It’s amazing how life takes its twists and turns. Right now, I feel the Universe pulling me to Vancouver and calling me to start my own business. Nothing I do seems to deter me off that track. No matter what I do, there’s always something that seems to foil my plans and keeps pulling me here. Since leaving my job as a director in a major media company, for example, I’ve put very little into my job search. Ironically, I seem to be getting lots of opportunities, all of which have amazingly fell apart at the last moment. It’s as if they are all giving way to my magnetic move to Vancouver and clearing a path for some other future that awaits me.
I’m not alone on this one.
Take Natalie Kaminski from FinCode Solutions who was perfectly happy at her job as the Chief Operating Officer at Data-Rite Systems Group, where she was responsible for day-to-day operations across the company. She woke up one morning and realized that she didn’t want to go to work that day. “It scared me,” she says, “because I had always been a person who believed that work must not only bring you a paycheck, but also provide a sense of achievement that cannot exist without really liking your job.” She arrived at work that day and had a very deep feeling that she had to leave her job. Not wanting to make any drastic moves and recognizing that she did need a paycheck after all, it took a few weeks before Natalie and her boss had a heart-to-heart and she delivered her resignation.
Natalie Kaminski of FinCode Solutions
At first, Natalie thought that another job would be the next step, but the Universe thought otherwise. “Something inside me was holding me against it,” muses Natalie. “I could not even get myself to put together a resume. This is when it dawned on me, that I must give myself a chance as an entrepreneur.” She had everything she needed: good experience, great industry contacts, and “the whole thing just made sense.”
The Idea
Natalie saw a real opportunity in the alternative investment industry, particularly with small and medium hedge funds, which quickly realize that most packaged solutions and custom development vendors are either too complicated or too costly for their immediate needs. These hedge funds resort to the use of traditional tools like Excel for data storage and reporting, and Outlook for data sharing and communication, which are not scalable and aren’t designed to support the growing needs of a successful fund.
In March 2009, Natalie started FinCode Solutions, which helps small and medium hedge funds outperform the market and the competition by making better informed investment decisions. “We empower our clients with software tools that automate workflow, enhance collaboration, increase data accuracy and security, and expedite decision making process.” The company’s solutions deliver necessary information on-demand and take away the monotonous and time-consuming tasks of manual data processing.
Early Stages
Natalie sees some of her biggest challenges to be specific to her industry and finds there still to be many stereotypes about women in technology and finance. “Being a woman-owned business that provides technology services to the financial investment industry is an obstacle on its own.” Financing the development of her product is also emerging as a potential obstacle. “At this point I am relying on bootstrapping techniques using my personal resources, but I can only take it thus far, so at some point I will have to start looking for funds.”
Natalie also doesn’t believe in doing it all yourself. “It is very important to know your strengths and weaknesses and to find a network of people that you can trust and outsource your weak spots to them.” In addition to two developers based in the New York area who are available on a full-time basis, Natalie also relies on a few contractors to help her on a few projects.
Along the same vein, Natalie recommends that every business owner put together an advisory board and consult its members on a regular basis. Not only will you be able to tap them for advice, you’ll also have access to their network and also boost your confidence. After completing a three-week FastTrac entrepreneurial session, she approached the facilitator, a very well-known businessman and business coach in the New York area, and asked him if he would join her advisory board. To her delight, his response was “I will be honored to!”
Life as a Mom, Wife and Entrepreneur
Natalie attributes a lot of her success to her husband, who provides his unconditional support and believes in her and her ability as an entrepreneur. He also supports her need for a flexible work schedule. “He does not get upset if I choose to take a gorgeous morning off and walk in the park and then make up for that time during our daughter’s nap on a weekend.” He also respects Natalie’s need to not talk about business during time off, but is also there to listen and share opinions when Natalie asks for them.
Natalie also considers herself lucky to have a husband that is also a great father to their daughter. “They have a very good connection.” Since Natalie has to attend a few evening events a week, she doesn’t have a chance to spend that time with her daughter. To juggle her life, Natalie has to be an efficient time-manager, scheduling her day so that she can start early and complete all or most of her tasks before 5pm so that the evening is devoted to family time.
Her daughter also seems to agree with the changes. “Our daughter loves the fact that I pick her up from pre-school almost on a daily basis, which never happened when I was an employee.”
Even so, her advice is to “set your priorities and pick your battles.” Balancing life as a mother and entrepreneur might mean that you may need to miss an important meeting so that you can take your kid to the park. Natalie’s secret is not to get obsessed with perfection. If she can’t do everything on her To-Do list, she simply moves it to the next day and doesn’t get upset. “I started my own business to enjoy life more than I did when I was an employee.”
On the Universe
Natalie is a firm believer in the Secret and the Law of Attraction, where every person creates their own reality based on their thoughts and expectations. “I have witnessed many ‘miracles’ in my own life as well as in other people’s lives, and I know that anyone is capable of accomplishing anything as long as they ignore many of the preconceived notions, and follow their hearts.”
Final Words
One of Natalie’s favorite quotes comes from Tut.com. “When it comes to pursuing the life of your dreams, you can look at it like this. Best case scenario: the sun, the moon, and the stars. Worst case scenario: the sun, the moon, and the stars.”
To find out more about Natalie Kaminski and FinCode Solutions, visit their web site.
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Dear Natalie, We are Proud Of You.
Congratulations on this lovely snapshot of your business endeavor! As a sister entrepeneur, I feel very proud to walk beside you on the road less travelled. I know in my heart and soul that you will reach beyond the Sun, Moon and the Stars to another galaxy of your own creation. Up with Fincode!