lwardlee
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Nov 23, 2014 (11 years) |
4 years | 2 | 0 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Nov 23, 2014 (11 years)
- Last activity
- 4 years
- Topics created
- 2
- Replies created
- 0
Bio
Leah Ward-Lee, the author of "$1,000 Start-Ups", is a serial micro-entrepreneur. She opened her first business at ten after lobbying for and receiving a shoe shine kit for Christmas.
She pulled her wagon through the neighborhood, going door-to-door, offering to shine her neighbor’s shoes for twenty-five cents a pair. Once her wagon was full, she took the shoes home and polished them.
Unfortunately that business was short-lived. She hadn’t tagged the shoes and couldn’t remember whose shoes were whose, so her dad went with her to retrace the route until every pair was returned.
Since then she’s had businesses developing and teaching college courses, instructing aerobic classes, owning half a plane that was rented to a flight and maintenance school, and renting homes. She’s also owned a consignment store, a gift shop, a gift basket business, a consulting firm, hosted The Executive Toolbox (a weekly radio show), and a publishing company.
She also spent twenty years in the US Army, served as the Chief Information and Technical Officer for two major insurance companies, and has a second career as a management consultant and as the executive director of The $1,000 Start-Ups Consortium, as non-profit whose mission is provide income and reentry opportunities by training, funding, and promoting small businesses.
Leah resides in Amelia Island, Florida with her life partner Sam Lane, and their rescue dog, Goliath.