Lena L. West has been a guest writer for WomenandBiz.com since 2004. For a long time we only knew each other through email, but soon started running into each other in New York City. Lena L. West, Founder and CEO of xynoMedia Technology, is an incredibly dynamic entrepreneur, and I have been following her success and business progress since we’ve met. Lena is a great example of an entrepreneur who recognizes the changes in the marketplace. She adapts them into her business, targets different niches and creates new projects to keep up with today’s competitive landscape and evolving technology platform.
Lena West
During our interview Lena shared that she has been an entrepreneur since she can remember. Although she had a couple of full-time jobs, she soon got involved with offering computer technical support by phone. Then she got a consulting agency to represent her and worked as a consultant with several big projects. However, she soon realized that the best thing to do was to establish her own business. Lena will celebrate xynoMedia Technology’s 10th anniversary this year.
Lena says that one of the main reasons she decided to start her own business was for the freedom it could provide. Very family oriented, Lena wanted to be sure she could be available for her family, without having to worry about taking sick days, vacation days, etc.
When Lena started xynoMedia Technology, she was doing everything by herself. She started out developing web sites but quickly noticed that it wasn’t what she really wanted to do. She realized that she would rather help companies, “Start to look at technology in new and innovative ways-and figure out how to use technology to boost their companies and help their businesses grow.” In 2000 the business evolved into IT services and technology strategies, helping small businesses make sense of technology and find more efficient ways to achieve their business goals.
Last year, in order to achieve the success she was looking for, Lena and her team of advisors decided to shift the branding of her business a little bit, and start helping growing, second-stage businesses leverage the Internet to gain a competitive advantage. xynoMedia Technology currently assists companies that have complex sales cycles with technology strategies, to help them increase lead generation, build a strong thought leadership platform and get more out of their online activities.
Still passionate about helping small businesses, Lena developed The Technology Diet. It started as an 8-week tele-consulting program, teaching small business owners how to best use technology to grow their businesses. xynoMedia Technology is now in the process of packaging The Technology Diet as an information product that will be available for purchase online . Small business owners will be able to study it at their own pace, receive guidance in how to implement technology in their business as well as identifying which hardware and software is appropriate for them to use. In addition, Lena sits on the Board of Directors of several not-for-profit organizations, and has also volunteered and gives presentations frequently.
One of the most challenging aspects of her business has been branding. Lena and her team are revising their brand to reflect who they really are. According to Lena, her ideal clients are forward-thinking companies that understand the importance of the strategic use of technology combined with tactical measures. Most companies do not understand the value of a technology strategy to remain competitive and increase revenue, but xynoMedia Technology’s clients do get it!
When you visit xynoMedia Technology’s website, they compare themselves to large companies, in which you have the first meeting with the company’s A team, but team C or D end up taking care of your project. With xynoMedia Technology, the team you meet is the A team – the only team working on your project. In the beginning, Lena did everything herself, but the company and her team has grown and now includes an associate strategist, a development team, a salesperson, two assistants – one executive assistant and one virtual assistant. When they get larger projects they scale up and for smaller projects they work with their core team, which helps them remain competitive in both pricing and value.
For the future, Lena and her team are developing a 3-5 month program in which they will give participants a complete e-business makeover. The pilot phase of the program will focus on three companies and will review each company’s e-business, e-commerce and social media strategies and create and implement a winning strategy for all three areas. The project is tentatively called eBusiness Greenlight and the participants will receive high-level media coverage once the case studies are available.
Since this issue of WomenandBiz.com is about Getting Unstuck, I asked Lena if she ever got stuck in her business and what did she do to move forward. She mentioned that everyone gets stuck at one point or another, and the solution is to have a support group in place that will help you think of creative ways to proceed. It’s very hard to move out of that situation alone, and Lena counts on an advisory board and what she calls her dream team – she works with a mastermind group, a business coach, and a wellness coach. Without them, she says, she would have learned many lessons the hard way.
Lena offers the following advice to entrepreneurs: “Make sure that you know your stuff, know your area of expertise very well and allow that confidence to trickle over into other areas of your business and your personal life.” Lena realizes that not everyone is a natural public speaker or a writer but if they know their area of expertise they will acquire enough confidence to become better communicators and much more efficient in promoting their business. Lena certainly is a technology expert and she shows it.
Since this interview, Lena West has re-positioned her business, and it’s now called Influence Expansion. For more information, please visit http://www.influenceexpansion.com/