Corp America March 2017

72 CORP AMERICA / MARCH 2017 , Overcoming hurdles and creating success is nothing new for PatriciaMarie Kelly. Patricia has been described as a creative and goal oriented visionary, seeing light years ahead of others, and preparing a foundation of success to reach it. A Creative and Goal Oriented Visionary In the 1980’s Patricia owned and operated the largest fitness management company in the Midwest for over 10 years, receiving many national and community business awards for her accomplishments, until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990 and decided to close the company, despite its continued growth and success, in order to concentrate on her health. After overcoming cancer, she returned back to work to the corporate world, to seek out a new career path, where she held several very successful leadership positions. In 2006 as economy was spiraling downward, Patricia like millions of others across the US, found her job had been eliminated, leaving her once again with the challenge of starting over from scratch, to start a new career. After a year of submitting literally hundreds of resumes and job interviews, Patricia’s entrepreneurial spirit led her to take her passion for design and helping others, and moved forward with creating Marie Kelly Unlimited, and regaining her place in the business world. The early years operating Marie Kelly Unlimited were a learning experience, since managing a company back in the 1980’s did not revolve around the use of technology as it does today. Back then there were no such thing as websites, Google analytics, electronic marketing, or social media. Today’s businesses depend heavily on technology to reach customers as well as run and operate their day to day business. What I didn’t know I hired out to do, and what I did know, I made sure I knew well enough to do, in order to serve my customers well. Patricia states that “The key to starting a successful business is concentrating on what you know, in order to establish a reputation, while learning and educating yourself on the areas you don’t know, in order to grow and move forward”. The first several years of Marie Kelly Unlimited were spent servicing clients as a Professional Organizer, helping people create better lives for themselves and their families. Patricia’s expertise expanded from appearing on A&E Television show ‘Hoarders’ to volunteering and leading Projects with Rebuilding Together of Chicago, helping create warmer and safer homes for those in need. For the 5 years that followed, her business excelled and grew to new heights, while totally immersing herself in education on interior design and staging, taking hundreds of training webinars and certification classes in order to gain the most knowledge she could for a successful business. In 2012, her business in both professional organizing services, as well as home staging services had exploded, and a decision on which direction to continue to grow the company without sacrificing service excellence was needed. While most businesses might continue to expand both areas of service, Patricia not only felt a deep desire to follow her passion, but she also felt strongly that excellent service and quality were 1st and foremost important to the company’s success. In looking at the company’s overall talents and strengths, and where we could make the most significant impact within a niche market, was a priority for long term success. In 2012, 1703CA22