When I became a Professional EOS Implementer®, I assumed I knew which companies would gravitate toward me.
Software. Engineering. Maybe government contracting.
After all, that’s where a lot of my career had been spent.
Turns out, I was wrong.
And what has delightfully surprised me is how much service businesses resonate with me, and I with them.
EOS®, of course, is industry agnostic. It works across industries. And Professional EOS Implementers are trained to teach EOS purely, not reshape the system around whatever industry we happen to know best.
But choosing an implementer?
That part is deeply personal.
You’re choosing someone you can see sitting in a room with your leadership team for the next two years. Someone who will teach, coach, facilitate, challenge you, call you out when necessary, and help you navigate some pretty hard conversations.
So when I first decided to become an implementer, I’ll admit there was a little voice in my head wondering whether my story would resonate.
To be clear, I never questioned whether I was up for the task. I knew I was. And God’s voice directing me down this path was as clear as ever.
But I did wonder:
Standing beside implementers who had 10X’d companies and earned MBAs from prestigious universities, how would I shine?
I don’t have a four-year degree from a prestigious university.
I didn’t 10X a company.
My education looked different.
Twenty-plus years ago, I taught myself computer programming and became the first employee of a scrappy one-person software startup in New Orleans, working side-by-side with a classic Visionary.
He dreamt it. I built it.
Together, we built a web-based claims management platform that eventually scaled nationally and helped homeowners get paid faster after devastating losses.
And as the company grew, so did my role.
Programmer. Operations. Sales and marketing. COO. CRO. Leadership team.
I learned business by doing business.
I learned how to take a Visionary’s idea and turn it into something real. How to create systems where none existed. How to translate chaos into clarity. How to get big personalities rowing in the same direction. And how incredibly hard it is to build the business while simultaneously trying to run it.
Later, I took that operator experience into engineering, shipbuilding, marine construction, and government contracting.
But here’s the thread that runs through all of it:
I’m a figure-it-out person.
Always have been.
Computer programming. Piano. Ukulele. Competition BBQ. Passing the PMP exam. Now I’m studying wine and working toward my WSET certifications because apparently my idea of fun includes voluntarily taking exams.
I’ve started my own small businesses, too. Sports photography. Food pop-ups. A food truck.
None of those businesses made the Inc. 5000.
But they taught me something just as valuable:
There are a whole lot of incredibly talented entrepreneurs who didn’t learn business in business school.
They learned it by building one.
And THAT is the part of my story I didn’t realize would resonate so strongly.
I meet entrepreneurs all the time who are self-taught, determined, resourceful, and really damn good at what they do.
So they build a business around it.
They deliver an amazing service with skill, consistency, and integrity.
Business grows.
They hire people.
Then they hire more people.
And seemingly overnight, they look around and realize:
Holy crap. We built a company.
Now there are employees. Managers. Payroll. Processes. Meetings. Accountability. Communication problems. People problems. Growth problems.
They know how to deliver an exceptional service.
Nobody ever taught them how to operate and scale the business around it.
That’s where I come in.
When I meet a leadership team for their EOS 90 Minute Meeting™, yes, I’m there to teach them about EOS. We talk about where it came from, the EOS Model®, the tools and disciplines, and what implementing EOS with a Professional EOS Implementer actually looks like.
But something else is happening in that room, too.
We’re figuring each other out.
Can they see me sitting at that table with them for the next two years?
Can I see myself there?
And that’s where my story tends to come out.
Because I understand the entrepreneur who figured it out as they went.
The person who became a business owner because they were great at something, not because they had always dreamed of managing 47 employees.
The person who built something successful through grit and determination and then realized the thing they created had become bigger than their ability to run it by instinct alone.
Those are my people.
And when I’m in the session room, they get me, too.
I’m goofy. I’m funny. There will be puns. We will laugh.
But I’ll also hold you accountable.
I’ll ask the question everyone else in the room is avoiding.
I’ll push when pushing is needed.
And I’ll do it with a heart for the people sitting around that table.
Because businesses need structure, discipline, and accountability.
But they’re still built by human beings.
When I started this journey, I wondered whether my unconventional path would make it harder for me to stand out.
Turns out, I had it backwards.
The story I once wondered if I needed to explain is often the very reason someone across the table realizes:
“Yep. She gets us.”
About Me
As a Professional EOS® Implementer, I serve as a teacher, coach, and facilitator, helping business leaders transform their companies through the Entrepreneurial Operating System®.
Helping leadership teams gain clarity and Traction is not just something I do. It is the work I am built for. And it brings me immense joy to help entrepreneurial companies run a better business and live a better life.
https://www.eosworldwide.com/niki-wilson