In this episode of GWBC Radio’s Open for Business, host Lee Kantor interviews Simone Merritt, founder of Enomis Consulting Group. Simone discusses her firm’s HR solutions for small businesses and new entrepreneurs, focusing on compliance, employee relations, and benefits management. She highlights the importance of HR support as businesses grow and shares her journey from business education to entrepreneurship.
Simone Merritt is a multifaceted professional dedicated to empowering individuals and communities through her expertise and passion. She is the Founder and CEO of Enomis Consulting Group, LLC, a company that provides comprehensive and practical Human Resources solutions to small businesses and young entrepreneurs.
With over 12 years of experience in the HR industry, Simone specializes in human resource information management systems, federal contract regulations and compliance, diversity and inclusion, change management, employee benefits, compensation, performance management, recruitment, training, and employee relations.
Simone also brings over five years of organizational leadership and development experience, having served as Senior Vice President of Operations at Level 3 Associates. In this role, she successfully led strategic initiatives, enhanced operational efficiency, and fostered organizational growth, further solidifying her expertise in guiding businesses to success.
Her government contracting experience includes serving as a recognized expert and leveraging her role in a joint venture, EIJV, LLC, to deliver high-quality solutions for federal clients. Her work in this space underscores her ability to navigate complex regulations and drive impactful results for both private and public sector organizations.
Simone holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from the University of West Georgia and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from Columbia Southern University. Her strategic leadership skills enable her to design and implement quality-based, integrated HR programs tailored for small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs.
In addition to her work in HR, Simone is the Author and Creator of the Dollars and Sense Financial Literacy Book for teens, a guide and practice tool designed to foster financial literacy among young people.
She is also the Founder and President of Tomorrow’s Promise Foundation, an organization she has envisioned since her youth. This foundation is dedicated to enhancing the lives of minority youth by providing access to critical resources and skills necessary to thrive in today’s dynamic society. Simone firmly believes that while young people need guidance and support to achieve their dreams, it is a shared responsibility that we all must embrace.
Simone is also a sought-after speaker and a recognized government contracting expert, bringing her extensive knowledge and insight to audiences and clients alike.
Through her entrepreneurial endeavors, thought leadership, and community advocacy, Simone Merritt continues to make a profound impact, inspiring others to achieve their fullest potential.
Connect with Simone on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for GW BK Radio’s Open for business. Now here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of GWBC Open for Business and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Simone Merritt and she’s with Enomis Consulting Group. Welcome.
Simone Merritt: Thank you for having me, Lee.
Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your firm. How you serving folks?
Simone Merritt: Absolutely. So, you know, consulting group we started back in 2020. We are a full service human resource firm, um, offering small business and new entrepreneurs, um, solutions when it comes to HR, whether that’s staffing, payroll. I’m just taking that load off of owners and entrepreneurs as they’re continuing to scale their businesses.
Lee Kantor: Do you kind of have a profile of that ideal client who was the exact right fit client for you?
Simone Merritt: Absolutely. So like I was saying, we like to target young entrepreneurs not by age, but as in business. So if you are two years into your business, um, that that starting startup to five year range where you’re wearing multiple hats and you’re starting to grow and you’re like, hey, I need to bring someone on board that can take this off my plate. Maybe I don’t have all of the compliance knowledge that I need now, that I need to hire staff and offer them benefits, and making sure I’m, um, managing them correctly when it comes to employee relations. That’s where we come in to offer our services and provide that relief for young entrepreneurs and young businesses.
Lee Kantor: So you mentioned compliance. Are you active like in healthcare or finance? Finance? Like, do you have kind of a sweet spot that you specialize in.
Simone Merritt: Um, so when it comes to, like, benefits and compensation, uh, we we definitely have HR journalists on staff that specialize in that same when it comes to employment law and employee relations. So we really offer all of those services just depending on the need. Um, employee relations is where I see a lot of people starting off needing our services. Maybe you, you know, kind of hired staff on your own, and you’re running into some legalities that you don’t know how to maneuver through. And you’re like, I need to bring a human resource professional on that has this background and experience.
Lee Kantor: So it might be somebody who is a startup or started their business and they had a lean staff. Maybe just a few people were involved, and now they’ve gotten to the point where they’re starting to hire. And now dealing with people is getting a little too much for them to handle. That’s not what they do best. That’s not their superpower. So at that point, that’s a good time to contact you or somebody on your team absolutely there.
Simone Merritt: Or, you know, now as you’re bringing on more people, you want to offer them benefits. How do you go about that? How do you maneuver through the health care and life insurance and the other things that you may want to offer your staff, as you know, perks by being on board with you? So that’s where we come in. As you’re starting to scale and grow.
Lee Kantor: Is there kind of a number of employees where that’s kind of a logical time to bring you on? Like when they get to five or they get to 25, like, is there a number where like once you hit that mark, you really should be getting an expert involved?
Simone Merritt: Um, I would say once you get to, you know, anywhere from five and up, basically we’re now we’re probably using a real payroll platform. We need to start talking and making sure we’re doing our our state tax correctly for when we’re paying our staff, um, and not just sending Venmo or Cash apps. Hopefully no one’s doing that. Um, or, you know, even paying people, just wiring from your bank, you want to now start making sure you’re going about it correctly. Um, are you paying into the unemployment pool? As you should? Um, and are you structured the way you’re supposed to be when it comes to having staff?
Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? Have you always been involved in this line of work?
Simone Merritt: Absolutely. Um, my bachelor’s degree is in business education. So for the first few years, um, back in 2011, I kind of was a teacher. Um, once that school lost its charter, I decided to go back and get my master’s degree in HR. Um, I’ve been in HR since then, so I’m ten plus years in. Um, I’m very passionate when it comes to being the liaison between employees and higher management. So as a human resource business partner, I like to partner with owners to give them that perspective. They may be removed from being an employee from for some time and don’t have that same insight that they once had when they used to sit in those roles.
Lee Kantor: Was it a difficult transition for you to go from kind of working for somebody to, you know, having your own firm?
Simone Merritt: Um, no, it wasn’t. I was put in a very, uh, unorthodox and blessed scenario where my previous owner actually encouraged me to kind of go out on my own, create my firm, and offer my services. Um, being there for over ten years, he kind of was able to see my growth in air as I moved up to being senior VP of HR at that company, and he really encouraged me to. He was like, you have something you need to share this with others. And he kind of put me in rooms with other owners that he had as colleagues. That kind of got me my start and me understanding what my niche would be, um, as I grew my own firm.
Lee Kantor: So what are some of the challenges been since you’ve been, uh, growing so rapidly?
Simone Merritt: Um, I would say some of my challenges or challenges that I faced is, you know, uh, new entrepreneurs and owners are, you know, tight when it comes to cash flow and really understanding the importance of having someone to be the liaison, as well as making sure that you’re structured properly when it comes to having staff on board. Um, HR can be overlooked and not necessarily prioritized. So making sure to, you know, cultivate those relationships and show the importance of being in compliance and from whether it’s recruiting, payroll or employee relations. So that would be what I would say has been a challenge, an ever an ongoing one.
Lee Kantor: Now, is that something, um, like, what’s the pain that your clients are having where they go? You know what this is really this is I got to do something now. Like, I can’t keep kicking this can down the road, and I should call Simone and her team because this is getting silly at this point. Like, is there kind of the first project you have with somebody, or is there a common point of entry when you start working with somebody for the first time.
Simone Merritt: Most of the time it’s because they are, like I said, wearing too many hats. You’ve been trying to onboard do orientation process, payroll, process terminations, and as the owner and you’re trying to scale and grow marketing your business, doing the sales for your business, you’re starting to see maybe you’re slipping on some things or falling behind and you need it off your plate. So it’s like, hey, who can I call that can assist me with this, that understands has the education in the background because now I need someone.
Lee Kantor: And so that first kind of project you work for somebody is what typically.
Simone Merritt: It could be. You bring me on because you need help processing the payroll. Um, most of the time it’s maybe, hey, you got a big contract or something, and now you need to staff up very quickly. So I need some recruiting assistance. Um, and I need to bring somebody or bring an onus on to kind of, um, fill the gap for us there. And then most of the time it just grows and, um, we expand our services from there. Once we kind of get our foot in the door, provide that assistance that you initially looked for, and it’s like, oh, you can you can do these other things. That would be great to get those off my plate as well.
Lee Kantor: So, so sometimes you come in because they need help, because they have to staff up quickly and they don’t have the contacts or the kind of the resources you have to help them kind of add, you know, one, two, five, ten people, you know, tomorrow.
Simone Merritt: Absolutely. And again, if you’re doing it all as a, you know, a solopreneur, you may just not have the time. And you’re like, hey, I need someone that can do this for me while I utilize my efforts as the owner, um, to better scale and grow the business.
Lee Kantor: And you don’t want to make this kind of mistake, like if you’re trying to multitask and do something you’re not great at and you got to hire ten people. A mistake there, right? Could be crippling to your business.
Simone Merritt: It could. You want to make sure you’re sourcing the proper candidates. You want to make sure you’re onboarding them and orientating them the correct way. Um, how are they? How are they getting exposed to your brand and the training for the individual roles? And if you’re, you know, negotiating with your client and seal out, you know, selling and marketing your business, you may skip a few steps. So that’s where you want to make sure you have a professional that is, you know, skilled in that area to come in and assist you.
Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for the folks who are trying to maybe they’re at the beginning and they want to onboard a new person for the first time. Is there some do’s and don’ts when it comes to onboarding a new person?
Simone Merritt: Absolutely. I mean, depending on the industry and the role, you want to make sure you, as the person onboarding, have done your background on what type of candidate that you need to have. Make sure you have an onboarding checklist. Um, and you’re identifying all of the things that you need to properly compensate this person. You don’t want to be paying them in an inappropriate manner, whether that’s cash or, like I said, Venmo or something like that. And you’re not tracking what you need when it comes in the year and it’s time to do a W-2 or a 1099. I mean, even down to identifying the employment classification, can you bring this person on as a W-2, or is it okay to bring this person on as a 1099 as a contractor? Um, and making sure you understand the legalities around, you know, the classifications, I think all of those are very important at the beginning. If you’re still trying to manage it on your own.
Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of GW BBQ? What attracted you to that organization and why did you get certified?
Simone Merritt: Um, I wanted to dive into government contracting. Um, so as I was doing my research, I saw that this organization was in my area in metro Atlanta. Um, not only, you know, going through them for the certification for my woman Dom minority owned, sir. I also saw all of the opportunities and things that they put out for minority women, um, to help grow and scale your business, whether it’s cohorts that are coming out, um, different grants, different pitch competitions and even, you know, this opportunity. And I just thought that that was amazing to have a resource that you could utilize, you know, as being a member to gain additional information to help me continue to grow, um, in my industry as well.
Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?
Simone Merritt: Um, I mean, I love everything that’s out right now. I mean, for me, I always love to see more when it comes to funding for small businesses, whether that be from a commercial banking, um, institution or from a grant perspective. But those are always things you never know. That next contract can make you scale up really, really quickly. But do you have the necessary funding to grow your business as quickly as the work may be coming in?
Lee Kantor: Right. That’s, um, sometimes when you’re fishing for the whale, you catch the whale. And now what do you do now?
Simone Merritt: What do you do? So having that resource, um, I definitely I love to see the emails come through, um, in the newsletters that have something, you know, related to good, healthy business funding. Um, I do I would love to see more of that.
Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share about one of your clients that you helped through a challenging time? Maybe you don’t have to name the name of the client, but maybe share what problem they had when they came to you and how you helped them get to a new level.
Simone Merritt: Um, sure. Um, I, I’ve had a client in the past that they were growing their business, um, pretty rapidly. They were starting to, um, they were in an attorney, and they were starting to get enough work to where I need more staff in office and how quickly we needed to onboard people. And it’s just being able to, you know, connect with them, understand their brand and be able to source the candidates that were great, you know, great for them and what they were looking for. And being able to do that in a very short period of time. We had about 45 days, um, before they had a big case and contract coming up. Um, and it was a little challenging, but after we got our initial, um, communication together as far as what they were looking for, the area that we were in luckily had great candidates, and I was able to supply them with what they needed. And they still have a lot of those people on board today. So, um, I feel like that was a good success. It was challenging because of the time frame, but having the retention and the people still being there means that, you know, I feel good about providing them with the service that they were looking for.
Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what is the website? What is the best way to connect?
Simone Merritt: Absolutely enormous consulting Group.com. We are also on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. Uh, same way you can find us. We do free 30 minute consultations to discuss what your needs are and see if we can be of assistance or a scale a package for you that best meets your needs.
Lee Kantor: And you know, Mrs. spelled e n o m I s.
Simone Merritt: That’s correct. It’s my first name spelled backwards.
Lee Kantor: There you go. Well, Simone, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.
Simone Merritt: Thank you so much for having me today, Leigh.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Swbc. Open for business.
