Participating in the South Piedmont Small Business Center Level Up Business Accelerator gave one area entrepreneur the structure, direction, and confidence she needed to grow her business.
Now, she’s on track to make the Inc. 5000 list, a designation given to the fastest growing private companies in the United States.
“Level Up is South Piedmont’s best-kept secret,” said Kristy Busija, founder and CEO of Next Conversation Consulting.
Next Conversation Consulting specializes in creating cultural change for businesses and organizations through a variety of services, including professional and leadership training, coaching, consulting, speaking engagements, and advisory services.
“If you have employees who feel valued, heard, respected, and seen, they’re going to give more to the organization and be invested in its success,” she said.
“In a positive culture, you don’t get quiet quitting or rage quitting, which does affect the bottom line and reduces turnover. Culture is something that is caught, not taught. It’s very exciting when you start reinforcing a positive culture and then it starts to stick.”
Busija has worked in talent management and organizational development for more than 25 years. She went into business for herself in 2017, but she has been actively building Next Conversation Consulting for the last three.
In 2023, she signed up for the South Piedmont Small Business Center’s Level Up Business Accelerator. Free to participants, the four-month Level Up program provides entrepreneurs with targeted coaching and training, helping them to develop a growth strategy that will lead to increased revenues and job creation.
Prior to Level Up, Busija was experiencing success with her business, and she had numerous ideas for how to grow it in the future, but she needed help focusing her efforts — including understanding her financials, her corporate structure, and identifying areas of greatest potential growth.
“Level Up really gave me clarity. There is an intentional focus on business development, on being crystal clear on the product verticals you offer, on getting the backbone structure and resources in place so your business is standing on a solid foundation. Once you have that foundation in place, it’s much easier to know what you should be focusing on, what new opportunities you should be pursuing, and being open to new pathways you haven’t even considered. Level Up has helped me expand my product lines, have more productive conversations with my accounting firm and clients, to have a firm grasp on my processes and products.”
Since participating in Level Up, Busija has gained a deeper understanding of the inner workings of her business, and that knowledge is helping her to make better informed business decisions.
“I’m looking at my information differently. I’m able to understand which of my product lines are most profitable, where my revenue is coming from. This helps me determine where to focus my energy and efforts,” she said.
Now, Next Conversation Consulting is preparing a new product line that will serve small businesses and provide them with the same stellar consulting and training as larger corporations, for a fraction of the cost. Busija was also able to make a well-informed investment in leading research around invisible disabilities. Her organization holds the exclusive worldwide license and is bringing the WIDE Insights tool to organizations and consultants; WIDE is an assessment that measures an organization’s level of acceptance and support for employees with invisible disabilities.
“I knew that I was able to invest in this incredible research and valuable work because I had a solid understanding of my financials and our core products and services,” Busija said.
Reflecting on her Level Up experience, Busija said.
“It’s a high-quality program … It helped develop my CEO chops.”
The next Level Up program begins Jan. 9. Learn more at spcc.edu.