Many small businesses are challenged with the time to create day to day ideas to improve revenues and profit, along with maintaining cash flow. This is especially challenging when they have great products and ideas but need the business guidance to create and maintain a profitable business. These business owners need a reasonable service where they can get affordable advice they need. Too many businesses find out too late they should have paid for help, especially when dealing with challenging bank or supplier situations. When in need of funding, most businesses rely on the bank to get their advice or pay much higher rates to their accounting and legal teams without receiving the detailed support they need. Once small businesses realize the benefits of our type of consulting services, they are more likely to engage for more help.
The consulting market is wide ranging in all types of business but not readily available in the small to medium sized market. While consulting is made available through accountants and attorneys, it is typically focused on operating expenses and corporate/legal structure, rather than on day to day business drivers, revenue streams, promotions and marketing.
Since the owners who need business help do not want to spend much money up front, our consulting model offers them great options.
BACKGROUND
Throughout my career, I have worked in a wide range of industries with a multitude of different product lines; including toys, children’s software and electronics, bedding and related soft goods, office supplies, retail supplies, janitorial supplies, and heating oil. In addition, I have owned my own business (a toy store for 6 years), been a buyer for large (Staples and Bloomingdales) and small (Learningsmith) companies, an analyst, and a marketing professional.
My wide-ranging background provides me the expertise to consult in a variety of areas. Having run a day to day business, written business plans, handled financial statement and cash flow management, and been the business leader as a Buyer, I have expertise in all facets of starting and running a business. While I am analytical in my thinking, I also have the creativity of an entrepreneur and can offer unique experiences from various settings. Throughout my career, I have shown an ability to quickly grasp new industries and business lines so I can have an immediate impact on your business.
As a consultant, I have helped with business plans, new business planning, financial statement development and management, forecasting and strategy, as well as cash flow management. I spend a large portion developing plans for small businesses , as well as handling day do day financial plans, business planning, and proposals for new acquisitions and funding. In addition, I serve on the school committee in my town where I am the chair of our finance committee. This has provided me the opportunity to quickly develop a knowledge base in municipal finance and operations.
I began my professional training in the Bloomingdale’s Executive Training Program, where I worked as an assistant floor manager in domestics (bedding) managing a $6M portion of the domestics floor in the flagship 59th Street store in New York City. After being promoted to the Buying office, I was an Assistant Buyer in domestics for the next year and during that time spent 4 months as the Interim Buyer, in my Buyer’s absence, where I learned the ins and outs of sourcing new products, creating Exclusive deals, and negotiating vendor funding to grow the bottom line and drive the business. During this period, sales grew 20% in my categories.
After moving back to New England, I spent the next 4 ½ years at Learningsmith (an educational toy store chain), as an assistant buyer in older children’s toys and games before becoming the Software/Electronic Toys Buyer. I helped grow the Software business to the top volume software company in the educational market, as well as being a recognized industry expert. I spent the next few years on the manufacturing side of the business, growing my experiences in sales analysis, marketing and public relations, before returning to the retail side of the business.
In 2003, I went to Staples as a Buyer, where I handled a variety of categories over my 4 years including filing, expandable filing, corrugated storage, fine writing, retail supplies, and janitorial supplies. With this varied group of experiences, I continued to learn many new industries and contributed strong numbers, making my overall sales and profit plans every year, and driving comp store sales increases, as well. In my last 2 years handling filing, expandable filing, and corrugated storage, I ran $150M worth of business, managed Global suppliers contributing nearly $250M of business to Staples, and made solid financial contributions in the face of rising paper and plastics prices. I also led a cross functional team that brought Staples file folders for resale from China, believed to be the first retailer to import significant volume in file folders to the US on a regular basis.
In 2007, I decided to go into business for myself. After incorporating, working with banks and signing a lease, we opened our toy store, Learn All About It Toys, in March 2008. The above experiences all played a role in getting our business off the ground and surviving through difficult economic times. Within months of when we opened, the economy took a turn for the worse beyond what any of us have ever seen. This had a profound impact on our plans and forced us to make some major adjustments. We survived 5 ½ years through those challenges and grew into a recognized, top toy store in the state, having won multiple awards, compiling a customer base close to 7,000, and established a reputation as recognized experts in toys. After much thought, we closed our store in late 2013 to pursue new opportunities.
I have a varied background and have succeeded running businesses in all types of environments with a solid track record of success. My ability to manage relationships at all levels, understanding of organizational structure, negotiating skills and the knowledge to execute operationally makes me an excellent consultant/strategist. As a business owner, I used vast amounts of data to analyze trends in all aspects of our business to grow sales and manage inventory and cash flow in a challenging and competitive environment. I am an experienced leader with buying, planning, analysis and marketing knowledge, and have a strong ability to market and drive businesses. My experiences have also given me a thorough understanding of product development and bringing a product to market. I am confident my broad range of experiences and overall knowledge of the business world will allow me to be a strong contributor to your business.
How Can I help your business?
Driven for results – I consistently seek out and identify opportunities to improve sales and profitability and control expenses under challenging circumstances.
Solutions oriented - Through thorough analysis and wide-ranging experiences, I have the ability to stay focused on key priorities with creative and equitable solutions to issues as a leader within my businesses.
Collaboration & Negotiation - I am team driven and can comfortably work with all levels of management both internally and externally to maximize value for all partners.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science Degree, May 1993 – General Management