We were lucky to catch up with Nora O’Brien recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nora, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve always had a passion for serving others. When I entered the workforce, I was drawn to the healthcare industry, specifically administration. I loved feeling as though I was arming the first responders with the tools, they needed to perform their jobs. When 9/11 happened, I was working for the California Primary Care Association at the time. I remember the first amount of “preparedness funds” that were directed to better position our organizations for disaster response and recovery. And, I remember thinking, “This is what I’m meant to do. I’m meant to write these plans, to train these individuals and teams, to help — to do more.” Shortly after, the idea for Connect Consulting Services (CCS) was born.
Connect Consulting Services delivers holistic, cost effective, and time effective Emergency Management & Business Continuity Planning Services. Our core mission is to provide organizations with the tools they need to prepare for and respond to disasters. This includes everything from conducting Hazard Vulnerability Analysis, writing tailored plans for each potential hazard (for example, what your employees should do in an earthquake is different than what they should do in a fire and different than how to respond to an active shooter/threat).
In addition to writing these plans, we also help the organizations test them by conducting on-site and virtual training. You really don’t know your gaps until you’ve tested your plan. We’re different from our competitors in that we’re a small, women-owned business, which means we aren’t operating from a generic template and cranking out generic plans; we’re sitting with the customer to really understand their needs and tailor our work to their organization.
When COVID-19 hit, we saw the importance of “the pivot.” In order to persevere, organizations had to adapt to the new normal. One of the things I’m most proud of is our company’s ability to help so many private and public sector agencies and organizations not just survive COVID, but to thrive. By helping them build disaster and business continuity plans, we better positioned these organizations to continue serving their populations. We helped the helpers, and that is something I was honored to do.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I was in my 20s, I was working as a Union organizer. One of my coworkers got a call in the middle of the night that no one wants to get – her mom was critically ill. My colleague had to leave with very short notice to race to her mom’s bedside hours away. Her mom, while still terminal, took a turn for the better and held on for another few weeks, all the while my coworker was with her. It seems like such a small thing, but I’ll always remember talking to her on the phone – she’d left without grabbing any clothes. She was 5’10” and her mom was 5’0”. There weren’t any outfits she could borrow and she didn’t have the time nor the energy to go shopping while her mom was laying on her literal death bed.

About six months later, I got a similar 2:00am phone call. My father had an aortic aneurysm. I grabbed my laundry basket and off I went. Now, the clothes weren’t all clean, but they were things I’d recently worn, which meant they fit, they were comfortable, and most importantly, they were mine. I knew I could do laundry once I got to my parent’s house, and I was so grateful to have the comfort of my own clothes. For me, this story is the perfect example of how we build resilience. We look at disaster situations and what we could do to improve, to make things better and easier. We take a deep breath, assess the situation and when we have to make a split-second decision, we know it’s informed by our past experiences. Sometimes, it takes us learning from our own mistakes, other times, it’s in learning from someone else’s challenges. At CCS, we’ve been privy to countless disasters with clients across the globe. We’re able to look at things holistically and say, “You know what, you haven’t seen this type of disaster before, but an organization very similar to yours up the road did and here’s how they responded. Here’s what worked. Here’s what their challenges were and their areas for growth.” Maybe it’s not as simple as, “Grab your laundry basket,” but without even knowing it, you’re leveraging best practices and better positioning your organization for success.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I’d always heard the importance of the elevator pitch, but hadn’t had an opportunity to really put it into practice until one evening a few years ago. I’d been at a business reception on the 15th floor of a building in downtown Sacramento. It was time to depart and I, along with a few other reception-goers, got in the elevator to head downstairs and home. I had on a blazer with our CCS logo and one of my fellow passengers took note. He asked me about CCS, and in the time it took us to go from floor 15 to the ground level, I’d told him what our business did, why it mattered, and how we could help any organization. We crossed the lobby floor, and he handed me his card and told me to call him the next day. I did, and that interaction led to a $35,000 contract which grew over time. I love our branding and am always excited to hear, “Oh, I know the swirl!” at conferences when people recognize our logo.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ConnectConsulting.biz
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connectconsultingservices/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnectConsultingServices
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noraobrien/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EngagePrepRecov
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJvW1av-1Nx22SSr7NJKFNg

Image Credits
Image provided is owned by Nora O’Brien