#Thrive Thursday: Meet Mary Grothe, Founder & CEO What is your story

What is your story? Or in other words, what made you your awesome self you are today?

How much info do you want? Times quite a story to unpack me, but I will keep it brief. I was raised in the performing arts as a triple threat, actor, singer, and dancer. Dancing was my passion of the three. I was on the stage from age 3 to age 18. My parents owned the performing arts school. Unfortunately, they weren’t great business owners, racked up a ton of debt, and we ended up having to flee the small town in Northwest Indiana and “runaway” to Boulder, CO, when I was 14 years old. My parents were poor, and my mom was an alcoholic. The abuse was difficult to bear growing up. I started working full-time and fully supporting myself at age 15 and was on my own by my senior year of high school.

Unfortunately, I got in a car accident 1 month before graduation, and my dream of dancing professionally was shot. I entered into 4 dark years of trying to find myself without my family or my dancing… pretty much everything I had ever known.

By the grace of God, I survived.

At 22, I started with a Fortune 1000 Payroll/HR company at just $13/hour in an admin role but quickly acquired the skills and training required to advance into B2B mid-market SaaS sales. I rapidly found success by listening to my clients and always solving their needs, putting their agenda before mine. Even when my sales approach was the direct inverse of corporate, I knew what was right and produced record-breaking sales numbers. With multiple #1 finishes and millions in revenue sold, I left in 2011 to become a business strategist for entrepreneurs and founded Butterfly Creative, LLC. My vision expanded into youth entrepreneurship education and eventually went back to the Payroll/HR company serving larger, more complex prospects/clients in 2014. I left in 2017 after two Top 25 and one Top 10 finish and millions more sold.

I then restarted my firm, Butterfly Creative LLC, rebranded as Sales BQ®. My mission was to rebuild every sales department my team could get their hands on. After 18 months, we realized that our clients’ sales teams were hitting ceilings because they did not invest in marketing, RevOps, and customer success. So, we doubled in size and organically grew service offerings to help every client rebuild their entire house of revenue, from marketing, sales, and customer success, all supported by RevOps. In December 2020, Sales BQ® split into two companies. Sales BQ® is the home of the Quota Crusher™ Podcast, Blog, and Sales Training Room. House of Revenue™ is the home of the revenue-scaling program for CEOs between $2M - $20M who are ready to scale. Every client engagement is custom-built to focus on driving revenue growth through 3 phases, rebuilding infrastructure, recruiting top talent, and leading the team from a Chief Revenue Officer perspective for 6-18 months to ensure the ROI is achieved.

House of Revenue™ currently leads the marketing, sales, and customer success departments for 10 companies nationwide. In the past year, we have helped several second-stage growth companies between $2M - $20M, on average, double their MRR within 10 months. This has resulted in an average ROI of 1,454%, with average annual revenue growth eclipsing $3.2 million.

Personally, I am in my 6th year of marriage to my husband David, who, together, love raising our 4-year-old son, Beckham. I am an openly faith-based CEO who deeply cares about serving my family, team, and clients. After the shakeup from the March 2020 pandemic shut-down, I realized that my time was not allocated appropriately, and I had neglected my family. After losing 60% revenue and several team members, I made a commitment to rebuild my relationship with my family first and then rebuild my company in the most powerful way, which led to a new work schedule of 9 am - 4 pm, allowing ample time for family, and scaling my company to new heights, closing at $2.182M in 2020 at 26% EBITDA and 13 high-performing team members.

What message(s) do you promote?

That it is OK to be a leader that you haven’t seen modeled for you yet, meaning, don’t let the world define who or how you’re supposed to be as a CEO or executive. I followed the world’s path for 2.5 years and neglected my family and friends. I ran myself into the ground, but I thought I was supposed to so that I could “succeed at all costs.” It doesn’t have to be that way. Also, I feel like I have rewritten how to love, serve, coach, and develop employees. I wasn’t following my intuition or gut for years. I was trying to do it the way I read in management books and also based on how I watched other CEOs manage. I was wrong. Turns out, actually loving and cherishing each team member as a human being first opens doors like no other when it comes to empowering them to grow and achieve great things while working for me.

In what capacity do you LEAD UP in your community?

As an openly faith-based CEO, I enjoy sharing my story at events or 1:1 with other business leaders. So much so, I started a personal blog and podcast where I intimately share my path… the good and the bad, as a leader in the small business community. I want to model as much as I can, even though I am still learning and growing, to help others see that a different approach actually yields massive results.

Additionally, we just aligned with a powerful non-profit organization that our team has decided to work with for free. Our services typically cost $150k per year, and we are going to fundraise in our community and offset the fees for our services so we can help them scale over the next year!

In business and/or in life, share a struggle you overcame that other women can relate to.

When the pandemic shutdown happened in March 2020, my world came crashing down. Leading up to that moment, I had just finished a remarkable year with my company. My son was 15 months old when I started my company (November 2017). From that day, I went into beast mode and worked 90-100 hours per week for 2.5 years. I traveled almost every week. My husband and son were neglected. However, I never felt like I was doing anything wrong because the world told me I was supposed to be in beast mode and hustle and grind if I was a “real CEO.” So I did. I remember sitting with my women CEO group in December of 2019 with tears of joy running down my face… I felt like I “had it all.” I had just scaled the company from $0 - $1.55M in 2 years. We did 300%+ in our second year, and I gave it all to make it happen… what I didn’t realize at that moment was I was wrong. I didn’t have it all. What I had was a poorly structured business with lackluster, untrained employees, a family who missed their wife and mom, and I was very tired. The pandemic shut-down caused us to lose 60% revenue in 3 days. I didn’t know when the bleeding would stop.

I cried. I was devastated. I felt everything I had worked for come crashing down. I thought I was going to lose everything. Worst part? I finally was forced to actually stop for a moment and look around. I didn’t even recognize my son. And I looked at my husband, who had aged... New lines on his face and gray hair I hadn’t even noticed. How long had it been since I actually looked at them? At that moment, I was deeply convicted. I fell to my knees in utter surrender and prayed for God just to take away the business and set me back on the right track, and vowed I’d never let this happen again.

He didn’t take it away. Instead, He promised He would help me build it back with Him, this time. And we didn’t lose everything. We believed everything that was left standing was built on a strong foundation; it was built on the rock. So we rebuilt. Faith first, family second, business third. And in 2020, we rebuilt our company based on my non-negotiable 9 am - 4 pm work schedule, no travel, and we built infrastructure in our business, trained employees, enhanced our recruiting strategy, and finished the year the biggest and most profitable we’ve ever been. The relationship with my son and family is pure and sound.

My inspiration to other women is this: you can have it all. But you have to believe that you can, first. You can’t have what you don’t believe in. Believe it first, then build it, and then consciously choose it every day.

What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do?

Getting to be with my family AND my team every day. I genuinely love them all and am overjoyed that God has them all in my life and that He has given me the responsibility to make an impact in their lives.

How do you SHOW UP?

At work, my management/leadership style is first to get right with myself. I cannot lead a team if I am not well. By well, I mean I need to be rested, eat right, exercise, practice calmness, meditate, and "plug into the source" daily to recharge. With that as a focal point, I can show up powerfully for my team. I've promised every employee I will always greet them with an open heart and an open mind. Every conversation is welcome and safe. With a 360 feedback loop (formal and informal), they get to share their feelings, opinions, observations, challenges, celebrations, and ideas with me. This is invaluable.

We have iterated many times over the past 3 years. The feedback from the team has helped us become the largest and most profitable we have ever been. Additionally, we have a budget for personal development. It's important to me that each employee has a clearly defined path of development and that our company invests in helping them get there.

My management style: love first, approach each situation with calmness. Be curious, ask questions. Ask employees to share 1-2 possible solutions for each problem they identify. Then, show up, roll up my sleeves, and help them solve the problem to the level that my involvement is needed. My goal is to empower them to solve it first, but I never want them to feel like I am a super delegator and leave them to solve it alone. I'm here. I'm accessible. I'm committed. I care.

I believe in praise and recognition, but only to each employee's comfort level. I use behavioral theory in management and adjust my style with each team member to align with their motivational style (intrinsic, extrinsic, or altruistic) and their style of language/appreciation (words of affirmation/praise, quality time, or gift-giving). I ensure that feedback is specific and celebrations are personal.

I'm carrying this style and these management philosophies into how I empower our mid-level manager. He is new to management, and I am deeply committed to his development and his ability to empower his direct reports, leading by example and assisting as needed. Ultimately, I show up with my actions, not just my words. I walk the talk.

If you could give one piece of advice for women entering the workforce or launching their own business, what would that be?

Get your head and heart aligned. Make a pact with yourself. Commit to always doing good work, regardless of circumstance. Love the unloveable. Embrace calmness. Believe in yourself. Meditate, pray, and create the vision you want. And envision yourself in the place every day. You will become what you believe.

Contact Mary Grothe

https://www.houseofrevenue.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/houseofrevenue

https://www.instagram.com/houseofrevenue/MaryGrothe

https://www.marygrothe.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marygrothe/  

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