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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

C-Suite Cheer

The year after Deborah Sweeney joined MyCorporation.com, the legal services company founded by her law school friends, they sold it to QuickBooks and TurboTax software developer Intuit Inc. Rather than leave, Sweeney convinced Intuit to hand over the division to her – despite not having business ownership experience – first as a general manager, and then as owner when Intuit decided to spin it off. She became chief executive in 2009. Eight years later, MyCorporation has had at least three years of double-digit growth. The company, which helps entrepreneurs prepare paperwork for incorporation, trademarks and copyrights, employs nearly 60 people, doubled its square footage recently and opened a division in Argentina. Sweeney, 42, talked with the Business Journal about how she sustains her entrepreneurial spirit. Although she’s no longer a college cheerleader, she still cheers for her employees, her family and the female college students she mentors as a board member for two local universities. Deborah Sweeney Titles: Owner and chief executive, MyCorporation.com Education: Bachelor’s degree in criminology, law and society; bachelor’s in psychology and social behavior at University of California – Irvine; J.D., MBA, Pepperdine University. MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON: Mother, former head of UCLA surgical lab CAREER TURNING POINT: Buying MyCorporation.com from Intuit PERSONAL: Married, with two sons, lives in Calabasas HOBBIES: Walking, Pilates, reading, watching sons’ soccer games. Sits on board of regents at California Lutheran University and the board of the Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship and the Law at Pepperdine University. Question: How did you buy MyCorporation from Intuit? Answer: It was 2009, and there were 10 divisions, or small companies, in our division. And I saw Intuit divest one, and then two. Ultimately, during one of our meetings, I just threw it out there. I said if this is ever in the consideration set, please consider me. And then six months went by, and I got this call from the head of our division, and he said, “We are considering divesting, but we don’t think this is a business we can just shut down because there are ongoing legal obligations. So, if we were to just shut down, all these businesses would be in a bad place, and the lawsuits could be significant.” Then LegalZoom.com, one of our biggest competitors, was also interested in buying. That’s when my business skills came in, and I was able to put together a presentation that said, “I think I’m best positioned to run this business.” So that’s where I got the option. What had to change in your mind in the transition from employee to owner? Basically, I was the leader, but I wasn’t in touch with all the day-to-day stuff, because I was still thinking corporate – that I had to do my slides, I had my P and L (profit and loss) and I had to be focused on revenue numbers. But I didn’t think as an entrepreneur because I didn’t grow up as an entrepreneur. So, I literally moved my desk (from my office) out to the floor (where everyone is sitting.) Every single morning, I go around and say good morning to every single employee, how’s your day. I work really hard to engage with them so they don’t perceive me as a boss because I want them to want them to perceive us as a team. How can you be both a leader and a communicator? I try not to be too friendly. We have an operations manager, and managers of each department. I let them do the nuances of the drama – the employees who say, “I’ve got this problem and I’m going to be late.” I try to be a little higher level. I ask, “How is your life in general?” How is MyCorporation growing? In terms of revenue, from 2014 to 2016, we’ve grown 13 percent, 15 percent and 17 percent each year. Sometimes I have to temper my excitement, because sometimes I feel like we can do 25 (percent) next year. Where did you develop a taste of being your own boss? I left a law firm in Century City and went to Encino, to a small firm, and I was the fifth lawyer. I thought this was really new because it’s sort of an entrepreneurial environment where I could be myself and run my own division. I had a number of clients I had built up after a few years, so I took them with me. And they let me be myself. MyCorporation was one of my clients, and so I ultimately went there. What about you defines your entrepreneurial spirit? I love autonomy. I love being able to make my decisions. I feel squelched by people controlling me. But I love feedback – I love asking, “What do you think about how I should do this?” What are some important qualities for managing a business? Trustworthiness is so critical. When you’re trying to grow your business, it’s not about just being so salesy but about being a good listener, and trying to be responsive to what your clients are looking for. Ours is a fairly commoditized industry. They’re just so ready to say, “Buy me instead of them.” Or, “My pricing is better than theirs.” I feel our value proposition is that we want to meet you where you are. We listen and try to understand our partners with Paychex Inc. or Automatic Data Processing Inc. or Bank of America Corp. How would you describe your management style? I’m flexible with my team. So many of them have to run and pick up their kids from school on their lunch break. I don’t think twice of it. I figure it all works out in the end. Hopefully it doesn’t get out of control. I think they feel like I trust them and they want to be trustworthy and so for the most part they commit. What personality traits do you feel make you successful in your job? I’m positive. I believe in myself. My parents from the day I was born, said, “You got this.” They didn’t over power, and weren’t of the “You’re amazing! You can do anything!” type of mindset. But just trust in yourself. I have this thing that you put into your mind, and you set your goal and you get there and you keep a positive attitude. Sometimes I don’t even notice when things go wrong because I’m too busy being positive about the rest of the stuff. But it helps me continue to move forward all the time. How challenging is it to bring that out in other people? Being the leader here, it’s easier because they’ve got to follow. So, I do funny things – yesterday we did a seventh inning stretch. We played Dodger music. People had seemed really kind of blah. So, I said, “Let’s get on our phones and find the seventh inning stretch, and run around, and give everybody high fives.” Most people said, “Oh, that’s goofy,” or, “I’m not really into it.” But the second I’m running around, they’re running around. How did your cheerleading experience help your career? I was a cheerleader for UC Irvine. I loved every bit of it. And it’s still true. We do things when we pass around paychecks on Friday. Sometimes we jump rope, sometimes we play Pictionary, sometimes we sing. But I dance. So, someone asked me, “Were you a cheerleader in college?” It comes across. It’s my personality. At one point, I looked up a group of 50 and older dancers who do half-time shows at the L.A. Clippers’ games. And I was like, I still have a chance! When you say listening and getting feedback are crucial to running your business, do you have examples? When I get venture capitalists or investment bankers who want to meet with me, I take every single meeting. This last year, we’ve had a number of offers to purchase the business. They were fantastic learning experiences for me – what are they looking for, what type of P and L (profit and loss) numbers are they looking for, what types of multiples. And it made me think differently about how we’re doing it. And frankly I think we’re doing pretty good. How does your work on two university boards enable you to show students how to be a successful woman business owners? I just read an article that was about that. How women need role models – that they may see role models in certain areas, but not always in business. And not always in business where you’re growing because you’re working hard and hiring great people and creating a positive environment. I feel there’s this stigma of women either being pansies or jerky. There’s somewhere in between and it doesn’t have to be these two extremes. Something I share with mentees I meet is that your style is going to change. And you’re going to feed off what the environment is. And you’re going to learn through each career you have and each person who gives you feedback. What do you see in today’s female college students? So many are looking to meet with me because I’m an entrepreneur and because I haven’t followed a traditional path. I try to convey don’t just necessarily think you’re going to become an entrepreneur right out of college or right out of law school. It’s OK to go into law first, and learn a lot from that, or into a business environment first and learn a lot from that. And take what you’ve learned because I don’t think I would be successful as an entrepreneur unless I had my law firm experience and my business experience and then put those pieces together. It’s not like it has to be 20 years in each role. I had five years in one role and five years in another role. I was 33 when I spun out and bought the company. What impact can children have on a woman entrepreneur? I see that a lot of well-respected colleagues going through law school and graduate school are going to be amazing rock stars. And then they become moms and they change their mindset. But then what? You have another 30, 40, 50 years – I want to be working those years. You find yourself out of a role and that’s hard. I feel that entrepreneurship is the best opportunity for especially mothers because you do get flexibility. My husband told me, “Become a partner in a law firm if you can before you get involved in a family.” And I can tell you that becoming a partner in my law firm made me more successful in my business because all the people at Intuit said, “Oh you’re a partner at your law firm!” And that adds value. They think that that is a valuable piece of the whole pie, and that gave me credibility that I might not otherwise have had. What do you do for fun? I spend a lot of time with my kids and husband. They’re big soccer players so we travel to all their soccer tournaments. I walk a lot and I do Pilates. And I read silly books that don’t stress me out. What’s a favorite book? I’m reading “Blue Ocean.” It’s on how your business ideas should not just be found in your competition, but in listening to customers and in trying to find new opportunities for growth within your industry. I’m going to find my own, and I’m going to forge my own path. That’s a mindset I set for myself day-to-day with my family, with my employees and with my business. How do you handle being a business owner and a mom? My kids come here all the time. The older one just started calling on our files for us. I told my son this is really great, you can come in when you have free time after school and help get these things done. And so, he calls the IRS. And the IRS said, “Put your mom on.” He turned bright red. I said, “Don’t worry about it.” I told the IRS we were his employer and that we were training him to take on this role. He learned it’s not always sunshine and roses, it’s not easy. I really believe in the importance of hard work, that they cannot just come here and play video games. What are the achievements you’re most proud of? Acquiring this business out of Intuit was probably my most number one proud accomplishment. And going to undergrad, law school and business school in six years – I did it all very quickly and I did well in school. I’m very proud of that. And maybe the board positions I feel proud of that – not proud that I’m on the board but that my uniqueness brought me the board positions. They’re looking for diversity but I feel nice, special to be the person that they’ve identified as a good representation of a female business owner in a university environment. Are there any lessons you learned or mistakes you made you really learned from? (When I first bought MyCorporation) one of the biggest ones is that I would sit in my office and work as an independent contributor thinking that the harder I worked, the more I was going to succeed in the business. And then that day I walked in the office and they were so quiet. I realized that when (I moved my desk out to the floor) and I sat on the floor, I learned so much more about myself, about the employees, about our customers. I had this perception of a leader who sat in their office and they declared these things need to get done and I realized that’s not working and I’m not learning enough about the day-to-day to make great decisions. That was a great learning experience. If the right offer to buy MyCorporation came up, would you take it? I think if it were a fantastic offer, I would absolutely take it. What’s fantastic? I don’t know if it’s just pure money. It would really be about us being in the right place. I had an offer from a company on the East Coast – but they wanted me to move there. There was zero chance I was going to run the division. I just wouldn’t do it. Or, if they just wanted me but not my team. Or, if they wanted to close down my business and assimilate it into another business. Those are not a fit for us. After having gone through Intuit, as great as an experience as it was, it was not easy. It was a difficult transition in and out.

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