Image courtesy of NAWBO KC

Business on the Mind(set): A Breakfast Panel with NAWBO KC

By Brittany Fugate, Founder

Your mindset plays a big role in your growth when you’re building a company, but with all the pressures founders face, it’s easy to let your approach to challenges stagnate. 

That’s why I was honored to be a member of a panel of Kansas City women leaders discussing mindset as founders at the August breakfast for the Kansas City chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). We had a fantastic discussion about how to make sure your mindset evolves alongside your company. 

The other panelists were: 

• Dr. Susan Harrison, President of  Dr. Susan Harrison, LLC
• Michelle Decker, Managing Partner at M&B Search Group
• Janeen Olmos, CEO of Janeen Olmos, LLC

From learning how mindset and hiring relate from Michelle to absorbing the endless positivity of Dr. Susan to picking up eye-opening emotional insights from Janeen, there wasn’t a dull moment at the event.

Adopting (and adapting) the right mindset

Panel moderator Holly Battrum, CEO of Sjökort Health & Wellness, led us in a great discussion about how our mindsets as founders have shifted over time, how we define success, and how that’s changed as we’ve grown personally and professionally. 

I’ve spoken on NAWBO KC panels before, and it’s always a wonderful experience to share ideas with fellow panelists and attendees. This panel, in particular, really highlighted the diverse business journeys you find in the NAWBO group.

My fellow panelists and I had different but adjacent answers for each question, which is unusual from my experience on panels. Many times, you find people giving the “right” (or at least highly polished) answers to questions. But the panel really opened up about each of our experiences in this one.

One answer from another panelist I really took to heart was the importance of celebrating your successes. Without celebration, it’s easy to burn out and to move on too quickly from your feelings of achievement and accomplishment. 

I’m a bit notorious among my family, friends and team for not celebrating my successes enough and moving on to chasing the next goal too quickly, but I loved hearing how the other panelists have handled it. We’ve had a lot of wins recently at Cenetric — named a Top 10 Small Business of the Year by the KC Chamber, placing on the Ingram’s Top 10 Fastest-Growing Businesses list, and being nationally recognized as a top MSP for SMBs in the CRN Pioneer 250. 

Identity was another key topic — growing a business often means having to be a lot of things to a lot of people. In the session, I was asked what my personal mantra would be. I chose, “It’s OK to be myself.”

I’m a stereotypical IT engineer who loves board games and sci-fi, and sometimes I’ve felt like I can’t show that side in some of my life’s roles. But being authentic is the best way to connect with others — and I loved it when several attendees came up and shared that they love that “weird tech stuff” as well. Who would have guessed I’d find so many other Battlestar Galactica fans at a NAWBO event? 

Image courtesy of NAWBO KC

Get to know NAWBO KC

Curious about NAWBO KC? Learn about upcoming events or membership, or connect with me on LinkedIn if you’d like to hear about my experience with the organization.

And if you’re a business owner in Kansas City who needs tech help as you grow your company, we’ve got the answer for that too. If an IT project has you overwhelmed, tell us about it. Cenetric has the reliable experts you need to help.