We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diane, Debra and Andrea Collier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Diane, Debra and Andrea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. So, we’d appreciate if you could open up about your growth story and the nitty, gritty details that went into scaling up.

We’ve learned a lot over the past 3.5 years. Most importantly, we realized that we couldn’t do it all. Initially, we wanted to be everything to every business owner. We wanted to be the one-shop for entrepreneurs because we each had so many skills to offer. In 2019, we were not only forming our clients LLCs and nonprofits, but we were creating their websites/logos/brand colors and designing employee training programs. It was passion-fueled but exhausting, time consuming, and we were stretched thin.

In 2021, we realized that if we wanted to really scale and provide a service that positively impacted the business as a whole- we had to take many of those services off the table and zone in our Texas Registered Agent Services which works to ensure that their business is compliant with the state (if you aren’t in compliance with the state-then the website, the awesome products and services, and the employees can’t ultimately serve their purpose). So our advice to business owners is simplicity and quality! You don’t have to offer a multitude of services or products to be successful. Focus on your core services/products and make them the best that you can! Our ability to scale enabled us to add an amazing team member Andrea Contreras who is our admin queen! Andrea is trilingual-fluent in English, Spanish and Microsoft Excel and has helped us better serve our Spanish-speaking business owners!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

We are sisters (Andrea, Diane & Debra) and we run Strategic Training and Consulting LLC. We specialize in Business Formation & Texas Registered Agent Services. Some families can’t do business together, but we can because we share more than just our blood lines- we share entrepreneurial spirits & that is the heart of our company! We help entrepreneurs start businesses (by forming their LLCs, DBAs and non-profits) and ensure they have their ducks in a row/stay compliant (by providing registered agent/compliant monitoring services). Prior to starting our company in 2019, we each worked in different industries and at one point we each had our own respective businesses. Back then there wasn’t a plethora of business coaches, business workshops and webinars. So, we googled and DIYd everything and did the best we could with what we had! Ohhh how we learned from our own trials and errors (from not fully understanding annual reports to filing tax reports late). While casually talking one day- we loosely brought up the idea of starting a business together to help other entrepreneurs, so they didn’t have to DIY the business formation process like we did. Most people who want to start a business don’t, because they are afraid of the unknown. Of course, “you don’t know, what you don’t know” but our goal was to help them “know”. With a white board and a dry-erase marker, we drew out our rough business plan, and then we ran with it.
We help people start businesses by filing their business applications with the state. We help them stay compliant by serving as their Registered Agent (RA) (every legal entity must have one). Just in case you aren’t familiar-an entity’s RA is an individual or business that is responsible for receiving important legal and tax documents on behalf of the business. On the surface it seems simple and sounds cliche, but it’s much deeper than receiving legal mail! Many business owners don’t know their annual and quarterly filing obligations. We’ve met so many business owners that create LLCs but don’t apply for an EIN or file the correct tax return. They create multi-member LLCs but don’t create an operating agreement to protect members’ assets. They apply for a sales tax permit but don’t file a sales tax return. This list goes on! Failing to do any of these things puts them at risk of not being in good standing with the state and not being able to apply for contracts, grants, loans etc. We strive to prevent this by ensuring our clients receive important docs through their client portal, get monthly compliance reminders, and we offer additional filing services. Strategic Training and Consulting can serve as a company’s Houston Registered Agent, Dallas Registered Agent, San Antonio Registered Agent, Austin Registered Agent and every other city in Texas.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Competing with major registered agent companies has been challenging but when we focus on what differentiates us from them (our personalized Registered Agent services, our passion for local businesses and solopreneurs, our first-hand experience as business owners, our mission to inform our clients on the newest grants, business productivity tools, and relevant free/low-cost workshops), our client base grows organically. Referrals have been instrumental in new and returning customers. Between family and friends’ referrals, engaging with current and future business owners via Instagram and Facebook, and expanding our presence online, we are making waves in the business consulting and registered agent services industry.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We show up every day. We pivot when we need to. We use creativity to find solutions to problems. We literally make magic happen. We’re the STC Team and can call us “CLUTCH” because we always come through, even when our clients need us at the last minute! We’re your go to Texas Registered Agent! We love what we do. We love helping our clients start businesses doing what they love!

We are more than just our clients’ business address with the state! We are passionate about helping our business clients succeed. We send out monthly newsletters with important deadlines, industry-specific grants and resources, and helpful tips and reminders that are invaluable for business owners. We filter spam and junk mail that intentionally targets new business owners with hopes of scamming them into paying for fake business fees. Unlike other registered agent services, we don’t charge for each document we receive. Whether your company receives 1 document or 100 documents, our service is a flat annual fee.

Each of our registered clients has access to their own account in our efficient and user-friendly client portal! Any documents that we receive on our client’s behalf (for example, from The Texas Comptroller’s Office or The Texas Secretary of State etc.) can be easily accessed 24/7 via their account.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.strategic-trainingconsulting.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/strategictrainingandconsulting
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/strategictrainingandconsulting/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-training-consulting

Image Credits
Jannelle Sullivan Photography