Danielle Ralston is a survivor. As a child with multiple learning differences, she was dismissed, belittled, and bullied. Later she faced homelessness and fought through a terrible bout with cancer. What has driven her success is her indomitable spirit and dogged refusal to knuckle under, even in the most difficult circumstances.

For many years, Danielle worked in the male-dominated IT world, where she constantly struggled for acceptance and respect. She was proud of her accomplishments in IT but never felt passionate about her work. That all changed when she opened Be Boss Girl, a digital marketing agency empowering business owners to reach for their highest level of success. She discovered the satisfaction of being her own boss while helping other entrepreneurs market themselves.

She found her power and voice as a woman. Then alongside her marketing agency, Danielle began her journey into coaching. She founded The Rockstar CEO, where for the past 12 years she has mentored entrepreneurs in their journey to becoming their best selves. It is her mission to encourage other women “to rise strong and become limitless” both in business and in their personal lives.

Her life experiences up to this point have informed her current dream project, a newly launched online home for her own special tribe of female business owners. Neuro Divergent Boss Girls is an online community where a monthly membership fee provides neurodivergent female business owners with regular training, accountability, online working sessions, and support because Danielle wants the world to know that these women can be a force to be reckoned with.

When asked what has made her successful, Danielle described how important coaching had been in her own life. She has had many coaches herself and believes hiring a coach is a vital investment for your business. Another important trait for entrepreneurs is to listen to the market and pivot when necessary.

She said, “I lost fourteen clients early last year, due to Covid. Most of those people don’t even have a business anymore. When I lost my clients, I had to look at the way I was doing business and pivot to stay successful. I decided to clarify what I really wanted to do and felt passionate about, and hyper-focus on that.”

“About the same time I lost clients we moved halfway across the country. My husband and I bought our dream home and paid in full. I was able to contribute significantly toward that purchase and that was so empowering. I feel blessed. Here I am, an ADHD entrepreneur, in the middle of a pandemic, and I’m making a profit.”

“I no longer have to go out looking for clients or take clients I don’t really want to work with. I have a waiting list for the agency and the same for my coaching services. But I know I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish all of that and continue to build my business without the lessons I’ve learned about what works best for me.”

Danielle learned to make lists, follow routines, and systematize everything. Ideas that pop into her brain go on a sticky note, which goes onto a whiteboard until it can be updated and the sticky note tossed. Documenting everything means that nothing falls off her radar. Doing things this way has changed her life.

Neuro Divergent Boss Girls takes all that hard-won personal knowledge and turns it into help for other women who have been marginalized because of their learning differences, brain injuries, bipolar disorder, dyslexia, or ADHD. “I took one of my clients through a systemization process to create a stable and sustainable business. She’s experienced a 400% increase in profits just this year since we started working together.”

Danielle says the keys to success for her clients are getting a coach, setting up systems, writing things down, knowing who their ideal client is, and working on their mindset. Mindset work is so important when the whole world has low expectations for a person. She says, “Change your mindset so that you are looking for abundance, not scarcity. There’s plenty of room for everyone to succeed, and what you have to offer the world is unique.” IE