“Everywhere I went, I was willing to work. I had a tremendous work ethic. Everywhere I went, I was willing to start wherever I needed to start to get in and just believed in myself enough to get to the next rung.” – Nancy Mura
That quote epitomizes Nancy’s basic formula for success in her entrepreneurial life. Willing to work, willing to break the rules when it’s the right thing to do and willing to go for it using sheer determination and will.
There are those moments when a trapeze artist has to let go of one ring to grab the next. At that moment, they’re suspended in midair with no net. That analogy, told to Nancy by her acting teacher, has always stayed with her. Exhilarated, yet petrified, she has let go of the ring multiple times in her life, starting with her move from a New York advertising agency to doing standup at Harlem’s renowned Apollo Theater. Her next big jump was to Hollywood where she appeared on television, in films and commercials and was honored with a best actress award.
Disenchanted with the restrictions placed on her creativity by Hollywood, Nancy started her own soap manufacturing company: Slice of Life Soap, Co. Before long, she was servicing a thousand accounts. Slogans like Where There’s Soap, There’s Hope and Serious Soap Hand Made by a Funny Chick appealed to users and corporate buyers alike.
Even in this endeavor, Nancy brought others with her on her quest for success. She used this successful business to help women get off welfare as part of a program called W.I.T., Women in Transition. Then, just as Nancy’s soaps were being considered for Oprah’s Favorite Things, 9/11 came and crashed her company. Without any real knowledge of how to do it, she built the company back up through grit and sheer determination and then sold it.
The next big trapeze jump was into real estate. Despite the moans of other real estate agents about the 2007 Great Recession, Nancy once again made a raging success of her dive into this business. She found investors who were on fire and worked with a team of enterprising Realtors. By working her tail off, she was recognized as a Keller Williams Top Performer of 2009 and 2010.
Ill health popped Nancy’s real estate bubble and her focus shifted when numerous doctors could not find a proper diagnoses. Recovering her health on her own seemed to be her only option which she did through extensive medical handlings and self-study.
Managing a physical therapy practice helped Nancy put food on the table when inspiration struck while stretched out on the floor of a hot yoga studio. In a flash of genius, she saw how pediatric private practice owners could blow the doors off their businesses!
She took her inspiration to a leading practice management firm specializing in physical therapists. With their financial backing as sponsor, Nancy quickly launched Peds-A-Palooza™ Community & Conferences, an online community dedicated to pediatric private practice owners—a group Nancy felt was among the noblest and most undersupported in healthcare. The group now consists of more than 4,000 Paloozies and continues to grow daily. As Founder, Nancy oversees all operations while encouraging, coaching and guiding the membership to greater success.
In entrepreneurial activities and in life, Nancy’s aim is to achieve success for herself and others. In every endeavor she takes on, her approach is the same: “My wish for people is that they see that it’s all for them.”