Meet Dorothy Andreas | Speaker, Author, Entrepreneur, Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dorothy Andreas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dorothy, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
When I started my first business at the age of 19, my time was all for myself. As I got married and had children, time pressure began to build. I was ignoring it. I was so busy opening new businesses and serving in high-level leadership positions in non-profits, I was blind to my body, my family and my sense of joy. When my then 4 year old son said, “mommy, you’re not fun anymore”, my heart broke. I had to step back and assess all that I was doing. Working 19 hours and sleeping for 5 every day, no longer served anyone. I had to deconstruct everything in my life, including why I chose to bury myself in work, I had to understand what it was I was trying to prove and why I equated career success with being ‘good enough’. This was a long hard look in the mirror. As I began to re-construct my life with a sense of life balance, it was easy to eliminate, delegate and say ‘no’. By creating a chart for myself which allowed me to measure 5 key areas which I felt were the balancing parts of life; Physical, Relationships, Spiritual, Career and Finances, I was able to measure where I had gaps. From this exercise, I created a workshop in 1995 on time management, which I still teach today. Every time I run this workshop, The Time Class, my own sense of schedule, purpose, joy and ease increases. Watching my students unfold their own versions of how they stope themselves from experiencing limitless joy, enough time and overall peace is one of the best feelings. By getting rigorously honest with myself about my own choices, I was able to leverage positive change for others. It is always an evolution. I know it’s time for me to look in the mirror every time I see that I invite drama or negativity into my life.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started in the beauty profession, with no business experience or education. Growth was a result of providing great service, great value and always looking for better ways of being a business person. Providing employment to mostly single, heads of household females has been very rewarding. Service industries are tough- I wanted to be a positive asset to my staff, our clients and the communities where we had locations. I grew the Day Spa concept in 1986 from the question “what is a day spay” (people really had no idea what the word Spa meant or how to pronounce it) into a regular household word in a tri-state area. To solve a bottleneck, I had an idea that we could print bar-coded and numbered gift certificates directly off of our website. On-line gift cards did not yet exist, It took me a year to find code-writers for my idea. Believing in myself was hard- people though I was crazy. Today, decades later, my solution has transformed the beauty industry. As years went by, I wanted to write a book to help people find a sense of life balance while growing a business and a family simultaneously. When Streamline Success; Eliminate Chaos From Your Service Industry launched in early 2019, I was just getting my consulting business off the ground. Today I help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into tangible businesses and scale to 7 figures. Less than 2% of women can grow a company to 7 figures. I have figured out a system to help overcome self-limiting beliefs and behaviors. It works for those who are ready to get super serious about what it really takes to scale a company. This is a direct result of surviving massive pitfalls and devastation along my own journey.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I always judge a city by it’s investment into culture. The HIgh Museum of Art is world-class. We are lucky enough to have the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library here. The World of Coca-Cola and the Atlanta History Center have so much interesting information. Ponce City Shops is one of my favorite places to hang out. It’s great seeing the small business people proudly serving and selling in an historical venue. We also have a wide array of shopping- from the elegant Lenox Square to my favorites….the Saks and Nordstrom Outlets, there truly is something for everyone. For dining, Canoe is one of my favorites. The whole vibe puts my guests immediately at ease. For the club scene, Johnny Rockets is an absolute hoot! And for a great burger and adult shake- Grindhouse Killer Burgers is our spot!. To get out of the city, Lake Lanier, with a very active and competitive sailing fleet, Lake Oconee, Lake Allatoona and Lake Sinclair are all a short drive. The lake country feels like a whole different world. One of the most convenient options of this area is our airport- it’s easy to take for granted that we can fly virtually anywhere in the world from our own backyard. The recent renovations have made Hartsfield-Jackson much easier to navigate- a true sign that our local leaders value providing the best to their constituents

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Fortunately I grew up in a family with a strong work ethic. We learned early to work for what we wanted. As I went deeper into self-development, I enrolled into intense trainings such as Landmark, Mastery In Transformational Training, The Strategic coach, Mentoring4Millions, and employed various private mentors and coaches. When I left college at 19 to pursue a business, I decided to read 1 book a week. I’ve done this for most of my adult life. Audio books and podcasts have made this easier these days. A few of my favorites include The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber, The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran, Think And Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith. I was also very fortunate to have the asset of fabulous clients who patronized my businesses. I asked them so many questions along the way. I always found successful individuals and high level producers very willing to share their secret sauce when someone was interested enough to learn it. In the early days there were not programs to support young female entrepreneurs. I could not have afforded it if they even existed. Relying on great advice from everyone I considered to be more experienced skilled and knowledgeable than I was, has been one of the best opportunity builders I’ve had.

Website: streamlinesuccess.com

Instagram: @streamlinesuccess

Linkedin: Dorothy Andreas

Facebook: Dorothy Andreas personal profile, Streamline Success, business page