Meet Christy Renier, Consultant in Change Management

Christy Renier is a change management and communications professional. In March 2016, she left the corporate world to go to work as a change management consultant. In January of this year, she launched Renier Consulting, LLC which is her very own Change Management and Communications consulting business.

Christy is just putting the finishing touches on her new website, so keep an eye on www.renierconsulting.org. You can also learn more about her by visiting her LinkedIn page.

1. What made you decide to leave the corporate world?

There were many factors that went into my decision to leave the corporate world. When I was young, I dreamed of starting my own business some day. My dad was a business owner, so you can say it is in my blood. I also saw how hard he worked his whole life and knew my timing was critical. So, instead of going into business for myself, I went to work for a global Fortune 500 company, knowing that my dream would come true one day. Now, here we are nearly 17 years later, and I've been working with the same Fortune 500 company. Throughout the years I've gained a wide range of global business experience and honed my industry knowledge, so I was feeling confident that if I were on my own, I could deliver expert services with a professional experience for my clients.

Next, I had a fantastic support system:
- a business mentor who encouraged me,
- a family that supported me, and
- a strong professional network.

The time was right; the time was now...!

2. How did you come to focus on change management in your work?

For me, there really was no other choice. Change management is my passion because I care about people. And, at the heart of change management, it is all about people. Over the past 17 years, I've worked in a variety of the "softer sides" of IT which tend to fall under the change category: training, technical documentation, project management, resource management, organizational design, executive communications, and strategic planning.

So, when I combine my passion with my skills and experience, I invoke what I like to call the "trifecta for success." Passion(Skills + Experience) = Trifecta Success. So, choosing my focus was as simple as P(S+E).

3. What exactly does change management mean?

Change management, simply stated, is the act of managing the "people side" of an organizational change. An organizational change is when a company takes action to make an improvement in some way, such as reduce costs, improve revenues, solve problems, align work and strategy, or improve efficiency/effectiveness within the company. People can have a reaction as a result of this change, both internally and externally. Having a robust change management strategy and a rock star change manager on your project team will is improve the likelihood of success and the overall return on investment for the project.

4. Why does communication have such an important role in change management?

The majority of the communications roles I have had over the past 17 years were related to change management activities... and at the heart of every great change management strategy is a solid communications plan. Managing the human side of change is heavily based on communications. It is extremely important for leaders to be authentic and honest when communicating with people who will be impacted by any company changes. Employees should feel respected and well informed every step of the way.

Thanks, Christy!

Meet Asif Zamir, Toronto Business Consultant

Asif Zamir lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and started working to help support his family when he was around six years old. By the time he was a teenager, he had worked for several companies and also been self-employed. Over time, he began working as a consultant to help businesses succeed, with an emphasis on new, small businesses in the startup stage. He devotes much of his time to ministry and philanthropic work.

Learn more about Asif by visiting AsifZamir.com.

1. When, as a young man, did you realize that you wanted to go into business for yourself?

When I was young, around age 6, I would sell candy door to door, and people would buy from me because I was cute. I liked the freedom of managing my finances and setting a schedule. At age 15, I dropped out of high school and started my own business consulting company. To be honest, I didn't have much of a choice; I had to drop out of high school and start a business because I was dirt poor for the majority of my life, and we were struggling to get by financially. So I took a chance at doing something more with my life than just getting by. It's not like traditional jobs were paying big money to teens back then, so I needed to start a business to have a shot at real money.

2. How do you choose the business ventures that you want to pursue?

When I was young and dumb; even 8 years ago it was all about the money, and that gave me nothing but heartache and stress. Now I think about my happiness and my relationship with the client. I'd like to make money, lots of money, but I'd also like to build a friendship. I'd like my client to reach or surpass their goal, but I'd also like to enjoy the entire process. If I can gain a friend, that's ideal, and if we can both make a lot of money, that's even more ideal.

3. What's your advice to other people who want to be self-employed but aren't sure where to invest their time and money?

My honest advice is to not be self-employed. Honestly, it's a lot of hard work before you reach your goals, usually 10 years. Most people can't handle this, and it destroys their marriage and self-esteem. If you understand this fact and still want to do it, have a vision for the long term. I see so many people fail because they think, "I'll start a business today and be successful tomorrow, and if not, then I'll quit!" And those people always fail every time. But people who have a vision for 10-20-30 years always succeed. Always. Take a look at any success story: the person worked for many years to achieve what they wanted. Go ahead and read 100 success stories online, and you'll see that it usually averages out to more than 10 years of hard work. People who think it takes a few weeks or months are mentally insane. Go ahead and invest in your education. If you're going into a business, know everything about that business. When I was 15, I read every book available in the library and bookstore. I find if people won't even read a book on a subject, they aren't really interested.

4. How do you find time to do all the philanthropic work that you do?

That's where my life gets tough. Typically people want financial freedom for the purpose of gaining time, and so I've gained time, and now I use up all my time by giving it away. It's tough for me to balance it out because everyone wants an hour, or a hundred people want ten minutes, and I'm learning to say no to a lot of people and a lot of invites. I try my best to take it as it comes to me. A few days ago I had a relaxing evening planned for myself but instead spent it visiting someone in the hospital who specifically requested my visit. I won't get another relaxing evening in for a while, but I'm trying my best to keep my life balanced; like I said it's a struggle for me.

5. What projects are you currently working on, both business and charitable endeavors?

I'm working on one of the most interesting business ideas ever with a lady who wanted to run errands for strangers. She's very rich now and has a full staff. I helped her set up her website, and draw up a plan and structure, and most importantly I helped her set realistic goals and gain her first 250 clients and hire her first employees. Gosh, she's basically more successful than me now. She charges anywhere from $50-$200/hour to do any errand for you. She's been asked to wait at a person's house for the cable man, to pretend to be a friend to an executive at a dinner, and everything in between; usually it's dropping off dry cleaning and picking up groceries, things along those lines. She makes a fortune, and I really enjoy this project; I'll be sad when my contract is finished.

I'm also participating in a beta-stage project which involves having churchwomen go to the streets, and paying prostitutes to attend church services so that they can connect with God, people, and social workers who will help them get out of the sex industry permanently. The project has been mostly successful, and I find that it's sustainable. Changing one life each week, helping one person at a time, it really adds up. Actually this one lady, she was really young when we met her in downtown Toronto years back, and she's graduated college now and you would never tell she worked the streets. She's brilliant and she's reaching her life goals.

Thanks, Asif!

Meet Chris Spaulding, Creator of the Simple Marketing System

Creator of The Simple Marketing System®, Chris Spaulding is a marketing consultant and on-demand lead generation specialist. With more than 13 years experience in direct response marketing, copywriting, and face-to-face selling Chris has a proven track record of success. He knows how to sell. In the Simple Marketing System, Chris has created an intuitive, scalable, customized approach to marketing and selling products and service off- and online. The Simple Marketing System is a multi-step approach to growing a business that increases leads and sales without spending more money on marketing. Chris is also an adjunct professor in the Rutgers University mini-MBA programs.

1. What inspired you to create your Simple Marketing System?

Well, my background is sales and marketing. I started off in real estate and then moved to selling consulting services to the financial industry. I've always been sort of a business growth addict, and I consume anything I can get my hands on related to business growth. Sales, marketing, copywriting, anything that can help me more effectively convince someone to buy.

While I learned something useful from every book I read, every course I took, or every cd I listened to, there was no real system or framework behind it all I could use to put it all together. I took a little bit from one expert and a little bit from another and applied it to the businesses I was involved in.

Then, after a lot of frustration, I realized, in order for a business to be successful, it needs two types of systems. And, if you can build these systems, you can grow any business predictably. First, there needs to be systems to find, engage, and convert prospects to paying clients, customers, or patients. Then, there needs to be systems to increase the value of current and past clients.

Most businesses only concentrate on finding new clients, and they practice what I call "random acts of marketing." They do everything tactically, with no clear strategy around growing their business.

That's why I created Business Marketing Solutions and the Simple Marketing System. I wanted to give business owners a way to strategically grow their businesses by creating a steady, predictable flow of new business, and a way to maximize the business they already have.

2. Why is lead generation so difficult for many people?

Most business owners and unfortunately most people who hold themselves out as marketing or advertising professionals do not know or do not understand the purpose of marketing. They practice random acts of marketing, and they are always looking for the "next big thing" or some magic bullet that will solve all of their business woes rather than thinking and acting strategically. Because they don't know how to effectively generate leads, they constantly worry where their next client will come from. They stay up at night and wonder how they will keep the lights on or make payroll. This is no way to run a business, and it affects their whole life.

As I said before, businesses need systems to find and convert new prospects into high value clients. There are three steps to creating effective lead generation. Unfortunately, most businesses skip the first step.

To create marketing or lead generation programs that work, you need to deeply understand who your ideal prospect is. Not just their demographics, but also their psychographics. You need to know their interests, behaviors, beliefs, values, fears, goals, etc. so you can reach them effectively. You need to understand what problem they have or what goal they are trying to achieve and how your product or service fits in. What problem does it solve? What transformation does it deliver that your ideal prospect cares about?

As behavioral expert Wyatt Woodsmall said, "If you can describe someone's problem better than they can describe it themselves, they will naturally assume you have the solution." As a marketer or business owner, you have to have a deep understanding of who your ideal prospects are. Most marketers make lots of costly assumptions and never take the time to develop this understanding of their target market. Because they skip this step, it becomes very hard for them to create effective offers and compelling messages that capture their markets attention and generate quality leads for their business.

This is why we created our "on-demand lead generation" services. We use cutting edge technology to generate high quality, highly qualified leads for our clients, and it all starts with getting deep inside the heads of our ideal prospects.

3. Can you give us an example of a marketing-related activity that a lot of businesses are making a lot harder for themselves than it should be?

Most businesses make marketing and business growth overall a lot more complicated than it has to be. It is not easy, but it is not rocket science either. As we discussed a little while ago, most businesses are tactical, not strategic. They are constantly worried about generating revenue to meet their immediate needs, like payroll. It's like their business is living paycheck-to-paycheck. What they need to do is strategically engineer a plan to get their business where they want it to be.

Part of this is to develop systems to generate clients and systems to increase the values of the ones they already have. Rather than running an ad in a local newspaper, doing some radio or TV, trying google AdWords, or whatever other media they can find, businesses need to assess where they are today, optimize their current marketing assets and then, look to strategically implement new marketing channels. Before the business starts introducing new means of attracting customers, they need to first make sure they are fully leveraging everything they are doing today. This is a core philosophy within The Simple Marketing System.

They also need to realize that the only purpose of marketing is to generate profits for their business. It is not to be cute, creative, or funny. Most of what passes for marketing today is pathetic. Results matter, period. If a business runs a campaign and it sells, that is good. If it doesn't, it's not, and it needs to be stopped or changed until it starts generating positive ROI. Unfortunately, most businesses are sold immeasurable marketing. If you can't track the success or failure of a campaign, don't run it.

I recently had a client tell me she was told it could take up to a year for an ad she is running in a local paper to generate a return. The media salesman told her she first needs to build brand recognition. Brand recognition has its place, but it doesn't trump ROI. BS like this gets me so mad. Too many businesses are led down this path.

4. What do you most enjoy about working in the marketing field?

I love interacting with entrepreneurs and figuring out how to take their business to the next level. Whether it's turning around a struggling business, helping a startup get into profitability, or taking a six or seven figure business to the next level, I love working with and having the opportunity to help entrepreneurs.

5. For a small business owner who is feeling stuck when it comes to growing their business, what's your best advice for starting to get un-stuck and learning how to find new clients/customers?

Focus on marketing. It is the most powerful leverage point within your business. It's critical that you learn how to generate clients, customers, or patients on-demand, and you have to know how to get the most value from the ones you already have.

I offer free 30 minute Business Opportunity Strategy sessions to business owners to help you get started. You can apply on my website, www.SimpleMarketingSystem.com.