"Success is not at all about the money. Success is making an impact."
Nellie Akalp is a passionate entrepreneur, business expert, professional speaker, author, and mother of four. She is the Founder and CEO of CorpNet, a trusted resource and service provider for business incorporation, LLC filings, and corporate compliance services in all 50 states. Nellie and her team recently launched a partner program for legal, tax, and business professionals to help them streamline the business incorporation and compliance process for their clients.
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Table of Contents
Let’s start with a brief introduction first. Introduce yourself to our readers.
Nellie Akalp: I am the CEO and Co-founder of CorpNet.com, an online legal document filing service that helps entrepreneurs with their business startup and compliance needs. My husband/business partner and I got into this industry in 1997. We were fresh out of law school and did not want to go the typical route of becoming attorneys, and instead launched a business with a one-page website for $100. Eight years later that business was acquired by Intuit for $20 million. We got back into the industry in 2009 with the launch of CorpNet.com and haven’t looked back!
Our audience is interested to know about how you got started in the first place. Did you always want to become a CEO or was it something you were led to? Our readers would love to know your story!
Nellie Akalp: I was raised going to the antique store my grandparents owned so I very much was interested in becoming an entrepreneur and owning my own business. My husband also marched to his beat, so it was hard for him to secure jobs as a young professional. Collectively we knew that we were built to be our bosses. Being a CEO is a very different role, however, then being an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, you have the passion and drive to succeed and reach your own goals. As a CEO you have to instill that passion and drive into your team and nurture those relationships so you all reach goals as a team.
“Selfmade” is a myth. We all received help, no doubt you love to show appreciation to those who supported you when the going got tough, who has been your most important professional inspiration?
Nellie Akalp: Hands down my biggest inspiration has been my husband!
How did your journey lead you to become a CEO? What difficulties did you face along the way and what did you learn from them?
Nellie Akalp: I didn’t set out to become a CEO. My goal was to be an entrepreneur and business owner. However, the role of CEO came in naturally as our businesses expanded. I am a mother of four and I find naturally I take to leading a team. This stemmed from becoming a mother. So once our team at the businesses grew I took on that CEO role and lead and nurtured them the same way I did my children.
Tell us about your company. What does your business do and what are your responsibilities as a CEO?
Nellie Akalp: CorpNet.com is an online legal document filing service. We help entrepreneurs across all 50 states with their startup and compliance filings. This includes things like incorporating a business, forming an LLC, registering trademarks, filing DBAs, and much more. As CEO of CorpNet, my main responsibility is ensuring my company is on track to meet its goals.
What does CEO stand for? Beyond the dictionary definition, how would you define it?
Nellie Akalp: I would define a CEO as the backbone of a company. Just as our body has many different vital organs and pieces to operate, a business has many vital team members to stay afloat. As CEO we hold up all of those team members just as the backbone holds our body upright. We link everyone together and ensure all are connected to function properly.
When you first became a CEO, how was it different from what you expected? What surprised you?
Nellie Akalp: My husband and I are not suit-and-tie people. We run our business as professionals, yet are OK with a more lax atmosphere. When I schedule meetings, people expect to be greeted with a suit and tie from the CEO and CMO (My husband). However we may have just come from the gym so could be in gym clothes, etc. So it has taken me a while to know that as CEO of my own company I can act how I feel is most natural. I don’t need to conform to what other CEOs may appear like. We do what works for us!
There are many schools of thought as to what a CEO’s core roles and responsibilities are. Based on your experience, what are the main things a CEO should focus on? Explain and please share examples or stories to illustrate your vision.
Nellie Akalp: The main thing a CEO should focus on, in my opinion, is keeping the company on track with its goals. I am a very hands-on CEO. I meet with my team often. Lead sales calls. Answer phones from clients. Even decorating the office for holidays. I love to have my hands in all aspects of the company. But I also know that I hired an amazing staff to do their jobs. So as CEO it’s important that you are involved in the daily aspects of your business but also don’t micromanage your team. Give them the space to do their job and thrive.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Nellie Akalp: One difficult decision I’ve had to make stemmed from the pandemic. That was turning our in-person team into a remote team. It was hard for me as I love interacting with my team. I love spoiling them with lunches and breakfast and treats. To then go to interacting with everyone behind screens, just wasn’t something I ever envisioned for my company. However, across the board, it greatly benefited my team. It increased morale, everyone is working hard and 2021 is slated to be our best year yet!
How would you define success? Does it mean generating a certain amount of wealth, gaining a certain level of popularity, or helping a certain number of people?
Nellie Akalp: To me, success is not at all about the money. Success is making an impact. Making a difference in people’s lives. I love that I can create jobs and stability for so many people, especially during this pandemic. We hired a large number of new employees in 2021, and many of them were let go of their previous jobs due to Coronavirus shutdowns. They were in a very scary time and being able to take them under my wing, see them flourish in their new positions, and give them a steady paycheck is an ultimate success for me.
Some leadership skills are innate while others can be learned. What leadership skills do you possess innately and what skills have you cultivated over the years as a CEO?
Nellie Akalp: As I mentioned before, I am a mother of four. As a mother, I’ve gained so many skills that have allowed me to successfully lead a team as CEO. The skills that I find are the most helpful are being decisive, being dependable, and having the ability to teach and mentor others.
How did your role as a CEO help your business overcome challenges caused by the pandemic? Explain with practical examples.
Nellie Akalp: My role as the CEO during this pandemic was to stay calm and be the voice of reason. In the beginning, when California shut everything down, it was everyone’s first instinct to panic. My team was afraid we would close and lose our jobs as the state offices were closed and we couldn’t process filings. It was a scary time. However, as CEO I remained calm and reminded my team that what we were going through would be temporary. I knew we may not go back to that ‘normal’ which we had but I knew that businesses would go on and things would pick up. Staying positive helped my team be at most important ease.
Do you have any advice for aspiring CEOs and future leaders? What advice would you give a CEO that is just starting on their journey?
Nellie Akalp: My advice for another CEO just starting is to find a mentor to learn from. Everyone leads teams differently and your role as CEO when you first start will evolve as your business grows and expands. So find a mentor who was recently in your shoes. Ask them questions and use them as a resource to help guide your team to achieve your goals. I had many mentors in my journey as a business owner and CEO. It’s invaluable to learn from other people’s experiences so I highly recommend this for others!
Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge with our readers! They would also like to know, what is one skill that you’ve always wanted to acquire but never really could?
Nellie Akalp: I’m not sure if it’s a skill – but the one thing I struggle with often is self-care! As a CEO and mom of four who is married to my husband and business partner, ‘me time’ is very rare! But I’ve learned that taking time for myself is crucial to my well being which affects my team and my household. If I’m not in a good headspace, then it trickles down to others. So I need to get better at recognizing when I may need a break and unplug for a day or two to recharge.
Before we finish things off, we have one final question for you. If you wrote a book about your life today, what would the title be?
Nellie Akalp: Nonstop Nellie; “The Tale of a CEO who never stops!”
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Nellie Akalp for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Nellie Akalp or her company, you can do it through her – Facebook
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