Inc. Magazine October 2021

a certain kind of genius

I am on, as we so often are these days, a Zoom call. I sit on the board of a new think tank that supports global entrepreneurship, the nonprofit arm of a just-founded holding company, and we are gathered for our first real meeting. After an hour and a half of throat clearing and blue-sky babble from the pixelated sea of largely European male faces—industrialists, scions of well-to-do families, lifetime diplomats, even former heads of state—an African American woman commands the call. The 50 or so heads in 50 or so Zoom tiles are replaced with a full-screen view of Phyllis Newhouse, the charismatic mentor, board member, founder, multiyear Inc. 5000 honoree, and now SPAC CEO, who speaks clearly, concisely, and good naturedly, and in just 90 seconds brushes aside the…

one way to beat sexism

IN JANUARY 2018, Jessica Rhodes’s Pensacola, Florida-based telecommunications company, Titanium Wireless, found itself in a slump. Titanium, which Rhodes founded in 2015, had just two employees, both women, and they’d been seeking new clients for months, without much success. Rhodes, having worked in telecommunications her entire life, knew the industry was about 90 percent male. She wondered: Could Titanium’s dry spell be the result of sexism? To find out, Rhodes created an email account with a male alias, “Paul,” and outfitted the signature line with an MBA. As “Paul,” Rhodes sent emails to 30 customers who had taken meetings with Titanium but never replied to follow-ups or prompts to sign a contract—sometimes for months. The first reply came back within the hour. Three responded before the end of the day. “It…

ticking timecards

Jessica Stuart learned the hard way the risks of relying on independent contractors. In 2016, her Washington, D.C.-based production company, Long Story Short Media, filmed in 40 states and hired local crews for each project. The next year, it got slapped with an insurance audit, requiring Stuart to get proof from each of her vendors that they all carried workers’ compensation insurance—or be on the hook for back payments. “It took us down this massive rabbit hole,” she says, “looking at: Is it 52¢ or $100 that we owe to Montana, because we filmed there for two days?” Many companies rely on employer of record firms—like TriNet or NPI—to avoid headaches. But if you plan to handle compliance in-house, here’s what to know. KNOW YOUR ABCs Federal and state worker-classification laws vary…

real estate’s next move

How will real estate change in the next five years? Virtual 3-D tours and remote, digital closings will be the norm. No more driving downtown to sign a mountain of closing documents. Also, a large number of people will sell their homes through an app, without making big changes—like updating kitchens, painting, and other fixes—to prepare it for sale. Over the next decade? Buying a house will be as easy as trading in your car. It will be transparent, with no information gatekeepers and no surprises. And it will move faster, thanks to the stress-reducing bene fits of tech. Real estate agents will still play a key role, connecting with high-impact, qualified buyers who have already looked around and narrowed the field, and are ready to make an offer. How can founders take advantage…

stretch goals

“I was raised in a conservative culture where being a successful woman meant making other people happy. Miss Erin, my ballet teacher, was a completely different kind of woman. She was very direct. She was not there for our comfort. She was simply there to make us better. One summer, when I was 13 or 14, Miss Erin created a “splits challenge,” in which we’d sit with our left legs forward in a split for five minutes, then switch and do the right leg for five minutes, and then switch into the center split for five. I’ve gotta tell you, it was so painful. I mean, I bawled. We all cried. Miss Erin wasn’t cruel, but she knew that for her dance company to be successful, she had to confidently lead us…

i should have cried sooner

Over the past year, Katerina Schneider’s vitamin company, Ritual, doubled its revenue. But with that success came stress and hard lessons—which is how Schneider learned that her outward display of perfection was limiting her ability to lead. As a founder, I didn’t want people to see my vulnerabilities or to think I wasn’t perfect. Having come up in the finance and music industries, I thought I had to have a tough exterior—to put on a mask as a fearless leader, mom, and partner—something many women feel. But that mindset kept me from developing deep personal relationships. The pandemic has made it impossible to separate the realities of life from business. At times over the past year, I would be nursing a baby while leading a call of 20 people. I’d just had…