Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business consulting and services but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Chandhrika Venkataraman, Founder of Source Refresh LLC, located in Portland, OR, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Source Refresh LLC provides Procurement consulting services for small and mid-market businesses. Businesses often hire us to serve as fractional Procurement execs to lead their Procurement teams in Sourcing strategy creation. Our clientele today includes a Fortune 500 manufacturing organization, a mid-market Procurement consultancy, a privately held food manufacturer, and two SaaS-based startups in ESG and Legal.
Tell us about yourself
I started my supply chain career 18 years ago, working for an industrial equipment manufacturer as a production planner. Since then, I've moved across geographies and industries to take on supply chain roles of increasing responsibility in food manufacturing, retail, and procurement consulting. After the COVID-19 pandemic, I felt it was time to re-evaluate my priorities. I always enjoyed coaching and building supplier teams in every corporate role I held. I feel a sense of purpose when I see smaller businesses implement systems and processes to deliver results that matter consistently. I often see these businesses struggle to balance their day-to-day deliverables with strategic plans. Leadership must be released from busy work to be strategic, but most small businesses cannot afford full-time thought leaders. I hit upon a fractional leadership solution and launched Source Refresh to help smaller businesses scale up successfully.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Finding the business idea, testing the market for it, and then launching your solution are the first 3 steps to building a business. Then come the tough tasks of building your business by growing your clientele. All of this has been a new experience for me. I feel blessed to be privileged enough to take the plunge, set up my own venture, and show up and make a difference to my clients every day. I am proud to be a first-generation business owner.
I'd like to highlight one specific result too. I have consistently engineered programs to deliver 6% cost savings through preferred vendor models, vendor consolidation, and intelligent deal structuring.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
For me, it has been learning new areas of business management in that I have no experience. As a first-generation business owner, I learn customer prospecting, effective pitching, and digital media content creation. Even if each of these does not lead to immediate success, I enjoy the learning process.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
If you are blessed enough to not need a steady income, you may want to read on:
- Are there any industry-wide problems that don't have robust solutions?
Ex., in my case, I noticed across several smaller businesses that they lack strategic Procurement leadership. - Do you have a solution to such a problem? Or are you able to build one?
- Take the plunge... do it! You will never know what works unless you try it out. Contrary to conventional wisdom, starting your own business is one area where too much thinking can actually hamper you.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.source-refresh.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chandhrikasour1
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandhrika/
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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