Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Bill Boris-Schacter, Founder of Tonic Consulting Group, located in Oak Park, IL, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Tonic Consulting Group assists agencies and companies in the live event industry in achieving tremendous success by mentoring and coaching their leadership and key employees to become better leaders and managers and providing them with the tools and financial insights needed to make better business decisions. Our mission is to assist our clients in running their businesses more successfully and effectively.

Tell us about yourself

I created Tonic Consulting Group in 2016 after completing a very successful career culminating in the EVP of Operations and Client Finance role for Jack Morton Worldwide, a pre-eminent, multi-national, publicly-traded event marketing agency.

All partners at Tonic also have been leaders in event marketing agencies. Tonic's mission is to offer young entrepreneurs and more seasoned event marketing agency leaders insider knowledge of best practices in operations, finance, and employee management. We do this because we want to help others be as successful as we have been in our careers.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Surviving since 2016. The live event industry was hit particularly hard by the pandemic (for obvious reasons). We were able to coach our clients through the crisis by helping them pivot to virtual events and other content delivery, and many are now flourishing.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Managing the workflow. Tonic is a small agency. Therefore, managing existing needs while seeking new clients and running a business is always the most formidable challenge.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Minimize your upfront investments so that you can create the longest runway possible. You must be able to last through the time necessary for business development. The longer you can survive, the higher your chances of success.
  2. If you are delivering a service, use value-based pricing. Pricing by the hour is a trap as it punishes you for leveraging your knowledge and working quickly. Project pricing will allow your clients to know precisely what they are paying for your services and allows you to work as efficiently as possible.
  3. Never stop selling, particularly when you are too busy to do so. It would be best if you made selling a part of every day's activity, or it will fall by the wayside during busy times. Then you will suddenly look up after finishing whatever you were working on and wonder where your business went.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.tonicconsultinggroup.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-boris-schacter-7965a/

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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