Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jennifer Yeh, Founder and CEO of Big Little Insights, located in San Francisco, CA, USA.

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

Big Little Insights empowers CEOs and other leaders of companies who want to infuse inclusion into the DNA of their companies or deal with other complex people issues. These CEOs and leaders have tried many different things. They have hired the staff and perhaps even consultants or trainers, but they still have not obtained the results they want. They are not looking for training to check off their list for compliance purposes or for the sake of PR. They are looking for a long-term solution to create or transform systems to resolve their complex problems and reach their long-term goals, often where there is no one solution or one person who knows it all.

Big Little Insights is not going to give a canned solution or do the work for clients. Clients need to put in the work and be willing to address the root cause of their issues. Big Little Insights empowers clients by providing coaching, conflict resolution, facilitation, and other process services. As a result of successfully completing the Big Little Insights signature process, organizations make room for increased profits and explosive growth, cultivate inclusive and resilient leaders, improve organizational effectiveness, improve employee retention, increase customer satisfaction, decrease legal costs, and cultivate peace of mind and peace with others.

Tell us about yourself

I started my business Big Little Insights because of my background in the social sciences, science, law, and policy, especially at the intersection of conflict, psychology, and social identity. I realized groups wasted effort on irrelevant or counterproductive actions that did not help them reach their goals. Out of my interdisciplinary experiences over the past 20 years, I developed a proprietary process to help others (especially teams) deal with sticky, long-term challenges. I am motivated to help clients deal with the heart of their issues to figure out what they truly want, make difficult decisions, resolve conflicts, and achieve their seemingly intractable goals to make large positive impacts on the world.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is being able to offer clients a service where they have these ah-ha moments when they finally discover a blind spot and figure out how to address an issue that has vexed them for months or years. These ah-ha moments mark an explosive positive change in trajectory. Through my proprietary process, I give people another option that helps CEOs and other leaders of companies to address leaders’ most difficult people issues.

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

One of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner is getting my message out and sharing my vision with the world to the people who are trying to find a business, like Big Little Insights, while doing all of the things to make sure the business keeps running.

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

  1. Create a solid foundation for your business by thinking about accessibility, inclusion, and values from the beginning, not only for issues related to your staff but also for all parts of your business (such as your website or products and services). It may be harder to fix or undo your decisions later after you run into problems.
  2. Avoiding your people issues will not necessarily make them go away. Address them early on before they turn into lawsuits, PR nightmares, and toxic workplaces. Although you may find an occasional cavity at the dentist with a biannual checkup, filling a cavity may be less painful than ignoring the dentist at all costs until you need a root canal or lose all of your teeth.
  3. Take a step back to see how everything fits together and figure out what you want to do about it to avoid tunnel vision and break down silos. Labor shortages, talent retention, and a robust leadership pipeline do not happen in isolation.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.biglittleinsights.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigLTLinsights
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/biglittleinsights/

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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