Michelle Carter-Love of sHe Eco Investments promotes a healthier and more sustainable home purchasing option

Describe your business in a few words:

What motivates me to have chosen a field dominated by men to pursue is to take part in lowering gas emissions and decreasing waste that has led to the acceleration of our climate crises in the construction industry. By profession, I am a financial coach for over 7 years, and moving ahead in an industry dominated by men probably is mind-boggling most may think. 

But I had a vision given to me by God asking what I could offer as a solution. I have watched the construction of homes in my area and in other parts of the city and I have taken note of what feels like a lack of urgency to change norms within the home building industry. Homes are being constructed at an unprecedented pace due to high demand, which has perpetuated the contribution of over 47% of the world’s waste. This is irresponsible and inconsiderate to our planet. After conducting thorough research to understand how this influences the fate of our existence, I have been awakened to help shift the narrative; wanting to sound an alarm that will initiate change in home construction.  This global problem prompted me to create sHe Eco Investments. sHe Eco Investments is a women-owned and operated custom home building company that seeks to influence real estate investment and construction standards. I have assembled a team of women who are executives in their respective professions and who see a need to protect the environment through a responsible home building with safer, sturdier structures and much healthier living accommodations.

What was your background prior to starting your own business?

My background prior to starting my business began as a military soldier. This is where I learned disciplining my God-given time and understanding what could be achieved if I mastered how to manage it effectively. With this training, I pursued work in the financial arena working in that capacity for 15 years as a financial bookkeeper later getting certified as a financial coach. The two provided me the foundation to understand money and become a master of time. From here I expect to continue learning in a new field of operation which I feel is my life work and that is to heal the earth and people that I meet along the way.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Yes, as I mentioned before, I always wanted to be my own boss ever since I was around 6 years old.

Take us back to when you first launched your business, what was your marketing strategy to get the word out and did it go as planned?

My first launch I thought went okay, but not as well as I wanted it to go. I decided to mirror one of the top independent female sales agents for an agency who I solicited their products. I was new and knew nothing about sales. I elected to mirror her, and her rule was, I would get the prospects and she would close the deals. She told me sales was a numbers game and how successful I became would depend on my discipline to make as many calls as possible in a day and be happy when I would receive 200 no’s for a chance to set at least 5 appointments a week. This was the only strategy I had to work with. Plus, she shared with me, if I would be allowed to mirror her, she would take 50% of my commissions on all closed deals. I was okay with the arrangement where most would have not. My rationale was that I desired to achieve her greatness by learning her techniques to be just as successful. I wanted to learn from one of the best in the industry. Long story short, I achieve top producer’s status in 3 months and remained a top producer for the next 5 years. I solicited for this particular company until I branched out as an independent agent without a broker’s backing. All of my current clients came from word of mouth which wasn’t a strategy by a long shot.

What is the accomplishment you are the most proud of to date?

Well, I would say it has nothing to do with my professional or purpose-driven life. Raising a child like my daughter who is biological my niece since she was 1 month old to presently 16 years, is an accomplishment on its own merit. I never knew how hard it would be to manage and have the responsibility for life besides my own. I have watched her blossom into this beautiful and intelligent young lady who makes me proud every day. This road challenged the threads of my existence with navigating my life, her life, choosing a career to support two, and having an entrepreneurial spirit has been no cakewalk when it comes to raising a child alone. The time spent teaching and nurturing her has taught me a lot about myself. I realized that your greatest moments are never about you but about how you add to someone else’s life. I must commend every single mother who has or is raising children alone. Stay committed to the process because your greatest moments will be how well you impact others. Your reward and accomplishments will speak selflessly. Truly I believe all things happen the way God’s plan for your life manifests. My true accomplishment will be measured by how well I managed the time I was given on earth to accomplish the purpose for my existence. She is one of my proudest accomplishments thus far.

Do you believe in work/life balance? What are some of your best tips?

Yes, I believe in work/life balance holistically. I was always told by my parents, if you work hard, you must also play hard.  One tip that I live by is one of the most important to anyone is to learn to take time for SELF.  Most people never do this and because they do not, they experience stress, regret, sickness, and merely crashing and burning at an early stage in life. Taking time for yourself means going to spas, having a specific set girl’s day out to laugh and release. Take time for yourself. Secondly, make sure the profession you’ve chosen, you love.  It’s nothing worse than doing something every day that you hate.  Lastly, ensure you connect with the highest frequency of yourself. I believe that when we don’t connect with our spiritual image of ourselves, it’s hard to uncover the true purpose of our life.

What have you achieved recently that you’d like to celebrate with our community?

I would like to celebrate the powerful team of women who have stepped into a position to be a part of a valuable movement to save humanity.  These women have aligned with sHe Eco Investments to invest their expertise in building eco-friendly homes to save our planet is commendable. 

What’s next for your business? What can we expect to see over the next few years?

You can expect to see our homes being scaled across the country that providing home buyer’s a choice to choose homes that are environmentally responsible. We are ecstatic about the opportunity to play a role in clean energy use and sustainability and to change the face and image of the home construction industry. We believe we can nurture our eco-systems back to their original intent for man by God.

What excites you about being an Entreprenista League member?

It is a great opportunity to meet and make connections with a group of women entrepreneurs and professionals in their fields of expertise to provide an abundance of knowledge to help move each of us upward in the work we have chosen to pursue as our life purpose.

Learn more about the Entreprenista League and join today!