Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear's parent company, Clique Brands, each episode will give you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on iTunes, and stay tuned. We'll be releasing new episodes on Mondays.
All of our guests have changed careers at some point, but Susan Tynan's path took several different turns on her way to raising $67 million in venture financing for Framebridge, a quick and affordable custom framing site. The founder and CEO, a Harvard Business School graduate, shares advice on how to accept hearing "no" in your career, how to run a business ethically, and how to lift women up.
"I pitched a million people," Tynan says. "And it's funny, because everyone always says, 'You had a really easy run,' but I mean, you have to learn that a million minus three are going to say no to you, and will make you question everything." Once she started accepting this fact, Tynan didn't let the rejection get to her and kept forging ahead. As her company grew from zero to 450 employees in four years, Tynan learned the importance of practicing what you preach: She revealed that her board is comprised of half women and half men, an important statistic for a female-founded business.
For all of her impressive accomplishments, however, Tynan remains focused on the joy it brings her. "We are involved truly with the nicest times in people's lives," she says. "It's the happiest business. I could not overstate it. I get choked up every time I walk through what we're framing. People have chosen something that they were either really proud of or was a moment that took them. The more I get into it, the more I think there's a lot of emotional value in what we do."
Head to iTunes to subscribe to Second Life to learn more about Tynan's background and her advice on how to run a business the right way.