Redirecting.work

 

Catalyst for Change
After years of solo consulting, Sue found herself craving something more complete. “Life and work are just better with others,” she reflects. While her own coaching and advisory business had been successful and rewarding, she sensed that the opportunity to work with Lisa again—someone she trusted deeply and had thrived alongside in prior roles—could be the start of something greater.

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Lisa had no ambitions to build something solo. So when Sue invited her into the associate's fold, her answer was an immediate yes. “I’m a learning and problem-solving junkie,” Lisa said, “and when you get to work with someone like Sue, who has a vision and brings out the best in people, it’s a no-brainer.”

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Together, they began exploring a question that had long fascinated them: Why aren’t companies growing as fast as they should? Their experience building high-growth engines at Taleo, SuccessFactors, and Ellie Mae gave them a unique vantage point. These companies all had high growth and successful exits—was this a secret sauce that could be replicated?

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They envisioned a new model—centered around the idea of a revenue flywheel—with new business, customer capital, and strategic partnerships all working together to create growth.

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The Transformation Journey
Before teaming up, both Sue and Lisa had made a significant first redirection—from corporate executive to solopreneur. That transition gave each of them time to explore meaningful, flexible work on their own terms. For Sue, it allowed her to navigate caregiving responsibilities while continuing to engage in purposeful, high-impact projects. For Lisa, it was a way to channel decades of leadership experience into select opportunities without the constraints of corporate life. It was a fulfilling next chapter—and could easily have remained the final one.

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But they both realized that something was missing. “As much as we valued independence, we missed the camaraderie,” Sue shared. “In the end, doing great work with great people is just better than going it alone.”

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SVK & Associates took shape slowly but organically, grounded in deep trust and mutual respect. From the beginning, their goal wasn’t to rush toward revenue targets or scale at breakneck speed. “In my head, everything always happens fast and easy,” Sue laughed, “but we’re letting the work dictate the path and the pace.” Lisa started taking on clients for Sue as an independent, and things just grew from there. Over a retreat on Maui, Sue invited her to help launch the business—and SVK & Associates was born.

Their offering now includes strategic advisory, executive coaching, and fractional services—all built around their core framework: the revenue flywheel that includes interlocking flywheels for new business, customers, and partners. They see themselves not as consultants but as architects of sustainable growth. “We’ve been part of some of the best growth engines ever,” Sue said. “We have a methodology people have missed.”

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They’ve also integrated technology into their strategy, collaborating with GraceBlocks and AI technologies to build secure and private “data rooms” to help companies deeply understand their own growth potential.

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Building a new business while managing life’s demands hasn’t been without its challenges. Sue is raising a toddler, caring for the toddler’s mother, and keeping her advisory practice alive. Lisa, meanwhile, continues to embrace a work-life balance that includes time for her husband’s church start-up, community involvement, and travel. But instead of seeing these as constraints, they’ve used them to shape a new work model—one that prizes flexibility, respect for life outside work, and maintaining zest and creativity.

 

“There are a lot of burnt-out executives out there,” Lisa noted, “but we won’t burn out. We’re trying to create a culture where we work hard and play hard—and still have energy to bring our best to the table.”

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Current Direction & Reflections
SVK & Associates is more than Sue and Lisa. They’ve brought in others—like John Yrazabal, Mary Grace Hennessy, and Jim Griffin—creating a superstar team that shares values and complements one another’s strengths. They both agree that “you build a team where people want to do business based on reputation and trust.”

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Their aspiration is to grow a company that yields recurring revenue through services and scalable technology—and one that could lead to a meaningful exit. But the financials are only part of the vision. What matters just as much is building something that feels right. “It’s not about me,” Sue emphasized. “It’s about all of us winning together.”

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For Lisa, this phase of her career is about doing work that energizes her and keeps her in flow. “We’re laughing, we’re learning, we’re solving meaningful problems. It doesn’t feel like work.”

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For Those Contemplating Collaborative Work

• Find your people. Choose collaborators you trust deeply and who are at a similar stage in life.
   

• Build around strengths. Balance visionaries and doers. Together, you can move mountains.
   

• Make trust the foundation. Shared values and integrity matter more than org charts or titles.
   

• Redefine work. Let joy, flexibility, and personal growth guide the model—not just revenue goals.
   

• Stay in flow. When you love the work and who you’re doing it with, everything else follows.
   

• Be a talent magnet. Surround yourself with smart, kind people who make the world better just by being in it.

 

In a world that celebrates the solo founder or the unicorn startup, Sue, Lisa, and the other associates offer a different kind of success story—one rooted in collaboration, authenticity, and joy. SVK & Associates isn’t just their next chapter—it’s a blueprint for what fulfilling, sustainable work can look like when you build it with the right people.