“Kelly’s background in market research and as a business advisor brings a unique and invaluable perspective to founders and company leaders. Her experience helping organizations understand their market has enabled many businesses to find a foothold and grow. I can honestly say that UpStream would not exist were it not for Kelly’s guidance and naturally supportive mentorship. She challenged me to dig deeper, learn more, and through that have the confidence to succeed. Kelly has been a high value advisor and I feel fortunate to have her in my corner.”
Kelly Berry and I have worked closely together to provide online learning opportunities for the Association for Independent Information Professionals (AIIP). Kelly’s depth of expertise on market research strategies applied to business decision models has provided our members with both enriched online interaction and exceptional content to apply and reference.
As a small business owner, I’ve especially benefited from Kelly’s workshops on business planning techniques as I apply them now and in future business development decision making. Kelly is an inspiring and insightful online teacher and facilitator and any one who works with her will benefit tremendously from her experience and enthusiasm for immediate and longer term business development and growth.
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Learn More About How I Can Help You
I have been helping businesses grow for over 15 years, working with start-ups and larger businesses. Can I help you find new target markets? New business opportunities? Set strategic pricing? Or just learn the ropes to get going? Meet me and then sign up for my email so I can get to know you!
Your #1 Goal = A Sustainable Business
To make sure your business is sustainable, be sure to follow these key steps! Mission, Vision, Delegation, Automation, Accountability
Never Enough Time On Your Hands
Too much time on your hands? I’ve never met a business owner who has said that. Never enough time? That’s what I hear all the time. How to best address this issue? Read on!
Signals of Change
How do you stay relevant and innovative – and in business? Focus on the future by tuning in to signals of change!
Look Back to Look Forward
Hey small business owners – we may not be able to predict the future but we can prepare for it and be future-focused!
Top Tips for Growing Your Small Business
My end of the year gift to you – some top tips for growing your small business courtesy of a guest blogger. Check out the great gift ideas toward the end of the post!
It’s Lonely at the Top
Have you been feeling more isolated running your business this year? Consider some in person and online ways to connect with your fellow business owners.
How do you find your peers to aid in decision making? Or just to avoid feeling alone? Check out these three suggestions in the latest blog post!
Gratitude Attitude Year 3
As we approach Thanksgiving, take time to think about all of the people who have helped you grow your business over the years.
Let’s express some gratitude for our peers, supporters and mentors!
Who are you grateful for? Read more to help you reflect on your own entrepreneurial path!
We’ve always done it this way
Some recipes are keepers, and some are only worth trying once. The same holds true with processes in the workplace.
Habit Forming
How do you find the time to add good habits, like planning for your business, into your day? Form some new habits!
Personal + Business Connections
Small business owners do better when they help each other, but many in-person events haven’t gotten back to normal. Learn more about why these are connections so important!
Seven Tips for Creating Content That Converts
Content Creation for Marketing – You know it’s important but how to get started? Check out these seven tips and get going!
From Origin to Opportunity
Origin stories about entrepreneurs are great! But what about sticking with it? How do you continue to look for opportunity and innovate to stay in business?
Decision Overload
Being an entrepreneur often comes with way too many decisions to make. Are you on decision overload? How can you lessen your load?
On Holiday
It’s time for a break from work! When was the last time you went ‘on holiday’ and gave yourself some downtime from your small business?
We are living in a VUCA World
We are living in a VUCA world. Is your small business looking forward and planning for a successful future?
Your Legacy
Whether you’re 20 or 70, it’s important to think about your legacy – and the vision you are setting for your business and personal life.
Talk to the experts!
Tired of doing all the decision making for your small business? Want some help? Talk to the experts!
Do you have a resilient business?
So you survived a pandemic. Do you have what it takes to survive a recession too? It takes resilienc
It’s a good thing the dog threw up or we wouldn’t have discovered the water leak…
Have you ever had one of those days? It can make you question the reasons you decided to have your own business in the first place.
Exponential Change is here – are you ready?
Is your small business ready for the exponential changes that are coming our way? How can you prepare for the future?
Find Your Community
Are you a growth minded entrepreneur? Find your community to accelerate your growth and get the support you need to keep going!
Your Future Self Will Thank You
What does the future of your small business look like? Imagine a successful future and let’s find ways to head in that direction together.
The Game is Rigged
Spending money on digital marketing can feel like placing a bet on your business when the odds are not in your favor. What to do?
Hiring Issues? Time to Explore the Gig Economy
Having trouble hiring employees right now? Consider some alternatives including those in the gig economy, students and solopreneurs.
Welcome Great Resigners!
The Great Resignation has caused many former employees to become new entrepreneurs. As existing small business owners, we welcome our new start-ups to the world of entrepreneurship!
Cheers to the Everyday Entrepreneurs
They may not be as newsworthy, but everyday entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of this country and the source of jobs and innovation.
Channel Your Creativity
Planning for the future of your business? Look far enough ahead that you need to channel your creativity, even if you don’t consider yourself creative.
When It Comes to Planning, You Are the C-Suite
How many VPs of Planning or Chief Planning Officers does your small business have? None? Guess who’s in charge of it then?
Going Viral
What can we learn from examples of things gone viral? Focus on the personal connection.
Which Planning Circle is the Best Fit for Your Business?
How much time do you spend planning for the future of your business? Take the quiz and see where you fit in.
To Do List or Bust!?
As we reflect on our accomplishments for the year, let’s talk about how we manage our To Do list.
The value of personal connections in an automated world
Automation is great, unless it isn’t. How to tell what to automate and what to hold on to? Don’t dismiss the power of personal connection.
Gratitude Attitude Redux
Who keeps you going as you work to constantly learn and grow as a business owner? This Thanksgiving, let’s express our gratitude for them!
Curling Your Way to Long Term Success
Are you familiar with the sport of curling? Who knew that it was so similar to running a small business
The Three Ps of Small Business Growth
Make sure you are taking advantage of the advantages small business owners have over their giant competitors. The 3 Ps of personalizing, pivoting and perceiving changes around us.
The Simplest Advice is the Hardest to Follow
Sometimes the simplest things are the hardest – like setting aside time for planning when it’s so easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day.
Planning with a Pestle
PESTLE is a tool to analyze what’s going on in the world around you that could impact your business. Is it time for you to give it a try?
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes – the easiest path to digital marketing decisions
Small business owners always have a lot going on every day. It can be a challenge to throw time and money at digital marketing when it seems as if the return on the investment isn’t very high. Follow the path you would take as a customer to make sure your business shows up where they will find you.
She who hesitates is lost
Who holds you accountable to making progress in your business? It’s too easy to avoid difficult decisions and focus on the easy stuff.
What will the future look like for your business?
We can’t predict the future, but we can control our response to top trends, create a successful path forward for our small businesses and protect our companies from a negative future path.
The Tale of the Three-Ring Binder
What information can help you better connect with your customers? Research helps small business owners better spend their marketing dollars.
Your New Goal: Less Juggling, More Controlling
Does it feel like you spend a lot of your workday dealing with issues and taking on stress, and not enough taking control and planning your path forward? Let’s focus together on what you can control and why it matters.
Your PERSONAL Advantage
Let’s talk about some of the things that are great about owning a small business. The key: it’s all about personal connections!
Death and Taxes and Digital Marketing
What’s certain? Death and taxes. What’s confusing? Taxes and Digital Marketing. How many small business owners agree?
My Startup Failure Story
The news is full of stories of unicorns and SPACs and VC-funded tech start-ups and failures – but what about the rest of us small business owners? Don’t forget about the everyday entrepreneurs. We have our own tales of success, and of failure. Here is mine: How I invested $25k and 2 years of my life and all I got for it was some tiny tape measures.
What’s the Point of Planning?
With all we’ve been through in the past year, it can be difficult to get enthusiastic about setting aside valuable time to plan for the future of your small business. But the future is coming whether or not you plan for it, so why not get to work looking for opportunity?
Who’s In Your Inner Circle?
Do you have a diverse group of fellow business owners to turn to for advice, support or celebration? If not, it’s time to put that into place!
Don’t Fly Over Me!
Why is all the funding for startups on the Coasts? Don’t forget all of the talent, creativity, experience and innovation here in the Midwest, better known as the Fly-over Zone!
Big City vs Small Town – Which is the Winner?
How I left behind the fast-track world of big business in the East Coast in exchange for small town small business life, and why you should too!
The superpower you should be focusing on for 2021
Small business owners – give yourself a competitive advantage by focusing on this superpower
Time to Channel Your Inner Bigwig?
Hey small business owners! Do you envy the executives in the giant soulless corporations and their fancy offices and benefits? What can we learn from these bigwigs about planning for success? And where do we have it better compared to them? Let’s talk big business.
Be Your Own Data Scientist
Data collection and analysis is vital to the success of any business, large or small. What are some ways to improve your data analysis process without hiring a data scientist?
Farewell 2020!
I’m sure we’re all ready to look ahead to a year that is not 2020! Consider skipping ahead ten years into the future, and then working backwards to plan for 2021.
It’s Lonely at the Top, or really, just at all these days
Have you been feeling more isolated running your business this year? Consider some online ways to connect with your fellow business owners.
Gratitude Attitude
Who helped you launch your business? Who keeps you going as you work to constantly learn and grow as a business owner? This Thanksgiving, it’s time to be grateful for our fellow small business owners and all those who support us in our ventures.
Are you a T or an F?
How important is your personality to the success of your business?
The First Step in Strategic Planning is Secondary, Research That Is
Be sure to begin your strategic planning with some research. Read more on how to get started!
The First Step in Decision Making is Secondary, Research that is
With all the information available online these days, it’s more important than ever to focus on the right questions to ask as you work to grow your business.
Decision Making: Go with your gut or decide with data?
How do you make key strategic decisions? By relying on data, or just sheer gut instinct? Maybe it’s time to feed your gut.
The Challenge of Connecting in a Coronavirus World
Don’t mourn the old way of making business connections, look for new opportunities! Get started here.
Bubble Busting: The Top Five Customer Validation Mistakes
No one likes to burst the bubble of an aspiring start-up, so make sure to avoid these mistakes if you are getting ready to launch a new product or service.
Navigating the COVID Waters
How to survive in troubled waters? Communicate, collaborate, innovate, compromise and improvise!
Five for the Future Newsletter – Sample
Check out a sample of my Five for the Future Newsletter. Subscribe to stay informed weekly of signals of change that could impact your small business.
Independence Day
The future is independent. Let’s celebrate independent business owners this holiday.
See the Opportunity in Trends for the Future
Is your business future-focused? Be sure to look for the opportunities before they become threats!
Create Your Successful Future
What does a successful future look like for you and your business? And how can you prepare for it? Learn some tips and make some plans!
Whether you’re in the Learn, Start or Grow phase of your business, there are great free resources out there to help you. Take a look at some of my favorites here.
Whatever stage of the process you’re in, there are great free resources to help you learn more, get started or grow your business. Here are a few, and I’ll be adding to the list as we grow this site together!
The Small Business Development Center offices are located across the United States, offering free consultations and low cost training. Click on the link to find the SBDC office nearest you.
The Service Corps Of Retired Executives offers free mentoring, classes and online workshops. Connect with a local mentor or seek out remote opportunities to learn about starting your own business.
The U.S. Small Business Administration offers a wide variety of services to local businesses including funding options, links to federal contracting options and a terrific Business Guide to learn more about running your own business.
County or State Economic Development Office
Your local Economic Development office may offer consulting, support, classes or other training options to help you learn how to open a business in your community.