Reinvent Your Career: Success Tips Fran Lessans
(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)September 30, 2009 by Erin Casey
Want to reinvent your career? Women everywhere are doing it. Some start from scratch by going back to school and learning a totally new set of skills. Others, like Fran Lessans, take the expertise they’ve gained, find an underserved niche and apply that knowledge to creating a new career. You can read Lessans’ story here, but first, read on to learn some of the success keys that helped her reinvent her career and go from being a nurse to leading Passport Health, a nationally recognized company specializing in immunizations. Today, as CEO and president of this growing business, she not only has a career she loves, but she’s offering a similar opportunity to others through the company’s franchise model.
Be Tenacious
A key point for success, Lessans says, is not taking no for an answer. “If the front door closes, you try to get in from the side.”
Be Committed and Hire the Right People
When Lessans was diagnosed with breast cancer, she didn’t want to take time off from her burgeoning business. With a competent team in place, she relied on supervisors to answer immediate needs and schedule her time around her chemotherapy treatments.
Be Innovative
The recipient of the 2005 Innovator of the Year award by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, and the 2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Maryland region, Lessans knows innovation is a key to success. As such, she’s worked with a team to develop software that keeps track of Passport Health’s customers’ needs and vaccination records. “People said we would have to settle and buy it off the shelf, but we’re ahead of the curve with a system that networks all of our locations.”
Be Proactive
From recognizing a need and carving out a niche, to finding the courage to strike out on her own, being proactive is one of Lessans’ keys to success. “I wonder sometimes why I didn’t do this sooner,” Lessans says. “Now, I’m hopeful that others can experience the same success and freedom.”
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Great tips, Erin! As a woman who has reinvented herself and now coaches others to do so, I can identify with Lessans’ remark: “Why didn’t I do this sooner?!”
Interesting entry Erin! It was very enjoyable to read:) I especially liked the part on tenacity: never take no for an answer!