Brands with Brains and Heart: Nicole Phillip Helps Entrepreneurs Build Holistic Businesses of Their Own

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When Nicole Phillip was young, she watched her mother navigate the ups and downs of an LLC called, Steadfast Life. Even though she was too young to understand what was going on, she recognized something special in the entrepreneurial spirit and became fascinated by it.

As time went on, she noticed how hard her mother was working, how great a work ethic she had, and how much she persevered. Watching document after document arrives at her house in the mail, seeing how important it was to have something of your own in addition to a traditional ‘job’ no matter how good it was—it all inspired her to get to where she is today.

Now, Phillip is an author and entrepreneur in her own right, with the skills to understand how to make businesses grow and flourish. And while building her business is essential, and growing wealth is a priority, that’s not her entire focus. She’s spreading her knowledge further, helping other people do what she did, working to help them build their own dream lives.  

Starting From the Bottom

Phillip knows how important it is for entrepreneurs out there to have a pillar of support behind them. In part, it’s because the single mom had to do it all by herself. From the time she was young, she was used to stepping up to the plate and being the voice that spoke for everyone.

Watching her mother grow successful side businesses was motivation enough, but she was thrown into the real world at a much younger age than most. When she was a junior in high school, her mother had a stroke that led to paralysis. Phillip became a caretaker for her and also for her siblings.

Since her sister and her brother were only in high school at the time, it was on her to make things right for everyone. Although it wasn’t an easy task, she was up for the challenge. She started a corporate job, and she set up a side business of her own, as she had learned to do from watching her mother. She was pushing herself hard, but as she said, “I was inspired to create wealth that could help me bring my mother home.”

Then another tragedy struck, as she was let go from the job she needed to help her family survive. “After I was laid off without notice, having my own stream of income helped me bring in money on my own terms and was even more helpful,” she said. Thanks to her entrepreneurial spirit and mindset, Phillip was able to pull her family out from under and herself towards lasting success. Now, she wants to help other entrepreneurs do the same.

Business with Heart

Although she knew what she needed to do to get to the top, Phillip wasn’t about to let challenges take the heart out of her business. And, she wasn’t going to let having been let go from her job make a difference in her future plans either.

She was on the way up, and she knew how to adjust things to get there. One of the things she did was use a year of severance pay to work on her business, then go back to another corporate job to make more income. But something didn’t feel right, even though she was given a 2% raise, and things seemed on the up and up.

Finally, she understood what the problem was. The issue wasn’t that she wasn’t successful enough. It was because she “wasn’t living with a purpose,” as she said. She turned down the raise, put her faith in herself, and moved forward.

Even when, at just 25 years old, she gave birth to her son and had to work as a single mother, she refused to let this faith waver. Now doing something her heart was in, she was driven forward to make it to the top for this delightful little new member of her family. Building assets for their little family was what helped her push on through all the challenges that came her way.

Holistic Practices for Success

Phillip believes in a holistic approach to business and life, which makes everything she does more fulfilling. Just five years after she set up her company, Ministry Event Marketing, it was already a six-figure agency.

She decided it was essential to teach others to make the most of their business and compartmentalize their lives to operate to the best of their abilities. She channeled this knowledge into her book, “Single, Saved, and Bitter” 30 Day Journey to Healing a Bitter Heart.

Another holistic way she approaches her business is by keeping her sister Jalisha by her side. Along with her former colleague Letashia as her assistant, she’s building a close-knit team around her that she trusts and has faith in. This is something she wants her clients to understand—that they can engage with their passions and hobbies without being demotivated by the challenges of the business world.

She believes health is as essential as financial goals, stating, “Having the right people around you to support you and your mental and physical health, including your goals with someone and having them encourage you is empowering”

New, Exciting Initiatives

As part of her drive to help people reach their goals and focus on their health, she’s building a brand that helps develop their own brands. She doesn’t believe in making soulless corporate entities and wants people to see that there’s another way forward.

This led her to her new program, Behind the Brand, which she uses to help entrepreneurs build brands while remaining authentic in today’s digital media spaces. She wants to help people work with experts to make sure they can prioritize their business needs without sacrificing their personal ones.

That’s her true mission—to help other entrepreneurs and especially women, to find the resources they need to build successful empires of their own.

About Nicole Phillip

Nicole Philip, CEO of Ministry Event marketing and creator of Behind the Brand, helps leaders create luxury brands that inspire. She has helped dozens of individuals define their brand and scale to the next figure. Click here to learn more: www.thenicoledenise.org

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