Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in sales and business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Lisa Proeber, Owner of The Middle Six, located in Milwaukee, WI, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
The Middle Six is a lean sales and business development consultancy helping sales teams and small businesses seeking to create, fill or sustain sales pipelines by embracing the mentality that sales is equal parts art and science. We provide tactical sales planning, help execute sales initiatives, and create, hire and inspire dream sales teams.
Tell us about yourself
After an almost 20-year sales career, I found myself unemployed two weeks before I gave birth to my second child. Every time I would interview with a small business, they would say, “we love you, we have to have you, we can’t afford you, do you do any consulting?” After four months of searching for a job that would match my historical income level as well as give me the flexibility to be a mother, I gave up. I needed to feed my family. A friend of mine owns a wallpaper company. She had been asking me to consult for her for years. I would always say, “of course, my friend, I would be happy to help.” She sat me down for lunch and said, “I want you to consult for me, and I want to pay you for it. Would you please let me know what that looks like?”
I called a friend of mine, Kiley Peters, who had also asked me to consult for her in the past. I asked if she would be interested in trading my consulting for a logo. Kismet had her starting RAYNE IX at the same time, and she pitched me her services of helping me start my business the right way. She took me on a journey of figuring out what was important to me personally and what I was good at professionally, helped me create a service, price that service, put together projections, and understand my COGs. She then branded and marketed my brand, and her team set up my entire back-of-house operations. I avoided ever having to be a startup. Best investment I ever made. I took on my first client two weeks in, and it’s been nonstop since then.
The Middle Six exists to eliminate Sales as a dirty word. When guiding companies and individuals on their sales journey, I embrace the philosophy that sales is both a science and an art. My vision is to redefine and standardize sales by creating roadmaps that empower, educate and engage entire teams.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
To date, my biggest accomplishment is paying someone to help me set up my company in a way that aligns my personal goals with my professional goals. I’ve hired and delegated in a way that I’m able to come to work every day and ONLY do exactly what I’m good at and what I love doing.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
What’s been most challenging for me so far has been the speed of scaling my business and how much it has changed since it started. The dance between establishing my core products and services and hiring people to provide the service has been hard to learn. Having to first make money to hire the people in order to service the customer doesn’t go fast enough for me. So… patience is the answer to the question.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Hire someone to coach you through all those things. I recommend RAYNE IX.
- Delegate, delegate, delegate.
- Never stop selling.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://themiddlesix.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085252912974
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themiddlesix/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-middle-six/
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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