Rosalie Ennes of Portecua Consulting On How To Take Your Company From Good To Great

Process Risk. Great companies document their key processes. You may know exactly how you do things now, but once you hire a team and start delegating, it becomes important to document how to do things through process mapping and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Otherwise, you might find yourself operating with inefficient or duplicate processes, or left in the dark if an employee leaves.

As part of my series about “How To Take Your Company From Good To Great”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rosalie Ennes.

Rosalie is a risk consultant, strategist, advisor and founder of Portecua Consulting, a woman and Latina-owned boutique consulting firm that specializes in a risk-first focus. Her mission is to help impact-driven entrepreneurs strategically protect and scale their worth, by equipping them with a risk lens to assess, manage and optimize their businesses. She serves her clients, stakeholders and community in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

She is a certified public accountant (CPA), a certified internal auditor (CIA) and a graduate of UC Berkeley with degrees in Business Administration and Latin American Studies. Rosalie is a Bay Area native and a proud Portuguese-Ecuadorian-American, who currently resides in New York City.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I always knew I would end up in entrepreneurship, but I didn’t know what the path would look like!

Here is the 60 second trailer. I started my career in external audit as a Big Four accounting professional, which was a great place to start my career. I managed financial statement audits of public and private companies primarily in the consumer products industry, and had the opportunity to do a global audit assignment in Madrid. Once I was ready (trust your intuition!), I explored options and switched from external to internal audit at a Fortune 500 global beauty company, where I executed financial, operational and compliance engagements across sales affiliates, functions and processes around the world (40+ countries!). Over several years, I managed risk and optimized operations, working my way up from Senior Analyst to Director. In my last role there, I was tapped to lead the multi-year global transformation of the internal audit function toward best in-class capabilities. Once I was ready (again, trust your intuition!), I took my expertise to build and lead the internal audit function at a high-growth NY based apparel startup. After some unexpected news (hello layoffs), I knew that it was time to trust the magic of new beginnings and take the plunge into entrepreneurship.

So, here I am. I founded Portecua Consulting, and am excited to bring my 13+ years of risk knowledge, experience and resources to help impact-driven businesses add their risk lens. Even more specifically, my focus is working with women and BIPOC-led businesses that have historically been undervalued and underserved. Because the truth is, while we are starting businesses at record levels, the revenue, funding and survival rates leave much to be desired. (For instance, the fact that only 2% of female founded businesses are breaking $1M is just too low!)

I look forward to building momentum and playing my part in scaling companies that are good for the heart, community and planet. I can’t wait until we’re all empowered with a risk lens.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

I knew I would have an initial uphill battle because risk management was not a consideration early on. It was usually brought up later in the lifecycle of a business, typically once a fire happened or once it was required. It was also the non-sexy side of business. I was competing with sales and marketing, product, and creative, as ways to grow a business. Not to mention, I had people apprehensive about the word risk, others who equated risk management with insurance (spoiler alert- it’s not insurance), and others who thought risk management would only be helpful once a company was making millions. But, change is always hard. I knew that a risk lens would be sexy once I could show it was a powerful tool in building a beautiful business, one that protects your business, and uses time, money and energy in the smartest way possible.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?

A reframe that makes me laugh vs. cry now, is around typos. As detailed as I am, no one is perfect and every once in a while, a typo will sneak in. I used to beat myself up about it, but now I laugh about it. And the reframe is that if people notice it, it means they are paying attention, which is a win as I build my brand and community. Hope this helps at least one person out there!

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

My approach and my values.

I approach everything with a risk lens. It’s a very holistic view because risk is integrated into every decision you make, and risk management should be too. This includes your strategy, your operational processes and your large-scale initiatives. I want to help you proactively anticipate and manage risk to keep you protected, optimized and well-positioned for growth. Throughout my career, I’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and what has caused businesses to lose thousands. I don’t want you to leave your business exposed. If you don’t have a risk advisor in your corner and plan to scale to 6, 7, 8+ figures, I highly recommend adding one to your team.

I value empowerment, growth and equality. I am very intentionally building a business and an ecosystem that inspires, encourages and uplifts the female and BIPOC founder community (allies welcome, of course!). I founded this business because I wanted to democratize risk knowledge, and create safe spaces for us to feel empowered, for our businesses to grow in order to increase representation of us as successful founders (because it does matter!), and for us to have an equal opportunity to build beautiful businesses.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Always take care of your biggest asset, you. You thrive best when you are taking care of yourself. As an entrepreneur, leader and changemaker, it can be easy to continue to push yourself to the extreme for your company, your employees, your investors, etc. Listen to your mind. Listen to your body. Listen to your friends and family. And ask for help. We all thrive best when we are working together, in community.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

It takes a village, as they say. I believe I’ve had many people in my life that have, in one form or another, contributed to my learning, growth and advancement, both in my 9–5 career and now in my entrepreneurial journey. From those who have motivated me, taught me, promoted me, nominated me, challenged me, to those who have pushed me to never stop learning, all of it has taken me to where I am today.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?

A good company is just that, good. Good product, good profit, good processes, good people. It keeps its lights on by delivering a product or service to its customer. It gets the job done day-by-day. It might grow because it is meeting a need (or it might be trending), but eventually it becomes complacent and stops evolving to its potential. A good company largely walks around unaware of what risks it faces, taking the perspective of “I’ll deal with it when it becomes a problem.” A good company waits to address risks.

A great company continuously delivers and goes beyond itself. It has a great product, great profit, great processes, and great people, because it is always assessing how it can do better and get the most out of any money, time and energy put into it. It has a clear vision of impact and takes action to get there. A great company is aware of what risks it faces, taking the perspective of “I’ll deal with it now before it affects the business.” A great company anticipates risks, and integrates a risk lens.

Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to lead a company from Good to Great? Please share a story or an example for each.

A risk lens is a powerful way to lead a company from good to great. I’ll give you five important risks one should know.

1. Culture Risk. Great companies assess the culture they have created. Evaluate the culture (and tone at the top) of your business regularly, especially as you grow your brand and expand your team. The last thing you want is finding yourself in a place where an employee felt pressure to manipulate sales, thought it was ok to take company assets, or stayed quiet when they should have spoken up.
2. Financial Risk. Great companies verify if their numbers are reliable. It is critical that you are clear about where your financial information is coming from, what it includes / excludes, and how it was compiled. You don’t want to make key decisions on numbers that are unreliable due to incomplete sales, inaccurate criteria or faulty systems.
3. Fraud Risk. Great companies evaluate their fraud exposure. Periodically assess your fraud risk, so you can put the proper steps in place to prevent and detect fraud to a smart level (because it’s impossible to prevent all of it). You don’t want to leave yourself vulnerable, especially with the never-ending list of bad actors there are out there, employees included.
4. Process Risk. Great companies document their key processes. You may know exactly how you do things now, but once you hire a team and start delegating, it becomes important to document how to do things through process mapping and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Otherwise, you might find yourself operating with inefficient or duplicate processes, or left in the dark if an employee leaves.
5. Technology Risk. Great companies take stock of their systems and who has access. Knowing all the systems you use (they add up fast) and who has access to those systems (either role or specific tasks) keeps you aware of your tech stack. This way you prevent scenarios where systems are added without approval, or records are accessed / modified / deleted without permission.

Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. Can you help articulate for our readers a few reasons why a business should consider becoming a purpose driven business, or consider having a social impact angle?

People are waking up. They want to spend money on businesses that are aligned with their values and have an impact beyond themselves. They are recognizing that they have tremendous purchasing power, and that where they make their purchase matters. They want to put their money in businesses that have a purpose, often paying a premium to do so. Knowing how your business makes its product, how it treats its employees, and where it stands on social issues is driving purchasing decisions. Not to mention that employees and investors are also making decisions based on these factors, too.

Authenticity is key here, though, because you won’t get very far if you are doing it for show. People can see through performative businesses. Businesses would be wise to consider it because it’s the right thing to do.

What would you advise to a business leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?

Those years of successive growth were probably due to strategies that were great at the time, but have since been replaced. My advice would be to do a strategic risk assessment to figure out how you are approaching business vs. how others in your industry are approaching business. You’ll likely find that you either have a product or an awareness problem that is affecting your revenue growth. Either the product (or service) is no longer serving your audience, or your reach isn’t in the right places. You might have saturated the market, or there might be new rooms you aren’t in, and should be in.

Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?

Numbers are your best ally. Know your numbers and go deeper, even more so in turbulent times. While a high-level view of expenses where a “we’re in the ballpark” mentality may be ok during good times, during challenging times, you should dig into expense lines and know what is in there. Assign expense lines to your team and hold them accountable to knowing what is in there. Spend some time assessing vendors and customers, too. Where is your highest vendor (or supplier) spend and does it make sense? Where can you remove, adjust or replace? What customer (or retailer) is your most and least profitable? Is there an opportunity to increase prices, negotiate terms, or is it worth continuing the relationship? Keep a pulse on your finances to maintain financial stability and to be able to pivot in a difficult economy.

In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?

Communication. It’s easy to communicate when you’re a small team, but once you expand your team, you need to be strategic in keeping the lines of communication open and flowing. Key strategies, decisions and changes should be communicated, for instance adding a new product line, implementing a new system, or changing the time-off policy. Otherwise you risk having employees who don’t get the message in time, at all, or worse, feel left out, which can leave you with disgruntled and demotivated employees, and a siloed organization. We often underestimate the importance of communication in keeping the company running smoothly and our employees in the loop.

As you know, “conversion” means to convert a visit into a sale. In your experience what are the best strategies a business should use to increase conversion rates?

Simplicity is key for conversion. Make it simple for the customer to know what you offer. Make it simple for them to decide what to get. Make it simple for them to purchase.

Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Can you share a few ways that a business can earn a reputation as a trusted and beloved brand?

Earn trust and be loved. Especially in today’s landscape where customers are looking beyond the product or service, they want to know they can trust what you do, what you stand for and what you say (i.e. your product, your values, your claims). Earn trust by being consistent, being transparent and being accountable. And be loved by giving the people what they need in the way that they want it. And always remember, if you talk the talk, you better walk the walk. The truth always comes out.

Great customer service and great customer experience are essential to build a beloved brand and essential to be successful in general. In your experience what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?

Customer experience is critical to expanding organizational value. I recommend a business leader think about it from three perspectives: people, process and technology.

People, who are you serving and what are their needs. Do they crave customized attention? Do they want a journey with every purchase? Or do they want to be in and out? Do they want a simple experience? Think about your people when you’re designing your customer experience.

Process, what processes do you need and what do they need to do. What are my key processes that give my customers the best experience? And do I have them clearly mapped out for my employees to follow? Each process should have a clear purpose and path to execution.

Technology, what systems do I need and why do I need them. What systems do you have in place and why do they exist? Are these systems creating an easy and seamless customer experience, or do I need new ones?

P.S. This is the same methodology I’d recommend for any Wow! experience, whether we’re talking about customers, employees, investors, etc.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?

I am a firm believer that risk management is critical from the start. It will take on different forms as you launch, grow, scale and pivot in your business, and every company establishes its own risk profile / appetite / tolerance, but managing key risks should be an action from the start. The biggest mistake I see is that CEOs and founders often view risk management as an afterthought, or as something an established company does. Learn about risk management early on to avoid these errors! Having a clear picture of your risks will enable you to lead your company from good to great.

Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Great question. My ultimate vision is to empower everyone with a risk mindset, no matter their role or background in the world. I light up every time a friend, entrepreneur or client tells me they used a risk lens on their situation, or did a risk assessment before making their decision. It’s music to my ears to know they are applying risk knowledge to move forward with confidence and peace of mind. I would love that to happen more and more, and start a movement where everyone becomes friends with risk. I envision a future where our businesses, careers and lives are empowered with the risk mindset, strategies and tactics that allows us to thrive and make an impact in our communities.

How can our readers further follow you online?

So many places, but I’ll keep it simple. Find me on LinkedIn! Please stop by and let me know what your favorite sentence, takeaway, or lesson was from this article.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!

Of course, anytime.