Becoming the Big Idea: an Interview with the Author Haley Hoffman Smith
[UNPUBLISHED:] Tell us about yourself.
[HALEY:] I'm the author of a book called Her Big Idea which is about women and entrepreneurship. I wrote the book with the intention that a woman would read it with an idea in mind and by the end think, “Okay, I have to go after this regardless of what happens, whether it fails or not, because I'm worth the adventure of a big idea.” I learned that throughout my own entrepreneurial experience. When I was 18, I started a nonprofit that went global called Lit Without Limits, short for literature without limits. I was donating books to girls around the world and I wrote a curriculum to go along with the books. Starting that company was the first big thing I've ever done and it was my first time seeing how an idea that was originally in my head got into the world. Then I started a sister company with a nonprofit called She is Without Limits. I started with a co-founder then the company went under. It was really hard for me because that was also the name of my first book, it was attached to the nonprofit so I basically lost everything I had built up for three years when the company went under. I had to bounce back from that really quickly. I thought I was going to be pursuing that company my entire life, at least as my post-grad job! My senior year, I started an incubator on the Brown University campus to help female founders. I have devoted my life since then to helping more people go after – initially it was their ideas for entrepreneurship – but now I feel like I'm being called more towards helping people go after their big dreams. I'm going after my big dream right now of being a TV show host. I moved to New York City in February to go after that; I signed with an agency out here, which is MMG.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What ignited your passion for getting involved with women in entrepreneurship?
[HALEY:] I have always been really into feminism and female equality. At my first college, I was president of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. I was always aware of the inequalities that women face. Once I got into entrepreneurship I was noticing how I was one of the only women in the room for networking events and when I was taking business classes the entrepreneur or manager would always be referred to as “he”. I started to see that women are discouraged in this field so I wanted to find new ways to bring more women to the forefront in business. It combined my lifelong love of empowering women with my love of entrepreneurship and creation. Research shows how few women get funding from VCs and the systemic inequalities that make it hard for women to go after big ideas especially in STEM subjects. In elementary and high school, girls are less likely to take those subjects because they feel discouraged and it impacts their self-confidence. It has been interesting to view the different layers of what makes someone an entrepreneur: who wants to go after it versus who feels discouraged – it’s usually the women who feel discouraged.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What inspired you to write your book, Her Big Idea?
[HALEY:] I was writing a thesis in college about female self agency, entrepreneurship, and venture capital and I was really excited about the research I was doing. One day I got a vision in my mind’s eye of a Tiffany blue cover and the words “Her Big Idea” came to me and I thought, “Okay, I just have to write it.” I was already doing all the research for my thesis and learning the stories of female founders – listening to podcasts, interviewing them, just for the work I was doing at school. I thought, “I can turn all this into a really accessible, less academic, more personal book that can help more people.” It wrote itself honestly, I would just sit down and it would pour out of me and that's why I still love the book all these years later.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Tell us about your current fund collaboration with Brown University.
[HALEY:] When the book was about to come out, I was always involved at Brown with their entrepreneurship program and the Nelson center. I was in this one seminar that was about the economic inequalities within entrepreneurship. It makes sense that it takes money to start a business and if you don't have the extra money, it’s going to be hard for you to pay for the paperwork associated with building a business, buy a domain name, and build a website. So many are discouraged from starting their own companies because they don't have the financial access, at least at this time. If there's a college student who is working to put themselves through college they don't have the time or the extra money to risk on a big idea. I was sitting there listening to the seminar, with my book about to come out, and I couldn’t help but think to myself, “You know what? My book is only going to apply to a small percentage of people unless I find a way to put my money where my mouth is to actually help people beyond motivating them to go after their big idea.” I stayed up all night plotting and brainstorming and I emailed my mentor - the Executive Director of the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship. I asked him, “What do you think of this idea?” and the next morning I ran into him and he told me they would love to partner with me and help me get it started. They've been super helpful ever since with promoting it and helping me make it into what it is, and I’m so happy to stay connected with them past graduation because I loved Brown so much.
[UNPUBLISHED:] How has using the Law of Attraction and manifestation helped you create the “dream life” you have now?
[HALEY:] I see the law of attraction and manifestation as deeply embedded within subconscious and inner work because you can't manifest something unless you believe you can have it. Then, when you believe in it enough, you're able to let it go so you don't feel attached to it. The worthiness aspect is big. For a long time I had really wonky beliefs; a lot of people do it around things like an abundance mindset or “I can achieve my dreams”. I did a lot of work through EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique – and also affirmations through this app where I play them at night so my subconscious is more likely to adopt what the affirmations are saying when I’m going through these lower stages of brain waves when I’m falling asleep at night. I have invested so much into inner work to get to the place that I am today because every single time I finally shifted into, “I'm worthy and deserving of (insert your big dream here),” that's when it finally happens. I actually had to do the inner work to get to a place where I believed in myself enough. Another example: being a writer is my primary job and people always think writers can't make much money. People are out there writing and making a ton of money from it but I still have to rework a lot of those beliefs. From there, really cool things have happened in alignment with all my vision board manifestations for income goals. There’s more exciting stuff to come but I really want to stress that part because I think sometimes people get caught on,“ I'm trying to manifest something, I'm trying to attract into my life, why isn't it coming?” But beneath the surface, since your subconscious runs the show, there's some consciousness that’s like, “I'm scared of succeeding or I'm scared of making a ton of money for whatever reason.” The analysis of the subconscious is the most critical part.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What advice do you have for female entrepreneurs who want to start a business?
[HALEY:] The biggest things are exposure and consistency. Are you showing up across different platforms? It's so easy to market yourself nowadays. We do digital marketing so I really encourage TikTok because that's amazing for exposure. Sometimes people don't start things because they think, “I don't have a mentor or someone who can help me” but there's so many resources online now that can help you. Whether that be a course that you take or YouTube videos, investing time upfront, even before you start your company to learn all the ropes, it'll make you feel more confident and it'll also prevent you from making a lot of mistakes. Reading articles online about top mistakes to avoid if you're starting an e-commerce business so you know what you're getting yourself into and demystify a lot of things.
[UNPUBLISHED:] How has TikTok impacted your audience growth and the people who find you?
[HALEY:] It definitely had a big impact on my Instagram following and I see that a lot with email subscriptions. A ton of people are asking for advice, which is awesome because I really want to help as many people as I can. It's a cool way to see how you can help people on a grander scale. My TikTok following started growing when I was at 5,000 followers, which was only a month ago and now I'm up to over 20,000. With the growth of my TikTok, I hold myself accountable to post three to five times a day, which is a lot but it's also really fun. I want to be a TV show host so it's not hard to get in front of a camera, I'll do it all day if you want me to! It's just been really cool to see how that exposure and how helping people can lead to opportunities like getting to meet you and be interviewed for this.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Why do you think having female voices and ideas in business is important in today’s society?
[HALEY:] One big part is representation. There's this Madeleine Albright quote that says, “You can't be what you can't see.” For a younger generation of women we need to be able to see more women who are leading businesses, doing it really well, and raising a ton of money in order for younger women, to be like, “I think I can do this too”. There's also a lot of research out there about how investing in women is actually a smarter business decision, it's less risky.
I talked to so many women all the time who want to start their own businesses and I hear things ranging from the very far conservative end, people being like, “I literally didn't know women could start businesses,” which is absolutely wild to me. Then, I hear things like, “I want to start a business but I feel discouraged. I'm starting to wonder if I'm smart enough for it or if I know enough for it or if I'm too young.” It's such a disservice to the world and to your soul to not act on your own big idea when so much good can come out of it and the way you can serve the world. I think the whole world becomes a better place when everyone can step into who they were born to be and a lot of that means taking action on these ideas that come to you because I truly think that we come up with ideas, we channel them, and we have to act on them because that’s no different from an intuition or instinct.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What advice do you have to offer women who are not taken seriously in the business world and are constantly facing rejection?
[HALEY:] Find a community. One community I'm a part of online is called Dreamers // Doers and that's for female trailblazers both in the corporate world and in entrepreneurship. Having a community is so critical because you can go to them when you're having those problems and they can vouch for you. They can do warm introductions for you based on what you need. It's really the environment that you surround yourself with which is kind of slim pickings for women right now. The future really is female and there's so many people moving towards the wave of having more spaces where female entrepreneurship is supported. It's a matter of sometimes finding that online and you might have to set out on some networking events where it's mostly going to be men and you're going to feel discouraged. The first networking event I ever went to, I was literally the only woman there that was an entrepreneur. Everyone else was the wives and girlfriends of the men there. The experience was very belittling for my first ever networking event – someone even called my nonprofit a “tall order” for trying to donate all these books internationally to girls. Since then, I've been very conscious of what I allow myself to be around and I am no longer available to be around anybody who doesn't believe in me or doesn’t support my belief in myself. I think all women should take this on. The more women can band together with other women and join these communities and leave if a situation is not ideal for their confidence and encouragement, the more their confidence can be strengthened and they can care less about what the naysayers say.