Why Community Is Your Greatest Competitive Advantage

Stephanie Carton, welcome.

Thank you, Tracy.

So excited to be here.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

So I want to jump into the Entreprenista League in a minute because I think what you're building with Courtney is incredibly important and something that I wish I had had when I was starting my own journey as an entrepreneur.

And I think every woman is in the last 20 years, who's forged their way, wishes they had heard of or had a resource like Entreprenista.

So with that said, I think what's important and interesting about your story is some of the adversity that you faced on your way there.

So in terms of your own entrepreneurial path, and you've already had your own successful exit from a separate business, which I think is the reason why this all exists to begin with.

is can you share a little bit with the audience on some of the adversity that you faced physically and in your own journey as you decided to figure out who you're going to be in the world, what you're going to build, and then

how you have to manage? Oh my gosh.

Like how many, how much time do we have here? You know, growing up, I was always dealing with health challenges as a child and I learned early on how to get through things and how to keep going.

And You know, people always ask me, like, were you always like this? And I was like, I think I was just born this way where I've just always had to overcome adversity and challenges and just figure it out.

So when Courtney and I were first starting our first business, Social Flyer Marketing Agency.

It is at the exact same time when I was actually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Wow.

So, and Courtney's actually the reason I was able to get diagnosed so quickly because she had actually randomly, she was out, she fell, she hurt her arm like a few weeks before.

And I woke up one morning and I couldn't move my neck at all.

It was a completely stiff.

And I called Courtney.

I was like, who was the orthopedic doctor that you went to? Because I think I have, you know, a pinched nerve or there's something, something wrong.

And I went to this doctor that she referred me to and the doctor said, you know, I think it is a pinched nerve, but let me send you for an MRI just to be sure.

So

she sends me for this MRI and got a call back very soon that I needed to go back for another MRI because it looked like there was lesions in my brain.

And, you know, I'm in my mid-20s right now.