Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal and business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kara Davidson, Founder of Wolf & Heron, located in Atlanta, GA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Wolf & Heron empowers high-potential people and executives to engage and inspire with storytelling. Our customers range from Google’s Product Management Learning & Development organization to the University of Michigan’s Sanger Leadership Center and include a diverse group of teams and organizations interested in empowering their people to be more compelling communicators.
Tell us about yourself
I have a background in environmental behavior change, leadership development, change management, and learning design. I’m motivated to help people find a human connection at work. We spend so much of our day at work; we can enjoy it more and be better at it but leveraging tools like storytelling to build relationships and communicate more effectively.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I’m most proud of the fact that we were able to hang in there during the first onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that point, most of our engagements were in-person and considered part of “discretionary spending.” It took a lot of adaptation to build out our virtual and hybrid experiences, but now our business is much more resilient, and we have offerings that are more adaptable to our client’s needs.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things to manage is the many hats I have to wear. As a small business owner, I take on every piece of the business—contracts, sales, data entry, marketing, etc. I don’t spend most of my day doing the thing I went into business for—the thing that is the most motivating. I have to find ways to build systems, make things as efficient or optimized as possible, bring on strategic partners, and be willing to do whatever it takes.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
There are a few pieces of advice I was given that I think are critical, especially at the beginning.
- Activity breeds activity - There’s no miracle marketing or sales outreach activity that will bring all your clients to you. You’ll probably have to do several things to get new clients, so do lots of things, more than you want to.
- Practice rapid prototyping - It’s tempting to isolate until you’ve perfected your website/product/service, etc., but you’ll never learn what you need to until you find ways to put out prototypes and get feedback from the market.
- Create culture - Even if you’re a business of one, two, or three people, intentionally build culture and ways of working together. How can you design it to support you? How will you be accountable? When do you celebrate? What are your processes? The more you can do this intentionally and have it supported by your values, the easier it will be to grow and bring people in.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.wolfandheron.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wolfandheron
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wolfandheron_leadership/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wolfandheron/
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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