From the gut

From the gut

LEADERSHIP by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

Michelle Nelson built a $2 million-plus technology business mostly on her leadership instincts. One big lesson for other entrepreneurs: Never go against your intuition.

When Michelle Nelson's Web site design firm turned six years old in 2002, she thought her tough startup days were long gone. The company, Net Strategies, was well past what she called her $500-and-a-dream phase, with clients including Sarasota-based national cold cuts company Boar's Head.

But like a lot of ambitious entrepreneurs, Nelson wanted to get bigger and better. So she aligned herself with another technology firm in Sarasota that had more resources, taking her clients with her.

Big mistake. Within months, Nelson realized the decision to team up with a bigger company was a total disaster, despite the added resources the combination provided. The firms had different philosophies and attitudes about business, Nelson found out, and there was a major culture clash. Even though she stopped short of officially merging Net Strategies with the company, the damage to her business, and her psyche, was pronounced.

Says Nelson: "I had given away the thing that was the most precious to me: My leadership skills and my intuition." She lost some time and money in the process, too.

But even worse, the bad business decision was compounded with her personal troubles, as Nelson was also going though a difficult divorce. Her life had essentially turned into a country music song. All within a few months, Nelson lost her house and had to find an apartment where she could raise her young daughter; her checking account sometimes dwindled down to as low as $50; and eventually, the stress landed her in the hospital with heart palpitations.

"The only thing I had intact was my belief in myself," Nelson says six years later. "I was never against working hard."

Still, it took more than hard work to rebuild the company, which she was ultimately able to do. Even though most of her clients stuck with her, she was basically going back to a business that had reached its ceiling. "It was a true test of my work ethic and my desire," says Nelson, 37. "My whole world had to shift, and I had to rely on myself to do it."

A new focus

The result of that shift is Anexio, a Sarasota-based company focusing on managing technology and computer systems for other small businesses. From its headquarters in Sarasota's Rosemary District, about a mile outside downtown, the company also still designs Web sites, only now it incorporates the final product into a marketing and branding campaign for the client.

Nelson renamed the company Anexio as a word to symbolize the next generation of technology. But she doesn't even consider herself a techie. She leaves that to the staff of 16 employees, which includes husband Jeffrey Nelson, a managing partner with the firm. Instead, Michelle Nelson, a managing partner and the chief executive, considerers herself the intuitive leader of the company, the person that puts people in the right positions to succeed.

The strategy, a big part of which has focused on the employee and company culture the last two years, has been successful: The company is in the $2 million-plus a year range in annual revenues after growing more than 50% since 2006. Nelson declines to release specific revenue figures.

The revenues are more impressive considering the Sarasota-Bradenton technology services market is heavily fragmented, with most of the dozens of small businesses in the marketplace not surpassing $1 million a year in sales. Indeed, Nelson says a constant challenge for the company is proving to the small business community that Anexio does more than monitor e-mails from a remote router.

"Two monkeys and a truck is what we always say our competition is," says Nelson. "It's the image of what the tech support business is."

Nelson decided to be proactive in attacking that challenge last year. She had the company apply for accreditation in the International Association of Managed Service Providers, which is like the Hall of Fame for technology service companies. Entry is based on a written test and an on-site inspection from the MSP Alliance.

Less than 5% of companies that apply for accreditation pass the test, says Nelson, and when Anexio passed late in 2007, it became one of the first company's on the Gulf Coast to earn the designation.

The move wasn't only proactive, it was financially risky, too. The application process is costly and it could have resulted in no payoff. Instead, the success is both a source of pride and a money saver: The company's insurance costs have dropped from about $40,000 to $3,600 as a result of the MSP accreditation.

Natural leader

Despite that achievement, Nelson has succeeded in such a fragmented field, colleagues and peers say, mostly because of her uncanny ability to lead her way through turbulent times. A technology company is just the vehicle she uses to showcase her skills. She's also active in the Sarasota small business community, most recently with the small business council of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.

"Michelle is one of the best natural leaders I've ever met," says Larry Face, a Sarasota small business consultant who has worked with and known Nelson for the past few years. "She's fantastic."

Nelson has a penchant for focusing on the little things when it comes to leadership. For example, she's been known to write personal notes for employees on their birthdays or pass out gift certificates and chocolates for a 'job well done.'

And Nelson is constantly learning about new leadership techniques, in addition to working with Face. For example, Nelson regularly downloads and listens to podcasts on leadership from the Harvard Business School.

Nelson grew up entrepreneurial, not to mention cold, in New England, the daughter of a woodworker who made spiral staircases.

She worked for her dad in and around Boston, working in everything from sales to sandpapering, until she was old enough to move out in the early 1990s.

She drove to Florida and lived with family friends in south Sarasota County for a few months before landing a marketing job with Sarasota-based Todd Johnston Homes.

That job turned into other opportunities. But when Nelson turned 26 in the mid 1990s, she realized she was on her way toward a corporate career - about as appealing as spending Februarys in Maine. So with next to no experience in Web site design, Nelson struck out on her own in 1996, forming Net Strategies.

"I knew I wanted to work for myself and be responsible for my own income," says Nelson.

As far as the decision to nearly partner with another company and give up leadership control of her once-thriving business, she can look back with relief, not regret, because she caught the mistake in time.

Says Nelson: "I learned the value of really listening to my gut."

Executive tips

Michelle Nelson, founder and managing partner of Sarasota-based technology services firm Anexio, says leadership skills can be applied to nearly any company. Here are three of Nelson's key leadership tips:

• Leadership requires 100% accountability. "A leader takes complete responsibility," says Nelson. "No excuses, no whining."

• Listen with your intuition first and your ears second.

• When in doubt on a decision, use the three Ps - people, passion and profits.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Business. Anexio, Sarasota

Industry. Technology, small business consulting

Key. The company is one of the first and only Gulf Coast-based technology businesses to earn accreditation from the International Association of Managed Service Providers for its work.