2024 GWBC LACE Awards: Olivia Rios with Cold Mountain Consulting

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open for Business. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, broadcasting live from the Georgia Aquarium for the GWBC 2024 LACE Awards. I’m so excited to be talking to my next guest, Olivia Rios with Cold Mountain Consulting. Welcome.

Olivia Rios: Hi everybody.

Lee Kantor: Big news I heard, last week or so something happened.

Olivia Rios: Yes. I am part of the Women’s Entrepreneur Initiative that is a cohort through Invest Atlanta and we recently graduated. We’re Cohort 6.

Lee Kantor: Cohort 6, a recent graduate, what was it like going through the program?

Olivia Rios: It was a really extensive long program, but it was incredible. It was the linchpin for me scaling my business. It was really critical.

Lee Kantor: So, talk to us kind of like the before and after. What was it like in your business before you were part of it, and then now after, what have you learned?

Olivia Rios: I’m really glad you asked that question because my business has just hit five years, we’re a little over five years now. And probably the first three years in business, I applied to this program several times because I knew I had a lack that I needed, and I was looking for these potential resources. And I applied a couple of years in a row and didn’t get it. And then, the third year, when I finally get it, we were in a different position. We were doing extremely well at that point in revenue stage.

Olivia Rios: But I like to give my kids a shoutout who always keep me really humble. And I remember I called them immediately and I was like, “Guess what? I finally got in.” And my youngest says to me, “Well, Mom, you knew you weren’t ready before.” And there’s something to be said, right? But wasn’t wrong. Wasn’t wrong. But, also, was saying you stuck in there and you hung in there and it was well worth it.

Olivia Rios: So, to your point, the difference is when you’re working on your business and you’re working on building it and you’re trying to scale it, there are things, you’re going to have some gaps, and you need resources like this and you need this type of support. And being in a cohort with other women who are going through the same process, different type of businesses, different type of business models, but all of us as entrepreneurs have the same issues where we have families, we have children, we’ve got a whole life to run, and then we also have staff. So, a lot to think of, but you make it through and we’re here and we’re doing really well.

Lee Kantor: Now, what would you share as maybe an unexpected consequence of going through the program? Was it the kind of community and collaboration that you have with the other members, or was it something you learned, or maybe a mentor, or somebody?

Olivia Rios: I am actually very, very lucky that I got to participate when you’re talking about Open for Business, Wells Fargo and Invest Atlanta had the Open for Business Fund, and I am one of the recipients of that. I purchased a commercial property right up the street, actually, with the Wells Fargo Open for Business Fund. And I believe I’m only, like, the second person who had gotten it, there’s other people since. But as far as this program, it was so critical in helping me get there.

Lee Kantor: Now, what type of consulting do you do?

Olivia Rios: We are a marketing technology. We have a focus on communications, data, analysis. My clients are law firms. My background is in legal. It’s a really unique space. It’s a really unique culture. And I just happen to have the experience to know how lawyers think and make sure we’re helping them communicate. But the bigger issue is the data doesn’t lie, so we help them look at the data, analyze it, and help them guide their processes behind that.

Lee Kantor: So, what is that pain they’re having right before they call you?

Olivia Rios: They’re not hitting the mark. They’re not communicating effectively with who they need to communicate with. But it’s also a day and time of data privacy, and this is critical and, surprisingly, sometimes lawyers can be the worst at this, they’re not necessarily thinking this through. So, this is one of the areas where we really can support them. We’re experts in data privacy so we can make sure that they’re set up. Primarily with their CRM system, we’re going to make sure it’s set up, protect them on any of these issues. We put in different processes in place to automatically set that up for them and just protect their whole system to make sure they don’t get blacklisted or anything.

Lee Kantor: Is there a symptom that’s happening that might be a, “Hey, we got to pay attention to this”? Is there something going on that’s a signal that what we’re doing isn’t working, we have to bring somebody in to help us?

Olivia Rios: Yes. And, actually, we’re seeing a lot of that. And I think this is a result of coming back out of the pandemic with the quiet quitting and the resignation and all that. What we were seeing, which turned out to be a benefit for us, was that there had been a lot of institutional knowledge that was lost. And these are particular roles within a law firm that are almost like the centerpiece, the connector between your IT department and your marketing and your BD department. So, we’re the ones that are connecting those two and making sure that the system is running the way it’s supposed to.

Olivia Rios: But we’re also setting up funnels and we’re setting up BD processes, and then we’re walking them through that to make sure that they’re getting the data that they need and that it’s working for them.

Olivia Rios: Unfortunately, one of the other symptoms we see oftentimes is that salespeople are going to do what they do, which is sell a product. But generally when they’re selling the product, they’re not being as clear or they’re not training as well. And once they sell the product, they’re gone. And you might have this million dollar product and nobody knows how to use it, and that’s the big frustration right there.

Olivia Rios: We’re working with a firm who’s walked away from a product they’ve been using for ten plus years, because they thought the product was the problem. It’s not. And they’re going to have the same problem with this new system if they aren’t trained and educated and if they don’t have process behind it. But, luckily, we have developed a reputation and they heard about us, and they said we can’t do this again so we need to have it done right this time, and that’s where we come in.

Lee Kantor: Now, where does the GWBC fit into all this?

Olivia Rios: Well, I recently am one of the ones who got certified, so I’m super excited about transitioning a little bit more into the government space. That was a big deal for us. We worked on that for several years. And this last year, and this is another benefit from the WEI program, was the collaboration with GWBC and being able to get the certifications.

Lee Kantor: And then, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website, best way to connect?

Olivia Rios: It is Cold Mountain Consulting, and mountain is abbreviated to MT, and we are also on all the socials and LinkedIn.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Olivia Rios: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, back in a few at GWBC 2024 LACE Awards.