Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Peter Koebel, owner of Data Sciencing Consultants, located in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Data Sciencing Consultants enables leaders to be the master of their business data. We design spreadsheets and dashboards that turn your data into usable, actionable information, which allows leaders to easily view the health of their business and make smarter, confident business decisions.
Our customers are from a variety of industries. Typically small to medium sized companies that are growing. They have some basic business data systems setup but are hesitant to lean on them as their company grows. Business owners and decision-makers come to Data Sciencing Consultants looking for assistance making their business data reliable and unlocking its value.
We design spreadsheets and dashboards that enforce data integrity on the back end and on the front end and use modern data visualization techniques for intuitive business data storytelling.
Tell us about yourself
I fell into consulting and starting my own business. When I was looking to leave a permanent position as a Data Coordinator at a company, one opportunity that came up was a year-long contract as an analyst. The contract project piqued my interest as it would use a variety of my skills and experience, from technical aspects to building personal relationships and communications.
My plan after the contract was to look for another permanent position at a company, albeit at a higher level than I was previously. However, while working on the contract project, some people saw on LinkedIn that I was doing contract work and discussed some potential future work. That's when my entrepreneurship ambitions, which had been dormant for many years, started to grow.
Roughly three years ago, I registered my business and started shifting gears from building a portfolio to use to apply for a job to start attracting clients. Learning what business leaders need to unlock the potential of their data and find the areas that I'm passionate about.
I'm driven more by routine and habit to get up and get to work every day over specific motivation. When I could use a boost, some things that motivate me are the joy of problem-solving. My clients ask for some very interesting dashboards and spreadsheets. It's a great feeling when I'm able to solve a complex problem.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
When my clients are enthusiastic about giving me referrals, knowing I've helped their business and they want their business leader associates to also benefit from our services.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
For me, with a small growing business, it's to determine the best timing when to bring on a new employee and the roles that are most needed. Balancing bringing in more projects but also ensuring we have the capacity to deliver quality services in a timely manner.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Figure out your passions and see if there's a way to use those to fill in a need or gap in a market.
- While also being adaptable to your potential clients' needs. It's often easier to be the solution to someone's problem than trying to convince someone they have a problem you can fix.
- Make it easy for someone to buy your product or service. For example, some projects we work on are complex and can seem daunting to potential clients. We offer a low-cost initial data assessment service. That shows potential clients an overview of our suggested data roadmap before they commit to a large project.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
We also offer a spreadsheet training/mentoring service. If your work day is blocked by a problem in Excel or Google sheets, we can schedule a call to show you how to solve the problem or just fix it for you. In addition, we have blogs and videos for basic Excel spreadsheet tips. Plus samples of interactive dashboards.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://datasciencing.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/datasciencingconsultants
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/datasciencing/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DatasciencingC
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/data-sciencing-consultants/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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