Shelly’s Path To Entrepreneurship

The following is a guest post by Shelly Kulesza, CEO of IgniteITgroup.com.

As a guest blogger, Judy has asked me to share a little about my organization and the path I took to get here – the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am blessed that, for the most part, my path to entrepreneurism has been relatively smooth. More than anything, however, it has made me a much better “team player” with my clients.

I started my career as a technical writer at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) – yes, I said technical writer. We all have to start somewhere, right? Well, that position actually put me in the right place to ignite my passion for technology and the love of understanding and effectively communicating the value of technology to a non-technical audience. This skill would be the foundation for my success in the years to come.

After CSC, I took those skills and expanded them into marketing and learning at other technology organizations. I landed, for a seven year run, at a healthcare

 technology organization that grew from a privately held, 50 or so person organization to a public, 600 person, $80m organization in that time. Needless to say, I was fortunate enough to wear a lot of hats that provided a great launching point for my current business, Ignite It Group.

As CEO of this Corporate Communications Company, I’m responsible for the strategic direction of the organization in addition to

business development and strategic client support. I believe that my myriad of experience has made me a real asset to our client base – the ability to understand both the struggles of a new entrepreneur and the overworked corporate teams help us create the most realistic and effective solutions for their marketing and learning (training) initiatives. Starting my own business (along with my business partner, Dee Parker), certainly did not come without our own live and learn lessons.

I would say one of the largest struggles in the first few years was business development – sales. Judy, where were you when I really needed you!?!? We struggled in this department because we underestimated the true talent that it takes to create relationships, identify opportunities, create unique solutions, and then get the potential client to actually buy it! I will say that this took a good 2-3 years to start producing and is continues to be a challenge as the selling environment is ever-changing due to business struggles in our new economy.

The good news is that there are great experts in this field, like Judy, who can continue to help us develop our skills in this area. Thank you, Judy, for your expertise and the invitation to share a little of my personal journey to my now 9-year old business, Ignite It Group. Please check us out online at www.igniteitgroup.com or call me at 214. 379.3350 if you think your organization could use a great partner for your marketing or learning efforts.