The Shopping Channel is proud to announce that we have raised over $150,000 for the Women Moving Women campaign! Together with our generous customers and vendor partners, we have helped 60 Canadian women out of poverty so far.

The Shopping Channel: Who was the most influential woman in your life?
Arlene Dickinson: My mother

The Shopping Channel: What is or has been your biggest challenge?
Arlene Dickinson: Trying to do too many things at once.

The Shopping Channel: Thinking about the challenges and opportunities women face today, what one piece of advice would you give a young women today?
Arlene Dickinson: Never let anyone tell you that your opinion doesn't count or your vote doesn't matter. Stand for what you believe in, regardless of what others say.

The Shopping Channel: What's your wildest dream?
Arlene Dickinson: To invent more time.

The Shopping Channel: Finish this sentence: "we could change the world if we just _________"
Arlene Dickinson: used our minds.

Arlene's Story:
How do you convince someone to do what you want, in a way that leaves both of you feeling good about it? I make a living trying to answer that question. My job as a marketer is to help companies and organizations establish and define their brands, then persuade the marketplace in general and consumers in particular to pay attention. So persuasion is something I understand, because when you get right down to it, it's really what marketing is all about.

But figuring out how to persuade others isn't just my day job. It's also how I pulled myself out of poverty armed with nothing more than a high school diploma.

My path to becoming a CEO and one of the venture capitalists on Dragons' Den was not exactly linear. It zigzagged, crazily sometimes, and I've stumbled many times. But at critical moments along the way, I've been able to convince key people to take a chance on me or stick by me. And that has made all the difference.

Before any of that, though, I had to persuade myself I belonged in the business world in the first place. Let's just say it was a hard sell. There was nothing in my background to suggest I had what it took to succeed in business, much less run a company. I grew up poor, was a mediocre student, and moved out on my own after graduating from high school at age 16. My father predicted, memorably, "You're going to be barefoot and pregnant the rest of your life because you don't have a university degree." At the time, I didn't care. Back then, my only goal in life was to find a husband and have children. And there I did succeed: by 19, I was married, and I had my first child a few weeks after my 21st birthday.

By the time I was 27, I had four kids and was stuck in yet another dead-end job. The only job I managed to hang on to for any length of time was so horrible, they couldn't find anyone else to do it: I was a bill collector. I worked out of my kitchen with my children -- all under the age of six -- roaring around in the background. I'd received collection calls myself -- we were perpetually broke -- and frankly, I found it really difficult to make them.

I might be living a life like that today if I hadn't got divorced when I was 31. It turned out to be my catalyst for change. Here's why: a family court judge told me that before I could have my kids with me full time, I needed to prove I could support them -- and I was absolutely determined to have my kids with me full time.

Every one of us has events in our lives that change who we are. Those events can become a negative or a positive influence, depending on whether we choose to use them as engines for propulsion or excuses for defeat. While it would have been easy to have a "woe is me" reaction to a failed marriage and an acrimonious custody battle, I decided to view my circumstances as a springboard: I had four amazing children who needed me, and I had to try, at the very least, to make enough money to take care of them. Everything I have done and built since has been because of my need to ensure my children were taken care of and loved.

In 1987, I lost everything in my life that had previously signified identity: my home, my husband, and my role as primary caregiver to my kids. The only jobs I'd ever had were clerical or administrative. I had no idea what else I could do. Or even wanted to do. I could not even have dreamed that, one year later, I'd be a partner at Venture Communications, then a tiny Calgary agency. But that's what happened. Ten years on, I became CEO, and today, Venture has grown to become one of the largest independent marketing firms in Canada.

How did I do it? Here's the short answer: I figured out how and why principled persuasion works. The most incredible thing about it, as far as I can tell, is how easy it is. You don't need to be brilliant or a dazzling wordsmith or drop-dead gorgeous. You don't have to be an extrovert or wildly charismatic. It doesn't require an MBA or a background of wealth and privilege. To be a good persuader all you need to be is self-aware, willing to be honest even when telling the truth is difficult, and committed to reciprocity in all your relationships.

In other words, just about anyone can do it. And it can help you in just about any situation you find yourself in, in business and the rest of life.