We recently connected with Melissa Krivachek and have shared our conversation below.
Melissa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Success is defined by one’s ability to achieve something or feel a sense of accomplishment. It’s not based on time although many people tend to believe this is a factor. Success is based on a sense of urgency to solve a particular problems individuals or markets are facing and create solutions that change the person solving the problem and resolve the problem itself. Success is an illusion. We all want more money, better relationships, great careers and awards but the time, effort, energy and money we spend to achieve “success” is an accomplishment in and of itself. All the hours of preparing lead to seconds of crossing a finish line, winning an award, making millions in minutes and feeling like a champion. A champion is the person who dedicates himself to making sure that he sharpens his mind and tools daily, he invests in his body regularly and he surrounds himself with others who will lift him up and cheer him on along the way. Success is not a single victory; it is a series of small accomplishments along the way – where each of us is celebrating minor milestones on the way to the finish line.
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
I curated a very unique brand to cater to a very specific audience. We help e-commerce founders with companies between $3M and $50M in revenue double their businesses and become sellable. We chose to create this niche market because it’s really important to set a different standard in the ultra-competitive industry of consulting. The 1% lives an entirely different lifestyle, has a different set of rules and focuses on achievement in every aspect of their lives. We choose to come into businesses and focus on the people, processes and profits that we can improve immediately to effectively grow, develop and expand the brand. Our expertise is in the middle market e-commerce space where we can deploy online tools to create digital assets and expand wealth portfolios of owners who may be struggling to surpass their current state of business.
We are most proud of retaining our clients for years because of the expertise, experience and effectiveness we bring to organizations. We love the industries we work in and the owners we work with become family members. We break bread together, travel together and are intimately involved in each other’s lives, families and enjoy building a fundamental future together.
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.
Selling a business, especially one that you’ve built, is an amazing feeling and yet a very sobering one. The second it’s gone you’re left wondering what you will do next? It’s important to look inward and explore what is right for you, where you are, right now. I’ve gone through the sale of 2 entirely different 8 figure companies at this point in my career and each one brought its own set of challenges to the table. The biggest advice I can tell someone is to enter every business with an exit strategy. Or, you’ll get stuck in the day-to-day cycles, operations and tasks required and will struggle to get out. Also make sure you are replaceable – because you can’t exit without a replacement.
Every business owner wants to make 7, 8 or 9 figures but wanting to achieve this and actually achieving this requires a set of skills, discipline and mindset that separate the 1% from the rest of society. The 1% wake up with a very clear direction and desire to achieve their objectives for the day – which almost never exceed 3-4 things that mean the most to the bottom line and their desired outcomes at the time. They shut off all social media, distractions and noise and set aside the time to focus on the most important things – while spending time with the most important people because when death knocks on the door money, fame and fortune won’t pale in comparison to the relationships, repour and impact these individuals made in their lifetimes.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Building relationships has been pivotal to the success of my business. It was Valentine’s day 2020 and I saw a home for sale on FB Marketplace. I messaged the guy whose name was JD that I would be at the house with movers at 10 am the following morning – we were in Atlanta – although I still didn’t know how I was going to get movers, a truck and 4 storage units to store the contents of the home. It was an all or nothing deal. And I’m an all or nothing type of woman. So … I rounded up my Airbnb host and we went to the local U-Haul and Extra Space Storage Facilities and got the tools and equipment required. At that point we showed up at 10 am as promised. Eric my Airbnb host was speaking with the owner of the home JD who happens to be one of the largest Airbnb hosts in the industry and was Googling my name and showing him my awards, recognitions, books, accolades and such. The owner mentioned he had a best friend who needed help. It took the best friend Tommy 5 months before calling me back. Fast forward 3 years I just finished that consulting agreement more than doubling the business, building out multiple floors in a foreign country (Colombia), hiring hundreds of employees, generating more than 1.7 Billion dollars in e-commerce sales while improving operations, systems, organizations and leading the team while deploying techniques to manage the entire business. Relationships are incredibly important when building a company and having the repour to do so, the vulnerability to be open to sharing the ups, downs and pivotal moments in the business is not just important for the executive team but for the hundreds of clients relying on you as the consulting firm as well. You never know where your next client will come from so it’s important to be yourself, show respect, honor your commitments no matter how small and be transparent about how you can solve problems from the moment you open your mouth to the time you exit the company.
I am truly blessed to be able to serve our clientele, attain high level results and continue investing in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melissakrivachek.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1percentgamechanger/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.krivachek/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1percentgamechanger/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBCONOc3pjFw66DdPU7K9GA