We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Karen Carr-Crawford. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Karen below.

Karen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Am I happy…YES! Do I get frustrated…YES! Would I do this all over again…YES!

I am happier as a business owner vs. running someone else’s firm because I can make an impact with businesses in ways that I’m in alignment with. And actually, this is the kind of work that I do embrace and teach. Business owners must be in alignment with their own core values, so I can’t be mad at them for running their own show.

Hmmm, a regular job? I don’t even know how to conceive of that in my head – lol. The last time that thought crossed my mind I jumped into something that ended up being a major fail. I knew I should not have taken it on when I did but I got impatient and didn’t trust my own process. Thank god it didn’t work out, because coming out of that short term fail, I stepped into something really great! The lesson learned was to trust my process. I think back then I wasn’t seeing the options that I needed to see and I got short sighted. Since I have been doing this for awhile now, I’m smarter about how I approach the work, and more selective about the clients that I work with.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an entrepreneurial driven professional with 20+ years of success and progressively responsible experience in business entrepreneurship, marketing & sales management and strategic planning. I am considered a highly skilled “hands-on” business strategist.

I have successfully generated increases in business revenue by working directly with founders and senior staff in establishing relevant and actionable growth strategies. In addition to working directly with small and emerging business clients, I have consulted and trained with businesses through local economic development funded program delivery, business incubators and accelerators, the Small Business Administration and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and One Million Black Women: Black in Business programs. I am most proud of my work with the Goldman Sachs programs and the City of San Francisco Human Rights Commission Dream Keeper Initiative (DKI).

I want your readers to know that I am a strong proponent of small business success. Small business success requires plans to build and scale just the same as a large corporation requires. I teach small businesses how to execute at their level with my deliverables and training.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

A good reputation comes from being consistent and maintaining relevancy. I’ve remained true to my target market focus and continued to learn more about their needs as the small business community evolves. I make certain that I understand what the clients’ goals are as we get started, and I always use tactical data to help clients make decisions – no guesswork.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Like so many I bootstrapped until I was sustainable. I had some funds available but quickly learned that it wasn’t enough as I was getting started. I would earn money and cycle it back in the business to keep going. I operated very lean and did a whole lotta bartering and what I call “simple” design layout on deliverables since I really couldn’t pay anyone to assist except for an editor.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.karencarrcrawford.com
• Instagram: @kccbizbuild
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karencarrcrawford/
• Twitter: @bizbuild

Image Credits
Don Bowden