Bounce Back

Kristi Bonsack's $1.2 million healthcare startup, which sold hormone therapies to doctor's offices, was on the verge of doubling revenues in 2002.

That's when Bonsack, then 34, brought in a partner, someone with experience in running the financial side of a thriving business in a rapidly changing industry. Says Bonsack: “I needed a tough financial guy.”

But Bonsack says the move was the biggest mistake she's ever made in her business life.

In fact, by 2006 Bonsack was in a battle over control of the company with the business partner she brought in. The stakes couldn't have been higher: Bonsack ultimately filed for personal bankruptcy and lost sole ownership of the company, which was called NuLife Solutions and based in Tampa.

“I put everything on the line,” says Bonsack, “and I lost my shirt.”

The NuLife partner debacle was a crushing blow for a dedicated and driven entrepreneur like Bonsack. Even worse, Bonsack was in the middle of a divorce with her husband around the same time. “It took everything I had just to stay above water,” says Bonsack.

Bonsack didn't stay down for long.

Now 43, Bonsack has a new company. That business, Longboat Key-based KMB Development, is a consulting firm that shifts or melds public opinion on a given project or political race. Bonsack also focuses on C-level executives in the hospitality, tourism and healthcare industries.

In essence, KMB Development provides an opportunity for Bonsack to follow her passion: to work at the forefront of companies and campaigns with the potential for big impact.

The lessons Bonsack learned from the NuLife partner situation resonate nearly every day at KMB.

“I still believe in taking risks,” says Bonsack. “But valuing yourself and not giving away too much is very important, especially for women.”

Another lesson learned is to not fear failure, which Bonsack says is “an important step on your way to success.”

Plus, people who know Bonsack, both clients and others in the business community, say she hasn't let the NuLife experience define her. It left her wiser, not embittered.

Big vision

Longboat Key Club and Resort General Manager Michael Welly saw that side of Bonsack in 2009, when he hired her to run a campaign to publicly advance the benefits of the club's $400 million expansion project. Welly was further wowed by Bonsack's ability to turn a mishmash of concepts into a coherent strategy.

Welly says Bonsack balances her high-energy approach — she's game-on day and night — with a sincere likeability, where people easily warm to her. Bonsack's dedication to the cause, says Welly, is another ally.

“There's not a lot of people who will fit their personal life around their business, but Kristi has done that,” Welly says. “That has been very impressive to me.”

Bonsack has spent most of the past two years building a client list for the firm, which so far, is diverse. In addition to the Longboat Key Club, the client list includes:

• Nora Patterson: Bonsack spent an intense six weeks in 2010 coordinating Patterson's campaign for reelection to the Sarasota County Commission. Patterson won the election;

• Carter's Pharmacies: Bonsack runs a compounding therapy program for the Jacksonville-based pharmacy chain. She trains the chain's owners and management team on the products and she also makes sure the program is received well with clients. The program brings in $500,000 in annual revenues for the $2.5 million firm, says Bonsack;

• Low Vision Works: Bonsack works with the Sarasota-based firm, which sells a vision restoration program, on building a franchise base and writing grant proposals for growth incentives.

Bonsack generates business on networking and word-of-mouth referrals. The Patterson campaign gig, for instance, came her way because she got to know Patterson's husband John Patterson, an attorney for the Longboat Key Club project. Bonsack also volunteers and works for a variety of chambers and economic development groups in the area.

Born on a U.S. Navy base in Hawaii, Bonsack lived in California until her family moved to Florida when she was 5. She graduated from the University of Florida in 1990 with a degree in public relations. Bonsack soon turned to a career in health care, where she worked in staffing and pharmaceutical sales for nine years.

Bonsack founded NuLife in 2001, when she saw a lack of companies that worked directly with physicians, such as endocrinologists, in promoting technological and medical advances in hormone therapies. The company was part science and part marketing. It grew to seven employees.

Bonsack now prefers to focus on her current business, instead of NuLife, although she admits the prior experience was a valuable entrepreneurial lab.

“I learned so much about business, and now I want to teach others,” Bonsack says. “Business has always been a refuge for me. I love it.”