We had the good fortune of connecting with Valerie Dawson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Valerie, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
The most important decision I made that contributed to my success is to keep pushing, and never give up! No matter how challenging it may have been all I knew was that I could not go back to a day job or work for anyone else and my only choice was to keep striving to build my business, there was no other option.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The Beehive Software, LLC is here to help other businesses thrive and create sweet, golden honey from their own businesses. What I mean by that is, we put more time back in the business owners day by doing what we do best and implementing custom technology that runs their business operations, rather than them doing it all; this allows them to grow their business by focusing on retention and new customers. Just to give you an example, we have a client in Denver, Co. who had been running a meal prep business for 5 years and could not take a vacation, let alone a day off. Once we built and implemented business process automation for his backend operations and created a simple, clean frontend for his customers, he was able to step away from running the business and started growing it rapidly and steadily. We launched his custom technology about 9 months ago and he’s seen over 1000% growth of his meal prep client base!

How I got to where I’m at today is pure optimism, tenacity and perseverance.  I threw myself into the fire and built this business on “Cold Calls”. I still do cold calls to this day. Since it has been the way I’ve built the business, I see the value in doing those activities  which have worked. Even with other strategies of business development, cold calling is always a priority every day of the week.
Cold calls are not “easy”. The one thing I had to remember when cold calling, is that I had to make a lot of calls to get through a lot of “No’s” and find a business that said “Yes”. Finding new clients through cold calls are the best and most rewarding; not only because it took a lot of effort to get there, but because now I had the opportunity to nurture a new business relationship, provide value and prove to them that they made the right decision for their business by choosing to work with us.  I had to dial 200 phone numbers everyday to get anywhere between 0-5 prospective clients a day, and sometimes no prospective clients would come of my efforts, however, I never gave up. I knew that for every “No” I was getting closer to that one “Yes”, and that was thrilling! I learned that if I just kept up the daily activities, that I was working towards building my company’s  brand, portfolio of work and client base which ultimately would create more business.
What the world should know about me is I didn’t go to college, and I never was in the technology industry before I became the CEO of my own technology company. If you have the determination to achieve something, you find a way and you do it!


If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite spots in San Diego, first is the beautiful ocean! I love Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. I’d definitely take someone who’s never been to the beach, then I’d say go check out the Self Realization Meditation Gardens where Paramahansa Yogananda who brought Yoga to the states from his home in India made his home in Encinitas. If you want fast, casual food after the beach and the visit to the Self Realization Meditation Gardens and you love tacos, please go to The Taco Shop on Pacific Hwy 101! Their tacos are delicious and the line is always out the door along the street, but I promise it’s worth it! If you’re here for a few days, definitely take a yoga class, there are plenty of yoga studios to choose from, but I personally love Reach Yoga in Pacific Beach. The classes offered there are taught by highly trained yoga instructors and I always leave there feeling euphoric from my yoga practice. If you want to go grab some drinks, If you’re looking to grab some decent steak and drinks, head over to Cowboy Star in San Diego. The place is always packed but the ambiance is fun, you get to cook your own excellent grade steak with your group of friends or family and the portions are insanely large, so you get a lot of bang for your buck. Sunsets are always beautiful, so I catch the sunset EVERYDAY. There are times I run upstairs at my home in Carlsbad to catch it right off of the balcony and it never ceases to amaze me, it’s always so gorgeous! I would also recommend going to Balboa Park! Such a massive park with museums and art!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am grateful to all my friends and family that supported my decision to build a business even when I had no idea what I was really getting myself into. I know that my friends and family saw my dedication, focus, drive and determination and knew that could only lead to success.

Website: https://thebeehivesoftware.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeehivesoftware/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-beehive-software/

Twitter: @beehivetechdev

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebeehivesoftware

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