“This idea of collective unity in business surrounding anti-racism began with several Arkansas small businesses deciding to be more than performative, but exhaustively discuss what being an ally, or change agent, in their communities would look like, as well as what would be needed to get there. Through 3 months of extensive research and dialogue, the conclusion was simple, systemic racism can only be destabilized by the system; businesses are that system.”

Approach:

The journey of Arkansas Businesses for Anti-racism is a remarkable story. What began as a social media thread of business professionals seeking tools and resources to express solidarity with their communities, resulted in the development of a tech company and web application. LEI Venture Company’s role has been to serve as the lead strategy agent, while also providing support in solidifying the necessary human resources and financial capital at each phase of execution of said strategy. They are now in Round 2 of funding, have identified their market, price points, legal, and organizational constructs.

Results:

“This group was a blessing. It helped me to reorganize and focus my thought process on how I wanted to begin this new business journey. I have made products and have focus groups of men and women who are trying my products. I have talked to people in the business to build a tribe that I can turn to for advice. I’ve worked on my logo and have a basic design that I love. And I am really making sure that I am making products that my target audience will love. I am really grateful for this experience…”

Approach:

2020 sparked a great deal of uncertainty for many small business owners and industries. Our CEO created what will be a yearly mastermind program for Black and Brown womxn needing strategic direction and community support to succeed in the wake of the pandemic. Though 90% of participants closed Q4 with profit margins of 30-50% from 100% of their market share, August Moon’s Balms, Butters, and Bombs stood out among the group as the model for what it means to reinvent and the benefit of engaging a strategist prior to foreseen critical changes to your business. 3 weeks in and about a month before lockdown, she decided to quit her job to focus solely on building her brand. From there, 

August Moon’s Balms, Butters and Bombs, LLC (AMB3) provides body essential products, such as body butters, soap and soap bombs which are organic, natural and vegan. Our products do not contain animal fat and aim to keep simple ingredients as the base. The CEO, Colony Wilson, was provided a one-on-one strategy consultation with specific deliverables for execution, access to a 4-month cohort of coaching, accountability, and instruction; as well supplemental strategy content to assist with deliverables.

Results:

Research & Development

Impressions- 1.7K

Profit Margin

Projected Growth by Q3’21

“I can tell you first-hand that Laura acquires a beautiful mix of talents and abilities attractive to a wide range of beholders: a very strong business-sense, which was of course helpful in the literal teaching of business skills to youth, but which also enabled her to efficiently re-design entire chunks of curricula and to train groups of emerging instructors under tight time constraints;  a collaborative approach to learning, which manifested itself through the booking of engaging speakers and bringing others’ ideas to the table through creative service-learning projects; and finally, Laura  proved herself over and over again as one who can effectively reach out to multiple age groups, which is no small feat.“

Approach:

UA Little Rock Children International is a non-profit organization in Little Rock, AR focused on helping children and youth become healthy, educated, employable, and empowered to break the cycle of poverty. Our agency was established in 1994 as a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Children International – a Kansas City based, nonprofit organization. Senior Strategist Laura Iverson designed, executed, and trained facilitators for 4 Business/Financial Literacy focused programs for various age groups. One of which was a business accelerator for middle school students endorsed by then, Arkansas State of Treasurer’s office for 529 and Financial Education Director, Emma Willis, and presented to the CEO and Board President of Children International- Kansas City as a feature program of what be a solution to “disrupt the effects of poverty” in any one of its global sites. 

Results:

Technical Writing & Curriculum Development

Grant Writing

Instruction

“A lot of businesses in my area had to shut down due to the pandemic. When you are a repair shop [and tow company] that is dependent on travelers, and no one is going anywhere for months, it’s a scary feeling of not knowing what to do, or how long your business will remain empty. I’m glad that I already had someone developing a plan for me while I took care of the day-to-day tasks of keeping my team safe, and keeping the doors open. Because of that, we never had to close, could hire more help, and ended the year with more customers and repair orders than we could manage.”

Approach:

Walker’s Wrecker offers 24/7 tow service,roadside assistance, and auto repair for Central Arkansas. We have an established 3yr. relationship with them, which requires ongoing market and sales analysis, operational assessment, marketing, and brand management. For those clients we have history with, before being prompted, we extended our services to include crisis management and forensic financial analyses for the use of agile strategies that yielded fluctuation in market behavior, as well as mitigate the harsh impact from the loss of revenue. With that plan in place we updated service offerings that allowed Walker’s Wrecker to provide it’s maintenance services mobily, add sanitation to it’s line up, offer financing to new customers, take full advantage of State and Federal Covid initiatives, update tax information and diversify its assets. 

Results:

Marketing Strategy

Increase in Market Share

Sales Strategy

Crisis Management