Welcome to Pursuit with Purpose. I'm your host, Melissa Griffin, and I know firsthand that it's

way too easy to slip into the rat race of competition and comparison. This podcast is all about

meaning and fulfillment and how to bring it to your life today and every day. So let's get into it.

Hello, Pursuit with Purpose family. Today's amazing guest is Dori Clark, who's here to share

her advice on how to start your own business. Now, Dory is unlike most people. She started

college when she was 14, graduated when she was 18, and then went on to hold

a bunch of different positions like nonprofit, executive, presidential campaign spokeswoman,

and even documentary filmmaker.

But for the past decade, Dory's been running her own marketing consulting business, and she's also

authored several books, including Stand Out, which was named the number one leadership book of

2015 by Inc, reinventing You, and then her latest book, Entrepreneurial You, where Dory interviews

successful entrepreneurs in order to create a framework

for anyone who wants to build their own business. Now in this conversation, Dori and I talk about

things like what it was like growing up as an LGBT person, why she reinvented herself with so many

different careers and why you're probably overthinking

your first business and the steps and tactics that Dory recommends if you want to start your

own company. Now Dory is smart and interesting and compassionate and I can't wait for you to learn from

her. So let's dive in. Hey Dory, welcome to the show. Melissa,

thanks for having me. It's great to talk with you. You too. So I want to just dive right in here

and ask you some questions about kind of where you got started. So first, I want to know where

did you grow up? Where are you from? I grew up in the Gulf

capital of the world, Pinehurst, North Carolina, which is a very small town, maybe 90

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