Victoria Kennedy

The only difference between you and me is that I’ve been doing this since I was 16. While most of my friends were taking a lot of selfies and dreaming about their latest crush, my dreams were a little different. At 16, all I wanted was to devote my life to God.

Growing up in Romania, Laura Hurubaru never dreamed of becoming a business coach. As a matter of fact, she’d never even heard the term! Now she spends her days helping incredible career women package their talents into high-ticket, valuable signature programs … but the road that led her here was a rocky one.

Take one look at James Hopkins and you won’t see the typical “millionaire status” success story. Far from it. At the age of 17, Hopkins didn’t want to attend a university, so he began working at the paltry sum of $600 per month. At the age of 20, a cyclist ran into his vehicle and died — leading to a PTSD diagnosis and a lengthy police investigation process.

Businesses are all bricks, mortar, data analytics, and R&D departments. Brands are made up of people, energy, spirit, resilience, and trust. And, Shaan Rais, the man behind Branded Like a Leader should know. With one MA in Industrial and Organizational Psychology with a specialization in Evidence-Based Coaching and another in Organizational Development and Change, Shaan understands—better than most—how to use strategy and psychology to develop your brand story.

Every entrepreneur faces challenges that make them question their decision to start a business. But what sets Daniel and Robby apart from other successful entrepreneurs you might meet is that they survived these tough moments and came out on the other side without even a whiff of ego.

Being an entrepreneur is not for the weak at heart. There is so much competition and pressure to fall in line with the standard model of perfection. Women are expected to behave in a cookie-cutter fashion: to show up in full hair and make-up, to wear heels, to be whatever everyone else wants them to be. Many women do fit the bill, but if we are really honest, it’s challenging to try to fit into that mold every day, and even more challenging to break it altogether.