S. Elle Clark

Creating & Selling Solutions

By Laci Ollison Photos by Chanel Mason

Everyone experiences hardships in life. Things happen that attempt to throw us off course. And unfortunately for many entrepreneurs, taking time to process and destress doesn’t always come easy. Elle Clark, however, was able to reignite her passion for entrepreneurship through self-care and a sabbatical.

“Last year God blessed me to be able to take a year off from business and work,” the Mississippi native said. “I had never taken off work in about 16 or 17 years.

Elle said that it was her friends who encouraged her to take a break after experiencing some difficult times. “They told me I needed a break to just chill and relax,” she said. “I was really stressed. And my friends reminded me that I hadn’t stopped through any of the things that I had been through.”

But then, Elle said that her mental health began to become affected because of not being able to take a break. “I started having bad panic attacks and anxiety attacks,” she said. “That’s when I knew I had to do something.”

The single mother reluctantly agreed to take a break, but it wasn’t a decision that was easy to make or adjust to. “It was crazy to not get up and go to work,” said Elle. “I felt like an underachiever. I felt like I was being a slacker and like I should be up doing something. I just felt like I was wasting my life.”

By the second month Elle told herself that she was blessed and that she could do this. By the third month she pushed herself to find a routine.

The year-long sabbatical gave the entrepreneur time to process some of her life’s experiences. “It gave me time to release a lot of things that had hurt me,” said Elle. “I unloaded a lot of hurt, stress, and pain, and had time to process things that I had been through.” It also gave her a chance to remember why she started her businesses in the first place.

“I shut down all my businesses,” Elle said. “I didn’t do anything work related and it was hard. It gave me time to plan, time to meet with suppliers, and that’s also when I came up with my organization, ‘Passion Funding Purpose.’”

“It was crazy to not get up and go to work. I felt like an underachiever. I felt like I was being a slacker and like I should be up doing something.”

Passion Funding Purpose is a non profit organization that Elle founded in hopes of assisting working class men and women with everyday life necessities: food, housing, medical expenses along with attorney fees of black fathers who are battling tough child custody cases.

“The inspiration for Passion Funding Purpose came from me and my own experience,” Elle said. “To be in full time business you find yourself needing help sometimes but there’s not a lot of help for the working class.”

Elle said that business owners and working class shouldn’t have to worry about essential things like childcare, housing, or making sure they have food for their family when times get hard.

Assisting others was also part of the inspiration behind another one of her businesses, Sippin Good. Named by her son, Sippin Good offers cbd teas and organic loose teas that are geared toward health and wellness..

“All teas are geared toward the body,” Elle said. “We felt that it was the perfect time to launch this type of business during a pandemic.” The teas were specifically created to help with ailments that many people experience such as diabetes, dementia, joint pain, anxiety, alcohol and substance addiction, fibrosis plus so much more. All ingredients from the teas are sourced from suppliers found within the United States.

Elle along with her son had hopes of opening a storefront but due to the pandemic, they have pushed their open date to March of next year. For now, their line of teas can be found on their website. “The goal is to come to the café and have a full tea experience,” she said.

Along with her non-profit organization and her tea business, Elle Elle is a Georgia Notary and full time Georgia Realtor of 16 years. Elle Clark Solutions offers Real Estate and Small Business Strategy Solutions to entrepreneurs who need assistance defining their goals, creating an execution plan and scaling their business.

EElle says that she hopes to handoff her Real Estate business to her son in the next six years. “I don’t see myself opening up any other businesses,” she said. “But the goal is to have all my businesses go on auto-pilot.” She also hopes that her 12 year old son will continue to build his entrepreneurial skills.

“Both myself and his father are entrepreneurs,” Elle said. “So he is a product of his environment. Our goal is to make sure that he knows that an unplanned direction to college or working a job for someone else not knowing his skills does not have to be his path. I want him to look at himself and know that he has options based on learning his purpose. She hopes to leave a legacy for her son to follow. “I have to ask myself, “what am I leaving behind”? If I departed this world today, what did I as a parent teach him to do without me? Elle encourages entrepreneur’s to also think about their legacy and their future by planning ahead.

“Have a clear, concise, and well strategized plan,” she advises. “Plan for long and short term.” The business strategist says that entrepreneurs should also save and budget for the potential costs that come along with starting a business. “Have the money because nothing is free,” she said. “We’re past the days of being able to start a business for $500 because legal filing fees cost that much alone.”

Elle also says that business owners should be able to adapt to changes that they may encounter along the way. “Be open to change. Business is not one dimensional no matter how many years you have been in it. Every year and every quarter you should be rising to a new level and still learning while maintaining that which you have mastered at the same time. ”

Elle says that she is proud of how she herself has been able to adapt to change. “I find strength in knowing that I could do this by myself with what God placed within me and that I have succeeded by myself. In spite of adversity and in spite of the lessons that I had to learn, I stayed the course.” Elle’s next goal is to make a “little time” to be found by true love and marry in the near future. h

Sippin Good LLC 833-7SI-PPIN www.sippingood.com “Enhance your mind, body and wellness while Sippin Good” Facebook & Instagram @Imsippingood

“Some companies give good ideas, we sell great Solutions”

Elle Clark Solutions Real Estate & Small Business Solutions 770-421-5531 www.elleclarksolutions.com 800 Battery Ave - Ste 100 Atlanta, GA 30339 Facebook & Instagram @elleclarksolutions