From Engineer to Entrepreneur: Unveiling the Path to Business Success with Alicia Butler Pierre

From Engineer to Entrepreneur: Unveiling the Path to Business Success

Sean: Hey, guys, Welcome back to the show. It’s me again, Sean Si, aka Mr. CEO at 22. We got a special guest for you today and she’s from Atlanta, Georgia. And I do believe that’s where the John Maxwell team office is. John Maxwell is one of my mentors and our guest’s name is Alicia Butler Pierre.

And guess what? She is the CEO of Equilibria Inc. She’s the author of the world’s first book on business infrastructure. She’s an adjunct instructor at Purdue University in Nichols College. She’s a top 2% podcaster and a lean Six Sigma black belt.

What could be more amazing than all of these things that you’ve been able to do? Alicia, I couldn’t believe it. Thank you so much for being here on the show.

Alicia: Sean I’m so honored to be here with you today. Thank you so much for having me.

Sean: The honor is ours and we’re super excited to learn from you. And now we’re excited to hear about your story.

So how did you become the CEO of Equilibria? What was the problem that you saw that now you try to solve and now put you here and give you all of these other things to boot?

Alicia: It was quite by accident, Sean, that I became a CEO. I always dabbled in entrepreneurial-type ventures when I was a teenager. You know, I always had another way of making money, but I never thought I would have my own business and pursue it full-time.

And what happened to me, my background is in chemical engineering. So I was working in different oil refineries and chemical plants. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I did not want to spend the rest of my career doing that. And so I decided to leave my life behind. So I’m originally from Louisiana and I was living in New Orleans.

I decided to sell my house, quit my job, and relocate to Atlanta, Georgia. As you’ve just pointed out, that happened 17 years ago. I knew one person when I relocated here and I had this dream, Sean, of working at Coca-Cola. This is where you mentioned John Maxwell, but this is also where Coca-Cola is headquartered.

And I thought, okay, I’ll leverage my engineering background. And I had just completed business school, so I had an MBA and I thought this would be the perfect place for me to tap into my engineering skills as well as my newly minted business skills. And Sean, that did not happen. I did not get a job. I didn’t get any job.

I kept applying for work and I just couldn’t seem to land a job. And so I started reading these different books. And what I started to notice Sean, was that a lot of these books were talking about the fact that we are all blessed with natural skills, talents, and abilities, and through a process of whether you want to call it education or miseducation, we’re being trained and groomed to work for other people and to not tap into our natural skills, talents and abilities and figure out how can I create an opportunity for myself? 

So that is how I started my company. It was literally because I couldn’t find a job and I decided I started equilibria, as you pointed out, and it started as a professional organizing company. So I was going into people’s homes and organizing  their messes. And over time it has evolved into what it is today from organizing to this business infrastructure that I put in place for companies now. So that’s how it started.

Sean: And how long ago was this when you started?

Alicia: This was 17 years ago. It’s scary to think that because the time has flown by, but it’s been 17 years.

 Sean: You love what you’ve been doing.

Alicia: Either that or I’m crazy.

Sean: We all are to a certain level. To a certain degree, we all are. Now, I’m curious, Alicia, that was a powerful book that you read. Mind sharing that with us?

 Alicia: Oh, gosh, there were several of them. One was How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. There is another. Gosh, there were so many. I remember there was a documentary called The Secret that came out roughly around the time that I was starting my business. That was another big inspiration for me, another book.

Now, here’s one that you may probably have not heard of, but it’s called The Miseducation of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson And here’s the thing about that book, because in my opinion, it’s something that’s for anyone. Could the lessons from it apply to anyone?

What I got from the book again, is that we all have these things that we are naturally very good at. Yeah, but somehow, as we start to grow up and get older, we are steered in different directions by sometimes the people that love us the most, our friends and our families are telling us, Well, Sean, I know you like search engine optimization and marketing, digital marketing, sales, branding, but why don’t you become a doctor?

Because that’s where you’ll make money, you know? And so he talks about the fact that if you are programmed long enough, you start to suppress the things that naturally bring you joy. Because think about it.

When you were sharing with me before we started recording how much you love podcasting and the passion that you have for it. It would be great, you know, and one day you will make millions of, you know, you’ll make a lot of money as a result.

But for right now, you’re doing it because you love it. You’ll continue to pour your passion and your heart and your soul into anything that you’re passionate about and naturally are very good at. So that’s the lesson that I got in particular from that book. You know, we have to break those mental chains, the physical chains, as well as the mental chains that we may have that are holding us back.

Sean: Yeah. And now I’m wondering, did someone tell you, hey, Alicia, why not chemical engineering? Because honestly, like, who? Who does that? Chemical engineering. Right. I studied I.T. I almost got kicked out because I failed 28 units.

But chemical engineering, my goodness. I mean, that’s on a different plane, a different level. Like, how were you told by friends and family who loved you? Hey, take this course. It’s probably good for you.

Alicia: It was one of my teachers, Sean, my first love when I was in school was actually in journalism. I loved writing. I loved to read. That’s what I thought I was going to do. But I was also. It wasn’t until I took a chemistry class that I realized, I’m good at this and I like it. I like this.

And when I was applying for university, Sean that I’ll never forget my teacher in high school, Mrs. Callis, who’s actually from Ukraine. You know, it’s crazy all the things going on in Ukraine right now. But she’s Ukrainian. She took a particular interest in what degree I wanted to pursue and I told her about chemistry and she said, Well, you know, here’s the thing about chemistry.

You’ll have to go all the way up to the Ph.D. level before you start to make any real money. Yeah, why don’t you try chemical engineering? Yeah. And that was how it came about. I didn’t question it. I thought, well, she’s my elder. I respect her. I respect and value her opinion. So that’s what I’m going to do. Yeah. And it was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life.

Sean: My goodness. But would you say that? So you finished and graduated in Chemical engineering, hands down. Kudos to you. Love it. Love that you finished it. That’s a huge accomplishment. And you wanted to even go through and apply for Coca-Cola, which means that your love for it pierced into wanting to build a career around that.

Would you say that when I followed that advice, it did put me on a pretty good path, but it’s just that I met some roadblocks along the way and it was an accident that I started Equilibria? But if I didn’t meet these roadblocks, I’d probably be in Coca-Cola right now.

Alicia: That is so true. And you know what’s funny, Sean, is I’ve done a lot of work for Coca-Cola, but as a consultant.

So to those who are listening to us right now or watching us, just know that sometimes we establish these goals, we have these ideas and these visions of what we want to accomplish in life, and just understand that sometimes the opportunity may not always present itself in the way that you thought it would happen, but it will happen in some way, shape, form or fashion. It just may not look the way that you thought it would look.