Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Harrington.
Hi Lisa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was very young, I would sit at my grandfather‘s desk and I knew that I somehow wanted to be in business. After getting my management degree at ball State University, I worked in the P&C insurance industry for about three decades. It was very useful experience for a business coach because I got to see how so many types of businesses worked while I was helping them with their insurance. Also, I was with a trade association for a long time and that helped me see a lot of the challenges that small business owners, like insurance agencies, have to go through to succeed. I got my coaching training from a company called Vistage. I’m independent now and have had the business for 15 years. At the beginning, it was a side hustle, but for the last nine years, I’ve been full-time and I love every minute of helping small business owners of non-public companies Grow to their maximum potential.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think small business owners ever have a completely smooth road. I opened my business, in TX, in 2009 part-time and then went full-time in 2018. So the pandemic in 2020 nearly did me in! But I managed it figured out a way to continue the work virtually with my clients, and I’m now celebrating 16 years in business. It was hard to describe what I do for people sometimes and you know you need a very simple explanation to grab someone’s attention long enough for them to want to spend more time with you. I think one of the things I did to smooth things over was filing for my assumed name certificate with the state of Texas in 2020. That’s when the name Abiding Strategy became official. I even trademarked the new name and logo! Legally, it is Sapphire Enterprises LLC, but early in the pandemic I realized I needed something a little more descriptive. Since my flagship product is the Abiding Strategy workshop where I help people set their 3 to 5 year plan, it made sense to use the word strategy in my name. It has helped!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My main goal is to bring more joy in the workplace by helping owners be better, bosses. There are many long-term studies that show that people respond best when they are comfortable with their immediate boss. I believe the culture of a company comes directly from their CEO. You cannot have a great culture unless you have a good strong strategy.
I do executive and business coaching for people who own businesses and non-public companies. The way I do this usually starts with them scheduling the Abiding Strategy Workshop so that we can set their long-term plan. Then I come in and do group coaching with their leadership and/or individual coaching with members of the executive team. I do have individual coaching clients as well. My public coaching cohort is called the Sapphire Think Tank and we limit that to 12 members at a time. I spend some time on in house corporate training and platform keynote speaking at conferences.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I’m sort of a country girl, so I like living in the small towns and suburbs. I’m not much for big cities, but I love the idea of having so many opportunities available for culture events, the arts, networking, learning and so much more.
I have an amazing church over in Southlake ehere I am a Lay Minister, & I’m a member of a couple of chambers of commerce and other networking groups. I find the people in the area to be quite genuine and amazingly helpful. But I think like everything else you get out of it what you put in. If someone looks hard enough, they can find pretty much anything they need in the DFW area!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.AbidingStrategy.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17jdLQN2M9/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisahharrington
