Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business solutions but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with MaryPat Kavanagh, Founder of Strategic Results Marketing, located in Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

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

I work with experienced business owners who have been around since before the internet mattered and who depend on word-of-mouth referrals for business. I help them claim and update the six components of their online visibility so that referrals become leads.

Tell us about yourself

An entrepreneur since I was 19, and I have owned nine businesses (some successes, some not so much...learned the most from my failures, that is for sure!), I am passionate about supporting business owners to be great leaders for their teams, clients, and community without killing themselves. In fact, I believe that sustainable leadership includes a high impact and requires self-awareness, self-care, and connection to others. In your business, sustainable leadership requires systems and processes to support results so that you can have stronger connections with your staff and customers.

Leveraging technology for digitization and automation in the right places in your business allows you to focus your limited resources where it has the greatest impact. Because I am wired inherently as an integrator with strengths in fact-finding, strategy, and getting things done, I am motivated to create the right systems in your business in both marketing and operations so that you can have a greater impact and be a better leader!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Moving to Ireland in 2019 was by far my greatest accomplishment (if you don't consider empowering my four daughters to be amazing leaders in their own rights)! This required educating my clients (pre-pandemic) on how to use technology like video meetings and other online tools, as well as expanding my marketing to a global level after having been a "local business" for almost 20 years. We now have clients around the USA and Ireland, and I couldn't be happier!

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

Loneliness. When things are going well, it is easy to stay connected to others - your community, clients, team members, etc. But when the business doesn't go as planned, or worse - it takes a step backward, it can feel like a dirty secret that you can't share with anyone! Finding the right people who you can be vulnerable with and share the things you are scared of (including mistakes you have made) is hard, and it is necessary in order to get to the other side. This one piece of business owners just never gets easy.

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

  1. Find your tribe - the people who are like-minded and support you, your ideas, and your efforts... and who are willing to tell you the truth with kindness and honesty.
  2. Focus your efforts on your strengths. Hire your weaknesses. Do this as soon as possible.
  3. Never stop looking at the numbers. Look at them with honesty, and don't manipulate them. And with that, don't lose sight of the big picture. The numbers might just be the moment you are in. When you started, you were at zero. Then you probably when into the negative numbers. Keep a cushion (at least 3-6 months) so that you can accommodate the next slip in business. When that happens, pull back the reins, slow down, and do what you can to get things back into place. Running a business is not a straight line... it includes ups and downs and forwards and backward movements all the time.

    Enjoy the ride!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.strategicresults.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marypat.kavanagh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marypatspeaks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marypatspeaks/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marypat/

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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