Connie Weiss
CEO , MyPetStreet
From “street smart” to MyPetStreet, Connie’s road has been filled with the challenging curves that if well negotiated, lead to success.
Due to family circumstances, she had to become independent earlier than most. When she grew up, there simply was no money to send her to college. But, she persevered and although it took her a while, she completed her degree in engineering and jumped on the fast track. In a short time she was a vice president of engineering at one of the hottest high tech companies in Silicon Valley, Sun Microsystems.
As you might imagine, any executive position is a high stress proposition. So, at those times Connie was feeling especially overwhelmed, she entertained a fantasy about “chucking” it all and opening a dog boutique. Dreams sometimes have a way of becoming “dreams come true.” When Silicon Valley’s high tech companies took a hit in the early 2000s, Connie held on for several years before “chucking” it all to take her dream to the cyber-street…and started pulling together the plan and resources to open her dream company. And, that’s not easy! She found that for people who consider their pets a part of their family, there was no resource to combine pet security, pet news, pet products, and a way for people to share ideas (and fun) with other pet owners.
Although she originally considered opening an actual storefront, she came to feel that she could reach a larger community and help more by utilizing the reach of the internet. And, she really paid attention to the experience of others she knew who had tried to start their own companies, but were unable to narrow their great and multiple ideas into a focus narrow enough to implement. There is power in identifying where to start and just do it. If you wait for the perfect time, the perfect idea, the perfect research, or even the perfect hair day, you’ll sabotage yourself every time. Listen to others, but listen to yourself as well.
Connie feels that it is extremely important to find others on the same path. Choose someone you trust and perhaps have coffee on a regular basis. You can share knowledge and ideas, exchange experiences and motivate one another. That support is invaluable as you go forward in the development of your new business.
In January of 2008 she and her partners launched http://www.MyPetStreet.com that utilizes the reach of the internet to protect your pets! It also offers an on-line community for pet lovers, news and comment, great pet videos and a boutique that is coming soon.
We 50+ women are starting our own enterprises in astonishing numbers. And, Connie’s advice to new entrepreneurs is to get the plan in place, decide on the one or two most important steps to take and get started. If you keep waiting until the time is perfect and right, you most likely will never do it at all.
She invites you to share her love of pets at http://www.MyPetStreet.com.
