Episode 09: A Slice of Small Business Success

Colleen Pfaller started A Slice of HR in 2017 to help mid-size companies improve employee relations and recruit effectively. In 2023, her business was named SCORE Greater Cincinnati Client of the Year. Her SCORE mentor, Barbara Fried, joins her on My Cincy Small Business Story to talk about their slice of success.

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Hello, my name is Michael Dawson. You're a host of my Cinci Small
Business Stories. In this episode,I'll be talking with calling CEO and founder
of a Slice of Life hr andBarbara Free, a certified SCORE mentor.
We'll be right back after this message. Did you know twice as many small
businesses survived past five years when theyhave the support from a mentor. My

(00:29):
Cincy Small Business Story is brought toyou by the volunteer mentors of Score Greater
Cincinnati, a nonprofit organization that helpslaunch hundreds of new small businesses and even
more jobs in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indiana every year. Our vision
is to give every person the supportthey need to thrive as a small business
owner. Visitscore dot org Slash GreaterCincinnati to request a free business mentor or

(00:52):
share your own expertise. You canalso listen and subscribe for more stories about
overcoming challenges, clearing obstacles, andowning accessful small business colle talk about starting
your company, Why did you doit? What was in the marketplace that
you saw that said I really needto start this company to help smaller businesses.
If that were the case, ThanksMichael. First of all, thank

(01:15):
you for having me on the podcasttoday. I really appreciate it. Longtime
member SCORE and always god to beinvolved in things to do with SCORE,
so I'm very honored to be apart of the podcast. My company is
a Slice of HR and we dohuman resources and recruiting for midsize of businesses.

(01:37):
We started here in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have a degree in human
resources from Xavier University. I alsohave a master's from human resources and a
couple certifications in HR. And Iwas actually working at the gym Beam plant
on seventy five. A lot ofyou listeners, if you're local to the
Cincinnati area, you might know itwas pretty icon on its factory here in

(02:00):
Cincinnati, and unfortunately about Gosha elevenyears ago now we got news that they
were going to shut down that plantand move it all to Frankfurt, Kentucky.
At that point in my life andmy career, I had about,
you know, about ten fifteen yearsof HR experience. I had a two

(02:21):
year old at home, and Iwas pregnant, and so I decided that
I was going to be a stayat home mom for a while. I
had done some you know, Ihad a great career. I wanted to
spend a little time during that transitionwith the kids. So what I did
was, you know, like Isay, every good HR person can do.

(02:42):
I planned my benefits around that plan, took a severance, took some
unemployment time, took some short termdisability time, and spend a little time
with my family. And what Ifound is when I was with the kids,
and I absolutely loved every moment withthem. Well maybe not every single
moment, but most of the momentswith them. I actually got a call

(03:05):
from a former employer who said,hey, Collee, we heard your You've
got some time on your hands.Would you think about coming and doing some
contract HR for us. We don'tneed a full time person, but we
need we need some expertise to dothis and that and this. And I
said, yeah, that might beinterested. What are the hours and they
said whatever you want. I waslike hmm, I said what's the pay

(03:28):
and they said, I don't know, whatever you want? And I said,
oh, wow, okay. Andso that was kind of the beginning
of a slice at HR. Ididn't know it back then, but then,
you know, I just continued tokind of get those kind of calls
from companies who didn't need like afull time six figure salary HR person,

(03:50):
but needed help with recruiting or onboardingor you know, going through their files
audits I nine, you know thingslike that. And so over the last
seven years, that baby is noweleven. It's just grown and grown and
grown. Now we have a teamof eight and you know, over thirty
clients that rely on us for everything. HR. Very good, Arbara,

(04:13):
tell us about your background. Howdid you become a score mentor First of
all, it's a pleasure to sharethe podcasts with Colleen. As you could
see, she's dynamic and a successfulbusiness person. My background, for about
twenty five years, I was inlarge corporations, mainly in healthcare, and
in large corporations you do a smallpiece of the work. You don't nobody

(04:38):
does everything, obviously, But alongthe way I got an MBA at Savior,
and between my experience and my education, I thought of ways to apply
what I learned to people who wantto start or grow a small business.
And I think the main thing isthe ability to problem solve and work with

(04:58):
various people whose goals are totally different. One person is like calling another person
may just want to sell cookies outof their kitchen. So there's a you
know, a range of people wantinghelp with small businesses, and I really
enjoy that. And how long haveyou been a mentor? It'll be about
nine years this summer, okay.And how long have you been a mentor

(05:20):
for calling? Oh gosh, Ithink it's about five years. Before the
pandemic we met in person, andthen during the pandemic we met virtually for
a while, and now we're juston an as needed basis. I think
if she has a question or somebig event happens, then I do get

(05:40):
involved. But otherwise she's pretty muchself sufficient. Colleen, what led you
to seek a SCORE mentor? Iwish I had a more exciting answer for
this, but basically, you know, is that the referral of a colleague.
They said, you know, youget to that point in a business
where it's just a little bit outsideof your expertise. So I had heard

(06:03):
about SCORE. Mainly for me,it's always been about kind of like the
back end things, you know,the finances and the forecasting and how do
you anticipate your big tax bill atthe end of the year. So I
just googled Score and I filled outthe little online you know, what are
you looking for? And they matchedme up with Barbara and the rest is

(06:26):
history. And then Barbara was reallygood at even knowing what I needed that
I didn't know. I knew Ineeded something, but I wasn't sure exactly
what it was. So that initialmeeting kind of helped iron out some of
those things. So you were inbusiness for a little while before using Scored,
and am I correcting that I waskind of unofficially doing freelancing for five

(06:49):
years or so. But then intwenty seventeen is when again the baby went
to kindergarten and I really kind ofbuckled down and said, hey, you
know and I want to make thisa little bit more than just meet kind
of freelancing for a couple of companies. It's time to really grow this thing.
So that's when I started hiring employeesand contractors and really kind of adding

(07:12):
the infrastructure on the business. Andmy first stop was Score Barbara when the
Score volunteer team is looking for thebest small business to recognize for SCORES Client
of the Year. Which stood outto you about slice of hr Colleen is
a success story. As you cansee, she brings dynamic solutions to the

(07:34):
needs of small and medium sized businesses. And that's true for all successful businesses.
You have to bring a solution tomeet the problem or need of the
customer. And I think Colleen's customerfocus is the secret to her success story.
Not only is she building her capabilitiesrelationship building capabilities with cliance, but

(08:00):
she also has strong relationships with heremployees and everyone is enthusiastic. Her enthusiasm
is contagious. So it's what shedoes and it's the way she does it.
I'd like to mention this before Iasked my question. Slice of Hr
won the two thousand twenty two ScoreClient of the Year and she received her

(08:24):
award on April of this year,April of twenty three. So, Colenny,
what was that like for you?It was amazing and unexpected, you
know, learning about the other nomineeswas amazing and their score really did the
time to like videotape and do youknow, really get kind of this broad
brush in the business for me andBarbara, and so really the people that

(08:48):
were the nominees were very, very, very impressive. So I think I
don't want to speak for Barbara,but you know, we were just honored
to be there, and I think, you know, we heard the runner
up, but we're like, oh, it's awesome, you know. But
then when we were named, itwas really really shocking, just because there
are so many amazing small businesses hereand Cincinnati doing really incredible things. So

(09:16):
I think for me, I wasjust kind of awe struck and honored and
humbled by the whole experience. Barbara, what advice would you give someone who
came to you and said, Hey, I'm thinking about starting a small business,
but I'm not sure what the nextsteps are. What would you advise
them? First of all, Colleenis the purpost example of how to be
successful in a small business. Sheidentified a problem or opportunity, and she

(09:41):
had the capability to help people withthat problem. Second of all, she
did market research. She knew thatthere was a need for her services,
and she identified who her customer wouldbe, so that would be step two
and creating efficient, unique solutions.She was expert at that. In other

(10:05):
words, the name of her companya slice of HR told the customer that
she could provide a slice of onepiece of HR or another. It was
fractional HR. You didn't have totake the whole package or nothing. She
provided pieces which was just exactly whatwas needed. Then she created a brand,

(10:28):
identity, a story, something thatthe customer could hear and understand how
she would help them. And she'sgood at relationship building. So I think
the last thing that any small businessshould do is make sure that the customer
feels rewarded, that there's value intheir services or product, and that they're

(10:52):
pleased, so that word of mouth, that they'll be able to grow their
business through word of mouth, througha happy summer. Colleen, if someone
were to come to you and sayI want to start a business, what
advice would you give them? Yeah, I echo a lot of what Barbara
says, because well, you knowwomen. So I followed her plan.

(11:13):
But sometimes right now it feels likeI'm lucky, because like in business,
and especially in twenty two and twentywhen just like HR kind of came to
the top of the business needs andconcerns for a lot of business owners,

(11:33):
and a lot of times it feelslike luck that I was at the right
place at the right time when allthese companies are kind of scrambling for HR
and hiring solutions, and there wewere with a couple of years experience under
our belt. But I think listeningto Barbara's answer, before you know,
there was more than luck. Weyou know, we had built a foundation

(11:56):
at that point. I think sometimeswhen you focus on sales initially, you
can get easily overwhelmed. And webuilt structure like one. And Barbara was
really good about bringing in different mentorsfor the different needs that my business that
needed at the time. So likeat the beginning, I was meeting with
John who was this like economic professorfrom an esteemed university who built books on

(12:24):
building finances. So you know,he taught me in Excel how to run
you know, the back end andthe finances of my business. And then
as we moved along, you know, I actually worked with the CEO of
a staffing company. You kind ofhelped me, you know, do you
buy the building or do you leasethe office space and those kind of more
advanced decisions. So and then Barbarawas always along the way, you know,

(12:48):
cheering me on, helping me askthe right questions, bringing in the
resources I needed. I know I'mgoing on a bit of a tangent here,
but I think what I'm trying tosay is, like, do the
research find out who your audience is, so that when you meet them,
you recognize them. Very good,Barbara, any last latch before we in

(13:09):
the program. My last thoughts aremy first thoughts that Colleen us a star,
and I appreciate that SCORE recognized hercapability and success, and I look
forward to many more years with Score. Yeah. I am just so thankful
to Score A particularly Barbara. I'vesaid this many times. I'm just like

(13:33):
touched sometimes to tears that people wouldvolunteer their time to help. There's so
many worthy pauses you can if youcould put your time and energy into,
you know, you could be savinglike pets or children, or you know,
all kinds of different really amin Steakcauses. And the fact that there
are a panel of people every monththere for a while I would sit and

(13:56):
work with me free of charge,donate their time and energy and really really
accomplished business professionals like Barbara's being humbledin her responses. She is a really
really, really really accomplished business person. And the fact that she would spend
time with me and she has todo that with her time is just it's

(14:18):
really great for not me personally,our community, our economy. It's just
such an amazing way to give backto entrepreneurs in our community, and I
am very grateful for her and allthe volunteers. I meddle on the way.
Great well, thank you both forbeing on the program. If someone
is interested in becoming a school volunteer, you have choices. You can become

(14:41):
a mentor like Barbara, You canbe a subject matter expert or even a
workshop presenter. If interested, goto score dot org and click on volunteer.
This is Mike Dawson and the podcastis My Sense a small business story.
Again, Thank you Barbara, ThanksColleen M.