Name: Adelaide Lancaster
Age: 31
Job Title and Description: I don’t really give myself a job title beyond: entrepreneur, author, and speaker. I am technically a partner and co-founder of my business In Good Company, and I am also a co-author of The Big Enough Company: Creating a Business that Works for You.
College Major: Sociology/Anthropology and Educational Studies
Website: ingoodcompany.com
Twitter Handle(s): @ingoodcmpny and @adelaidenyc
Her Campus: What does your current job entail?
Adelaide Lancaster: Generally my job involves determining the strategic direction for my business. I spend a lot of time cultivating the brand through social media, writing content for our blog and my columnist positions, designing programming and curriculum for each season, managing the operational (finances, billing, bookkeeping) side of the business, networking, and making myself available to our members for brainstorming etc.
Every day is different, which I love. Even though my business is in New York, I live in Philadelphia. Generally I work from my Philadelphia office three days per week and my New York office one day per week. Fridays I hang out with my daughter and work during her naps and at night. Right now, because we are promoting a book, my job involves a lot of writing, speaking, social media, and strategizing about creative marketing campaigns both in social media and for in person events.
HC: What was your first entry-level job in your field and how did you get it?
AL: I went right from undergrad to graduate school, so many of my first jobs were various internships. I also taught preschool to help support myself while I was in school. I wasn’t very good at it. When it came time to graduate from counseling psychology program (I was also in the organizational psychology program), I couldn’t find the kind of job that I was looking for. I wanted to be a career counselor for women who were deciding what direction to take their career. Most of the positions available were in schools and there was very little counseling involved. The other larger organizations either required a lot of ancillary HR work or were working with more at-risk populations. So since I couldn’t find the job I wanted, I decided to create it! I started my own career counseling practice and consequently became an entrepreneur. That practice evolved over a number of years and through several iterations to later become the business I have today. The decision to start my own thing was one of the best I’ve ever made. That doesn’t mean it’s been easy, but it has been rewarding.
HC:What is one thing you wish you knew about your industry when you first started out that you know now?
AL: Because I’m an entrepreneur, I operate in a lot of industries (real estate, publishing, startup, professional services, counseling, education, small business, etc). However the one thing I wish I would have known sooner is how powerful social media tools can be for making relationships and building your brand. Time spent on social media platforms for professional reasons is time well spent, even though it’s hard to see the direct results sometimes.
HC: Who is one person who changed your professional life for the better?
AL: I had a mentor at one of my internships who introduced me to a lot of people. One of them became my business partner. We’ve been working together for eight years and I love our partnership. There’s no way that my professional life would be as rewarding if I wasn’t working with her. This mentor is still a part of our lives too. She has been very supportive of our business and continues to be a great guide and confidant.
HC: What words of wisdom do you find most valuable?
AL: Three, all from friends/peers:
- It’s about progress, not perfection.
- Don’t go it alone. (In other words make lots of friends and build a strong network)
- Saying no to one thing allows you to say yes to another.
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HC: What is one mistake you made along the way and what did you learn from it?
AL: As a new entrepreneur I remember believing that it was my job to know everything, especially when it came to my business. While I was always grateful for the good ideas that others gave me, but I would also think self consciously, “I should have thought of that.” I also believed, foolishly, that it was important to have clear and resolute answers and to never say “I don’t know.”
I learned that entrepreneurship is all about being a work in progress. You spend more time deciding where you want to go next then you do arriving there. It turns out that pretending to know everything comes a tremendous cost. Not only does it make the business of being an entrepreneur much harder than it needs to be, it also cuts you off from the most valuable resource you have – the ideas and experiences of others. Thankfully, I wised up and started to listen – carefully.
HC: What is the best part of your job?
AL: The best part of my job is that I get to do rewarding and meaningful work on my terms. Sure, I have to make compromises, like everyone else, but I am able to make room for everything that is really important to me. As my needs and life has changed, I’ve been able to adjust the business to complement my new circumstances.
HC: How important is it that college students engage in philanthropic work?
AL: I think it’s really important that all young people engage in causes, programs, industries, or efforts that are meaningful to them and I think that it’s important that they cultivate a desire to contribute without being compensated for their time. Sometimes our view of philanthropic work is too narrow. Mostly it’s just important to develop a desire to contribute, a belief that actions can make a difference, and that sense that anyone can start something new or have a good idea. My advice is to find something that matters to you—it can be anything—and find a way to get involved.
HC: What do you look for when hiring someone?
AL: Good communication skills, the desire to take the initiative to improve things, and an ability to work with guidelines but not explicit instructions.
HC: What advice would you give to a 20-something with similar aspirations?
AL: I would tell them that success is about satisfaction, not size. It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers game or buy into the “bigger is better” view of success, but the truth is that being an entrepreneur is a lot of work. Given the investment that you make (time, money, energy) you better enjoy the work that you’re doing. It’s not worth it to compromise on the things that are important to you just to make your business a little bigger. Instead, start with your needs and build your business to suit. In my mind, that’s the opportunity of entrepreneurship – the ability to create meaningful and rewarding work on your terms, not someone else’s.
Co-Founded by Natalie MacNeil and Scott Gerber, Y.E.C. Women is an initiative of the Young Entrepreneur Council (Y.E.C.), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The Y.E.C promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business’s development and growth.