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Jody Greene

Chief Marketing Officer

San Diego, CA

We talk to women all the time that say they wish they knew that they didn’t have to know it all to just get started.

It was June of 2011. I was working full-time in a marketing position and working on Chic CEO in my “spare time.” I was tired but so excited about the possibilities of the company. We had launched the website in December of 2010 and my business partner, Stephanie, and I had been amazed with the traction and inspired by the women we were hearing from. We wanted Chic CEO to become big enough that we could really concentrate on it.

My cell phone rang as I was working away at my desk. It was Stephanie. When I answered the phone, all I heard her say was "Brett Favre." I was confused, so I asked, "Brett Favre?" She replied, “No, FORBES!” I crawled under my desk and we squealed together.

We had been listed as one of the Top 10 Entrepreneurial Websites for Women in an article on Forbes.com. It was just the nudge we needed to solidify the need for Chic CEO. Within three months, I leaned in and quit my marketing job to concentrate on Chic CEO, full-time.

That moment in time when Stephanie screamed “Brett Favre” will live with me forever. I now look back and can’t imagine my life any other way. We talk to women all the time that say they wish they knew that they didn’t have to know it all to just get started. My advice to any entrepreneur out there that’s teetering on the edge of jumping into running their own business full time—watch for signs, then do it.

There may be others out there that would advise you to take more cautionary steps before quitting a full-time, paying job to venture out on your own, and I’d agree there are some things you should have in place first, however – you only get one life, lean in!