Adele Blair is the Co-Founder of Chiefly Consultants, an outsourced fractional Chief of Staff business working with Small-Medium Businesses. Having grown 4 businesses from the ground up, she certainly knows the meaning of perseverance and having confidence in your own ability and expertise. Through her successes, Adele has also had big shifts in direction. We look forward to learning from her experiences!
Q: What was the best advice you were given when starting out as an entrepreneur?
A: Even though you are small, build it like you are big! This strategy is great for your mindset. It takes time, don’t be in a rush, know your own risk threshold.
Q: Name a lesson you’ve learned in running a business?
A: Watch and know your numbers, all of them. Not just finances, but around client attraction, retention, ROI, engagement – everything!
Q: What tool helps you the most in your workday?
A: My laptop + monitor, who doesn’t like two screens! Also, I’m a recent convert to Mondays.com, an amazing tool for organizing your business.
Q: What do you do when you are struggling with motivation or creativity?
A: I set personal and business goals every year, so I repeat to myself two key mantras: “Keep your eye on the prize” and “What am I doing right now to hit my goals”.
Q: Tell us about an accomplishment/a win or what you have in the works so that we can celebrate with you!
A: I was a Finalist in the Australian Business Woman of the Year in 2011. It was such a shock/surprise! I was very much a small fish in a big pond and really helped me believe that what I was doing was pretty great! The second was receiving Accelerator Entrepreneur of the Year through Entrepreneurs Organization.
Q: How do you stay current or connected as an entrepreneur?
A: I had a wonderful circle of entrepreneurial friends/mentors in Australia and am now slowly rebuilding a US network. I really missed being in this space while I was settling into life in
New York, then the pandemic. Online forums such as this, LinkedIn and a host of other virtual groups have been a great starting point for me.
Q: If you weren’t doing this job, what could you see yourself doing?
A: I’d love to run an art gallery in the US featuring Australian Indigenous artists, this still may happen, but for now I’m loving what I do!
Q: We are all multi-passionate and multifaceted people, what are your other passions?
A: Obviously I love travelling, my first overseas adventure was at 19 years old and it has not stopped! I enjoy running, it gives me great thinking time. Also, I can’t walk past an antique store, there might be treasure inside!
Q: Do you have a favorite quote or motto?
A: In addition to my mantra’s above – simple “Eye’s Forward”.
Q: Where do you go or what do you do to clear your head and find inspiration?
A: Anything outdoors, being Australian I am naturally a water lover, so get me into some water and I’m a happy camper. When it’s too cold for that, hiking is a new activity I’ve taken up and just love the quietness of it.
Q: Where we work and how we work has had to shift for so many people, tell us in what ways you’ve shifted. Have you had to change how you do things? What have you embraced that’s new for you?
A: Nothing really changed for me, I have been working from home for many years now, so I was fortunate it has been ‘business as usual’. My team also works remotely. The structure of my business does not really require me onsite with clients, zoom works just fine!
Q: What is one ritual that you do daily that’s just for you?
A: Getting outside while working at home can be a trap for staying behind your desk for days on end. I make sure I get outside every day, rain, hail, snow or shine! Even if it is to walk to the gym, or into my back garden, getting outside to recalibrate is essential.
