We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful George Wentworth. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with George below.

George, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?

I believe in maintaining a healthy work-life balance. I co-founded and built a company, The Outbounds, around the idea that a proper work-life balance should be achieved by everyone. In our hyper-connected world where work and home life blend together as telecommuting becomes the norm while clients expect instant responses to emails and texts, it is very important to unplug and take a break to recharge. 
 Right now, I strike a good balance by working in the office most of the time. Doing so separares my work life and personal life. However, I take advantage of a remote work option while traveling for business. This business travel enables me to enjoy new surroundings while off the clock. To truly get away from it all, I make sure to completely unplug when taking meaningful, planned vacations.

At Group Wentworth, where I am the CEO, we have holidays, vacation days and wellness time off, and advise all of our clients to implement similar benefits to their workforce. Plenty of research shows how employee time off improves productivity, lowers stress and ensures better mental health. Preventing burnout is good for business.

George, 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?

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I took a big risk: I left my Wall Street job as Head of Operations and HR at a management consulting company. It was steady work with good pay, but after 7 years of working at the same multinational enterprise, I was ready for a new chapter.

I’m an entrepreneur and founder at heart, and so it was just a matter of time. Throughout my professional life, I have found myself to be most satisfied and useful when working with companies to help them grow while staying organized and in regulatory compliance. I tell my clients I like to help them set up the operations part of the business so they can focus on handling what their business actually does.

Most often, our clients are high-growth startups and foreign subsidiaries looking to operate in the United States. Our services rely on business fundamentals that are true for companies of any size or industry. Group Wentworth’s philosophy is that the best recipe for success includes maintaining a strong company culture, engaging and retaining top talent, streamlining operational systems, and providing excellent communication and customer service. No substitutions. Everything else is negotiable.

I can vouch for this strategy because it’s proven to be successful for us. Founded just in late 2020, Group Wentworth has grown from one small client to a roster of companies, both privately owned and publicly traded, spanning many diverse industries, in both North America and the United Kingdom.

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

It may sound cliché, but networking has been by far the most effective strategy for growth. For companies large and small, you can assume that the people in charge prefer to do business with people they know and like. The best way to grow your business is to get face time with those decision makers. This enables you to learn about their business needs and gives you a chance to offer your solutions and ideas. Think of it as an informal B2B version of a job interview. You don’t want to give away the store, so to speak, but you have to reveal enough to demonstrate your knowledge of their business model.

We actually incorporate networking into our business services. We make introductions and facilitate conversations between founders. We have worked with enough companies at this point where we can do a little corporate matchmaking. When our clients grow and learn, we all win.

Often we have clients opening up their networks for us as well, and bringing in new business to us because they believe in what we do and are happy with the results they have achieved with our help and advice.

Just because I keep a healthy work-life balance and take vacations, that doesn’t mean I ever forget to pack my business cards. You never know where you’re going to meet someone you can do business with. From skiing in the Catskills to cruising around Greek islands on a catamaran tour, you never know where you will meet someone who needs your services.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The core of our reputation is the quality of our services. That is and will always be paramount. The secret sauce for every successful business I have founded or managed has always been quality. But just offering a great product is not enough; it is simply a good start. A good deal of self-promotion is needed, especially in the beginning, to get as many people to be aware of what you have, what you do, as possible. Not everyone is comfortable with that and it’s a way where we can help. So for us at Group Wentworth, that means attending networking events, joining business groups, chambers of commerce, accepting public speaking engagements, carving a presence on social media, and utilizing our management team’s professional network to develop brand awareness.

Lastly, great word of mouth from our happy clients has ensured a sustainable, steady growth of accounts based on referrals. We have done this by being client focused, doing everything we can to maintain high quality of services, prompt responses to any issues that our clients are faced with, and providing strategic advice that has been proven to be effective.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.groupwentworth.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groupwentworth/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GroupWentworth/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupwentworth/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/GroupWentworth
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U2Pb6_ProoU6mTaoawntA

Image Credits
All images are owned by Wentworth Consulting Group LLC (dba Group Wentworth).