Business Owner Gives Back

Indy Chamber News Archives

“As a business owner, you often forget to ask for help – or take people up on their offer to help,” said Denise Herd, owner of Herd Strategies. “Someone offered to help me when I first started and that drives my passion to help others.”

Denise credits Business Owner Initiative (BOI), a business unit of the Indy Chamber, for the ‘incredible support and help’ she has been given in the past five years of running her public relations firms. Three years ago, she was a speaker for BOI, sharing her marketing expertise with BOI clients. After buying out her business partner in 2011, she returned to BOI as a client to take advantage of their business expertise – particularly in helping her better understand her cash flow, business projections and financial resources.

Additionally, at the recommendation of her business coach, Denise signed up for BOI’s FastTrac Growth Venture and spent 10-weeks meeting experts, learning from other successful entrepreneurs, and finding new ways to explore and expand her business. Faced with the growing pains of business ownership, and facing similar challenges as a start-up, Denise absorbed all of the information and resources BOI offered her, including one-on-one coaching, BOI workshops, and Indy Chamber networking events.

“Denise knows how to endure tough times by staying focused, doing the tough things and measuring her financial performance,” said Julie Grice, executive director, BOI. “She’s living proof that what is measured (cash) grows.”

Today, Denise is not only continuing to successfully build her PR firm, but she has become a certified Kauffman FastTrac facilitator for BOI and helps aspiring entrepreneurs by leading the New Venture track – her way of helping others and giving back to an organization that has given so much to her. She is particularly passionate about supporting women and minorities – so far as to committing her own business as a place for this special group of entrepreneurs to have a sense of purpose and receive marketing resources to be successful.

Last year, Denise and Herd Strategies received a Monumental Award from the Indy Chamber in the category of Entrepreneur of the Year.