Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Belle Walker, Founder of Belleview Consulting LLC., located in Berkeley, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I take organizations from Friction to Function (R) by aligning their teams to their strategy with structures and processes. Many consultants talk about putting the right butts in the right seats of the bus, but my job is to design and build the bus.
My clients are generally business owners or leaders who are victims of their own success. Whether they are first reaching the point where a bit of structure elevates the team rather than confining them or are recognizing that their current approaches are optimized for past goals or teams, my clients are generally grappling with the realization that "what got me here won't get me there."
Tell us about yourself
My educational background is in engineering, but every job I've had since graduating from undergrad has been focused on building and leading operations or organizations. That experience has allowed me to see how engineering problem-solving can be leveraged for business processes and structures.
I genuinely believe that people come to work wanting to do well in their roles, and it frustrates me to see ineffective or outdated structures getting in their way. My primary motivation is to empower and enable team members by creating processes and structures that lift them up rather than holding them down.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
It may seem silly, but I see recognizing myself as an entrepreneur and business owner as my biggest accomplishment as a business owner. It took me a while to come to terms with the idea that doing work I was so passionate about was a "real" business - I was so excited about the work that I thought I must be cheating somehow!
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
I take pride in being up forward with my clients about my areas of expertise as a consultant but being a business owner means needing to own all areas of the business, regardless of whether I feel comfortable.
Learning new skills and figuring out what can be delegated has been exciting and fulfilling but also full of challenges that remind me on a weekly, if not daily basis, that being a business owner is hard.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be clear about what you are trying to build and be flexible about that definition as you learn more about your customers.
- Know that it will take longer than you think it will. That revised estimate you just made after reading the first sentence? It will take longer than that! So make sure you know how you are going to make it through the earliest stages.
- Go for it!
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://belleviewconsulting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bellekwalker/
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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