KELLY WOOD FEATURED IN RAISING ARIZONA KIDS THIS WEEK!
February 26th, 2010
Virtual work-life balance
By Brittney Walker
© 2010, Raising Arizona Kids
Kelly Wood of Cave Creek started her company, KWPR Group, to make more time for her son, Hudson (4). Now she affords other moms on her team the same luxury.
How did KWPR Group come to be?
My son was the impetus for going out on my own. I was working for one of the largest communications companies in town and then I realized I know what I’m doing. I could do this myself. I love being able to call the shots and the freedom and flexibility that being the boss gives you. I took on freelance clients for a while until I gained traction and then I started hiring people. We are still growing despite the economy last year. I feel really blessed.
You have a mom-concentrated team. What’s the draw for moms to be part of your business?
I wanted to create a situation for other young moms and young women where they can take ownership of their own time. I work 20 to 40 hours per week but I get to figure out when those hours are and that allows me to be present with my family. I don’t have to request vacation.
We work in a totally virtual environment so I can get up, do a load of laundry, make breakfast and then go back to the computer and finish working.
Critical to that is that we are a group of real go-getters. Everyone I hire is really motivated, driven and super talented at what they do. I don’t want to micro-manage. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from clients, so apparently it’s working.
Sounds like the perfect set-up for moms.
We’re having a good time; I’m not going to lie. And we’re always looking for new people. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy the women in my group. We get together once a month to talk about work but we also talk as moms, share stories about our kids and figure out when we’re going to take the kids to the water park or the pool or the mall. We are just as much friends as we are colleagues.
I think the lines are really blurred today — more than they have ever been as far as boundaries of work and life go. It’s an integrated life. It works for us. By the way, I am open to men or dads working with us but I haven’t had one step up to plate yet.
How does the virtual format of your company affect your clients?
I’ve never had a client complain about our virtual format. A lot of people tried to discourage me from going this route. They said “Clients are going to want to come to your office,” but we haven’t had one problem with that and we’ve worked with big brands on national campaigns as well as the local PR that we really love.
Most of our clients are based here and they like that we come to them. We do a lot of conference calls and utilize technology not just to promote but to connect with clients. There are some huge advantages to our clients. They’re not paying for office space on Camelback or Scottsdale Road. Perceptions have really in changed in our industry. There has been a migration away from the big agencies. Clients are on to it.
What is your schedule like?
I work Monday through Thursday basically from 4am to 4pm. Fridays my son is with me. I do a little office work in morning and then we do errands, go to the water park, whatever. I really want to spend time with my son and the two-day weekend goes by in two seconds so this allows us to have a little extra time together.
It’s such an advantage for us as moms and as individuals to get to have ownership of our schedules. I can go hit my yoga class at 4:30 Monday and no one’s looking at me. I’m an early bird so I get plenty of office time. Everyone on my team gets to call their own shots.
Yoga? Really? As a mom and a business owner do you really make time to get to yoga class?
It’s funny that you should call me out on that because honestly there are times those things get put on the back burner, so this year at New Year’s I had a heart to heart with myself. I said, all right Kel, if you’re going to keep talking about balance, you really need to make some time for you. I have a gym by my house and they have a yoga class at 4:30 Mondays and I go! That’s an office day for me so I get started early and then I go do it. I’ve been really sore lately using muscles haven’t used in a long time. I also meet another mom who has a similar type of business at Pinnacle Peak and go hiking in the morning. We buzz up and down mountain in an hour and talk shop, talk mom and get all philosophical. It’s awesome!
To learn more or to contact Kelly, visit kwprgroup.com.
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If you know of a Valley mompreneur we should feature, write to brittney@raisingarizonakids.com.
