Robinson encourages people to live best lives
There was a time, Dee Robinson told the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Rooster Booster Breakfast on Thursday at the Owensboro Convention Center, that she couldn’t pay her rent.
Today, her Chicago-based Robinson Hill, which she founded in 1992, has more than 60 airport restaurants and retail stores with between 800 and 1,000 employees.
And her Good Trouble Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was created in collaboration with Jacob Call and is made in Owensboro at Green River Distilling, which sponsored the breakfast.
Robinson said the brand isn’t on the market yet, “but it’s selling like crazy.”
Bourbon, she said, “is as American as you can get.”
But Robinson is more than an entrepreneur.
She’s also a motivational speaker and writer.
And that’s what she was doing Thursday.
“Encourage children,” Robinson said. “They need everyone in this room. You have the power to influence lives.”
She asked the audience to visualize where their businesses would be in five years.
And then Robinson asked, “Why wait? Why not today? What is holding you back?”
Courage, she said, “is a choice. Most of us aren’t wishing to be powerful.
“I left a great job to become an entrepreneur. But my problem was my fear. We have to think positive.”
She said, “Being busy isn’t being successful.”
People need to use their time to the best advantage.
Robinson said she gives motivational speeches because “I don’t want anybody else to go through what I went through.”
She has written a book, “Courage By Design” to encourage people to live their best lives.
By Keith Lawrence Messenger-Inquirer