Fifteen years ago, Hera Hub began with a simple vision: create a beautiful, professional space where women could work, connect, and grow their businesses. I knew I was stepping into an unknown industry with no playbook, which would be challenging, but I was confident that I would figure it out. I did not yet understand how much the journey would teach me about leadership, community, and resilience.
What started as a space to work and meet became something much bigger: a community and business accelerator that has supported over 14,000 women. Along the way, there have been exciting wins, hard decisions, unexpected pivots, and plenty of lessons learned the hard way.
As Hera Hub celebrates 15 years, these are the lessons I would share with anyone building a purpose-driven business.
Building the Vision
1. Start before you feel ready… and tell everyone
The original concept will evolve. It should. Progress comes from putting your idea into the real world, talking about it openly, and paying attention to how people respond. Telling people creates momentum: it attracts feedback, introductions, resources, and early champions. You do not need every answer before you begin. You need enough clarity to take the next step. Don’t wait until you feel it’s perfect to “open the curtain”… step out onto the stage NOW.
2. Listen for the real problem
Hera Hub became more than a workspace because our members needed more than a desk. They needed community, accountability, education, encouragement, and trusted connections. Customers may initially ask for one thing, but their behavior often reveals a deeper need. Listen beyond the request. The strongest businesses are a pain killer not a vitamin.
3. Be willing to invest your own money
Many entrepreneurs are eager to find investors before they have invested meaningfully in their own idea. Outside capital should accelerate a business, not replace the founder’s commitment to testing and proving the model. I funded Hera Hub myself and waited until the business had been profitable for a year and a half before I even considered outside investment. By then, I was not asking someone to bet on an untested concept; I could show them a viable business with real demand.
4. Be scrappy
I have always been mindful of the bottom line. I did not lease the most expensive spaces or fill it with high-end furniture, yet members still loved the experience. Members value how the space makes them feel and what the community helps to accomplish. Spend where it matters to the customer. Get creative everywhere else. Resourcefulness and discipline will get you further than a big budget.
5. Community is built one relationship at a time
Community is not created by putting people in the same room or adding them to an online platform. It is a daily practice. It requires thoughtful introductions, consistent programming, genuine care, and follow-through. Every conversation matters. Every person needs to feel seen. Scale may expand your reach, but trust is still built one relationship at a time.
Building the Business
6. Know who to hire first
I hired a bookkeeper the first month of my business, because finances are not my strength… and knowing your numbers is nonnegotiable. My second hire was an operations consultant. You cannot scale without systems, and you cannot be the only brain holding the business together. Hire first for the functions that are both critical and outside your natural strengths. The right early support creates capacity for you to lead.
7. Work-life balance is a myth
Although I’m a Libra and LOVE balance – I believe work life-integration (for entrepreneurs) is a much better goal. A more useful goal is to build a business that supports the life you want. Decide what deserves your attention in each season, protect the priorities that matter most, and create a business that integrates what you love. That’s what I’ve done at Hera Hub!
8. Cash flow matters as much as vision
A meaningful mission still needs strong financial systems, careful forecasting, and the courage to make difficult decisions. Many businesses do not fail because the idea is bad; they fail because they run out of cash. Watch both the top and bottom lines relentlessly. Build reserves before you need them. I also recommend the Profit First method because it creates discipline around profitability rather than treating profit as whatever happens to be left over.
9. Protect yourself from shiny object syndrome
Entrepreneurs are surrounded by advice about what we “should” be doing: a new platform, offer, event, partnership, technology, or marketing tactic. Social media amplifies the noise. Every new idea carries an opportunity cost. Strong leadership means knowing when an opportunity supports the strategy, when the strategy needs to evolve, and when you simply need to stay the course.
10. Set strong boundaries
You are not your business. A disappointing result, difficult conversation, or critical comment is information, not a verdict on your worth. Business is business. Learn what you can, brush yourself off, and keep moving.
Here is the reminder I often give people who replay a conversation and worry about what the other person must be thinking: that person is probably too busy thinking about themselves to spend time thinking about you. Do not give an awkward moment more power than it deserves. 😂
Building the Impact
11. Hire for attitude over pedigree
Experience matters, but ownership, curiosity, and genuine care matter more. Hire people who believe in the mission, notice what needs to be done, and take responsibility for moving it forward. Skills can often be taught. It is much harder to teach initiative, empathy, and commitment to the community.
12. Not every opportunity is the right opportunity
I receive offers for “exposure” almost every week. Exposure is not a strategy. Partnerships, events, locations, and initiatives must support the mission, protect the brand, and justify the time and resources they require. A clear no protects your ability to say an enthusiastic yes to the opportunities that truly fit.
13. Success is rarely a straight line
Growth can include location closures (COVID), pivots, setbacks, staffing changes, and reinvention. Those moments can be painful, but they do not erase the progress that came before them. A business is not failing simply because the path changed. Sometimes resilience means pushing forward; other times, it means releasing what no longer works so something stronger can emerge.
14. Impact is created through consistency
Supporting thousands of women did not happen because of one major event or breakthrough moment. It came from years of conversations, introductions, mentoring sessions, workshops, encouragement, and small acts of support. We often celebrate the visible milestone, but impact is built through quiet work repeated over time.
15. Listen and lift
When I am asked to describe my leadership style, my answer is simple: listen and lift. Listen closely enough to understand what people truly need. Then lift them…with a connection, an opportunity, encouragement, honest feedback, or the space to step into their potential.
Building Hera Hub has required resilience, humility, patience, courage, and a willingness to keep learning. After 15 years, I am proud of the spaces we have created, but I am even more proud of the businesses launched, relationships formed, and women who decided to believe more deeply in themselves and in what was possible.
The greatest lesson may be this: a business can be financially sustainable and deeply purposeful. You do not have to choose between profit and impact. When the two reinforce each other, you can build something that lasts, and use it to help others rise.
One important note about our structure
Hera Hub is a Public Benefit Corporation. If you would like to learn more about why and how, please go to – https://herahub.com/benefit-corporation/ and https://herahub.com/resources/benefitcorporation/ (to learn more about the difference between benefit corporations and B corps).
