I would like to introduce you all to Ronii Bartles! She is a Business Strategist and Marketing Expert. Recently, I received the opportunity to interview her! Check it out below!
Where are you from?
I’m originally from West Virginia and have lived in Charleston, SC for the past 23 years.
What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
I started my business in 2008. I was working as the Business Manager of a marketing research firm, and the economy was tanking. When a recession hits, big Fortune 500 companies start to cut budgets, and marketing research is the first to go. It’s not an operating expense like payroll. The partners in the company I worked for came to me and said, “You’re the MBA here; we see this coming; what do we do?” The solution was to make layoffs. I was not in that group, but in the midst of that conversation, I approached the partners and said I had an idea for a company and pitched it to them. They said, “That’s a great idea; we’ll be your first client.” And they are still my clients to this day.
Tell us about the work that you do, and what’s your why?
As a Business Strategist and Marketing Expert, I work with small business owners on building business management systems for scalability or acquisition. That’s a really fancy way of saying I look at a lot of spreadsheets and P&Ls. My process is to get all up in my client’s business and cut through the clutter to find the thing that makes them different, so I can create a strategic plan that is simple to implement and doesn’t suck the life out of you. We have to lay everything out on the table and get messy before we can simplify it. I’ve spent my entire career (almost 20 years) thinking that the harder I work, the more success and money I’ll have. And to be completely honest, that hasn’t worked out all that well for me. I’m a product of Hustle Culture, where the mantra is work hard, then work harder. But all that’s done for me is make me a workaholic who self-sabotages because of perfectionism. I see this in my clients too: lack of clarity, indecision, and too many competing voices telling them what they should do. So they never reach their full potential because they are paralyzed by overwhelm. I’m on a mission to change this mindset. I want to help business owners get out of their own way and create a business that works for them. Not the other way around.
What challenges have you been met with while maneuvering entrepreneurship, and how did you overcome?
I think the better question is, What challenges have I not had as an entrepreneur? Entrepreneurship is a lonely road. Particularly if you’re an online business owner because you sit behind a computer all day. And when left alone with the chatter in our heads, we come up with all kinds of crazy schemes. I’ve changed my business a hundred different ways, thinking I was onto the next big thing. I kept myself busy with a lot of busywork and called it “success” when, actually, I was thousands of dollars in debt and couldn’t pay my bills every month. In 2016, I found myself in the hospital for two weeks with a ruptured appendix, and all the busywork didn’t get done. I made the same amount of money that month doing only the things I had to do. It made me realize that 80 percent of what I was doing every day wasn’t making me money; it was just making me busy. That’s really when I became the CEO of Simplicity. That taught me to be discerning and only do things that are either revenue-generating or that I love.
In those moments when it gets hard, how do you manage to keep going?
I call my best friend. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a business best friend or a small group of people that you can just vent to and who just get it. It’s like going to therapy, except less expensive and more fun. She is also an entrepreneur, so she gets it. It’s nice to have someone tell me I’m not crazy and this is normal. I might not have the answer after a gab session and a couple of cocktails, but at least I feel better and can tackle it in the morning.
When it comes to women, our women’s community, what would you like to see more of?
I think women entrepreneurs in the online business community are very supportive of each other. And we are getting better about having honest conversations about what it’s really like to run a business. But I’d love to see us talk more about what it takes to generate profit, not just revenue, and less about the social media algorithm. Hustle culture is so ingrained in our psyche, and I’d like to see our women’s community discuss how it’s affecting our lives and mental health. And more importantly, how we can break this hustle culture mindset and make changes that help not only our businesses but also our mental health and lives.
Share any websites, social media handles, and how we can connect with you and your work!
https://www.instagram.com/iamronii/
https://www.facebook.com/iamroniibartles
https://www.youtube.com/@iamroniibartles
Thank you so much Ronii!
A Women’s Magazine 