Labor of Love
Successful Solutions in Fort Pierce is the brainchild of Gwen McLeod, who has turned her love of helping people into her life’s work, assisting others to find their vocations. Her business is beginning its second year of operation at its North U.S. 1 location. WHITNEY JOSEPH PHOTOS
Fort Pierce woman prepares folks to land their dream job
BY WHITNEY JOSEPH
12 Tips to Recharge Your Relationship was written by McLeod, who now runs her multi-service business center from a plaza off North U.S. 1 in Fort Pierce.
When Gwen McLeod awakes each morning, it’s with more than one purpose. For the first part of her day, this Fort Pierce native and mother of six gets dressed to head to her day job at Fort Pierce Preparatory Academy. She spends the hours between 6:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. as the school’s front desk clerk.
But when her school day is done, she shifts gears and focuses on her 8-year-old multi-service business center, Successful Solutions.
That business, McLeod’s “real work,” is celebrating its first full year in its brick-and-mortar location. It’s been a big step up, after the previous seven years she spent building her business online. While it’s located in a rather nondescript plaza in Fort Pierce, don’t be fooled by the simple façade — this multi-faceted business comes packed with a punch.
Successful Solutions has membership-based workspace, with meeting rooms and small event space rentals. Its other services include anger management classes; employee retention credit; fingerprinting and background checks; life and relationship coaching; notary services; wedding officiant services; events and workshops; and previous professional networking events that are now being reshaped into the Successful Mindset Tribe on the third Monday of every month.
“It just restarted,” said McLeod. “I have one person registered [for the first class], but whether I have one or 21, it’s OK.” And if that registrant is the only one to show up, McLeod says that it’s “no problem.” She’ll merely turn the networking session into a one-on-one career coaching session. The revamped sessions will be capped at 20, as she wants intimate groups. “Everybody will be able to connect,” she said, “and it will give people ample time to talk. Some people don’t talk at all, and some people talk enough for everybody.”
EXTRA SOMETHING
McLeod is well aware that there are a vast number of job fairs and networking events for professionals hoping to expand their contact lists, gain new customers and build product recognition along the Treasure Coast. But her events have an extra component: offering professional coaching and a chance for attendees to problem solve and “think outside the box,” rather than merely meeting and greeting. “This is in lieu of networking events, because
I can’t compete in that arena, so I’m attempting to blaze my own trail,” she said.
“If you’re going to be a rookie, be the rookie of the year,” she said.
But McLeod also sees the benefit of — and gets people ready for — job fairs. “I think job fairs have more potential than networking events,” she said. “You never know who you’re going to meet at a job fair, and you can be hired instantaneously. A job fair can be very effective for someone who is looking to get work immediately or to hire workers.
“Networking events are for entrepreneurs and business owners, those who are self-employed, who are looking to connect, or who are pivoting their businesses, looking for referrals or opportunities to be in different circles or hoping someone in the networking arena could use their services.”
Local business owners are eager for the help. “I’ve found that Port St. Lucie is a much more difficult area to hire in, relative to other areas where I’ve run businesses,” said Jason Shavelson, a delivery service partner at the Amazon station in Port St. Lucie. “Having said that, the caliber of people here is higher than in many other places. Plus, we’re still dealing with a very competitive job market, with lots of new entries into the job market from the business perspective, and that adds to the difficulty in hiring.”
Successful Solutions in Fort Pierce offers resources to helpful those looking to bolster their businesses.
WANTING MORE
Once one has a job, the trick is how to climb the corporate ladder — wherever it may lead. And in 2023 it needn’t be that corner office that was once so coveted. The key is to be able to earn a living that can support you and your loved ones while making you happy at the same time.
McLeod says that’s where her professional services can help. She started Successful Solutions after years of working for various departments with the state including child protective services, probation and behavior analysis. Yet with all that experience, McLeod was left wanting more.
“I would rather make $35,000 and be my own boss than stay stuck somewhere for more money,” she said. “That’s the mindset. How badly do you want it? What does success look like to you, what do you want: the money or the freedom? You have to balance it out. I worked hard to get myself into this position, but you have to look before you leap.”
McLeod also wanted her business to reflect her values and serve causes that are important to her. So, she parceled off a portion of her office space to devote to her nonprofit, We Leap, Inc., which she created to help break the silence and cycle of domestic violence. Her goal is to build Hope’s House, a transitional home in St. Lucie County for women and children with nowhere to go after summoning the courage to leave domestic violence situations.
Wanting to do even more, she’s also helping senior citizens re-enter the workforce by partnering with the AARP Senior Community Service Employment Program. This partnership has already helped her own business: It’s how she found her new office assistant, Lisa Ross.
For her part, Ross says she’s thrilled — and grateful — to be a part of the program and to have been hired by McLeod. “I just needed some kind of job,” she said. “I was bored, for one thing. I had gone to school for administrative assistance in 2013. I needed something to do but, because I am disabled and I had been in a lot of pain, I wanted something that I could do that did not put a lot of pressure on me.
“[Gwen] does relief for domestic violence victims, and I always wanted to help an organization that helps others. I experienced [violence] in my younger years, and I just wanted to do something with that, and she provided that chance. That door opened.”
As the office assistant at Successful Solutions, Ross will help tend to various office matters, which could range from taking fingerprints for clients to answering calls to setting up workshops. She said she’s ready for the call to duty. “Gwen offered to train me in other areas of the business, and I am going to grab it,” she said. “When doors open, you should take that opportunity to learn.” Ross, who is 59 and epileptic, described her job opportunity with McLeod as “everything I’ve been praying for.”
That’s exactly the feeling McLeod wants all of those who are searching for employment to experience.
Successful Solutions
772.940.1632
2303 N US-1, Fort Pierce, FL
www.successfulsolutionsllc.org
AARP Foundation
855.850.2525
We Leap, Inc.
772.788.2114
See the original article in the print publication
Treasure Coast Business is a news service and magazine published in print, via e-newsletter and online at tcbusiness.com by Indian River Media Group. For more information or to report news email staff@tcbusiness.com