We were lucky to catch up with Denola Burton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Denola, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Enhanced DNA: Develop Nurture Achieve, LLC

You will notice that my logo has the DNA double helix and the name of my company is ENHANCED DNA. The DNA and the symbol relate to my scientific background. I have both a Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Biology and began my career in the sciences. Mid-career, I transitioned to a Human Resources role and found my passion. For the next 20+ years, I was able to use that passion to develop and nurture others so they could achieve their goals and objectives in the workplace. When I decided to start my own business, I knew that I wanted to continue that theme to “Develop, Nurture and Achieve” and the acronym DNA popped out at me. I have always wanted to Enhance others, so the Enhanced DNA became my business title. So it didn’t get confused with DNA testing, etc. I kept the Develop Nurture Achieve as my business name: Enhanced DNA: Develop Nurture Achieve, LLC. Interestingly enough, as I began to abbreviate my business name, I would write: EDNA. My mother’s name was Edna!!!!! So the title of my business has a career, passion and destiny all tied into one!

Denola, 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?

My business, Enhanced DNA: Develop Nurture Achieve, LLC, was originally created as an HR consulting firm where we focused on developing and nurturing individuals and organizations in non-profit agencies so they could achieve their objectives related to leadership, communication and performance. However, in 2019, I created the Enhanced DNA Publishing part of my company since I became an author, joined the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and started filling a need for those who felt that professionally publishing a book was out of reach. For this conversation, I will focus on the publishing arm of my business.

As I was doing workshops at some of the non-profit organizations, I would tell stories to help with concepts and examples of those concepts. Many of those stories were about me and the experiences I had. As I began to collect the stories, I decided to write them up and it became a book. I did “plan” to be an author and one of the things that I realized when I wrote that book was that I loved publishing the book more than I did writing the book. This led me to writing and publishing several workbooks that I used for some of my workshops. Then I began to have people ask me to help them with their books.

One thing I realized early in this publishing journey was that new or newer authors who wanted to be an author did not know what steps to take after their book was published. This led me to create tools and resources for authors to learn and grow into an “AUTHORity”. Through our Enhanced DNA Publishing Academy, we teach authors how to effectively go through the writing process, publishing and marketing their books – therefore continuing the theme of developing and nurturing so they can achieve their objectives (in this instance, becoming a successful author).

To that end, since 2019, we have published over 50 books! Because we pride ourselves on professionally publishing, we follow the IBPA standards and submit all of our books that qualify, to national literary competitions. Since we published that first book as a company, nineteen of our books have received national recognitions from organizations such as the Best Book Awards sponsored by the American Book Fest, Maincrest Awards, Author Academy Awards, Readers’ Favorite Awards, Reviewers Choice Awards, Book Excellence Awards and the American Writing Awards.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

This might be obvious since so many people had to pivot during the pandemic but I made a huge shift in my business in 2020 due to the Pandemic. From 2018 through 2019, the majority of my business was focused on HR Consulting and helping organizations with leadership, communication and performance improvements. As we entered the Pandemic in March, 2020, many organizations were not conducting in-person coaching, assessments or workshops. HOWEVER, many people began to realize that they had time to write. This is when I had to pivot in order to sustain my business and transitioned from 80% HR Consulting and 20% Publishing over to 95% Publishing and very little HR Consulting. Since that time, we have been able to publish between 12 – 15 books each year. We still work with organizations on their HR consulting needs, however, it is remained in the minority of my business while the Publishing aspect has continued to grow.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I have always been very social but as an “introverted/extrovert”, I thrive when I am around people and have in-person interactions. I am not always the “life of the party” but when I am engaging with others, I like it to be meaningful. To that end, as we entered into the Pandemic, I had to find a way to better engage with my target audience. I decided to ramp up my social media presence. I currently have Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. I have both personal and business related accounts on LinkedIN and Facebook and I create relevant content for each. I have seen my business pages grow since those who follow me on my personal pages realize that if they want to keep in touch with my business side, they need to follow those pages. I am in no means a social media influencer, but I am very proud when I see someone who says that the love what I am doing in my business. That just happened with a person at church this month.

My rule of thumb related to social media is to provide motivation, inspiration and education and that I don’t post any less than 3 of those before I ever ask for something. For example: I post daily on all social media channels (except on weekends unless I am at an event that I want to highlight). When I post, sometimes I want to focus on one of my books but I won’t put a link to purchase unless I have already shared relevant motivational, inspirational or educational content. As a result, I often hear people tell me that they love my content and it has lived up to my brand to “Develop and Nurture” them.

In addition, in order to not “live” on social media, I pre-schedule a lot of my content in advance. This allows me to post during the best times for visibility and engagement and keeps me from being on social media all of the time. It is easier for me to spend dedicated time preparing graphics and content for social media, pre-post and then add additional content as needed. It also allows me to focus on social media from others when I do spend time on social media.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.EnhancedDNAPublishing.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/enhanced_dna
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/EDNAPublishing
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/enhanced-dna-develop-nurture-achieve-301b32178

Image Credits
Headshot Photos: Joe Ake Studios All others are mine.