Sweeps Winner

LVL-Up Strategies - VT

The small business world can be volatile, especially for a women-owned-and-run small business consulting firm whose majority of clients are women- or minority-owned businesses. Luckily, one of the guiding principles that we were built on is adaptability - to the demands of our roles at home, at work, and by our clients. Like buildings retrofitted for earthquakes, our business is built to adapt to changing environments.

I started the business to serve and make an immediate impact in two communities - 1) the foreign service/military spouse community and 2) the small business community.

After working many years as a management consultant and then moving onto small businesses, I recognized that impactful consulting is unattainable for many organizations. This is because "consultants" cannot implement what they recommended, let alone adapt to the changes happening while implementing. Small businesses and organizations, and the entrepreneurs who run them, are more nimble than larger and traditional organizations (and their leaders). They can apply new processes, programs, and even technologies much faster than larger companies. They just lack the time and expertise to identify the “how” of scaling a business and executing the plan.

I am also what the U.S. government calls an “Eligible Family Member”. Eligible Family Members (EFMs) is a term given to military and State Department spouses who reinvent their lives and consequently their careers each time their spouses’ work takes them to a new location or “post”. I started LVL-Up Strategies after my husband’s impending frequent deployments and PCSes (permanent change of stations) meant starting a new career at each post. I realized that I could help EFMs develop and grow their careers while helping small businesses grow through scalable efficient business strategies, improved online presence, and smart marketing efforts. In this process, I found a solid partner, another EFM, and an entrepreneur, and we built a strong team of women who helped put our vision into place – including a working system that supported a staff that frequently moves and works in different time zones.

Our employees are all female spouses to military and State Department employees and they are dedicated to achieving their professional goals while helping LVL-Up Strategies’ clients achieve their business goals. Other companies will not hire remote employees who move every two years due to a lack of systems that support and address transnational/international moves and remote work; conversely, LVL-Up Strategies' mission is to showcase the varied talents that develop after multiple moves and the resiliency this life provides to our workforce. Through training, coaching, and advisory, LVL-Up Strategies guides each staff member to translate these skills so they in turn can help guide and build working processes and systems for their clients.
These are two unique problems we have in the small business community and in the military/foreign service spouse community. Our creative solution was to bring these two communities together to help one another get to the next level.