Today we’d like to introduce you to Doug Franklin.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I moved back to Houston, I was struggling to find where I fit professionally and I was having an extremely hard time finding a job. Fortunately, I was always keeping my mind busy working with my non-profit venture, The Obodo Project, where I was connecting small businesses with student interns. Eventually, I found that I was working alongside my interns with these businesses through all of their functions. In the midst of just trying to help students find internship opportunities, I found myself working actively as a business consultant. As I started to gain traction, my business partner with Obodo, Woodrow Scott, invited me to start to develop his consulting business, Crowned, in the Houston area. When I look back at the opportunity, it’s kind of crazy because when I was working on my MBA at Rice University, you could have never told me that I was going to be a consultant, and much less, an entrepreneur. But so far, I’ve loved every minute of it and can’t wait to help the next business!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The biggest struggle is ultimately being patient with growing a business. Prior to starting out with Crowned, I had been away from Houston for almost four years. I’d lost a lot of the traction I had as a Rice MBA in many of the organizations I was once affiliated with, and so the flow of clients has been a little difficult at times. To be honest, to gain my first referrals, my first set of clients here were startup ideas that had little money to offer—but had big, attainable dreams. Things have started to change now, and I’m happy to see that I’m making a difference, and that people have a reason to believe in what I’m doing. I think the coolest opportunity is now reintroducing myself to the Houston community, with a new set of skills and abilities to share.
Crowned Consulting – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Crowned is a boutique consulting business founded in Washington D.C. by Rice MBA graduate Woodrow Scott, and I serve as the Managing Director and key business contact here in Houston, TX. We provide business advisory services to organizations through helping them find the best social, strategy, and technological resources and integrate them into their business strategy.
Our motto is “do better together,” and we take pride in it. We walk side by side with our clients as long as they need us, and we attempt to teach them strategies and skills to help them maintain and grow their businesses. Of course, we help businesses with pitches, business plans, and short-term recommendations, but our best work is when we are collaborating with businesses to help them pivot, change, and expand over time.
I personally specialize in business advisory, brand marketing, and organizational behavior/leadership projects. I’m a little different from most consultants that do similar work because I have a decade of working with businesses of all sizes, but I also have five years of academic research experience spanning leadership, organizational behavior and teams (I’m also Doctor of Ethical Leadership Student at St. Thomas University). I’m always applying a little social psychology into the business strategy of my clients, as well as encouraging my clients to engage in research on their business early and often.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
The easy answer is looking at key indicators of successful businesses, such as profit and growth, but there are a ton of other indicators that suggest if Crowned is making an impact. Profit and loss are the results of bigger successes or problems that should have been found in the business strategy. We are big on first observing a client change their strategies, stray away from bad habits, and then watch their business prosper. One of my personal favorites is watching a business client start to integrate the strategies I’ve provided them and watch them succeed. I feel my role at Crowned is more professor, teacher or mentor than a consultant, so when I watch a business “graduate” from Crowned services, I know we did a job well done.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.DouglasAFranklin.com
- Email: info@DouglasAFranklin.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/DouglasAFranklin
- Facebook: facebook.com/DeAyEf
- Twitter: twitter.com/DeAyEf
- Other: www.crownedllc.com
Image Credit:
Charles Williams Photography
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