadsheets to an accounting system with charts of accounts. You created our first organizational budget with cost pools. You showed me how to “job cost” and ensure profitably while paying people equitably. You created that amazing workbook and always updated it and transformed it whenever I was bidding on a new project. I see we are no longer a “gazelle company” so what can we expect for our future financial trends and performance and how does that inform our FY 2024 budget?
Stephanie’s Note Reader, are you seeing patterns in Mindelyn’s questions? She’s consulting with her support system about the future. She isn’t seeking them out to reflect on past victories and mistakes. Mindelyn’s gaze is facing forward.
Business Coach
Meets Monthly, more frequently during surge periods of focused area of growth
Biggest Burning Question
I need you to help set out selection criteria for People & Culture vendors. And while we are at that, is it too much to ask you to join the vendor interview team?
Mindelyn’s Clarification My business coach(es) came much later than my mentor. My first taste of these were as enhancements to entrepreneur cohorts that I participated in where they also provide short-term coaches.
I grew to love and really appreciate the insights that seasoned executives outside of my subject matter/content field could offer, especially regarding business operations. Many folks claim to be business coaches, but those who I work best with are entrepreneurial, have built from the ground up, scaled, and often sold more than 1 business, have not only been CEOs but also #2s to CEOs (e.g. COO, CTO, CIO, CFO).
They have the line of sight of ”been there, done that,” assurance that what I’m experiencing is a part of the journey, and a heads up for what’s likely to come next though remaining open for anything.
They have also been the most impactful to help me get out of my own way, have that mindset shift to not be in all the things, stop being the bottleneck in my business, and grow in comfort and readiness to create space for other dynamic leaders at Mirror Group.
Business Banker
Meets Quarterly, more frequently when actively assessing financing needs, seeking capital, and setting up new business banking accounts
Biggest Burning Question
Thank you for setting up that new vendor payment account for us. Accounting processes are running more smoothly and financial forecasting is more robust now that we can more easily segregate vendor expenses from employee expenses. Now, can you tell me more about contract spend-down and investment accounts?
Stephanie’s Note Mindelyn is clearly wearing the CEO hat (rather than, say, the subject matter expert hat) and focusing on sustainable growth in super strategic directions (profit sharing!) that align with her values.
And it’s really hard to do that all by yourself.
Everybody – Mindelyn, you, me – we all need a crew at our back that can advise us through our own thoughts and worries and hopes. I see too many entrepreneurs who rely on their employees or contractors for this advice. And that’s inappropriate. That’s not their role. In fact, it’s way beyond their pay grade.
You have to find an external posse, who has expertise in your particular area of need. Actually, in all 7 areas of need.
Who makes up your Scale and Sustain Seven? Do you have any gaps to fill?
Success is Lonely
Work was collaborative when I started my solo career. I co-launched products and co-presented. When I was in town, people invited me to grab coffee or beer. “Big names” in the field promoted my work.
Until my profile started to rise.
Until I started to have more influence than some of those “big names.” It’s amazing how quickly some dudes go from “I’m a feminist, look at the women I support” to absolute crickets as soon as you start to feel like a threat to their ego.
With other people, I guess/believe I became intimidating. Where people used to hit me up before a conference to see if we could catch a drink at the bar or to ask if I could chair their session, now I think I seem too busy or important to bother?
Whatever the reason, the result was the same:
The more success I saw, the more alone I felt.
You know what they say: It’s lonely at the top.
wah wah, #firstworldproblems, let me get out the world’s tiniest violin to play you and your privilege a sad tune, cry from your yacht
I know, I know.
But it’s still true.
And not just for me.
Check out this study of salaried employees, published in Fast Company. 55% of senior-level women said they’ve felt lonely at work in the past month.
60% of women said their sense of isolation increased as their career progressed.
And that’s among women who still go to an office and thus run into other people in similar roles. Imagine how this goes for those of us who are the solopreneur or the CEO of a small business.
My remedy came when I stopped looking for support from my field and started ganging up with other entrepreneurs. People who were sprinting down the same path as me, also building the plane as they fly it. Despite coming from different fields, our experiences are comfortingly similar.
They get me in a way no one else can.
We have conversations that are impossible with anyone else.
For example, my romantic partners have never had a social media presence (I guess my type is the “I’m not really on any platforms” guy). So while they’re willing to listen while I explain how the latest change in the Instagram algorithm is killing my posts, they have no freakin clue what I’m talking about.
My Fellow Founders get it. They share their research and workarounds. They commiserate and help me plot my next moves. We strategize.
My best friend loves me, but until she started her own company, she didn’t understand the low key pressure I just live with day to day. The thousands of tiny-but-big decisions I make on any given Monday.
Every entrepreneur needs Fellow Founders.
I’m not talking about a referral network where you ship each other business.
I’m not talking about collaborators you’ll propose projects with.
Though if those things happen along the way, extra special bonus points.
I’m talking about a group who’s sole purpose is moral, emotional, and logistical support. With zero financial profit or prestige on the line. No egos, just truth and love.
Where can you find your Fellow Founders?
You will undoubtedly make those connections with other students in Boost & Bloom. People connect in the Community Q & A or during Office Hours when they hear questions that resonate or answers that sing.
In fact, a student from my first cohort included this line in a recent check-in email (I’m keeping this anonymous because this wasn’t a formal testimonial):
“A.W. and I totally clicked on your B and B and have really supported each other in our journeys, which are quite similar.”
Two years after the course ended, we have Business Besties helping one another along.
This year, I’m adding a formal Fellow Founders program to Boost & Bloom.
As the course’s live portion comes to end, some time in May, I’ll connect you with 2 or 3 other founders. Past students can be a part of this too.
You’ll create a team name. Maybe a secret handshake that involves spit and a promise of confidentiality. And you’ll have each other’s backs as you continue to implement the plans you crafted during the course, scaling up your ethical empire.
If you want. No pressure. You can continue to go at it alone, like I did for many years.
I thought, therapy! A therapist will help me sort out these struggles. I started to see the very highest recommended therapist in town. In our first meeting she said “Oh, I’m not on social media.” She didn’t even own a computer. She could empathize on a general level but couldn’t really relate.
No one can relate like Fellow Founders.
Boost & Bloom opens again Winter 2025.
Now is the time to get on the VIP list, where you’ll get $100 off the course price.
This is where you join a space to learn everything you need to know about how to start and scale a thriving business while still keeping your heart beating.
Find out how to create a work life that aligns with your values.
Find your people.