Shelley Sanders is a multi-faceted woman. She’s a wife and a mother, active in her local church, and she is the owner of her own small business — StylishMe Fashions. Shelley has always had a love for fashion and wanted to help build her family’s legacy by turning her passion into a business, empowering her to one day leave something behind for her children. She took the initiative to launch StylishMe but then realized that she needed additional help to make the business a success as she had envisioned in her mind.

Shelley joined the virtual Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP) taught by Juan Anes, the financial wellbeing coach from HOPE Inside Cross River Bank in New York, to sharpen her business acumen and get the tools and resources she needed. The course had everything that she needed! She gained insights into her business that she didn’t have before and reconsidered how she positioned her venture. Following up on Juan’s advice, she added “Fashion” to her business name to signify the depth and breadth of her product offerings and wrote out her first business plan as a roadmap of how we she would scale her business and reach more customers. Additionally, she’s added a virtual component to her store and has improved her financial and time management, allowing her to take better inventory of personal and business time and expenses, freeing her up to do more of what she loves.

Reflecting on her time in the ETP course, Shelley said, “The features that attracted me the most about taking this class, was learning about about building wealth, not just generating income. I want to leave a legacy for my family.  There were several things I achieved: I now have a bigger picture about my business, and a vision for the upcoming years. This class is a well worth the time. The wealth of expertise from fellow members adds to the value given by the facilitator and guest speakers. Plus, it’s at no cost. You can’t beat that with a hammer!”