We were lucky to catch up with Sheila Burkett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sheila, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are 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. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

I started my career at Edward Jones in the Information Systems area while I was going to college at University of MO-St. Louis. I worked my way through school — going to school full-time and working part-time at Edward Jones.

I spent 20 years at Edward Jones in the Information Systems area and worked my way up to being a partner in 1999. In 2006, I decided to leave my career at Edward Jones to become an entrepreneur. I started a business with my husband, building race cars and doing engine performance management of sports cars. I also began consulting work in digital marketing building and helping solopreneurs with their websites and enhancing their digital presence.

In 2010, I started Spry Digital with three other partners — two of which are still partners at Spry today. We had taken our clients that we were doing small projects for and small businesses that we were helping and came together to build a business in the digital space. Over the past twelve years, we have grown the business from just being the four founders to a team of 30 creative and critical thinkers who value both pragmatism and results when it comes to the digital solutions we design and build for our clients.

One of the biggest challenges since I became an entrepreneur is to get bank financing on projects and the business as a whole. Although I was lucky enough to have assets, I think the fact that entrepreneurs can’t get funding easily is still an issue today. The second challenge is when some clients back out of contracts and/or leave. Having enough cash available to ride that storm out is never easy. The third challenge is growing your team at a pace that isn’t the same as the rate your company is growing. What it takes to lead a company at half a million dollars is very different from leading a company of 30 people approaching $4 million in revenue.

We grew over 100% these past two years. I attribute our growth to setting a clear vision by leveraging the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) model through our implementor, Shea Peffly, and long-term client relationships that continue to deliver value, results and referrals.

Since Spry Digital’s founding, we have worked to create talent pipelines that assist with finding the right people to join our company. We balance hiring team members with experience, along with growing individuals, through our internship program. Our program teaches our business processes, how to work directly with customers, problem-solving skills and the basics for the next step in their career.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Spry Digital is a digital solutions agency built to enable our clients’ full potential. We do this by strengthening the connection between their processes and people.

Our unique combination of resources work together to strategize, design and develop web platforms, products and online revenue channels with the best possible user outcomes in mind. We understand technical solutions require a human touch to be successful. Our diverse team is committed to a friendlier digital experience not only for our clients and their visitors, but for everyone. Spry Digital was formed because we knew there was a better way. Each project we launch is another step toward a more inclusive, effective and usable digital landscape for all.

Whether we are creating an online lead generation strategy or enabling new digital revenue channels, we are always thoughtful about how to make what we make better.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The Pivot

Being able to pivot is a superb skill to develop in life. I learned to always look at challenges as an opportunity, rather than as a problem. Couple that with a focus on where you want to be in the future, and making a pivot is energizing. One of those pivots for me came when my husband and I closed down our race and sports car performance shop. Prior to making that decision, we purchased a 27,000-square-foot commercial building. I remember thinking, what are we going to do with this old building?

The pivot came when I stepped back from the initial reality check of our situation and thought about my personal long-term goals. Making a difference in our community was important to me.
I had a property that needed to be updated and could cost a lot of money to renovate. My pivot was looking at it as an opportunity to do a historic redevelopment and see how I could leverage historic tax credits to improve the building. That pivot resulted in the building going from an eyesore to a beautiful building. The project created opportunities for me to learn what it takes to restore and maintain a 100+-year-old building. I installed solar panels on the building that kept our electric bills at a minimum and helped the environment. The space became the home of Spry Digital.

My husband and I recently sold the building. The couple who purchased it has a passion for maintaining the beautiful historic buildings in our community. They will carry on the mission. It is a pivot that makes me proud.

Any advice for managing a team?

The impact of EOS

I was in a Vistage CEO group for over five years. That group introduced me to the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). In 2021, our team committed to a full implementation of EOS, and we hired Shea Peffly to be our implementor. We use an online platform called Ninety.io that was built on the EOS concept.

EOS and the Ninety.io platform have changed how our company operates. It has helped our team members align on our core values, who we are as a company, and where we want to go. It allows us to focus on leading indicators to run our business and gives us a framework to process issues healthily and improve our processes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sprydigital.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sprydigital
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sprydigital
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spry-digital-llc/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/sprydigital
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Sprydigital/
• Yelp: N/a

Image Credits
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