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Conversations with the Inspiring Ellie RedCloud

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellie RedCloud.

Ellie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am an active duty military spouse and I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and knack for understanding business and seeing it in a different way. I worked in business development for several different companies, but the issue was that every time we moved, I had to start over again. On top of that, being a military spouse means that you don’t exactly have a conventional schedule and often you’re managing your home and your family on your own.

When we moved to Germany, I almost took a job working in a library on post for very meager wages that really wouldn’t even cover my kids’ daycare costs. I decided that there had to be a better way so I started freelancing as a business development strategist on a website called oDesk which is Upwork now. Within six months, I was making what I had been making at my previous federal job before moving to Germany and I had a waitlist of small business owners that wanted to work with me. That’s when I got serious about what I was doing, cut out the middle man and started my business.

I’ve been in business for four years now and during that time, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some AMAZING businesses in financial services, real estate, IT, health and wellness, and eCommerce. Last year, I started a free online community to help other aspiring entrepreneurs get serious about their businesses and access the tools they need to establish sustainable small businesses and prepare for long-term growth.

I’m also planning to start an organization specifically for military spouses who are interested in building businesses that focuses not just on entrepreneurship, but also on connecting with local business communities and managing the demands of being a business owner with the nomadic lifestyle of the military. Many spouses wait until their husband’s career is over to start theirs and it doesn’t have to be that way.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh, my gosh… no, not at all. My husband has left A LOT for different trainings and he’s currently on his fourth deployment. We have children and we’re not near any family. At the same time, I don’t only to do the work that I do, but I also have to continue to build the business so I have to network and attend events and my clients are located around the U.S. so I have to meet with them in person occasionally plus manage my home and my kids’ schedules.

The best advice I have for women who happen to also be mothers and wives like me is to make your business a priority. Treat it the same way you would if you were working for someone else. That means your kids have to have a schedule and if they’re very young, there will be days that they’ll need to be in daycare or with a sitter while you build the business.

You can’t be afraid to put yourself out there and go beyond the bare minimum. That’s actually my business motto — “Go Beyond”. Set goals, smash them and then go beyond that to the next goal. You don’t have to choose if you want to be a business owner or a wife or a mom, you can choose but you don’t have to. You can do it all. We were made to do it all. Women have been doing it all for years, it’s just now we’ve decided we’re going to get paid for it.

What should we know about Choice Consulting Group? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I specialize in business growth strategies. I’m known for being able to make successful businesses more successful. My clients are small business owners in service-based industries that have already established a business and they’re ready to break through to the next level of success. I develop strategies that allow them to do that.

The thing that I am most proud of is when I’m able to give back by working with new business owners and providing them help with strategic planning and developing their start-ups and ensure they’re thinking strategically about the long-term plans for their business so that they can become established and they create a real opportunity for long-term success.

Who do you look up to? How have they inspired you?
I’m inspired by so many women in my life, but if I have to choose it would be my grandmother. My grandmother had eight children and she lived in the rural south in south Arkansas. My grandfather was a farmer and they had a lot of acres and he did okay, but my grandmother wanted more. She wanted to buy her kids things from the shops downtown and she wanted a car, and even though she was black farmers wife in south Arkansas with an eighth-grade education she went to work and she worked hard. It wasn’t popular for her to do that at all, but she didn’t care what anyone else thought about what she did. She did what she needed to do not only for her family but for herself.

She took care of her children and home, she made an income, she bought her own car and she was her own woman, and she did that with a lot more obstacles to overcome than I’ve ever had to face. Because of her, the women in my family are strong, we’re well-educated and we’re unstoppable — all of us.

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Choice Consulting Group, LLC

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