Inspiring Conversations with Chili Chullino of Renexec

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chili Chullino.

Hi Chili, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my first business plan when I was 12 years old. I was attending the Cherry Creek Challenge School and we had Immersion Weeks when we got to throw ourselves into one subject for the whole week. Instead of picking one of the courses that had been designed by our teachers, I elected to create my own course about entrepreneurship. I this idea of starting my own snowboard manufacturing business, and as a part of my immersion I was lucky enough to get to interview Tracey Canaday who started Never Summer here in Denver. There I was in slacks, dress shoes, and a button up dress shirt when Tracey walked in wearing holey jeans and and a tattered flannel. That was the moment I realized that I didn’t have to be a “suit” to be an entrepreneur and I was hooked.

I went to Johnson & Wales University (back when they still had a Denver Campus) to major in Entrepreneurship, still with the idea that I was going to open my snowboard manufacturing business, but that’s where my ideas began to change. I was supremely lucky to have some amazing professors (some of whom I’m still in touch with) and engaging classes like Small Business Consulting that sparked my passion for helping other entrepreneurs.

After college, I focused on small business and leadership by running High Ropes Courses and helping to make them ancillary revenue streams for camps and higher education entities before settling into a longer intrapreneurial role with a regional mechanical service provider.

After a while, my entrepreneurial itch took over and I started a craftwork business making furniture and architectural pieces from wood and metal. All this time since college I was taking side work as a small business consultant, mostly for clients I already knew until in 2019 a move to Longmont spurred me to swap my business and side gig. After years of conversation with a college friend, who is now my business partner, we decided that we wanted to spend our days doing what we love, helping small businesses. Thus Renexec was born.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Any entrepreneur that tells you it’s been a “smooth road” probably has a bridge to sell you too. That’s a big part of why I love entrepreneurship though. I get bored easily and loose interest if something doesn’t challenge me the way I need to be challenged. The biggest struggle for a long time was coming to terms with being a consultant. Neither my business partner or I particularly like the consulting industry. Consultants are the Used Car Salesmen of the business world. I don’t say that to disparage either group, but some bad apples in both those professions have sullied it for the rest. Consulting has been dominated for a while by massive firms who care more about making themselves indispensable to their clients rather than actually helping them. It took a long time for me to come to an incredibly obvious epiphany…I can do it my own way.

That didn’t solve all the issues by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t call myself a consultant, and we don’t call what we do consulting. Instead we position ourselves as guides for business adventurers. Yeah, try figuring out a concise way to explain that paradigm shift to potential clients. It took a long time for us to figure out our messaging, but in the end it was worth it because now we start off every new relationship by speaking with our clients in a common language that’s easy to understand and doesn’t make them feel stupid. If you’ve ever sat in a room with one or more consultants slinging jargon to make themselves feel smarter, you’ll know exactly how valuable a common language can be.

We’ve been impressed with Renexec, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Renexec provides small business guidance to entrepreneurs and small business teams using the common language of adventure. What is running a business if not an adventure? Under this approach we engage our clients, first and foremost, from an understanding of cooperation. If you were summiting Everest, going on a trophy hunt, or exploring a new country you’d probably hire a guide to make the experience as good as it could be. Guides don’t and can’t take the adventure for you, but they bring their expertise alongside your passion to create unfathomable adventures.

In the same way, Renexec walks alongside our clients. We won’t, and can’t complete your adventure for you, but we use our expertise and experience to help you direct your passion into a wildly successful business adventure.

Renexec works on a lot of different types of business adventures with our clients, but most of our client relationships start off with an entrepreneur who’s grown their business to the point where they can’t “wear all the hats” anymore. This is one of the largest points of failure for small businesses because the entrepreneurs who are great at being scrappy and getting things done often struggle with transitioning to the leadership role that’s necessary for a larger organization. This struggle is one of our favorite places to meet clients because we get to bring our backgrounds in coaching and experiential education to foster growth in entrepreneurs and their teams.

When we do our job right, clients don’t feel like they’ve been taught how to run their business, they feel like they’ve discovered new possibilities and are ready to take on bigger adventures.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
If I have to boil it down to just one, curiosity. Embracing a spirit of curiosity means that you lead with questions, not answers, that you seek to be enlightened rather than to be right. Maintaining curiosity at your core naturally fosters so many of the other characteristics that are important like humility, empathy, and courage.

Pricing:

• Initial Consultation – FREE
• Tools & Resources on our website – FREE

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.renexec.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563801753519
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/renexec/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Renexec