Growing up in a family of aspiring individuals, Erinn Roth knew she wanted to make a name for herself. She decided to study chemistry in college in order to become a doctor, but her plans abruptly shifted when she joined her school’s ROTC and was encouraged to pursue her leadership abilities in the military. Soon after joining the Army, Erinn did grow into a leader and eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Erinn stayed in the Army for more than two decades, and she accomplished a lot. But she was ready to turn the page. Before Erinn retired, she had put a lot of thought into starting a business. She found herself constantly looking back on the times she would bake for family functions, and she decided that that was the route she would take in her next chapter. 

Soon, though, tragedy struck when Erinn’s mom, her greatest cheerleader, died suddenly. After she grieved, Erinn knew she had to move forward with her plan. She opened her bakery and called it Ms. Jo’s Petite Sweets in honor of her mother. 

But the hard part was just about to begin for Erinn. Anyone can open a business, very few can scale one. Erinn was desperate for her business to grow, but scared of not being able to measure up.

“What would keep me up at night, was that one job that required more than I was capable of putting out,” Erinn says. “What would keep me up at night would be that one call saying, ‘We need you to do this.’ And it’s like, ‘How do I do it?’”

Erinn was eventually faced with that huge challenge. And on this episode of Find Your Mission, learn how she handled it, and what lessons Erinn has learned about moving into entrepreneurship later in life. 

Learn more about Erinn and Ms.Jo’s Petite Sweets here.

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Find Your Mission is presented by WeWork in partnership with Dell. 

Thank you again to WeWork! Veterans in Residence, a partnership of WeWork and Bunker Labs, is a six-month startup incubator and leadership program that provides veteran and military family members the community, business support, and workspace to help launch and grow their businesses. 

To learn more about WeWork and the Veterans in Residence program, visit we.co/veterans. 

Also, thank you to our friends at Dell. Dell offers small business advisors to help any small business owner manage and understand all the ins and outs of technology in their small business. To speak with an Advisor today, Call 877-BUY-DELL or click here. 

This podcast was created by the team at Mission. If you want to hear more from Mission, be sure to check out Mission.org.