Roadie Profile: Holley Henderson

Holley Henderson is a young entrepreneur who stepped out of a corporate interior design role to pursue her passion for environmental design. Since then, she’s founded H2 Ecodesign, a consulting firm that is a catalyst for environmentally positive change within the building industry.

Today, Holley’s passion is challenging the building industry to think about its direct impact on the environment. With a successful venture behind her, she spends much of her time speaking at industry events across the globe. Holley is known for mobilizing the audience to action and inspiring a focus on sustainability in their day-to-day work. 

We asked Holley to share some thoughts about her journey from having a successful “career” to becoming an inspiring, thought-provoking entrepreneur who is effecting change across the globe:

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Q: How did the idea for H2 Ecodesign come about? Why did you break out on your own?

A: The sequence of events is really interesting because you don’t see it until it unfolds. I wanted to be an artist and decided I’d rather do that for pleasure versus vocation.  I decided to go into interior design, but realized it wasn’t my calling.

As you grow up, you get stuck and you look at the people above you and ask yourself, “Do I really want to live the lives they live?”  But, the schools set you up to think that’s normal. Our entire educational system doesn’t support entrepreneurship; it’s really focused on getting a corporate job. Now, fast forward several years, and I’m in a nice corporate job, but it’s not my life’s calling.

Because my dad left us, it was almost like I had something to prove. So, I focused my drive on interior design – and it wasn’t even what I wanted to do! After I realized this, I read Zen and the Art of Making a Living. It helped me ask the right questions to figure out what career was right for me and narrow my focus into what I’m doing now: teaching, public speaking and environmental design.

What was interesting was I started with zero knowledge, zero education on this environmental thing. It was an evolutionary process for me. I realized by doing this environmental consulting work, I will be affecting a lot of interior designers instead of just one project at a time. In the end, my time being an interior design was an important step for me. It wasn’t my true calling, but it was part of the process I had to go through to be effective in what I’m doing today. I see that now.

 

Q: What obstacles/roadblocks did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

A: Crazy things like insurance seemed like big obstacles back then. In reality, these things aren’t really these huge issues that you make them out to be. I think, for me, it was scary because I didn’t have the family foundation or anyone to back me up financially. But, the good thing was that I had no one depending on me, so it really was a good time. Worse case scenario, I could always go back to a corporate job pretty easily if I needed to. The timing aligned and my fears were allayed.

 

Q: What has been the hardest thing about striking out on your own?

A: Some of the infrastructure stuff, like IT support and finding a good accountant. Changing my mindset about my growth as a business has also been a challenge. The work itself has not been a challenge; it has been wonderfully easy. I didn’t take a loan out to do this either, so there were days when I was wondering how I was going to pay the rent. But, everything has worked out beautifully.

 

Q: How did you bridge your income from a bi-weekly paycheck to having to make your own income?

A: I cashed out my 401K and it was just enough to get started with very little left over. I didn’t have any savings. It truly was a complete leap of faith. But, it all just fell into place. I did accrue a little credit card debt and I really had to budget for things, but I didn’t suffer. It wasn’t a big lifestyle change for me.

 

Q: What are the key things you think helped to make you successful?

A: I have a very big spiritual connection and I feel like I was meant to do this. I don’t really market a whole lot. I think public speaking is a natural marketing effort for me. There is something about doing what you’re meant to do that makes it easy. People see your energy and enthusiasm and they help you out and you get business. Being aligned in professional organizations and being involved in the community has helped a lot, too. I don’t have a lot of overhead; things are tight and efficient. The combination of the project work and speaking has been the key for me; they are synergistic in my mind.

 

Q: What is the best thing about doing what you are doing today?

A: The flexibility and freedom I now have is huge. I also really feel like I’m making a difference. Being on my own instead of inside a company I feel like I can be so much more efficient and I can control my environment so much better. I get so much more done and can take an afternoon off if I want to. I also have the ability to say no. When you work for someone else it’s much harder to do that. I can say no to things that are not in alignment with my mission.

 

Q: What advice would you give someone for following his or her dreams?

A: Just get into it and do the research.  Not knowing exactly what you want to do and how you’re going to do it is normal. We create all these barriers that aren’t real. Like, “I’m too old” or “It’s too late for me.” Lots of people think because they are the breadwinner, they don’t have the option to do what they want to do. They are fearful of even exploring because they are afraid to be disappointed. I tell people to find some tools and resources to help you with the basic stuff and starting asking questions. It’s not your job to figure out how it’s going to happen; just open yourself up to the possibility and doors will open. If you invest a little time looking at things, you will find out whether you want to do it or not.  It doesn’t take that much time investment and it’s completely worth it.