Maddie Quirk is done with excuses.
In contrast to our top performing rookie operators, she had a tumultuous start to her journey with Student Works (back in 2019). While numbers consistently revealed that Maddie was one of our weakest operators, she insisted on skirting accountability in favour of blaming others for the challenges she failed to overcome. Maddie has come a long way from those initial challenges and recently broke through $250,000 in revenue, something reserved only for Student Work’s top-performing veterans. What changed?
In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow podcast, Maddie revealed that it was a discussion with her business coach that made her realize that the cause of her floundering business was herself.
Here’s how Maddie was able to turn it around and come out the gates firing all cylinders in her second year with Student Works:
Take Accountability
Sometimes when we veer off course, all it takes to achieve that lightbulb moment is a conversation with someone who has your best interest at heart.
When her business coach, worn down by hearing Maddie’s usual tirade of excuses, finally asked, “Maddie, what is it going to take for you to get it together?” everything shifted.
“When he said that I was like, I have been so [set in] my own ways, so ingrained in my personality, in my life, in my habits, that even running a small business and having all these challenges still wasn’t enough for me to face myself until we had that conversation. I remember [thinking] ‘wow, I have been living my life [without] integrity, blaming other people for my results, and not taking accountability for my own success. It was when Luke and I had that conversation [I realized] there was no other perspective,” she told Chris.
With a new mindset, Maddie was able to triple her revenue and quintuple her profit the following year!
Display Integrity
There’s no tonic more powerful for self-esteem than a life lived with integrity. Since fostering the virtue in herself, Maddie has only soared.
“I truly believe that you are the one that holds yourself back from your own success through excuses, which is an easy thing to do by the way. It’s so easy to find an excuse for why you shouldn’t be successful or find an excuse why you shouldn’t do the things you should do. It’s so easy and that’s comfortable and that’s why a lot of people do it, which makes sense. But when you operate from a place of integrity and not because it’s easy or not, you will completely change your life,” she explained.
Taking the easy way out never pays in the long run, kudos to Maddie for realizing this and radically transforming her business and her life!
Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!
