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Meet Pamela Slim of K’é Small Business Learning Lab in Mesa

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Slim.

Pamela, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
“What kind of world do you want to live in, and what are you building to contribute to that world?” -Greg Hartle

When I heard these words from my friend Greg Hartle three years ago, they made my heart skip a beat.

I have been a business coach for over 20 years, and in 2009 helped spearhead the movement of people leaving corporate jobs to start their own enterprise with my book Escape from Cubicle Nation. Prior to this work, I was a corporate director of training and development at Barclays Global Investors, a financial services company in San Francisco. My earliest roots were in community and economic development in Latin America. I have worked with thousands of entrepreneurs, helping to launch and grow many different types of businesses. I love this work more today than when I started.

Yet as I spoke with friends and fellow small business influencers, all of us were getting concerned that business owners were drowning in an ever-growing sea of information, online courses and sales pitches.

Despite more resources than ever, business owners were still stuck with the same problems.

In my partnerships creating content for cloud software companies that serve the small business market, I knew that they were also struggling to connect with their customers in a deep and engaging way. They would ask questions like:

How can our brands stay relevant in a world with too much content?
How do we prioritize where we spend our marketing dollars?
How can we be relentlessly focused, as a small business ecosystem, on removing obstacles that get in the way of small business success?
I became obsessed with answering the question how do you provide solid, effective business advice in a way that actually solves the problems and builds the leadership capacity of small business owners?

So in the summer of 2016, I opened a brick and mortar small business incubator on Main Street of my home town of Mesa, Arizona. I spent a year engaging with the broader community, talking with business owners of all sizes and shapes and working with everyone who supported them from the city to the regional arts center, non-profits and small business consultants. I connected with peers on the ground in Detroit and San Francisco and New York and Austin and Fargo. At the same time, I engaged with my global audience of business owners, and those who support them.

The result of this work is what I believe is a truly innovative and collaborative project which is designed to support both the small business owners who want to succeed, as well as the companies, incubators, organizations and professionals who serve them.

Has it been a smooth road?
I have had lots of twists and turns along my career path.

Running my own business for 22 years has included a lot of up and down markets. Overall, I have managed to maintain a steady flow of business, but there have been moments when I did not know where the next month’s mortgage was coming from.

Probably the biggest challenges I have faced have been trying to translate my bigger visions into tangible, clear objectives. I tend to look ahead at future challenges, and then work backwards to what we need to build today to avoid problems in the future. I have learned that not everyone sees the world the same way that I do, so I need to blend long-term strategy with short-term practicality.

On an everyday basis, I face the same challenges as every other creative person I know and have worked with: procrastination, too many ideas and prioritization.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with K’é Small Business Learning Lab – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I am a small business coach with a strange twist: most of my clients are very large companies who serve the small business market. They hire me to advise them on how to understand and connect with small business owners today.

My insight is drawn from my small business learning laboratory on Main Street in Mesa, Arizona, where I talk every day with entrepreneurs from every walk of life, from side hustlers to companies in high scaling mode. In the lab, my passionate community of small business owners test and try all kinds of approaches to solving business problems, rejecting tired advice from past decades.

I am most proud of having helped launch and scale literally thousands of businesses all over the world over the last 13 years. Having a hand in making visions come alive in the real world is the most intoxicating thing ever.

I am probably best known for being a strong community builder of an extremely diverse network of smart business owners. I love to connect smart people with each other, and watch them partner and grow together.

What set me apart from many of my peers are the strong relationships I have with many leaders of color, and my commitment to elevating and celebrating their voices in the small business ecosystem. We must build businesses that reflect the strength and power we have in our communities. The large companies I work with value how critical it is to make sure we create products and marketing campaigns that reflect the true needs and desires of this beautiful, diverse ecosystem.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the rich history and diversity of our cities. I wish that we had more commitment to including all members of the community in our economic development plans.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Sergio Lopez (for the family shots).

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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