Jean Henry, President of Lawrence and Associates Concrete Design, came out of Louisville’s Emerging Leaders 2015 cohort more confident and focused than ever, but she was afraid she would lose some of this momentum after graduation – until she learned about Interise’s Advisor Network.
“Going through Emerging Leaders put a plan of action in writing, and I knew what I needed to do, but I needed someone to hold me accountable to put things into action instead of just going on with the same old same old.”
Citing her need for guidance hiring and onboarding the right staff, scaling her business, and also taking a day off now and then, Jean submitted a request to become a part of the advisor network. Jean needed systems and processes in place to get organizational knowledge out of her own head while also being able to delegate tasks to others. These goals and challenges are not uncommon for successfully growing businesses, and Rita Coco, founder of Spiral of Success, has worked with business owners at this stage of growth for many years. After seeing Jean’s request, she was eager to connect with her.
“[Jean’s] mindset is to be scalable. She has a clear goal, and this made her more coachable,” says Rita of working with Jean. With their Strategic Growth Action Plans in hand, Interise alumni are one step ahead of their peer business owners. Their clear, written goals are appealing to advisors and often make for productive meetings with measurable outcomes.
“[Rita] didn’t tell me what I needed to do in my business, but she gave me strategies and measurements,” Jean said. “I need checks and balances in my office, and I don’t need to be part of everything, because I’m the bottleneck.” Using Rita as a guiding force, Jean was able to hire a key employee, refine her onboarding process, and implement new systems to hold both employees and herself accountable.
Rita also helped Jean identify specific behaviors that put her in her own way. “[Rita] had a very positive attitude, and she was clear with goals and could keep me on track with the organizational part of it.” One of Jean’s most important take-aways was making these crucial meetings a top-priority. “It takes a while to put anything into place. The biggest thing is that you make the commitment to set aside the time, but you’re going to be totally focused on working on your business. Nothing can interfere, that’s the time to work on it.”
After 10 virtual sessions with Rita, each lasting anywhere between 20-50 minutes, Jean tightened up operations and is now ready to focus on her main goal – becoming scalable.
When asked if she would recommend the Interise Advisor Network to other business owners, Jean responded, “Are you telling me people aren’t taking advantage of this? They’re crazy!”
Lawrence & Assocs. prides itself on being a concrete problem solver and considers acting as a resource to its customers as important as supplying a quality concrete product. As a mostly municipal contractor, 80% of customers’ names begin with “City of.” An important part of Jean’s scaling strategy includes exploring federal contracting opportunities.
To learn more about Interise’s Advisor Network, please visit www.interise.org/business-owner-application, or email Laura Lee Charles at lcharles@interise.org.
