Meet Brenna Souza, founder of Resonate Growth, a consulting firm that's revolutionizing how early-stage startups and small businesses handle their operations. With entrepreneurial roots dating back to college and nearly a decade of running her own business, Brenna brings a wealth of experience in transforming chaos into clarity. After a strategic stint in the corporate world, she's back in the entrepreneurial arena, helping founders establish efficient systems while teaching them the art of sustainable growth and effective leadership.
Hi, Brenna! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?
Resonate Growth is a small consulting firm focusing on operational efficiency and executive support, serving early-stage startups and small businesses. I’m here to help founders and entrepreneurs set up straightforward but effective business and people operations that keep things growing sustainably.
I also support founders and execs by advising them on managing their time better and how to effectively recruit and onboard their administrative partners when the time comes.
Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.
It’s a good question, and the answer might be more existential than you expect. I didn’t wait to achieve a specific milestone before feeling like I had succeeded as an entrepreneur. I’ve embraced the idea that if you can have it in your head, you can have it in your hand. It’s about believing and knowing that what you desire already exists. Simply decide you are “that,” whatever “that” is for you, and begin to embody it through daily inspired action.
For me, it was as straightforward as deciding to dive back into entrepreneurship and then giving my notice at work. From there, it's been about taking one step at a time toward feeling more successful each day, no matter what results I see—or don't see—each week. It's not always easy; some things take longer than we'd like when we're starting something new.
But everything happens when it's supposed to; if I wait for a specific goal or milestone—like hitting a certain number of clients or making a particular amount of money—to “feel” successful, I'm just chasing external data points instead of enjoying the journey right now.
Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.
I've been doing the entrepreneur thing since college, starting with small side hustles to support myself. A few years after graduating, I launched and ran my own business for almost a decade. Then life circumstances led me back to the corporate world for a while, where I gained valuable wisdom and experience in new areas.
But you know how it is—once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. The itch to create your own "kingdom or queendom" just gets too strong to ignore. By the end of 2022, I could tell that chapter was closing. Even though I had a great job and worked with awesome people, the spark just wasn't there anymore, so I knew the time had come.
Some people thought I'd lost it when I left a good-paying job without any concrete plans—basically hitting reset—but deep down, I knew stepping away from working for others was spot on and would eventually open up new doors.
Luckily enough, I got to take six months off for some serious life-living—a dramatic change for a workaholic. I moved out to a lakeside spot, got into gardening... basically ditched the daily grind so ideas could start flowing again. And flow they did! Now I'm juggling two businesses and selling my creative projects on the side because let's face it—I can't sit still!
Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?
Honestly, I haven't found anything that's been a total game-changer for me personally. My focus is on building operational foundations using simple tools that every startup or small business already uses, like Google Sheets and Docs or Microsoft alternatives.
That being said, I do suggest some awesome tools to founders and small business owners to keep things organized. Superhuman, Calendly, and Notion are super easy to use but give you a great bang for your buck!
We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.
When I think about my current consulting gig, one of the biggest lessons was realizing how clueless I was about SEO and Google's algorithm. Back in the day when I ran my own business, getting clients was a whole different ball game. And even though I've teamed up with some super successful founders, I'm more into the nuts and bolts of business and spotting potential hiccups before they happen. Sales and marketing aren't really my jam, so I made quite a few mistakes.
For example, I built the website myself on a platform that wasn't right for what I needed—loaded it with too many images that slowed everything down—and didn't even think about keywords. A year ago, "keywords" weren't even on my radar. My lack of SEO knowledge meant no traffic to my site, at all. I couldn’t even find myself with a name search. This pushed me to get some help, which led to a complete rebuild of the site on an appropriate platform, adding a solid blogging setup, and learning what SEO is all about.
It took months (and yeah, I'm super impatient), but now I'm constantly tweaking things in an effort to express myself effectively. Climbing up Google’s ranks takes way longer than I'd like (did I mention I was impatient?) but at least now I'm aware of it so I can keep chipping away.
That failure taught me loads but most notably: I've picked up some WordPress skills; got into blogging where I also share tutorials; plus figured out how to turn services originally just for VC-backed clients into products small businesses can use too!
What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?
Great question! Honestly, the things I do to stand out don't seem all that "unconventional" in theory, but they definitely feel that way in practice.
First off, I focus on building relationships and earning trust by being consistent and going the extra mile. I genuinely care about people and what they're dealing with, so I'm always looking for ways to help unblock them. I'm pretty easygoing, love a good laugh, and often find myself giving advice on things people didn't even think to ask me about at first. Throughout my career—no matter where I've worked—I've achieved a lot by connecting with others. Actually talking to people live, not through chat or texting, is crucial. When you can exchange energy, tone, eye contact, and body language, the outcome is significantly better for business. You learn more about them, what's really going on, build trust, and ultimately have the opportunity to help them in unexpected ways.
Next up is digging deeper; relationship-building plays a big role here too. Sometimes just giving a quick answer is enough but that's pretty rare. I tend to ask lots of questions so I can understand their situation holistically or get to the root cause rather than just plugging a hole that will burst elsewhere later. You don’t know what you don't know—and if you're new at building companies or managing people—you might think one thing's the problem when it's actually just part of bigger issues.
Lastly—and this one's key—I’m direct and honest which works best when there's already trust built. I give straight-up feedback even if it’s tough to hear. Sugarcoating doesn't help anyone. When you head a department or company, people often tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear. I'm not that person. I believe in truth and transparency above all else. Sometimes, this requires providing feedback about their own actions or behaviors as the cause of issues. I often end up doing a lot of coaching with my clients, including leadership, business, and personal development.
What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?
I'm sure this has been said before, but it can't be overstated: avoid perfectionism; it’s a dream killer.
We want to present ourselves and our work in the best light. However, perfection is boring and can come off as inauthentic. Deep down, we sense it. In our super automated world where AI does so much, we're really craving some genuine authenticity and those little imperfections. At least I am.
From a business perspective, you must understand it will never be perfect. Once you think something is perfected and launch it, two months later, you’ll find it still needs work. It's better to release early and gather feedback to iterate based on real needs rather than your assumptions.
I've fallen into this trap myself. With my side hustle, I held off for 2.5 years before selling anything because I felt I needed an entire product line to seem credible, instead of starting with one item and growing from there. Not only did it slow me down but also caused disillusionment because I wasn't seeing any return on my time investment.
It took a few friends constantly telling me, "What are you waiting for? Just do it," to snap me out of the perfectionism funk that was robbing me of inspiration and depriving people of the opportunity to enjoy what was actually ready.
Don't let imperfection hold you back. Just start!
Want to dive deeper into Brenna's work? Follow the links below!
- Visit Resonate Growth's website resonategrowth.co
- Connect with Brenna on LinkedIn: Brenna Souza
- Follow Brenna on X @ResonateGrowth
- Follow Brenna on Medium
