“I wish I had more confidence about how to bring in five new customers every month.”
— Mary G., Pittsburgh, PA, new PowerLink Advisory Board participant
The simple fact is this: Sales—customer acquisition, whatever you want to call it—is the superpower that most struggling small businesses do not possess. Can you learn it? Absolutely.
Founded in Pennsylvania in 1991, PowerLink has helped more than 3,000 small businesses around the world grow sustainably. By sustainably, I mean something very specific: they learn the patterns that create successful growth and continue using those patterns year after year.
I Was Working Hard. I Just Wasn't Making Money.
Many years ago, I left a corporate job to start my first business—a small marketing consulting company.
Seven years later, I had a leased office, a nice car and six part-time employees. I was working hard and thought I was building a successful business.
There was just one problem. I was barely paying myself.
Actually, I wasn't starving. My husband had a mid-level management job at a hospital. He had health insurance, paid our household bills, made the payment on my car and bought the groceries.
But after seven years in business, my company was generating about $260,000 in annual gross revenue—and I paid myself approximately $5,000 that year.
If you had asked me whether I knew how to sell my services, I would have said yes. I liked helping people.
I didn't find selling my marketing and data-management services particularly difficult.
So if I could sell, why wasn't I successful? I couldn't answer that question.
Then PowerLink Found Me.
A group of friends in Pittsburgh had partnered with Price Waterhouse to launch a nonprofit called PowerLink. They believed they could help me figure out how to grow my company and become more profitable through a PowerLink Advisory Board.
I was reluctant. To be honest, I felt like a failure. I wasn't sure I wanted to sit around a table with six highly successful executives and expose everything that wasn't working in my business.
But I was in a corner. I remember thinking that if PowerLink couldn't help me turn the company around, I was better off closing the business and going back to a corporate marketing job.
So I agreed to meet with a PowerLink Advisory Board for 12 months.
What Happened Next Changed My Life.
That advisory board actually worked with me for 18 months. Two years later, my company reached $1 million in gross revenue. I was finally taking a decent paycheck. I bought a new car with cash.
Seven years later, the company was generating nearly $6 million in annual sales—and we were able to sell the business.
So what in the world did that PowerLink Advisory Board teach me? I'm going to share five lessons over the next five months.
Sales Is a System. It Isn't a Personality Trait.
Sales and customer acquisition were the primary focus of my advisory board. With their help, I:
1. Changed the service I was selling.
2. Narrowed my target market to a specific type of business with approximately 1,000 potentialcustomers in the United States.
3. Raised my prices substantially.
4. Built a marketing service that generated measurable revenue for my customers.
5. Created a reason for customers to buy from me two or three times every year.
At PowerLink, we call that last one the superpower of recurring revenue.
I had thought I was selling. My advisory board taught me that selling isn't simply convincing someone to buy what you offer. It is understanding: Who needs what you do? Why do they need it? What is it worth to them? How do you reach them? And how do you create a relationship that brings them back?
That is a system. And systems can be learned.
Twenty Years Later, I Came Back to PowerLink.
I stepped away from PowerLink for about 20 years. During that time, I started and sold two more companies and raised a family with my husband.
Then, in 2017, I learned that PowerLink was struggling. That was surprising—and honestly, it was sad to me.
A few former staff members and board members tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to get involved again.
I was grateful to PowerLink for what it had done for me, so I agreed to come back and help lead the organization out of the doldrums and transform it from a local organization into a national one.
Today, PowerLink works virtually with approximately 100 small business owners each year who are struggling to get their businesses “unstuck.”
More than 60% of our participants experience 30–50% growth during their first three years with a PowerLink Advisory Board.
And, just as importantly, many continue to become more successful over time—and continue helping one another.
Today, I still run one of my own companies, a niche consulting firm with a few dozen clients and a recurring-revenue service model. And I still serve on the PowerLink board.
Fortunately, we now have a terrific group of paid facilitators and coaches who handle much of the one-on-one and group coaching with our participants.
Is Your Business Stuck?
If you own a small business—or know someone who does—and you see that they are stuck, worn out, ready to close, ready to sell, or simply ready to throw in the towel, please tell them about PowerLink.
Sometimes the problem isn't that the owner isn't working hard enough. Sometimes they simply haven't learned the system for turning their hard work into sustainable growth.
That's what happened to me. And it changed my life.
September PowerLink Advisory Board Sessions
If you are interested in participating, schedule a private interview today.
PowerLink membership is $225/month for businesses generating more than $1 million annually and $150/month for businesses generating less than $1 million annually.
Scholarships are available for business owners who are struggling financially.
September 8, 2026 | 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
PowerLink Advisory Board #1: Scaling Up
For businesses generating $300,000–$1 million that want to grow 3X–10X.
Topic: How to Test a New Customer Acquisition Strategy That Works Reliably
September 9, 2026 | 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
PowerLink Advisory Board #2: Small Nonprofits
Topic: How to Test a New Major Donor Strategy That Works Reliably
September 10, 2026 | 8:00–9:30 AM
PowerLink Advisory Board #3: Service Companies
Topic: How to Test a New Customer Acquisition Strategy That Works Reliably
September 15, 2026 | 8:00–9:30 AM
PowerLink Community Advisory Board #4: Women-Owned Companies
Topic: How to Test a New Customer Acquisition Strategy That Works Reliably
September 17, 2026 | 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
PowerLink Community Advisory Board #5: Business Owners Transitioning to the Next Generation
Topic: As the Business Transitions, Who Is Accountable for Annual Revenue? How Do You Effectively Transition Sales Accountability?
September 17, 2026 | 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
PowerLink Community Advisory Board #6: New Business Owners—First Three Years
Topic: As the Business Grows, Who Is Accountable for Annual Revenue? How Do You Effectively Hold Yourself Accountable for Sales?
September 17, 2026 | 3:00–4:30 PM
PowerLink Community Advisory Board #7: Manufacturers & Makers
Topic: How Do You Double Orders from Your Top 25 Customers?
September 18, 2026 | 8:30–9:45 AM
PowerLink Community Advisory Board #8: Contractors
Topic: HOAs as a Sales Target for Commercial and Residential Businesses: How Do You Effectively Sell to HOAs?
September 28, 2026 | 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
PowerLink Advisory Board #9: Hospitality Companies
Topic: How to Test a New Customer Acquisition Strategy to Increase Occupancy Reliably
September 30, 2026 | 8:30–9:45 AM
PowerLink Community Advisory Board #10: Retail Companies
Topic: How to Test a New Customer Acquisition Strategy to Increase Traffic Reliably
Let's Talk.
If you or someone you know owns a small business that is struggling, call or email me for a private interview.
412-721-3186 anita@powerlink.org
Tell us your story. Let's see if PowerLink can help.
Sometimes you don't need to work harder. You need to learn a different way to grow.
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