Productive Pressure LLC

CEO / M&A Advisor

VON BLUECHER, BLEA AND HUNKIN, INC.

I began my entrepreneurial career as a veterinarian specializing in racehorses

As a vet, I focused on helping my clients get peak performance from their horses. The name of my business, “Productive Pressure™,” came from finding the sweet spot: enough pressure to get fast - but not too much, so as to avoid injury.

As a business owner, I helped our practice grow to multiple seven figures, join forces with other practices, and eventually be acquired by a large aggregator.

Along the way, I earned an MBA and worked with many business owners. I spent hours poring over P&Ls and balance sheets.

I discovered that regardless of geography or size, all business owners had similar challenges.

Company Owner

Business Strategist & Leadership Coach for Busy Professionals | Optimizing strategies, systems, & teams to get your time back with Practice Freedom Accelerator | Burnout Badass

Whether you are ready to sell your business now or thinking about moving on to your next adventure in the next few years, understanding the current value of your business is vital. 

Do you know what your business is worth? 

Knowledge is power and once you have this information you have options.

As an owner in my former business, we increased the value, grew it (through mergers and acquisitions), and sold it. Now I help others get the business outcomes THEY want.

Through consulting & coaching we work through a process:

TRIAGE: As I did when I was a doctor in my previous career, we start with, "Where does it hurt right now?" We address this first.

VISION: What do you want for yourself and your business? Clarity on your desired outcome will provide a framework for the rest of your decisions.

VALUATION: We always start with the end in mind, but we need to have a baseline so we know where you are today. A valuation of your business shows us which levers to pull to get the outcome you want. Once you have that information, I put on my expert hat and we apply best practices to reverse engineer a plan to get you there.

PLAN: Now that we have a roadmap, I put on my facilitator hat to help you implement the action steps - whether it's stabilize/grow/sell. We adapt as needed and this accelerates your progress and keeps you on track.

TRANSITION/SELL: At some point you will leave your business whether you want to or not. We include this eventuality in our plan so that whether you pass the business along to a successor, or sell it internally or externally, the transition will be as smooth as possible.

If any of the following apply to you:

* want to know the value of your business
* are ready to sell your business
* want to get your business ready to sell 
* want to grow your business through acquisitions
* think we may have other synergies we should discuss

Message me or book a call

Dawn Bloomer MBA, DVM

Engineer Career Pivot

You've spent your career solving the world's toughest energy challenges. Your expertise in designing, operating, and maintaining the infrastructure required to power the future is unparalleled. Others look to you for advice when they hit a brick wall.

It's possible to apply the same analytical skills for technical projects on your own career. If you learn and apply the process in this course, you can reclaim the passion you once had for solving problems.

Don't worry - the process is only five steps. But these five steps will permanently alter how you approach your current role and look for strategic future opportunities.

You can spend the rest of your career engaged on the most interesting challenges without the fear of being downsized or outsourced again.

Career Coach

The energy transition offers new opportunities for oil and gas engineers to leverage their experience operating infrastructure reliably and safely.

After 22 years in large engineering companies, the never-ending stream of meetings had taken its toll. I was ready to get back into gear solving interesting problems instead of dealing with the tension of highly political environments.

EDG depends on my experience in digital technology to architect enterprise solutions for the explosion in domestic lithium mining as well as the energy companies which are positioning themselves for the future.

Enterprise Digital Solution Architect

Worley

After seeing the press release with my name from a direct competitor, Worley knew they needed me on their team.

"We need unconventional thinkers who can survey a vast landscape of possibilities and forge a groundbreaking digital strategy. We are revolutionizing the engineering process."

This was music to my ears. I embarked on a new, thrilling chapter of my career.

For the 1PointFive and Oxy team, I laid the groundwork for an integrated design and operate digital twin for their direct air capture (DAC) units. This innovative approach incorporates flexible integration points, ensuring the deployed systems can keep pace with the ambitious deployment schedule planned.

Embedded within the Worley Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS) team, I crafted a digital strategy for their standardized capture unit design. This distinctive product and service offering targets mid-sized emitters, empowering companies to boost their ESG scores with verifiable reductions. It eliminates the stress of another unit operation which is not related to their core business.

I engaged with the chemical plastics recycling team through design thinking and divergent/convergent exercises, unlocking solutions that resonated with brand owner pain points.

For Chevron, I spearheaded the ongoing development of a pioneering blockchain platform that seamlessly integrates with PowerBI and Microsoft Teams. This solution combines the benefits of a blockchain platform without burdening overworked project managers with yet another application to deal with. The intentional effort towards systems integration and automation slashed the time sheet approval process by 80%, accelerating invoice payment to Worley.

Technical Director, Digital Transformation

Wood

The CTO of a $10B publicly traded company stared directly at me. 

"We need someone who understands blockchain to unlock the potential of this technology."

With that mandate, I plunged into an exploration of how blockchain, IoT, and machine learning could redefine the engineering landscape.

I tapped into my network, assembling a team of experts with diverse backgrounds to tackle our organization's most pressing challenges: construction safety, technology licensing, and carbon trading. 

Upon completing the pilot projects, I authored papers and took center stage at conferences across the United States and Europe, solidifying Wood's status as a pioneer in engineering technology development.

This newfound recognition attracted the attention of a major chemical company in China, which awarded us a high-profile project and agreed to a public press release to highlight our achievements.

Our mission? To develop a blockchain-based solution for managing a colossal volume of engineering documents, complete with a immutable chain of custody record within a complex ownership structure.

Throughout these pilots, I meticulously assessed potential partners, forging creative alliances that harnessed our global reputation among major energy producers to secure cost effective arrangements.

Global Emerging Solutions Lead, Digital & Technology

"We have a valuable, yet fragmented collection of software. We need help unifying these applications into a cohesive platform. We also want to break into a new market!"

Faced with this formidable challenge, I immediately began evaluating each tool, aiming to distill their unique market value and identify synergies.

Despite the tools being developed independently, I tasked the development team with enabling the seamless transfer of data between applications, using APIs, CSV files, or any other means possible.

Realizing the importance of a unified brand that encompassed the entire product suite, I worked closely with marketing, communications, and sales teams to craft a new brand identity that conveyed the true value of our offering.

While the initial launch focused on the North American market, our sights were set on gaining traction in the Middle East and South Asia.

Following a successful launch, I boarded a flight to Dubai, ready to make an impact by speaking at conferences about the vital role of operational monitoring within the industry.

As I accompanied the sales team to customer sites, I paid close attention to the clients' reactions and body language during presentations. I quickly adapted the slides based on their feedback, refining our pitch to better resonate with the unique needs of our target market.

Product Director

Environmental Practice Lead (Sales, Product Management)

Senior Technical Lead

Urban Business Initiative

"Our funding has dried up. We have to shut this down."

This couldn't be happening!

As a board member, I saw the lives we touched. I knew we had to move the organization forward.

I agreed to lead the journey. 

One thing was clear. Entrepreneurship would still be the focus. The energy within the startup community was too strong to ignore.

But we needed to focus on a different audience. 

One Saturday, a woman walked in our office. As she explained the challenges she was facing, I realized the business she had started wasn't just for income.

She had escaped with her two sons from her violent husband. She was selling jewellery from her minivan. The price of gold had skyrocketed. No one was buying. 

She didn't know what else she could offer. The income from her business provided the freedom to escape her situation. If she couldn't pay rent, she had no option but to return to a dangerous environment.

That started me thinking. Maybe there were other women like her relying on their business to maintain their freedom from the past.

Then a call came in from a refugee organization.

"Our clients struggle to find good jobs when they arrive. Can you teach them how to start a business?"

I was in a quandary. I wanted to help, but we didn't have the resources to work with two different groups.

Suddenly, a light bulb went off. 

Refugees and survivors of domestic violence had more in common then first met the eye.

- Courage to escape
- Hope of a new future
- Perseverance to fight adversity 

What if we created a class where both groups came together to form a new future?

It made perfect sense - and it worked!

By combining the groups, we instantly eliminated any potential stigma associated with the past. There were no discussions on background. The courses were focused on moving forward.

Through this experience came the motto "Empowerment through Entrepreneurship".

It was more than creating a business. It was establishing a new identity for each participant.

President (Volunteer)

Nexus Solutions Inc.

Software Developer

Mergers and acquisitions stink for those of us who thrive doing engineering work.

"Keep delivering on projects! Things will continue as normal during the process." gets repeated publicly while just the opposite happens. 

Momentum slows. A "wait and see" approach can always be justified. "Let's hold off on this initiative. I hear the other company has advanced in this area," is repeated quietly in many meetings. 

Politics goes into overdrive as management scurries to put a shine on their financials. Approved budgets are quietly pruned.

Updates from Comms teams are consistently upbeat, while whispers about what might happen communicate the true uncertainty everyone is feeling.

I've been through multiple acquisitions. It doesn't matter the side - the similarities are remarkable.

I wanted to stay far from the chaos and keep doing my work. I loved working in technical groups and found the entire process frustrating.   

First, while others I depended on took longer making decisions, the pressure increased to report faster progress and make it look better (even if the data clearly indicated otherwise). Everything turned into "spin".

Second, I hated the feeling that my future was being decided by corporate groups and consultants who didn't have my best interests at heart. I watched amazing teams dissolved or split with empty promises about how it would be better in the long run. No one seemed to care about what would help the technical talent do their job more efficiently.  

It saddened me that those who were critical to the future of energy were the ones with the least amount of sway in the process. 

These are individuals who design and maintain equipment which operates reliably 24/7/365 in hazardous environments while protecting the health of everyone involved. 

These are people whose ability to analyze complex situations and think carefully about the potential consequences is unparalleled. They deserve to be taken care of properly.

That's why I created the Engineer Career Pivot Program. I wanted to help other technical engineers leverage the momentum they had built working on projects towards creating a future perfectly matched with their career and life goals.

The world needs your skills as we move to a future with a complex mix of energy sources. We can create an environment where technical talent is held in the highest regard by those who benefit from the problems we solve!

taplio

The Battle

Dawn Bloomer MBA, DVM

Philip Black, P.E.

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