Sara Forbes is the founder and CEO of KaroTech Consulting, a firm that allows smaller businesses to outsource IT services if their budgets are unable to afford these resources full-time. KaroTech’s services include integrating and customizing Salesforce, CRM training, and analytics. Sara’s belief that IT training should be not only comprehensive but personal as well prompted her to launch KaroTech.
In this episode, Sara Forbes discusses why a VP she worked under had a significant influence on her career, breaks down when you should put your business before yourself (and vice versa), and explains why endurance is a vital trait for entrepreneurs to have.
Podcast highlights:
- Sara changed her major in university to finance because she realized that regardless of which industry she ended up working in, financial skills would always serve her well.
- The vice president of the company Sara worked for immediately after graduating from university was a major influence on her, particularly for how he was able to inspire trust, respect and commitment in his team.
- At this point, Sara is looking to move away from handling consulting herself and focus instead on running the business.
- KaroTech has been turning a profit every year since it launched, though Sara has had to adjust her own salary to ensure they stay in the black.
- The biggest challenges Sara faces are the difficulty of planning consulting work for the future, as well as this being her first time she’s managed anyone.
- In the next five years, Sara wants to increase the size of her team and bring more support for other Salesforce tech.
- She advises young entrepreneurs to have a lot of endurance so they can weather the ups and downs of running a small business in its early days.
- One of the most important lessons Sara has learned is that you can’t effectively run a business with poor cash flow. She’s even held off on paying herself if it meant maintaining a steady cash flow.
Quotes:
“Salesforce is a great way to provide visibility into what their salespeople are doing, who they’re talking to and what deals are coming through.”
“I like the consulting work but I have realized I really like running the business better.”
“I realized this is where for me being a jack of all trades was great because I can do sort of everything to a reasonable level.”
“Cash flow is such a huge thing when you’re running a business and you have employees, because you have to make sure your employees get paid.”
“Unless you are coming in with a million dollars to get you started, it’s going to be a long haul.”
“If you’re going into entrepreneurship for the glamour, you are not choosing it for the right reasons.”
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