.....supportive person in my life. Building companies take time. She is always there to listen, give support and advice. Thank goodness her Master’s degree is in Organizational Behavior.
In the business world, what is “cool” to you? Technology. Analytics. Systems. Cutting-edge ideas. People that think out of the box. In my opinion, you put these elements together with sound business practices and it has winner written all over it.
Favorite local entrepreneur? My business partner, Oliver “OK” Kingsbury. Equally; Johnny McCoy, Dale Kehl, Randall Wall and everyone else who is trying to or has made their dream a reality.
Describe your leadership style. I like people and all types of personalities. I love keeping people on their toes. It helps me find the best possible people to work with. I personally enjoy employing A-type personalities. Given the right tools & limited direction, they always rise to the occasion, create new innovative ideas that surprise me time and time again. I like that at our company, we get things done fast. I always expect great things from our employees. Do whatever it takes to make the client happy. Make mistakes. Fix it. Move on and Go. Go. Go.
The riskiest thing you have ever done in business? Leaving the comforts of a six-figure income with a Fortune 500 Company as a C-level Business Consultant and Project Manager to start my own business. Turns out, it has also been the most challenging, provided me with the most growth, and has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
How many business ideas do you have in your head at any given time? I usually have several. I have to write them down right when I think of them or I’ll forget them for days or weeks. Depending on priority, I’ve learned to provide vision and then delegate them.
In business, what gets you nervous/ what gets you pumped up? Nervous, Mediocrity. I am by far one of the most driven and intense people to work for. I demand my team live up to, and work at expanding their potential. Spending a lot of time and money to train someone, only to find out they did not live up to their resume is a bummer. Pumped, Team Synergy. Everyone doing his or her part well. A great team is like a well-oiled Maserati flying down the German Autobahn. Who wouldn’t want to take that for a drive!
Where do you go to “think like an entrepreneur” and how do you come up your ideas? That is a funny question. I get ideas all over the place. They come to me as I am reading books, watching the “Closing Bell”, scanning magazines, talking with other individuals of different industries. Mostly, they come to me after I say my nightly prayers and lay my head down on the pillow, just as I am falling asleep. Thank goodness for nightstands and sticky notes.
What kind of person were you in high school/ college? I think I got along with almost everyone. We had a lot of clicks at my High School. I had friends in most of those social groups from the Preppies to the Jocks to the Marching Band to the Punks. I played every sport under the sun from Baseball, Volleyball, and Football. I was also on the Surf Team and the Debate Club. In College, I played Baseball until I blew a rotator cuff in my junior year and the Pro scouts backed off. I don’t think arthroscopic surgery was even invented then. I excelled with honors in my business major until that happened. Lost my funding, could not afford school any longer and simultaneously was highly recruited for a six-figure income position with a Fortune 500 company. Let’s just say, I jumped at the opportunity.
Why are you an entrepreneur? Someone once told me “Love what you do or don’t do it”. I love what I do and I am good at it. In our company we get to help people in many different ways. Some we help to reach their financial goals, some we help lift a huge burden off their shoulders. Others I get to teach them all that I know and see how it changes their financial future for the better. These are all gifts and blessings that I get to see first hand and the joy that it brings into someone’s life. Being an entrepreneur is what I was meant to be.
The most rewarding moment of your professional career? So far, See above!
*All questions are from the Utah Valley Business Q magazine Winter 2009.
