Tips From a True Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur Interview: Pete Winiarski,

Win Enterprises LLC

Interview Conducted by Stephanie Chandler of BusinessInfoGuide.com

Business Name:
Win Enterprises LLC

Website URL:
www.WinEnterprisesllc.com

Social Media Links:
Twitter: petewiniarski
FB: www.facebook/PeteWiniarskiPage
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/petewiniarski/

Year Founded:
2005

Number of Employees:
>10 plus a team of subcontractor resources

What does your company do?

Win Enterprises LLC helps business leaders transform their results. I created the Win Holistic Transformation model™ to describe what businesses should do to create transformational results. This model is true for large companies and for small businesses and entrepreneurs –it’s scalable. In our consulting engagements we help at all parts of the model, as do our group coaching programs and public workshops.

Was there a specific turning point when you realized your business was moving to the next level?

Several! I started as a single resource and I contracted as a partner in another consulting firm. When that firm was acquired, I lost 70% of my revenue overnight and so I started to focus on my client development. Soon I had a team of contractors supporting clients using our unique method. Then I hired a VP of consulting to manage our contractor relationships and some of the clients.

We are on a tremendous growth trajectory with more clients today than ever. Plus…we are creating products and programs to share with our clients. It is awesome!

What processes or procedures have you  implemented that have helped your company grow?

First I invest in coaching and mentorship every year to get help with the latest thinking on business growth. This is very hard, do not try to figure this out yourself! I’ve implemented programs for automating our online products and services, for getting in the media, and for many of the office procedures. We’re quite active in social media in ways that I simply did not consider a few years ago, with thousands of fans, likes, and followers. The more we grow, the more important it is to have standard procedures, automated processes, and cross trained team members.

What are some of the best marketing strategies that have worked for your business?

Writing a great book and getting it to be a #1 International Best Seller was huge. Act Now! A Daily Action Log for Achieving Your Goals in 90 Days has had a great response and has created a ton of credibility for everything else we do. (see www.DailyActionLog.com). Most of our consulting clients come from referrals—we help our clients save $millions…they tell people they know and our phone rings. We are experimenting with social media and video marketing because that is a big trend and believe that is important to play here, especially for programs and products.

Are there any ways that you have leveraged the internet to grow your business?

The internet is such a broad category—we do offer high value items a super low or no cost to enable us to collect email information. We stay active in social media and blog posts keep putting high value content our for people. The google search algorithms change constantly, but as long as we stay active we can be found easily on page 1 of a google search.

What is most rewarding about running your business?

Running my business allows me to align with my purpose, which is to share what I’ve learned to enable more fun, freedom, and fulfillment for people, especially business leaders. Helping business leaders to experience transformation for themselves and their companies is very exciting and rewarding. It provides me with a sense of fulfillment. I also have a ton of fun and freedom with my team and how we choose to engage with clients and what products and programs to create.

What problems have you faced and how have you overcome them?

Cash flow is oxygen to any business, and if you have revenue swings, you may have to hold your breath. I hired a full time resource to do the work for a client that seemed like a sure thing. He even relocated to make his weekly commute to Vermont 90 minutes shorter than it would have been. Then the client backed out of what was a 6-12 month commitment. We had to claw back into positive cash flow with persistence and follow through on every lead we had. Razor focus on cash flow was critical until we built a solid base to cover the cost of the resource.

If you were staring over today, what would you do differently?

For awhile I was a 1 person company. I would very quickly hire an office manager to handle all the non- core revenue work to free me up. I would also hire a business coach and aggressively follow their suggestions—I am doing this now and can’t help to wonder if I had just done these things a few years ago how much further I’d be today.

What advice do you have for other business owners?

Because we advise business leaders, this is easy to answer. Look at some of the resources we offer, starting with our books, Win the Battle Against the Enemies of Business Transformation, (www.WinEnterprisesLLC.com) and Act Now! A Daily Action Log for Achieving Your Goals in 90 Days, (www.DailyActionLog.com)

Please list any favorite books, tools, or resources you would recommend for others:

I love Jack Canfields The Success Principles for every business leader and entrepreneur and I think Act Now! is perfect to help you structure yourself for maximum results, (Jack said Act Now! is the perfect tool to implementThe Success Principles).

What is something interesting that people might be surprised to learn about you?

During my career, I’ve had work in many locations outside the United States—over 30 cities in more than a dozen countries. I love to travel and it is energizing to know we’re helping people and companies all around the globe. Win Enterprises is truly an international company!