Kelly Lorenzen: The “Duplicate Yourself” Strategy for Scaling Small Businesses

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my guest and fellow woman with the no. We may have to talk a little bit about that. Kelly Lorenzen, an award winning entrepreneur and CEO of KLM Consulting, Marketing and Management. With more than 20 years of experience building and scaling businesses. Kelly has grown multiple companies, some seeing between 25% to 200% year over year growth through her company. She and her team step in as what she calls business owner duplicates, providing both strategy, leadership and hands on support. So many support, so small and family owned businesses can scale without chaos. She’s also an author, a speaker, and a fierce advocate for entrepreneurs, helping them move from being the bottleneck in their business to building systems that actually support sustainable growth. Kelly brings a powerful mix of real world experience, practical marketing strategy, and deep understanding of what it takes to grow a business while navigating life’s unexpected challenges. Kelly, welcome to the show.

Kelly Lorenzen: Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me on.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so excited to have this conversation with you. And I’d like to just start with this. Tell us a little more about Kelly.

Kelly Lorenzen: Well, I’m a mother, a wife, a, uh, born and raised in Arizona. Still here. Only left for a few years not to go to school in LA and ran home. I am a very fierce advocate for small businesses I. I grew up in a family business. Um, my grandparents were entrepreneurs, so I have a deep underlying need. And why? To make sure small businesses have a fighting chance. So our kids and our grandkids can be small business, you know, small business owners when they grow up. So everything revolves around that and giving back. Uh, I love, love donating money and time to nonprofits that are near and dear to my heart.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, I love that. Talk to me more about business owner duplicates and I love your, uh, I think it’s your URL duplicate myself. I think that’s fantastic. So tell me more about that. What does it mean? Sure.

Kelly Lorenzen: So when we owned all these other businesses, What we couldn’t find is somebody who thought like a business owner who could actually give us a strategy and implement on the strategy. So I created a business that I wished I had and all those other businesses we owned, um, you know, out of a need of our own and combined, uh, consulting with marketing and project management to duplicate business owners, hand off their marketing, hand off their projects and, and have us do it as they would do it. Um, so we learn their brand inside and out. We learned their voice, we learned everything. And we say marketing because most business owners don’t get into the business they’re in to do the marketing. They hate it. It’s not fun. Uh, so that’s half of our business. And then the other half is projects because again, in our other businesses was like, I just have one big project. I don’t want to hire somebody full time to do just one project, you know, that I need. Oh.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. All right. Let’s focus in on marketing just for a minute. I think there is a, um, there’s an idea that people have around what marketing is and what it isn’t and marketing versus selling. So when you’re talking about marketing and small businesses, what is marketing really mean for us as solopreneurs or small business owners?

Kelly Lorenzen: Yes, there is a very, um, confused popular, you know, a lot of us, right? Uh, luckily my brain is marketing. That’s just how I think. Um, but the majority of business owners don’t understand branding versus marketing versus sales versus PR. Those are all different. Um, you need, you need to have a brand, right? You need to have something that describes you and the feeling that you and the services you offer, that’s your brand. The marketing is what drives traffic to you or to your website. And then sales is what happens when somebody buys from you. And then the PR is tough stuff like this, being on the radio, being on a podcast, being on stages, being out in the community, doing networking, winning awards. Um, so they’re, they’re very clear distinctions between, between all of those. We do all of them for clients. But the general statement people say is, oh, marketing, but marketing could mean to, you know, to people so many different things.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And I think half of the things that you just described may feel cringey to people because they actually have to be visible, visible to people. If we if we don’t put ourselves out there, then no one knows that we exist. So how do you help people, Kelli, become visible in a way that feels authentic and will actually drive business?

Kelly Lorenzen: Right. So a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners are like, no way. I am not doing PR. I, um, I don’t want to, you know, my face, like, you know, whatever it is, right? Whatever self esteem or whatever behind, they just want to be behind the scenes. They don’t want to be out. But as a business owner, you have to be the face of the company is really, really important. And by us taking it off their plates, then we’re bragging about them and their then they don’t have to be cringey because they’re not doing it right. Like, oh, my marketing team is making me do this. My, you know, my, my market, my project managers are saying, I have to do this. Whatever they call us, they call us whatever they, you know, business counselor says, I have to do this. They call me all kinds of things. Um, so if they can blame it on somebody else, right. It, it feels, it doesn’t feel so bad. And they’re not having to brag about themselves because I’m doing it. Right. Um, somebody else is, is, is submitting them for awards and, um, getting out there, but it doesn’t have to be cringey. People need to know what you offer because they need you, especially if you’re helping people, especially if you have a business that is, is elevating humanity. As I say, then then they need to know about you. So we have to be visible. We have to be out there. We have to do the marketing, we have to do the PR. Because if we don’t, then then you have to close the business that you started. That’s your baby that you have that you’re so passionate about. So it’s really critical.

Trisha Stetzel: It is. Absolutely. So you’ve used some language that I, I think is, um, well, it sits nicely with me and it also makes me chuckle a little bit, which is random acts of marketing, which means we’re all, we’re out there trying everything. We’re throwing the spaghetti at the wall and trying to figure out what sticks. So what’s a simple framework that you normally would recommend to bring consistency and results to people that you work with?

Kelly Lorenzen: When we first talked to a client, we’ll say you have to have a blanket effect on marketing. So I draw them on. I’m on Zoom, I’m on the whiteboard, I’m showing them like, here’s the visible drawing of a blanketed marketing effect, and you have to try all the things and see what things overflow your money into your. And then I draw into the sea of money, right? And then whatever thing is working the most, like after you try and you have to track, you have to, you know, track the numbers. And once you track it enough, you’ll start to go, oh, you know, 50% of my business is coming from referrals. 25% is coming from, you know, social media, 25% is coming from ads, whatever it is. But if you don’t track it, you will have no idea. And then you just keep like, you know, just keep trying and trying and trying or they give up, right? Which is even worse. So it’s better to be consistently doing marketing all the time. Like I say, full throttle, right? Like keep your, keep your, uh, foot on the gas. Because the second, the reason people go like this in their business is because they have, um, they’ll do a little marketing, they’ll do a little PR and then they’re like, okay, I’m good. I’m busy. I don’t need any more. Oh, right. And then, and then it’s three months later. It doesn’t happen right away. They’ll go, I’m fine. But then three months later they’re like, oh, Kelly, I don’t know what to do. And I’m like, what happened three months ago? Not now. And so anyways, long story short, like, just keep, keep going, keep doing marketing consistently and don’t take your foot off.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Don’t take your foot off the gas. That’s so important. And so many of us that are owner, operator, doer, giver, all of the things we do stop or slow down marketing when we’re busy because we’re so focused on the work that we’re doing, we forget we got to keep talking to people to put them back in to our I’m going to call it the funnel. No one get offended because that’s what it is, right? We want to put them, get them in there so that we can continue to have conversations and build those relationships. You said something that’s really near and dear to my heart, which is referral, networking, and that’s how I met you. But before we go to that topic, I would love for you to share how folks can connect with you or get in touch with you. Kelly. Sure.

Kelly Lorenzen: My website’s duplicate myself, klm.com that’s has everything. It’s got all of our resources, my book, the, the social media channels. So duplicate myself, Dot com.

Trisha Stetzel: I love it. Duplicate myself klm.com. It’s just it’s amazing. I, I just love your URL because I need to duplicate myself. All right. Referral marketing or excuse me, referral networking, which I believe is it’s a big part of my marketing strategy. Can you talk more about how referral networking is so beneficial? And it doesn’t have to be you spending hours and hours and hours at live events. So talk to me about referral networking.

Kelly Lorenzen: Sure. Every single business I’ve built, I’ve built on on referral partners and networking. Every single one. And we’ve scaled, um, quite a few ourselves. One of our businesses is 20 years. One of them is this one’s ten. Uh, we sold one with it. So anyways, it’s, it works in our own businesses, but also when we teach clients, we say, find your top ten People in your network when you have to go out and do the networking to find ten, that will refer you consistently, because they are working with the same type of clientele that you are. So when you’re networking, you don’t go out and you’re like, oh, I’m gonna find my next client. No. Focus on who’s your next referral partner, because then you get ten clients instead of one. So build the referral partnerships with other people who, who work with the same type of clientele. So let’s say we have somebody who works with small businesses. Okay. Who is their accountant? Who’s their financial planner? Who, you know, who does, who does their marketing, who does right? And find all those people that work with the same. And then you build relationships with them. This is not a, just a give or a take, take, take. I’m always giving other people referrals. I am I love connecting people. It’s my favorite thing to do. So anytime I hear somebody, oh, you wait, you need to know this person. You need to know that person. And then it comes back tenfold. And I don’t do it because of that. I think we all should work together. Those of us who are loving, you know, humans all want to connect and work together. Like in the know women. We’re all similar, right? And we love working with similar types of people. Um, so I think it’s really, really critical to do that. Uh, and I teach every client that.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I think it’s really important. And being a part of groups where everyone’s not selling to everyone, we’re not all just going to a thing and passing out business cards and saying, do you want to buy what I have? Do you want to buy what I have? No, go build a relationship so that you can get to know each other and become that connector. And that’s why you and I, I believe are connected is because we have that same connector energy, which I love. Yeah. Okay. Um, I want to swing back around because we’ve talked a lot about small businesses, small business owners, even some solopreneurs. Owner, operator, doer of everything. We often as founders become the bottleneck in our business. So what’s one shift that you help your clients or the business owners that you work with? How do you help them make the move from being founder powered to system powered?

Kelly Lorenzen: Well, my marketing brain always wants to focus just on that. And halfway through this business, I quickly realized you need systems, processes, and all the things to be able to scale a business. You need people, you need processes and systems. You obviously need marketing, right? So those are the four things, um, to, to help grow and sustain. But I tell people write down, I have a thing called a coda method KODA. It’s in my book. Um, you take you brain dump everything you do in a day, a week, a month. And next to each task that you’ve, you’ve written down, you take five minutes, write down everything you do a day in a week and a month next to each. Write a K for. You’re going to keep those items. Those are the things that you only can do, right? You have to go do the networking, but you don’t have to do the follow up when you come back, right? Um, the O is outsourced. Who else has expertise in something that can be in those tasks? A D is delegate somebody on your team, a VA, right. Um, or a, you know, like a bookkeeper and then a is automate. There are a lot of things now with AI that you can automate. So we go through that process and their eyes are this big. Like, I didn’t realize that I’m doing all these things. And the more you can delegate, automate, and outsource, the more time you have to grow your business to make a bigger impact in society and with humanity. And you know, that’s why I’m like, okay, okay, fine. You know, you’re, I’ll give it all away. Okay, give it, give all my tasks so I can be the face and I can go help a lot more small businesses so we can rise all boats.

Speaker 4: Mhm. Mhm.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes. Oh, my goodness. My heart is so full today. Kelly, this makes me so happy to have this conversation. So if there are small business owners, particularly those who may be solopreneurs, thinking about hiring their first person, whether it’s a VA or an employee or their next person, and they’re really scared because they don’t think that they can move beyond where they’re at today? What would you tell them?

Kelly Lorenzen: I would share experiences that we’ve had when we are scared and you will always find the the a way to pay them, hire them before you need them and you will find a way to pay them, I promise you. We grew by 200% in this business when I hired my first employee, 200% like, oh my gosh, why was I scared to hire somebody? That’s ridiculous. You know, like, and if you’re diligent and you have, you know, have a coach, have a business consultant, have an entrepreneurial consultant like us who can show you how to delegate and get that stuff to them and write SOPs and do that. You will, you will make the money because you will be so focused on growth that you won’t have a problem paying them.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. And do the coda exercise so you know exactly what you can push out.

Kelly Lorenzen: Exactly.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. I want to talk about your book. So tell us about it and tell us where we can get it and who should be reading it.

Speaker 5: So the book.

Kelly Lorenzen: Came from, um, you know, two burnout seasons. And then I was about to have a third, um, or I should have had a third because I got breast cancer and I didn’t, I, I thrived through that. Our business still grew 25% that year. Um, because of the systems and the processes and all the stuff I had, the team I had in place. Um, so I have, I was like, oh my, oh my gosh, I need to share this with everybody because it was a, it wasn’t a good feeling to have burnout in business ownership. So I want people to have what I had the third time and not have to go through the burnout. So I was like, I’m gonna put it all in there. Start, grow, scale your company. Here’s exactly how to do it. Here’s what not to do. Don’t do this so they can feel seen and heard. Uh, and so there’s the, the book is do what you love and outsource everything else. And it’s got a guy on it with a million hats because all of us are spinning all of our hats. Uh, entrepreneurship 101. So it’s for brand new entrepreneurs, maybe even you’re thinking about starting a business or you just started in your first year or two in business and you’re panicked and overwhelmed. It’s perfect because it’s got workshops at the end of each chapter to move you along. Uh, and you can find it on our website, myself.com, or any of your favorite local bookstores. Just put in Kelly Lorenzen and, and support the local bookstore and order it from them.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that if you guys are looking for Kelly, her last name is spelled LORENZEN and it’s KLM KLM right after. Duplicate myself.

Speaker 4: Thank you. Yes.

Trisha Stetzel: Of course. So, um, thinking about Kelly. Look, what’s next for you? What comes next?

Kelly Lorenzen: Well, we continue to grow this business because I know for sure that there are. Every person I get on the phone or on Zoom with is struggling with something. And I don’t like people struggling. So I know there’s a lot more people that we can help. So I just keep pushing, pushing, pushing us to grow the business so that we can have the capacity to help a lot more business businesses, um, grow. And so there. And so they can keep their passion alive and, and not have to burn out. So that’s one. And then, uh, you know, speaking, speaking and, uh, traveling. We love traveling, uh, and growing. We have an electrical business, so we’re growing that, um, my son came into that business. Just lots of growth.

Speaker 4: Okay.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that year of growth. It’s beautiful. And I’m so excited to, um, stand by and watch you as we continue to network with each other and connect each other. I heard you say earlier that you love to give back. Can you talk about what that looks like for you?

Speaker 5: Yeah. I grew up.

Kelly Lorenzen: In a family who went to South America every year and donated time and money and effort to provide medical care down there. Uh, and so it was ingrained into me very early on to give back. So if I am not on a board, uh, of a nonprofit, if I’m not donating money, if I’m not serving, uh, nonprofits or local charities, I, I don’t feel right. So, um. So every year we adopt a home for the holidays for people with disabilities. Uh, and I’m on a board of girls on the run. So that’s for little girls trying to teach them leadership and, and stuff real early that we wished we would have had right when we were kids. Uh, it’s really important for them to learn that self-esteem, uh, as a, as a child. And then we put it with running or walking fast, uh, to your brain works better, right? When you’re exercising and thinking because it goes back and forth between the right and left. So, so, uh, that’s really fun to get to do those. And then I’m always donating to, you know, the kids wrestling or whatever the schools and everything.

Trisha Stetzel: You’re the one. They all come knock on your door and you just nod and get your checkbook out. Yeah.

Kelly Lorenzen: There you go.

Trisha Stetzel: We won’t tell anyone where you live, Kelly. No. They’ll all be at your door. Oh my goodness, this has been so much fun. I, uh, as we get to the back end of our conversation, I’d really love to. Um, I know that you and I both have a place for, um, being in groups with other women and supporting women. And I heard you say that you’re part of a girls organization and bringing girls up as leaders. Why is it so important for all of us to band together and support each other as women?

Kelly Lorenzen: Mhm. Uh, I think, you know, we’re always striving for equal rights across, across everything. I think it’s important to, um, band together and support each other because we need each other. It’s, you know, just like in parenthood, you need to have your tribe and your community. It’s the same in entrepreneurship and people who are similar, whether it’s a women’s organization or an entrepreneurial organization. If you’re around the similar types of people that are in the same stage of life as you. Um, you feel better, you feel seen, you feel heard, and you feel like, okay, I can keep going. I can keep doing this. Um, so I love the no women that we’re in together. Um, we get to see each other very soon. Uh, and, and because you just feel seen and heard and you strive for more. It pushes you to want more, to drive, drive, drive to, to achieve more. Um, and you know, then it helps my why, right? It helps my giving small businesses a fighting chance because then I can, if I keep achieving right, then I can keep helping.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Hanging around with people who are bigger, better, faster, stronger than you makes you that much better. I think that’s so important. The five people we hang around with the most, we become the average of. So you look around and who are you hanging out with? It’s so important. Okay, last last question. If a business owner. I’m listening to the show today, feel stuck doing everything themselves, what’s the first step they can take just this week to start building a business that will run without them?

Kelly Lorenzen: Use the code, a method. Um, write down brain dump your stuff, brain dump it out, see what you’re actually doing on a daily and weekly basis and it will be eye opening. Get something off your plate this week. Pick a bookkeeper, hire a VA. One thing. Take one thing off your list this week and you will start to feel better. You will. It’s like, oh no, it only takes me ten minutes. I don’t care if it’s ten minutes. It’s it’s energy, it’s time, it’s anxiety, it’s everything. So get it off your plate, um, this week and you will feel better.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, that’s fantastic advice. Kelly, thank you so much for spending time with me today. This was awesome.

Kelly Lorenzen: Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me on.

Trisha Stetzel: All right, you guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that Kelly and I had, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran or Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.