Woman of Impact: Ronne Brown, Entrepreneur, Coach, Author, Speaker, Overcomer

Our Woman of Impact feature presents women who are breaking barriers in their careers, businesses and lives. These women are inspiring us to do our best work and live our best lives.

 

Our Woman of Impact is Ronne Brown, a wife, mother, coach, author, speaker, entrepreneur and overcomer. Hailing from Washington D.C, she has influenced thousands of entrepreneurs to live big, dream big and achieve success on their own terms. She went from being a janitor while pregnant to building a 7-figure salary through her entrepreneurial ventures. She teaches women to build successful businesses through her Millionaire’s Academy organization and her non-profit High Heels High Goals. Read her entire bio here.

 

1. Tell us a bit about you and what you do. I understand you’re a multi-preneur with many businesses and income streams

I’m a full-time mom, wife, and entrepreneur. I’m at a place in my life where I’ve leveraged the things I’m passionate about. I’m also an influencer. My passions are beauty, fashion and teaching entrepreneurship to people all over the world. I endorse a product line that I believe in, which is a beauty line. I also have my own boutique, called HHGLuxxe. In addition to that, I’m a speaker and I teach and educate a lot of women on how to leverage their gifts.

 

2. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?

It was really tapping into the things I love. As I grew up, there wasn’t really anyone saying: “Do what you love”. It was always: “Do what pays you the most money, do what everyone else is doing, do what people have experienced success in.” So I wanted to see if it was possible for me to do what I really enjoyed, instead of settling working in Corporate America and living that cookie-cutter life. I was fired because I had kids and had to go to doctors’ appointments and things like that, and I really could not keep a job. I got tired of giving someone else control of my life, my future, my income, and putting them in a position where they could determine if my children would be able eat or have a roof over their head a month or two down the line if they felt as though I wasn’t a good fit for their business.

 

3. What does a typical day look like for you?

My days are different. It really depends on the day of the week, because I’m a mother of four, so my days can really change. Traditionally, I read my Word late at night. I’m different from most people, as most people read their Word in the morning. If you follow me on social media, you’ll see me posting the Word I read later at night. When I get up in the morning, I map my day out. I look at my agenda, and start with of my income-producing activities. I try to get my workout in, then I make myself breakfast, start smashing my goals, you know, my honey-to-do list. That’s how I tackle my day.

 

4. Do you feel like your faith is an integral part of your business? What do you advise other women in terms of combining their faith with their business or career?

I believe my faith is an integral part of my success. I know that God is 100% responsible for where I am. I also know that His Grace has been super sufficient when it comes to my life. I’ve overcome so much, and He has literally brought me through some of the things that I’ve never thought I could overcome. In addition to that, He’s given Me Grace and allowed me to start over, and really excel in my life. So I think that including and continuously giving Him the Glory for everything is very important. I think in the traditional days, people were taught not to express their religion and their faith in their business. I think that as this revolution happens, we have to be able to stand up and say what we stand for and who we stand for. I know Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, I know that and if someone doesn’t want to do business with me, He will send me the people who are right for me.

 

5. Can you tell us about the challenges and hurdles you overcame before being successful in your business?

I went through many things that almost every woman goes through, in life and in business. It’s not just a business thing, it’s life. In life, we go through so much, and it’s truly just a way for us to learn more and more about ourselves, and how to respond to different things. I’ve gone through losing my job, and just really being on the verge of giving up. I’ve settled in my life for things and positions that I knew I deserved better and more in. I’ve dealt with heartbreak and betrayal, that so many people go through. I think the most important thing is knowing that you’re not the only one, I’ve been there.

6. Now that you’re on the other side, what’s the best part about what you do?

The thing is, you’re never really on the other side. Your income may increase, but so do your responsibilities, so does people’s dependency on you, that increases as well. All of it never goes away. The tests get harder, the obstacles come, the hurdles get bigger, and you have to work harder to overcome the things that you were struggling with when you were making $30,000 a year. And now you may be making a couple of hundred thousand a year…

I want to make this very clear in this interview. Just because you start making more money, doesn’t mean the problems go away. The more money you make, the more obstacles you have to overcome, the more people you start to question and begin to reveal themselves. You’re at a place where you have no tolerance for the bullcrap, for procrastination. So the problems don’t go away. The more money, the more problems. But God won’t put you in any situation that He doesn’t feel you can handle. What happens is, the more money you make, the more problems you have to overcome.

 

7. How do you face these challenges and the uncertainty of being an entrepreneur and having your own business?

I think about going to the grave without doing the things that I’ve always wanted to do. Taking all of this to the grave. Are you really going to take all of this greatness to the grave?

 

8. What resources would you recommend for other women looking to emulate what you do and get into entrepreneurship?

I recommend the Holy Bible, and if you’re new to it, I definitely suggest that you download it in the ERV(Easy-to-Read) version. Another thing I recommend is peace and quiet, meaning taking the time to get in a quiet place and clear your mind, because that helps me often.

I also suggest social media, making sure that you’re on the most popular social media channels. Right now the top two are Facebook and Instagram. I also suggest email automation, that you can use to build a list and keep your contacts. You can be on Mailchimp or Aweber for instance. In addition to that, I also suggest to anyone listening that you start providing quality content to your followers. What are you giving them that keeps them coming back to your page every day? Making that connection and finding out what your audience wants to hear and see, is very important.  Study your following, study the people coming to your page, ask them what they want to hear and see, and deliver accordingly.

 

9. What do you do for fun, after you put in all this work and push through your limits?

I love to dance, I love music, and I love trap music as well. You can probably find me somewhere listening to some rap music, some 90’s R&B music. I’m a dance machine, I love to have parties at my house. I’m that person.

 

10. What do you have on repeat these days?

I have Kendrick Lamar on repeat right now. I’m really falling in love with this young lady Sza. I love Solange, I’m getting in that peaceful place where I like to play it. I love 2Chains as well. And then, you’ve gotta have a little praise and worship, I’m old school. I always have the WOW 2017 Gospel Hits. It’s really mixed up in here (laughs).

 

11. What kind of services do you provide women entrepreneurs?

I do an event called “Round Table with Ronne B”. I also have a non-profit called “High Heels, High Goals”, so sometimes we do events and give back to women’s businesses. Mostly, you will see me marketing and sharing products I love.

You can also check out my GirlCEO planner, because I’m rolling out a lot of tools to help women be more successful with their business ventures. That’s really what I’m working on right now, in addition to sharing the beauty and wellness products I believe in.

 

12. What advice would you give your 20-year old self?

Keep your legs closed (laughs). The reason why I say that is that getting intimate is such an emotional decision. I’ve seen it upset so many women, myself included, in their lives and work.  I would definitely tell myself to dream bigger, and not to put any limitations on my life. This is not the end, there is so much more ahead. At any given moment, you can rewrite the book. There were definitely times when I said to myself: “It’s over. I screwed up.” This is when you have to tell yourself: “It’s not easy, get over yourself!”

 

13. Where can we find you?

You can go to ronneb.com. You can also go to my Instagram: @ronneb. In addition to that, you can check out my new GirlCEO planner, at Iamagirlceo.com. Be sure to stop by and say hello.

 

Speaking to Ronne Brown was such a pleasure and a breath of fresh air. Her authenticity and the genuine advice she was willing to share filled me up with such gratitude and purpose. Y’all go check her out!

Thanks, Ronne B!

 

 

To Your Success,

The Corporate Sis.