The Growth Company: from $7 net to $780,000 gross.

AuthorFriedenauer, Margaret
Position2006 Top Women-Owned Businesses

Lynne Curry said she's never been in business for the money. That was a good philosophy to have when 27-year-old Curry began her business, The Growth Company, in 1978 and netted $7 the first year.

"It was peanut butter, rice and beans for my first three years," she said.

But even as her consulting business grew over the years, grossing $780,000 in 2005, she said it's still not the money that has makes her successful. It's being good at and liking what she does.

"Money has never been my Holy Grail," she said. "I just tried to please everyone who was my client."

Curry, 55, said she'd always been interested in owning her own business. She said she was a high school dropout who earned a full scholarship to a Beloit, Wis., college after penning a play. During college, she traveled to Korea and taught in a rural farm community, all experiences that earned her more college credit than she realized. By the time she was 20, she was awarded a master's degree.

Shortly after, she came to work in Alaska. Her idea for The Growth Company began at an out-of-state conference she attended while running a statewide program for a human services organization. Conference participants were assigned to spend the three days developing an organizational plan for their place of employment. But she had implemented a plan months earlier, she said, and her organization ran smoothly. So instead, she spent three days developing a business plan for what would become The Growth Company.

After the conference, she returned home and gave six months notice at her agency. The Growth Company debuted in 1978, the same year she earned her Ph.D. in organizational and social psychology.

Curry said the fine points of running a business were never her strong points. She didn't know how much to charge customers, and many organizations she worked with were on a shoestring budget themselves.

"I couldn't turn people away," she said. "My core has been trying to help people or organizations. It has been the service we do. And because we do a good job at that, people have given me money."

Throughout the years, she said she has surrounded herself with a supportive and talented staff. She employs two other full-time consultants, Alexandra Engman and Larry Sullivan, and up to nine contract consultants. She said her vibrant two-person administration team is keen on the business side of things.

Evolution

The Growth Company has evolved much like Curry's career. It's been driven by customer demands...

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