Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Deborah North. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Deborah with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
My parents both came from farm families and are from the Great Depression era. As a result, I learned at a very young age about hard work having spent time on both of their family farms. When I was older, I was required to pay for all of my expenses, so I got my first job at age 15. and waited tables until I graduated from college. In the summertime, I would work two jobs. and paid 100% of my college expenses
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I started True North Consulting in 2011. My husband passed away six months earlier, and I had three young girls. Starting my search firm allowed me to work from home 100% of the time and support them in every way. True North specializes in STEM careers, placing engineers and IT professionals nationwide. We are passionate about helping women in these careers as they make up less than 20% of the workforce.
Yes! Athletics was born in 2019. In 2018, my youngest daughter wanted to wrestle. During that journey, we discovered no wrestling shoes made specifically for girls and women. Knowing that this is the fastest-growing women’s sport in the United States, we seized the opportunity and launched Yes! Athletics in late 2020. We are tracking at 60% year-over-year growth. We launched an apparel line this year and are excited to outfit several schools in the Midwest. We also have a new shoe launching this fall. We want to inspire girls to say Yes! to scary things such as trying a traditionally male-dominated sport.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My first job out of college was at Koch Industries. A large part of their culture was understanding your comparative advantage. My comparative advantage is in sales and business development. While I have broad business knowledge, I have worked hard to surround myself with experts to fill my knowledge gaps. I love people and am a natural at networking. I have used this ability and the humility to ask for help to learn and grow. Yes! Athletics. Lastly, my work ethic and mental toughness have helped me persevere. You don’t understand the life of an entrepreneur until you walk in these footsteps. There are a lot of frustrations and heartbreaks. If you aren’t mentally tough or know how to persevere, you won’t do well as an entrepreneur.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
After starting Yes! Athletics I had several people recommend the book “Shoe Dog”. This is a great read that allowed me behind the curtain of Nike and to see that while the company is a behemoth now, it had humble beginnings and Phil Knight experienced many of the same challenges.
Contact Info:
- Website: Yesathleticsusa.com and truenorthkc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yesathleticsusa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YesAthleticsUSA/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debt1/
- Twitter: @Deb3671 @yesathletics
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2nBY4f36ArsGjVtrzhyqaw