After 25 years in the corporate world, Ellen Banks made a leap of faith. She gave up her secure Executive sales job to start a company designed to motivate others through inspiring messages on T-shirts.
One Saturday afternoon, 8 years ago, Ellen Banks experienced one of those life-changing moments. Even though she led a full life as a businesswoman, wife and mother, Ellen thought that she needed to be more self-motivated, more focused on her goals and stronger in the way she lived her life. She had recently discovered yoga, so she found herself noodling with the idea of designing a T-shirt with the Warrior pose on it. The shirt would have sayings that would remind her of her goals each time she faced herself in the mirror. She thought about marketing the T-shirt to motivate others on what she called "a path to personal transformation." She even came up with a name "Transformation Tees '
"I thought, 'I could start a company,'" Banks said. "It wasn't that I was searching for a new job. I was just learning self-motivation."
Years passed. Banks said the responsibilities of motherhood and a demanding career muffled her thoughts of Transformation Tees. "I wasn't in a position to chuck it all and go do my own thing," she said. Then, 8 years later, the whisper of an idea became a roar. Crawling along the highway during the 2-hour commute to her NYC office, it hit her. She would have to leave her sales job to start her company. Her daughter was then 18, so the timing seemed right. She took the very next exit and went to a business supply store to buy office materials to start Transformation Tees. A week later, she officially resigned "on a high note" from her sales job.
Banks' first T-shirt design "I will make this leap with faith" comes from her bold move. "Strength comes from within. We have the power to make core changes by using our internal focus, strength, wisdom and faith," said Banks in her Web site message about the company's start. The T-shirts bear "reverse" images and messages, which anyone who wears one can read each time they faces themselves in the mirror. As she likes to say Transformation begins here .what s in your mirror?
Banks' biggest challenge was learning how to build something from scratch. "I had a very strong business background, but I didn't know how to develop a product," she said. "It's more involved than I would have imagined." The "plus" is that she can make her own hours and walk to her barn, where she has an office, in northern New Jersey.
Her biggest reward? "I have total control over it. Women doing things like this don't want a grind anymore. We live our lives the way we want to, for our family, or for ourselves," said Banks. "It's like you get your life back! I am no longer fitting life into my work. I am now fitting my work into my life!"
You can read more about Ellen s designs in: Yoga Journal Magazine, Natural Awakenings, Powerful You Women's Network, East Hampton Star, Daily Record Living, Gannett News, WOR NYC Radio, R Lifestyle, MTV Movie Awards. Product information can be found at www.reflectyourpower.com.
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