What does it take to make your business No. 5 in Austin Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” three years running, from 2008 to 2010? Hard work, dedication and perspective.
Carrie Arsenault has spent the last five years building her company, Accountability Resources, from a one-woman show to a business that has ranked in the top 10 in Austin Business Journal’s “Largest Executive Search Firms” and as one of the 50 fastest-growing private companies in Central Texas for 2009. But she did it without sacrificing time with her kids or her dreams of helping the less fortunate.
“Reflecting on the last few years, it’s been a lot of challenges and obstacles that have been overcome with Accountability Resources,” she says. “Keeping a small business alive and even having revenue growth is something I’m proud of, and also with starting the charity and finding the funding and the support to make it work, and then raising two small children.” This is a woman who really believes that moms today can have it all: a job they find satisfying, time with the kids and even the ability to do charity and volunteer work. She risked it all to make those dreams come true and hasn’t looked back. Arsenault graduated from the UT business school with a degree in finance and marketing. She moved to Dallas and began working, but quickly discovered it wasn’t what she felt passionate about. She went for an interview with a recruiting firm, but realized she was overqualified for the position they were offering. The firm, however, thought she would be a great fit and offered her a position.
She was named rookie of the year her first year there, and went on to continue to work for recruiting firms in Austin and Dallas, looking for challenges and enjoying the work until her son was 3 and she was pregnant with her daughter. “I just realized I was missing my son growing up,” she says, “and I didn’t want to have to choose anymore between work and family.” So she asked her firm to let her work on her own from home – but the answer was a most resounding “no.” That’s when things got tricky. The firm sued Arsenault when she resigned, and she had to hire a lawyer, only to discover that the legal fees would run in the neighborhood of $70,000. Her lawyer took her case pro bono, however, and she spent eight months fighting for the right to open her own firm and work on her own time. She won the suit, and now the six women who work at Accountability Resources thank her every day for letting them work in an environment where they don’t have to sacrifice time with their families to be successful. She didn’t stop there. About a year ago, Arsenault started a charity called Ignite A Dream. It all stems back to playing sports as a child.
“Success for me can be attributed to personality traits I learned playing sports growing up,” she says. “Playing on a team teaches you discipline and training, but also how to be competitive, but work as a team.” Knowing her time playing soccer and tennis made her the savvy businesswoman she is today, she had the idea to bring sports to at-risk kids to give them that same advantage. Arsenault states it simply: “Our goal is to use our programs as a vehicle to introduce and reinforce positive life lessons that will prepare our students for a better future. Our programs are geared towards building self-esteem and self-respect, teaching sportsmanship and teamwork, as well as providing leadership opportunities.”
And it’s working. Two schools currently participate in the program, and the students there are able to sign up for after-school tennis or soccer taught by professional coaches. One hundred kids have participated, and two more schools should be online next year. “These are schools that don’t have the funding for athletic programs,” Arsenault says, “so the kids had no access to sports or to positive reinforcement. Now we’ve got kids who are believing in themselves for the first time.” When her dad passed away last June, his family and friends gave donations to the charity in lieu of flowers, and now there is a scholarship program in his name.
This is a woman who has priorities, who knows to put family and community first and who has learned that a well-balanced life is a successful life. She recently had a near-death experience when her car got swept away in a rain-swollen creek near her home. She escaped through the window of her sinking vehicle. “All I saw were the faces of my children, “she recalls, “and that was all that mattered to me. This just reinforced to me that they’re all that’s important, and I’ve made all the right choices.”
For more information, go to www.accountabilityresources.com and www.igniteadream.com, or contact Arsenault directly at 512-258-8873.
