She Is A Leader - The Podcast

Yvonne Heimann [00:00:01]:
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your passion create ripples of positive change across the globe? In this episode, I sit down with international development powerhouse Gretchen Villegas who has managed over 320 million in funding to empower small businesses worldwide. From her humble beginnings in rural Minnesota to negotiating multi million dollar deals across Latin America and Africa, Gretchen reveals how small and medium sized businesses are crucial and the missing middle that connects vulnerable communities and economic opportunity. If you are a purpose driven entrepreneur feeling stuck between just making ends meet and creating the impact you dream of, this conversation will just fire up your spirit. Gretchen shares her WIN strategy for aligning your passion with profit while making a genuine difference in people's life. We'll talk about how having a clear North Star for your impact is essential even for solo entrepreneurs. And how aligning your team with your values creates unstoppable momentum. So this is not just business talk.

Yvonne Heimann [00:01:33]:
It's about creating your freedom of choice for yourself and others through intentional sustainable growth. And I am so excited today to have Gretchen here. For everybody listening. You're gonna get a little bit of my German coming out today because I'm like, oh my God girl, I love your first name. When I saw your bio come through, I'm like oh my God, Yes. I hardly ever see these predominant German names.

Yvonne Heimann [00:02:12]:
So welcome Gretchen. And for everybody listening, Gretchen Villegas has a life lifelong journey of raising social impact. Gretchen has 25 years, actually more than 25 years of experience as an international development professional managing a portfolio of a total. Oh my God. Of a total of 320 million in US government funding, private donors and investors while living and working in Latin America and Africa. Damn, girl. Throughout. Throughout your career, you have successfully managed programs that provided entrepreneurship starting training, seed capital to more than 25,000 small and medium sized enterprises.

Yvonne Heimann [00:03:09]:
You have also negotiated multimillion dollar development deals across sectors. Oh my God, I want to have your resume. Gretchen has consolidated her significant years of experience across non profits for profits and social enterprises into a triple win strategy for raising social impact. You have also provided. You're also providing consultancy services using your trademarked WIN revenue mythology through your company Nexus Strategy and growth partners. And what a time, what a knowledge, what a resume. I am so happy to have you here, girl. It's like yes, all the things.

Yvonne Heimann [00:04:01]:
All the things.

Gretchen Villegas [00:04:02]:
Well, thank you for this invitation.

Yvonne Heimann [00:04:06]:
Did Little Gretchen ever think your resume is gonna look like this?

Gretchen Villegas [00:04:13]:
Oh my gosh, I had no idea, no idea whatsoever. I grew up in Northern Minnesota in the United States. Very rural areas with my family, but always helping other people. Right. I remember my mom and my dad always going to lend a hand to the neighbors or you know, bringing food or clothing for those in need. And yeah, I mean I grew up that way and I think that has really what stayed with me as I, you know, formed kind of my values as I was growing up. But to live abroad and to be a Peace Corps volunteer, I had no idea.

Yvonne Heimann [00:05:00]:
How. We just read through your bio, we just heard through your bio that you have had huge impact, especially with small and medium sized businesses, startup capital, seed funding, all the things. How do you think these early on experiences of community, of helping, of seeing a need and serving translated to from that small to that big? Is there really a big difference or is it just kind of the same? Just in a different size, how do they connect?

Gretchen Villegas [00:05:33]:
It's kind of the same in a different size. However it brings along all those lessons learned and some additional skill sets. So you know, when it was when I was young, you know, watching everybody in the community struggle with one thing or another, what I saw were people reaching out, you know, and filling the actual need, right? Not giving what they wanted, but really giving what people needed. And I think as I grew into my career in Latin America and East and Southern Africa, what I realized was that if you take the vulnerable communities, those without enough food to eat three meals a day, not enough money to send their kids to school or have the medicine they need, what was really needed was to figure out why weren't they accessing these services and why wasn't there enough money to access the service. And of course what came forward was small medium enterprises. How do you see yourself in a livelihood to build business? How can you be part of that productive community? And what are the pieces that are missing? So the small medium enterprises, those are the pieces that are missing in accessibility, right? And to allow the vulnerable communities to actually be part of a productive wealth plan in the community, all connected to private sector. But the thing is if you only work with the larger private sector and you don't fill in those gaps with small medium enterprises, you will never reach those who you actually really need to reach.

Yvonne Heimann [00:07:09]:
Do you think we see a lot of conversation going on with that mid sector struggling with they're not being resources or maybe resources are not known. Do you think there there potentially is Is a, I don't know what I don't know. I'm like, I'm a small business, right? When I look at my consultancy, when I look at my business, I consider myself that, that small business sector. And I'm like, I don't even know if there's something out there to, to support that. And sometimes it feels like we all are supposed to be going into this multi million dollar business. And now I love hearing you where it's like, okay, there, there is room for us, there is room for small and medium sized businesses, they are needed. I'm just wondering if potentially it's, it's might just be a not knowing what we don't know. Is that what you experience?

Gretchen Villegas [00:08:14]:
Yeah, I would say. And it's very parallel to kind of what you're talking about with small businesses in developed world, right? The developing or developed countries like the US and Europe, but then also in the emerging markets. It's the very same thing if you think about it, because you've got the larger private sector. So we all know about the larger private sector, but we can't access it necessarily, right? We can't access the goods, the services. They're just too dang expensive. There's no way they're going to take on somebody who is struggling to make their bills or trying to create a change in their life little by little. But when you fill it in with small medium enterprises that are the connecting pieces between that vulnerable community and that larger private sector, now you've got that missing middle that's willing to work with that basically the last mile, right? Those of us who are down here on this end and we're working our way up because the private sector, the large private sector, they don't care. They just want volume, right? And they want a quantity coming in that can merit their millions of investments.

Gretchen Villegas [00:09:28]:
Whereas the missing middle are micro, small, medium enterprises. Whether it's in emerging markets or in the developed world. You bring along everyone and everyone is 90% of the population in the world.

Yvonne Heimann [00:09:46]:
What a concept, right? I know it's not just about the big ones

Gretchen Villegas [00:09:50]:
But you can also grow to be big if you want to. But what I actually found is that there's many small medium enterprises that are very happy being small medium enterprises. Because you know what the reward is? Raising impact. Raising impact for people who otherwise wouldn't have access to that service, right? They wouldn't have capital, they wouldn't have a product or a service, they wouldn't have support because that larger consultancy firm, they don't want anything to do with a meager, you know, fee being paid. Right?

Yvonne Heimann [00:10:24]:
Yeah. And I think I'm like, that's, that's what I see a lot in, in my community of, of business owners where it's like, I'm passionate about what I do. It's. I could get a 9 to 5 and not worry about economics and getting clients in the door. Right? I could. And I'm like, I would just shrivel up like a flower. I'm like, it's, it's the passion, it's the, the connection, the impact that I'm having that you're talk do what I do. So, yeah, it's, I can completely see that.

Gretchen Villegas [00:11:00]:
Such an impact on people's lives. When you're a small medium enterprise and you really cater to people working hard and trying to get better, you know, whether it's their health or their own business or different products, you know, that you can bring to their door, you are really, you're raising someone's hope and livelihood that otherwise might not happen. And I mean, that's, that's really significant.

Yvonne Heimann [00:11:35]:
You are somewhat, not kind of, not really, but kind of in a financial sector, in a area of money which is often male dominated. So I'm curious because I've had some, a couple of conversations with people where I'm like, strict up. Yes, definitely male dominated. Yes, definitely financial sector. I see you a little bit the in between. Maybe I'm wrong.

Yvonne Heimann [00:12:07]:
So please correct me if I'm wrong. If you're like, no, I'm totally in the financial sector. How is it as, as a woman raising that kind of capital, building those kind of relationships, building those kind of support systems. How was that? How is that?

Gretchen Villegas [00:12:26]:
Great question. And you're right. I am somewhere in the middle. I am the person who says, okay, we have a vulnerability in this country or in this group that we're working with, and now we need to pave the way and create a strategy to actually bring wealth. And it is always economics for me because I happen to believe that if you bring along wealth in the community, people can make good decisions. People know how to make decisions. They know what they need. But having access and the ability to be part of a productive system that is making enough economically that they can then have access and make decisions over income is really important.

Gretchen Villegas [00:13:14]:
So in everything I do, it's very strategic. It's always with a vulnerable community who needs support. That's where my focus is because I want to raise impact. I want to raise the impact of a person, a Family, a community. And so then at the end of the day, you say, okay, we need resources to start making this happen. The problem is these vulnerable communities are on the risk scale. They're more risky. And so if you're looking at loans, you're looking at equity investments, you're looking at basically providing some of your time and your resources as your corporate social responsibility or your way to give back to the community.

Gretchen Villegas [00:13:55]:
What I found is that you have to buy down the risk for everybody involved. So you take a community, where is that community's private sector? Who's doing business there? Where are the community resources? Where are the individuals who have lived there and grown their families there forever? And again, this can be, this is in the United States as well as in emerging markets in Africa and Latin America. It's the same idea. You map out that ecosystem, you figure out what are the incentives for each of those actors so that they can all be part of a functioning system. And then basically what I do is look at it from the economic side. Where do we need to bring in capital versus where can we generate capital and then how can we pay back when we need to? And what are the creative ways that we can figure out how to buy down risk for everyone so that everybody wins at the end of the day?

Yvonne Heimann [00:14:55]:
I love that. And it's like, yeah, it's, you're pretty much digging into, okay, what's the advantage to each one of you and how can we align them?

Gretchen Villegas [00:15:08]:
Exactly. And, you know, a big part of this now, which I've just been learning a lot more about recently, is with the, with the Generation Z and Millennials that are coming up, there is such a push to really buy products and services from companies that are doing good. I mean, we're talking Yvi up to like 86% of Generation Z. They won't buy a product unless they know that company is actually doing good. Right. And not harming the planet. And so at the end of the day, I think the incentives are getting greater and greater to. Not to give back to the community, but not just give back, but do something that makes sense.

Gretchen Villegas [00:15:55]:
Leave that community in a better place. Not just a handout. Right? Not charity, but what's the strategy you end up supporting?

Yvonne Heimann [00:16:05]:
So it's not just, as you said, it's not just a handout. It's supporting you help grow something. And I've been seeing a lot of consumer based shopping change where it used to be convenience not too long ago, where it's just simple, easy. This. Don't, don't make me leave my house kind of thing. And I have seen a huge shift to, oh, that's what you stand for. I'm gonna shop somewhere else. I'm gonna change my shopping behavior.

Yvonne Heimann [00:16:40]:
I'm gonna change the product that I'm using, whatever it is. And it has become way more conscious shopping than just convenient.

Gretchen Villegas [00:16:51]:
100%. Absolutely. And that's making such a huge difference for kind of who are the actors that are incentivized now to really raise impact for more vulnerable communities? Bottom line is that that corporation, that private sector business, when they invest, they will actually increase their own bottom line over time.

Yvonne Heimann [00:17:16]:
Now I'm curious. There is, there's a lot going on in what you do and the impact you are having, the people you are talking to. I can only imagine what your day looks like. How, how do you stay on top of things? How do you do all of these things and not run yourself to the ground and burn yourself out? Because, girl, you're looking smoking. I'm like, with all the things you do and all the impact you are having, I probably would have the, the bags under my eyes and be like, can I have a pillow right here and just take a nap? How are you managing your business? How are you managing yourself and be able to do all of this and have this kind of impact?

Gretchen Villegas [00:18:03]:
Yeah, it's a great question because it is so, so very different than just showing up to work like you said in the morning and doing what I need to do, handing it off to somebody else and leaving. Right. So honestly, it's, you know, after I hit kind of my 25 year mark, I said, well, I'm having impact, but not as much impact as I would like to leave right on this earth. And I, you know, I've got a good 20, 25 years left in me here. So the question was, how can I do that? And it was, well, why don't we take all of those learnings and lessons and whatnot, put it into the WIN Revenue strategy, be able to work with clients in a very customized way so that it's not just doing a training for each one of them, but it's actually doing, where are you at? Where would you like to go? And what are the tools we can use here to ensure that you can increase your impact over time with whomever you're working with. It does have to do with revenue, but it also has to do with offsetting that revenue with other subsidies or whatnot, because it really is impact at the end of the day. And I would say what keeps me going are various things. Number one is that I get really energized about my work.

Gretchen Villegas [00:19:22]:
I mean, like you said before, you know, like if you had to go to a 9 to 5, it's just not the same. No, no. I mean you have passion about what you do. The other is that I have a huge network of colleagues. And as I walk into different opportunities, what I love about them is that they're all challenges. What I do is not about just knowing what to do or like this said, doing a training, it's where are you, where do you want to go and how are we going to get you there? And a big thing of what I do is I pull in others to support. Right. Some are pulled in as some advisors mentorship, but others are pulled in actually to take on part of the projects with me because I want to make sure that I can drive certain aspects, but I want to make sure at the end of the day I leave every single client with the most sustainable model that they can grow themselves over time.

Gretchen Villegas [00:20:21]:
It's not about me just getting paid. It is about true impact over time. And I would say it's, it's that I just have a great network I can pull in and, and support on the different projects. And if I couldn't, oh, I would have those bags under my eyes, I guarantee you.

Yvonne Heimann [00:20:40]:
I hear ya. Love that.

Yvonne Heimann [00:20:44]:
Love all of it. Our network really is our net worth. It's like we can just get so much done.

Gretchen Villegas [00:20:51]:
Yeah.

Yvonne Heimann [00:20:52]:
Without. Can we get anything done without them? Not really, to be honest. Right. It's. It's all about who we know and who we have absolutely know everything.

Gretchen Villegas [00:21:02]:
Like you know, we as one person, you cannot know everything. And if you tell your clients you know everything, well, they know you don't know everything. So when you're actually bringing in a few other people to work one, it gives you energy, gives you new ideas, and it also sends a message to your client like you're getting the best of the best. Right. You're getting there. We are crossing T's and dotting I's and making sure this is successful.

Yvonne Heimann [00:21:27]:
So how would you describe yourself as a leader? What kind of leadership style you think you are? What makes you the amazing leader you are?

Gretchen Villegas [00:21:43]:
So I will come in with big ideas.

Yvonne Heimann [00:21:44]:
I love that.

Gretchen Villegas [00:21:45]:
I will listen and then I'll say, well, what if we looked at it this way? Or what if we looked at it that way? And at the point we come in and we say, okay, we're willing to walk along this path with You, I'll say, okay, now we're gonna start moving forward. So I'm really, really good about looking at transformation. That big, big idea. Okay. But then the next step is to break it down. And I'm also quite good at being able to do that in terms of helping someone. Think about, where are you currently? How long is it going to take you to get there, and what are the steps that we need to put in place, including, do we need to bring in some grounds, do we need to take out a loan? Do we need to find a partner, an equity partner? Like, what is it that we really need to do in order to get there? I think one piece that I also bring that's quite different is because of my work in global development and about working with vulnerable communities, it is all about raising impact. So usually what I'll say is, what kind of impact would you like to have? You know, and if they say, oh, I want to increase my revenue by, you know, 50% over the next three years, okay.

Yvonne Heimann [00:23:06]:
That's a great business goal. But is that really impact?

Gretchen Villegas [00:23:11]:
It's not. Absolutely. It's not. And so my next question is, what impact do you want? That's exactly right. What do you want? What do you want to change for you and your clients? And then what we do in the WIN revenue strategy, we work backwards. We work backwards. And so most people will say, okay, this is where you want to go. That's your goal.

Gretchen Villegas [00:23:34]:
Great. It's all monetarily aligned. Let's just. Let's just figure out what you got to make moving forward and how we're going to adjust this. Where's your impact? And now we're going to work backwards. And as we work backwards, what you're going to find is you need partners. Yeah, you probably need a few more staff with some different skill sets. Probably you're going to need, you know, sometimes alone, sometimes not.

Gretchen Villegas [00:24:02]:
Sometimes you got to make some tough decisions. You want to work in all these different areas? Well, guess what? You can only focus on a few in order to grow out the way that you need to. But if that impact goal, like you were mentioning, if that impact goal is not clear, my experience has been the success rate is much lower.

Yvonne Heimann [00:24:25]:
It's kind of like if you don't have that big goal, it's your Sunday afternoon stroll, just driving through the area and see what's available. If you actually have the goal, you know exactly who you're gonna visit, where you're gonna end up, and how. How do you figure out where to go? By knowing where you actually going. It's fine if you just want to stroll, but don't expect to get anywhere.

Gretchen Villegas [00:24:50]:
And it's amazing how many people have gotten lucky strolling. And so they think that they can continue. And the truth is, once you grow to a certain size, no matter what you're doing, whether you're doing, you know, you're an NGO doing development work, or you're a social. In social enterprise, right. With a product that you then give back to help the environment, or you're a corporation, right. With a social impact unit. It doesn't matter who you are. But if you.

Gretchen Villegas [00:25:19]:
If everyone on your team does not understand the North Star and the goal, you're all not going to go in the same direction.

Yvonne Heimann [00:25:31]:
And it's. It's you. I don't think you even have to be a certain size to. To be reminded of it. One of our big works internally at AskYvi the last year has been really drilling down on our company values. I know my personal values. I know my personal subconscious values. I'm like, the business should have values.

Yvonne Heimann [00:25:55]:
And then even dove deeper into what is the social impact we want to have. Never thought of it as a social impact. It was just one of those, you know what? I want to give women the freedom of choice. How do I do that? By getting money into your bank account. Money in your bank account means freedom of choice. So how do we do this? Simple. Implementing simple systems and automations, getting your business set up to be able to run without you, so you can go out and get more money into your bank account so you can have the impact you want to have. And I'm suddenly having the impact that I want to have.

Yvonne Heimann [00:26:37]:
So it's like even. And I look at, I look at my team and specifically my assistant, where in the cleanup phase of 2024, life and business hasn't been the easiest, but she knows what we are going for with the business. And she's like, I'm in. I don't care. We are in this together. Now suddenly I have a team that's just as committed to the goal as I am.

Yvonne Heimann [00:27:04]:
And it's a complete different energy. It's a complete different impact. So any of you listening and you're like, yeah, I'm not that big yet. I'm not there, actually. It has impact and it makes life easier at any level of business.

Gretchen Villegas [00:27:20]:
Yeah, that's a great example, Yvi. Yes, absolutely. And I'm so glad you feel that too, because it's a difference between being alone. Okay. And being supported in a true business. It's environment and then it's living out those values. Right. As you grow that makes the difference.

Gretchen Villegas [00:27:39]:
And they help you make decisions.

Yvonne Heimann [00:27:40]:
Oh, God. Yeah. It suddenly becomes really simple on what you say yes or no to, what, where you spend your time, where you don't spend your time, which clients you say yes to and which ones you say no to. It becomes really simple.

Gretchen Villegas [00:27:55]:
Yep. Living out our values. Absolutely.

Yvonne Heimann [00:28:02]:
Oh, my God yes .For everybody listening, watching, wherever they tuned in from, what's the best way to connect with people? How can they find you?

Gretchen Villegas [00:28:10]:
Yep. So you can find me on my business website. So it's www.nexusstrategypartners.com. and there you can. There's a contact form. You can reach out to us. You can email me directly. There's also a link to my personal website, so you can see all of my Peace Corps pictures and whatnot.

Gretchen Villegas [00:28:33]:
It's all there. And yeah, I would love to hear from any of you who have thoughts about what we talked about today.

Yvonne Heimann [00:28:37]:
And I know you also have resources in there. So, guys, as always, you're gonna have links of Gretchen right. In the description. Wherever you're watching or listening from. It's in. In the description of the episode. Go check her out. Go dig in.

Yvonne Heimann [00:28:44]:
I know you have a lot of resources and a lot of information readily available for everybody. Thanks so much for coming on. That was. Yeah, this is. This is why I love my podcast. It's like it's. You never know where it's going and you never know just who I get to meet and experience.

Gretchen Villegas [00:28:55]:
Right.

Yvonne Heimann [00:28:56]:
Thanks so much for all the work you are doing and thanks for coming on.

Gretchen Villegas [00:29:00]:
Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much.

Yvonne Heimann [00:29:05]:
Thanks, everybody. Remember to subscribe so you don't miss out on the next episode. And I'll see you there.