Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Paul Raggio, Co-Owner of One True North, located in Santa Clarita, CA, USA.

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

I'm a passionate leadership and best business practices expert who relishes helping entrepreneurs, CEOs, executive teams, and business owners achieve remarkable, long-lasting results. Through STRATEGIC THINKING and EXECUTION PLANNING, I bring clarity to CEOs and their executive team on leading and managing their organizations by causing their awareness, education, implementation, and accountability. I do this by:

  • Facilitating annual 2-day and quarterly 1-day strategic thinking, execution planning offsites
  • One-to-one CEO and C-Suite Executive Development
  • Group leadership and best business practices training
  • Behavioral, motivational, and technical assessments and workshops

I'm eager to work with CEOs and their leadership teams of fast-growing organizations passionate about their team- and self-investment, future-driven toward a bold and audacious vision. They understand that the journey need not be made alone.

Tell us about yourself

I served twenty-six years in the U.S. Army and retired as a Colonel. Then, I was recruited by a billion-dollar corporation to start a $500 million contract. After successfully starting and running the contract for a year, the Chairman of the Board asked me to start a company that eventually evolved into my leading eight companies for the corporation in different life-cycle stages. Fourteen years later, I retired, moved to California, and started my executive development business. I thrive on helping emerging leaders be all they can be in a business environment.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Helping C-Suite executives and business owners be successful by introducing leadership and best business practices into their organization, watching them grow, and holding them accountable to their executable plans. My brand promise is to advance their careers, transform their companies, and achieve incredible results! Contact me if you're this CEO or leadership team member who is a learner, willing to grow, character-driven, servant-centric, and an abundant thinker ready to ask for help.

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

Dealing with uncertainty. The pandemic created a lot of business anxiety and uncertainty. Those that survived and thrived did so because they were agile enough and adapted to the novel, post-pandemic environment. Character, adaptability, resiliency, and tenacity are traits required to be a successful CEO and business owner.

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

  1. Have a vision, know your purpose and the direction you're headed, and devote time to detailed planning.
  2. Know your numbers, and understand how cash is generated and flows through your business.
  3. Get the people equation right, hire good people who are self-motivated, take care of them, and inspire them to achieve phenomenal results!

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

The true value of a CEO of any size organization is their ability to think and translate their thoughts into organizational action – think strategically, long and deep and wide and spatially! I imagine them like a maestro, a conductor, of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Their value is keeping the orchestra members aligned, note by note, instrument by instrument, and section by section while feeling their impact on the audience. They aren't the instrument's virtuoso delivering each note; however, they are the ones connecting all the virtuosos producing a concert. It's a discipline where you organize your thoughts and willfully contemplate pathways and outcomes that create a successful business that is sustainable, predictable, stable, consistent, and emotionally connected to its stakeholders.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://otnexecdevelop.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulraggio/

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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