Profile of Success: Best in Show

HOW SHE DEALT WITH THIS CHALLENGE: Enlisted the help of others. Vlietstra learned from her mentors over the years, particularly a business partner who bought an interest in the company and showed her the ropes of managing a business.

But this isn’t to say all of her problems are solved. Or that she can look at the past wistfully. “It’s still my biggest concern, to be very honest,” Vlietstra concedes. “I’d say in hindsight, I took too long a time to build my business. I missed a tremendous amount of opportunity by being cautious, simply out of ignorance. I wish I searched harder and worked harder to force myself to go for some outside consulting. I could’ve built this thing a lot bigger — and a lot faster. I chose the cautious and safe route, which is also OK, but I missed a lot of opportunities by doing that.”