We were lucky to catch up with Dena Patton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

Here’s a polished, magazine-ready version of your story that keeps your voice but elevates the depth, clarity, and authority:

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**The Truth About Scaling: What Happened Between the Start and the Success**

I started my company in 2001, long before automation, social media, and the digital tools we now take for granted. There was no CRM, no online scheduling, no funnels. Everything was manual. Every client interaction, every invoice, every follow-up required time, attention, and discipline.

And that’s where the real challenge began.

In those early years, the hardest part wasn’t just getting clients. It was learning how to stay consistent in marketing while simultaneously delivering exceptional results. You couldn’t hide. If you weren’t visible, your pipeline dried up. If you overcommitted to clients, your marketing stopped. It was a constant tension between growth and fulfillment.

That “middle phase” is where most businesses either plateau or disappear.

I had to learn quickly that visibility wasn’t optional, it was survival. And consistency mattered more than perfection. There were no shortcuts. I had to build the muscle of showing up over and over again, even when it felt inconvenient or unnecessary.

As technology evolved, I realized something that became a turning point: your website is not just a digital brochure. It should function like a team member. It should attract, qualify, convert, and serve clients without you being present. I began building systems that allowed my business to work for me, not just because of me. Online booking, payments, and clear messaging became essential, not upgrades.

But the most pivotal decision I made, the one that truly accelerated my growth, was stepping onto stages.

I made a commitment to become a speaker.

I started speaking at conferences, retreats, and events across the country, and eventually expanded into podcasts and national platforms. This wasn’t just about visibility. It was about positioning. Speaking allowed me to serve at scale, build trust instantly, and connect with audiences who were already seeking transformation.

That one decision didn’t just grow my business. It multiplied it.

It quadrupled my revenue and expanded my reach in ways that traditional marketing never could.

But it wasn’t without risk or discomfort. Early on, I had to refine my message, learn how to connect with different audiences, and build credibility one stage at a time. There were moments I questioned if it was worth the investment of time and energy. But every time I showed up, I got sharper, clearer, and more aligned with my purpose.

Looking back, scaling wasn’t one big breakthrough moment. It was a series of disciplined decisions:

Choosing consistency over convenience.
Choosing visibility over comfort.
Choosing systems over chaos.
And choosing to step into rooms where I had to grow to belong.

The truth is, businesses don’t scale because of one strategy. They scale because the leader evolves.

And in that middle phase, when no one is watching and the results aren’t immediate, that’s where the real foundation is built.

Dena, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Dena Patton, wife, girl mom, dog mom and community builder.

In my business I own a coaching and training company where I’m a business coach, speaker, and author who has spent the last 25 years helping high-performing business owners, executives, and leaders unlock what I call their “Greatness Operating System™.” My work sits at the intersection of mindset, leadership, faith, sales and systems. I help people not just grow their businesses, but become the kind of leaders who can sustain that growth with clarity, courage, and alignment.

I didn’t enter this work through theory. I entered it through real life.

Early in my career, I saw incredibly talented people plateau, not because they lacked skill, but because they were stuck in fear, self-doubt, inconsistency, or misalignment. At the same time, I was building my own business, navigating growth, pressure, and the weight of leadership decisions. I became deeply curious about what actually creates lasting success, not just externally, but internally.

That curiosity turned into decades of study and refinement around mindset and leadership.

Today, my work focuses on helping leaders move from what I call a “smallness mindset” into a “greatness mindset.” This is not about hype or motivation. It’s about identity, ownership, clarity, and execution. It’s about how leaders think, decide, and show up under pressure.

Through my coaching, keynotes, workshops, and retreats, I work with entrepreneurs, executives, and organizations who are successful on paper but know there’s another level available to them. Many of my clients are navigating growth ceilings, team challenges, decision fatigue, or a disconnect between their success and their sense of fulfillment.

I help them solve problems like:

Inconsistent revenue or clunky sales systems
Leadership gaps within teams that slow growth
Burnout, overwhelm, and decision fatigue at the CEO level
Lack of clarity in their marketing and sales
Systems that aren’t working, aren’t clear or don’t exist as they scale from 10 employees to 100+

What sets my work apart is that I don’t just give strategy. I rewire how leaders operate.

I developed the Greatness Operating System™, an 8-part framework that addresses the internal drivers behind external results. Because the truth is, most business problems are not business problems. They are leadership and mindset problems showing up in business.

I also integrate faith into my work in a way that is grounded, practical, and deeply personal. For me, leadership is not just about performance, it’s about purpose, stewardship, and impact. I help my clients align who they are with how they lead, so they can build businesses and lives that actually feel meaningful.

In addition to my coaching and speaking, I’m the cofounder of the Girls Rule Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering teen girls with leadership, confidence, and financial skills. That work is especially close to my heart because it reflects my belief that leadership starts early, and when we equip young women with the right mindset, the right skills and the right support, we change the future.

I understand the weight of leadership.

I understand what it feels like to carry the vision, make the decisions, and hold the responsibility for others. And I’ve built my life’s work around helping leaders not just survive that weight, but lead powerfully because of it.

This isn’t surface-level coaching. This is about real transformation, the kind that changes how you lead, how you build, and how you impact the world.

Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.

A Sale I Didn’t Plan… and the Lesson I Didn’t Expect

Yes, I have sold a business, and it wasn’t part of some long-term exit strategy or perfectly timed market decision. It came through what I now call a “blessed interruption.”

At the time, I was running my marketing and PR business in New York City, fully immersed in growth, clients, and the pace of building something meaningful. Like many entrepreneurs, I was focused on momentum, expansion, and what was next.

Then I had a stroke.

Everything stopped.

In an instant, my priorities, capacity, and perspective shifted. I had to step back in a way I never had before, not because I wanted to, but because I had to. And in that season, I was faced with a decision: hold on tightly to what I had built, or trust that letting go might actually be part of a bigger plan.

I chose to sell the business.

At the time, it didn’t feel strategic. It felt necessary. But looking back, it was one of the most defining leadership decisions I’ve ever made.

Here are a few lessons from that experience that I believe are critical for any entrepreneur thinking about selling a business one day:

1. Build a business that can run without you.
When everything depended on me, it made stepping away incredibly difficult. If you want to have options, whether by choice or circumstance, your business needs systems, structure, and leadership beyond just you.

2. Your identity cannot be your business.
This was one of the hardest lessons. When you’ve poured years into building something, it’s easy to tie your worth and identity to it. Letting go forced me to separate who I am from what I built, and that shift changed how I lead today.

3. Not all exits are planned, but they can still be purposeful.
Entrepreneurs often talk about exits as financial strategies. But sometimes, life intervenes. And when it does, there is still opportunity for alignment, growth, and even blessing in the transition. It’s ok to let it go.

4. Health and life will always matter more than the business.
No level of success is worth ignoring what your body or your life is trying to tell you. That experience recalibrated everything for me, how I work, how I lead, and how I prioritize. I now require all my clients to have a CEO Self Care plan to maintain their mind, body and spirit as we grow their company.

5. Trust the interruption.
What felt like a disruption at the time became a redirection. Selling that business created space for the next chapter of my work, the one I’m in now, which is even more aligned with my purpose, my faith, and the impact I’m called to make.

I didn’t just walk away from that experience with a transaction. I walked away with a transformation.

And if there’s one thing I would say to any entrepreneur, it’s this: build your business with excellence, but hold it with open hands. Because sometimes the most defining moments in your journey are the ones you didn’t plan, but were meant to lead you exactly where you’re supposed to go.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy has been simple, but not always easy: stay visible and serve with excellence.
Visibility is everything. If you’re not consistently showing up, both online and in real life, you become forgettable. And in today’s world, people don’t buy from the best, they buy from the most present, the most trusted, and the most top-of-mind.

Every single week, I’m intentional about being in front of my ideal clients. That might look like speaking at events, being on podcasts, creating content, hosting workshops, or having meaningful conversations in the right rooms. Visibility isn’t random, it’s strategic. It’s about showing up where your people already are and adding value before you ever ask for anything in return.

But visibility alone isn’t enough.

The second part, and what truly sustains growth, is delivering exceptional results.
When you serve your clients with excellence, when you help them solve real problems and create meaningful transformation, they don’t just stay… they refer. About 50% of my clientele comes from referrals. It’s because people trust results, and they talk about results.

Referrals are one of the most powerful forms of growth because they come with built-in credibility. Someone else has already validated your work before you even enter the conversation.

So if I had to simplify it, growth comes down to this:
Be seen.
Be consistent.
And be excellent in how you serve.
Your business doesn’t just grow, it compounds.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.denapatton.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denamariepatton
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DenaPatton
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/denampatton