She Grew Up In a Shack With No Running Water...Today She is a Legend

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She was born the fourth of twelve children in a cabin so small that the entire family slept three or four to a bed.

Her father paid the doctor who delivered her with a bag of cornmeal.

Her clothes were handmade and what shoes she did have were hand-me-downs.

And yet, the voice. No one could (or would) forget that voice.

In fact, by age 10, she was singing on local radio, and by 13, she had even performed at the Grand Ole Opry.

A Woman in a Man’s World

Turns out that her her talent was not enough. Not for a girl from the mountains. Not in the 1960s, not in a business run by men who saw pretty blondes as ornaments, not owners.

When she moved to Nashville after high school, she was told to be quiet, smile more, write songs for other stars.

She did.

For a while . . . until she decided she wanted to be the one holding the mic and the gee-tar, and the checkbook.

So she bet on herself. As she would again and again.

I Quit!

She had joined a wildly successful TV show with a manse admired named Porter Wagoner. But even this stifled her. And so at enormous financial and emotional cost, she up and quit.

Just like that.

It was not easy, but she knew it wasn’t right for her. The night she made that decision, she wrote a song that would later become iconic: I Will Always Love You.

It was not just a goodbye to a man. It was a declaration of independence.

A Force to be Reckoned With

After leaving her nascent TV show, everything began to click.

She became a one-woman media company:

• She soon broke into Hollywood and started in a popular movie, even singing the title track.

• She built her own production company.

• She wrote songs for herself and others, earning her millions.

But her biggest entrepreneurial swing came in 1986, when she opened an amusement park in her home state of Tennessee. Everyone thought she was foolish, crazy, but she trusted her intuition, and again, it served her well.

Her theme park in the Smoky Mountains turned it into one of the most visited parks in America, revitalizing the economy of her hometown in the process.

And then - of course - she did something even bigger:

She launched the Imagination Library, a nonprofit that has now given over 225 million books to impoverished children, for free. Every month, from birth to age five all kids get books. No strings attached.

The One, The Only . . .

Her name of course, as you know by now, is Dolly Rebecca Parton.

And while the world knows her for the wigs, the wit, the songs, and that voice, what should also be studied for, admired for, is her skill, her vision, her passion, her moxie,

Takeaway

Dolly Parton is the personification of the maxim, “It is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” She did not wait to be discovered. She declared herself. In music, in business, in philanthropy, in entrepreneurship, indeed, in life.

Steal This Strategy

Book -  Dream More by Dolly Parton Dream More​

Video – Dolly Parton’s Commencement Speech at UT
Dolly Parton Delivers Commencement Address at the University of Tennessee​

Website – Imagination Library
 Dolly Parton's Imagination Library​

Podcast – Dolly Parton’s America
 Dolly Parton's America​

Overnight Challenge

What if that thing you love is more than a passion, but possibly a business? What if you stopped apologizing for wanting more and did what Dolly did and turned your sparkle into strategy? Maybe you don’t need to ask for permission…

About Steve

Steve Strauss is the best-selling author of The Small Business Bible (and 17 other books), Inc.’s small business columnist, a lawyer (non-practicing), and an entrepreneur. He sold his last venture, TheSelfEmployed.com to Mark Cuban & Zen Business. Need a ghostwriter or a newsletter for your business? Contact Steve!