In 2004, Tracey Blake was living an active, healthy life in Denver. She ate the healthiest foods, golfed 50 rounds a year and trained regularly with a personal trainer.

 

She was vice president of marketing at Alyn-Weiss & Associates Inc. in Denver, owned by her husband, Bob Weiss.

 

But on Sept. 11, 2004, she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome and became temporarily paralyzed from the neck down. With plenty of time to think about her recovery and her future, she started planning what would become Tracey Lynn Golf LLC in February 2006, a women’s golf-clothing business that aims to combine style with functionality in its products.

 

While in bed, paralyzed, “I had a discussion with myself and decided that if I ever get out of this, I will do more than I have before with my life,” she says. “I love golf, but could never find any cute clothes.

 

“Golf is an athletic walking sport, especially if you walk the course and carry your own bags. Golf clothing had been mostly traditional styles, and many designs for professional women golfers did not wick sweat away from the body effectively.”

 

Guillain-Barré syndrome affects between one and two of every 100,000 people in the United States. It’s a neurological disorder that paralyzes the body, starting from the feet, then slowly working its way up to the neck. Most people recover.

 

But some don’t (the disease can paralyze the lungs and heart), and others are left in a wheelchair for life.

 

It took Blake nearly six weeks to become mobile and nearly two years to completely recover. By November 2004, she was working on taking her concept to company form and having products for sale.

 

Blake, who self-financed the business, designs all of the clothing, which is manufactured in New York City and sold online at traceylynngolf.com.

 

At first, though, she sold only online. “I knew that resellers would need to see some evidence of a salable product line before selling my clothes,” she says. “So I sold on the Internet to establish that reputation.”

 

Once she decided she had built that rep, Blake started selling wholesale to resellers in the fourth quarter of 2008. The result? Sales increased 20 percent in 2009; Blake expects a similar rise this year.

 

She’s invested profits back into the company, focusing on website improvements. She has one part-time employee.

 

Blake says her clientele is in the thousands. She also has spoken at golf conferences nationwide, and also at one PGA Tour event in Orlando, Fla., about overcoming the disease and forming her business.

 

Blake has learned many business lessons while growing her company, and shared some important business principles she realized while recovering from Guillain-Barre syndrome:

 

• Have a flexible plan — It should include ways for business to continue if you’re laid up. Creating systems, checklists, policies and procedures so your business can still operate helps secure its future.

 

This also makes your business more stable to a lender for expansion or to a buyer if you want to sell.

 

• Accept that life is never the same — It’s always changing. Some aspect of a setback always lingers physically or mentally. Life evolves and your role changes. It’s natural to believe that something from your life is lost after a big change or setback.

 

Acceptance helps you be proactive and make the transition work for you and your loved ones.

 

• Know your self-limiting beliefs or weaknesses — Understand them and don’t let them hold you back. Some beliefs can be overcome. Others may require reaching out to invite others with strengths in those weak areas to partner with or work for you.

 

Blake also shared several tips for entrepreneurs that have been essential to her success:

 

• “Technical knowledge is not as important as knowing how a business runs,” she says. “You can always learn about an industry or hire the expert technical knowledge.”

 

• Read as much as you can about your industry, and reach out to successful people in the industry who aren’t competitors.

 

“I saw an article on a company that makes baby bags, and knew I needed to talk with the owner,” Blake says. “She was very willing to help, since our businesses were not in conflict with one another. She shared some manufacturing and materials resources with me.”

 

• If you want to be close to your production and quality control, consider manufacturing in the United States.

 

“I chose to manufacture in New York City, where I can turn a design around in four to six weeks, compared to 12-16 weeks in China,” she says. “I found a pattern maker in Niwot and a seamstress in Boulder for initial startup samples and design development.

 

 

“While I could have gone straight to the manufacturer for a complete, no-hassle final product, I found that learning every step of the process keeps me in control of quality. Overseas, you are not close to the process.”

 

There are many local resources available to learn about best practices for growing or starting a business. A partial list:

 

• Denver Small Business Development Center (SBDC) offers small business consulting at no charge and many educational classes for a reasonable fee; www.denversbdc.org

 

• Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE) offers free business counseling and low-cost business classes; www.scoredenver.org

 

• Check out one of the many chambers of commerce in the Denver area that offer consulting, informative business presentations or research on the area. Some may require membership for access.