Sophia Strother, 38, took a leap of faith and started her delivery business three years ago through an Amazon opportunity. She’s now accumulating millions of dollars and was kind enough to share her story with millions via Insider.
She’s a single mother and a sex trafficking survivor from Austin, Texas, with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration. Strother is like no other. Amid her studies, the then 20-something-year-old took strides to put her and her child (whom she had at 15) in a great place. The businesswoman would find herself with two homes and two degrees.
That was just the beginning. Unbeknownst to young Strother, her business shrewdness would catapult her toward running a multimillion-dollar business.
It all started with a 2018 article about Amazon extending a rich, helping hand to new business owners willing to help them with their dilemma — delivering packages.
“As I read the Amazon article, I was sitting down thinking, ‘Wait a minute. Why not me?'” Strother recalled.
She found herself applying for the Amazon Delivery Service Partnership, and within a year, Amazon wanted her to travel to Seattle, Washington, for the interview.
“…But I had to pay for the trip myself. I didn’t have the money or a babysitter, and with only one week to accept the interview, I turned it down. I didn’t believe I could do it,” the 38-year-old said. “I got an email from Amazon saying, ‘Hey, are you still interested in this opportunity?’ This time, I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t let things play out.”
Strother traveled to Las Vegas for an Amazon event, where she was interviewed.
In 2020, the partnership was finalized, and Strother’s first route launched Sept. 22, 2020. Her business is called L2E Industries (Learning 2 Exhale Industries), and through it, she made over $3 million in under three years.
She has 38 blue “Prime” vans and about 80 employees who deliver customer packages. Her business thrives through customer satisfaction, so her drivers must provide with a bright smile and care.
Like many businesses, Strother ran into troubling times in 2021 when Texas had that devastating snowstorm. Business had to shut down, so her drivers couldn’t make deliveries. Strother’s business took a mighty financial hit, so she had to use her personal savings and retirement funds to pay her employees.
“Eventually, I sat down with a temporary business coach — which Amazon provided — for 15 minutes, and she broke down some numbers for me. She showed me the metrics of individuals that were negatively affecting my entire business. From that point, I had to learn to balance caring about people’s feelings and caring about the bottom line,” she said.
The employees hurting her business were given a deadline to increase their numbers. She implemented a scorecard policy, which aims to hold her delivery drivers accountable.
With this new change to her business, Strother found herself back on track.
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