We don’t really fit neatly into any of these categories. We like to say we become an ‘extension of your team.’ We aren’t your employees, but we are your partners. We walk the journey alongside you, doing the legwork together to reach your business goals. This is based on the Christian model of discipleship. We are a secular company with Christian values and we hope our honesty and integrity reflect that in everything we do. We don’t just give advice, like coaches and consultants, but we don’t just take over and execute your vision for you, like marketing agencies. We work with you and reassess your needs at every meeting to see how we can best help and support your business.

Every small business owners had needs. It’s simply a question of who will fill them. You can fill them yourself, and we call this a DIY approach. Not only do you need to focus on your service/product, you have to juggle every other aspect of running a business. Then there is hiring a ‘Bundle of Contractors.’ One to do your logo, one to do your website, one to keep your books, a business coach, someone to market you, and so on. Then, there is the option to partner with Ivory. We offer a custom approach to let you do the things you want and have time to, and delegate the tasks you can afford to outsource. It’s the best of both worlds, combining DIY with the help of experts.

Upwave is a personalized site we use during our partnership that allows us to have a shared place to communicate about all project tasks, ideas and important info. It’s like a digital bulletin board where we put your contact information, preferred office hours, share photos, and most importantly, collaborate on tasks. Our internal Ivory Team can see your board, but no one outside our organization has access to it.

When we go through the 4 Steps Process, “To-do” list items often result from our conversation. If the entrepreneur feels comfortable accomplishing the task on their own, they do. If the task is not in their area of expertise or isn’t something they have time for, the project lead will evaluate if the task qualifies for a Project Pathway. If it does, the Project Lead creates a Project Pathway Proposal, which gives the entrepreneur three options: 1: We offer a list of resources (like Youtube Tutorials or software we trust) to help them figure out how to do the task on their own, then we check their work. This costs you the least money and the most time. 2: We do it together doing our meetings, which is a set time and cost you’ve already set aside. 3: We do the task for you. This costs you the most money and saves you the most time.

We try as much as possible to help our entrepreneurs avoid debt, loans, credit cards and losing money in general. That’s why we coined the phrase Zero-Based Start-Up. This is an idea that we integrate in the first step of our 4 Steps Process. Imagine you want to start a lawn-care business. The upfront cost of a truck, trailer, riding lawnmower and edger could be daunting. In order to help you achieve a Zero-Based Start Up, we may recommend starting a relationship with a school, park or church that has a huge acreage. If you sign a contract with them for 18 months of lawn care, then, you can feel more confident in the upfront cost to start your business, knowing that you’ll get a return on your investment in a set amount of time.

We try to take initial consultations in person whenever possible! This helps foster a trust-based relationship which is essential to our process. For 4 Steps Meetings, our team is spread out across the Midwest, and we do love to meet our entrepreneurs in person. Because of the cost of traveling and time it takes to meet in person, it is an additional cost. In-person meetings during Hours of Operation.