The "Why" of KRM Consulting Services, LLC

It seems these days that you can't attend a single business talk or even networking event without someone referencing Simon Sinek's Ted Talk on "Finding your Why". The danger in such well-known and accepted principles is that we can become numb to the significance.

It's interesting how no matter the age of an organization, it can be far too easy for the founders/owners to lose sight of why they chose to take the leap in the first place in opening their own company. I know for me personally, that is almost a daily struggle. You start off with stars in your eyes thinking you will change the world with your idea, product, or service, and then life and reality kick in and you realize that all your theories really don't mean a whole heck of a lot when a business is in the midst of a crisis. My clients are fellow businesses owners and they don't want theories, they need solutions... pronto.

When I first opened KRM Consulting Services wayyyyy back in August of 2015 ;) I had my ideas that I was the "savior" of the micro and small businesses of ABQ. Swooping in and providing them a reliable suite of services from everything to marketing to customer service training. I THOUGHT I was doing something unique. I THOUGHT businesses would be blown away at my passion and reasonable hourly rate. But let's maybe chalk up that naivety to being a little young and say that's not exactly what happened.

But now as I wake up each day from even dreaming about situations with clients and fires that I need to put out and items on my to-do list I still need to accomplish, I need to bring myself back to the start... remembering why I started doing what I do.

I grew up immersed in small business. At one time, my family had both an advertising firm and a hot air balloon trading card company operating from our home office. I lived business. Around me we had our "business line", stacks of newsletters to be sent out, proofs to sign off on, and anything and everything in between. Business was our life. Common dinner time conversation revolved around customer service, marketing, and competition. And that was all taking place before I was 10 years old. I LOVED helping my parents with their business. I loved getting to help at the booth they had at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. I loved getting to help stuff envelopes. I thought that was normal.

Once I grew up and started to look around I realized that I had been given a gift. I had the opportunity to get a front row seat to watch the dance of small business ownership. Was it pretty? No. Was it a way to strike it rich? Definitely No. Small business owners encounter trials and challenges that few can understand. If you're sick and there's a deadline, too bad. If an angry customer calls and wants to yell at the owner/manager.... you're the lucky one who gets to handle that. Your business is your baby, it takes your time, money, thoughts, and energy.

It's upon knowing this and seeing the micro and small businesses around Albuquerque in particular that I realized there were countless small businesses with brave owners taking the risks and stepping out into entrepreneurship, but they had (or felt they had) little or no support. Often owners eat, drink, and sleep their business and have little time to go out and attend a course on how to "fix" or make their business better. ABQ also has a budding network for start ups, but what about those mom and pop businesses who've been around for years and are far from anything "sexy"? I was looking at the hole in support that I decided to open KRM Consulting. I wanted to serve the underserved demographic of businesses who really didn't want to scale any bigger than they were, they didn't have a large marketing budget, they have maybe one or two employees, and they simply want to meet the needs of their customers, it's to serve THOSE businesses that's why I do what I do.

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