Allison Maslan reflects on lessons from her father, a successful businessman who mentored her on passion, entrepreneurship, and sales. She explores how helping others became central to her approach to business and personal growth.
So my father was my first mentor and the biggest inspiration in my life. He built the largest chain of privately owned women's clothing stores in the United states in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. And he had such a passion for his work. And so I think the biggest thing that I learned from him was really by example, because if he had an idea, he. He just went for it. So that gave me the understanding and the belief that absolutely anything is possible. But if you want something, go get it. If you want something, go create it yourself. Don't depend on someone else for your success. Launching a business is a huge undertaking. There's so many aspects that an entrepreneur has to wrap their brain around. I would say that a business owner has to focus on sales, and they get so caught up in product development, in their marketing, and all these things are important, but if you aren't bringing in revenue, you're not going to have a business. And I hear all the time, new budding entrepreneurs say, I have to get financing, I've got to get an investor. And. And my answer to that is, go get customers, go get clients. I mean, Steve Jobs didn't start off with big financing. He went out and sold a bunch of computers. Networking and relationship building is one of the most important components to business. The idea is that we don't want this one quick sale. You want to have relationships that endure over years. I have some clients that have been working with me over 20 years. You feel like part of their family. And that's what's so enriching, that's what's so rewarding about business. But when you're out there building relationships, don't just throw yourself onto people. Nobody likes that. And that's going to turn people off. What you want to do is find out how you can serve them, how you can support them. You've got to pay it forward, and I promise you, it's going to come back to you in spades.
My dad had such a passion for his work. He loved it. I never once heard him complain about it. And so it really, I believe that.
Passion just kind of, you know, I.
Absorbed that and I said, I want to do that, I want to do that. He just goes and tells people what to do, and then he goes and gets ice cream. How hard can it be, right?
So my father passed this year, and I miss him terribly. But I was blessed with our last conversation that we had together. My dad loved to talk about business, and I asked him at that last meeting, what was your favorite thing about business? Dad and he said, helping people. And I thought, well, what does he mean exactly? You know, he had thousands of employees. Was it helping the employees? Was it helping people look more beautiful? Because he was in the fashion business? And I said, helping people. What, dad? And he said, helping people have the momentum to move forward in their lives. Now, this is as my dad's laying there at his last, last moments in life. And I can't tell you how profound that was for me. In fact, I get emotional thinking about it because it was, oh, now I get it. I understood that. I got the business acumen from him, but I finally got where this drive and this passion comes from that I have to lift people to their potential, to help people have the momentum to move forward in their lives. Yeah. So thanks, Dad.
