About the Mobile Chamber
The Mobile Chamber is a private business organization with more than 1,700 members and the economic developer for the City of Mobile and Mobile County. The Mobile Chamber’s focus is to provide members with networking, marketing and professional development opportunities, expand jobs in the area, develop the local workforce, advocate legislative priorities and offer resources to help small businesses grow. Additional information is on the Chamber’s website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
VisionSpot Enterprises Provides ‘The Extra Pair of Expert Hands’ for Businesses
Business View – May 2022 / Small Business of the Month
VisionSpot Enterprises specializes in evidence-based leadership and process improvement solutions and strategies to optimize talent, operations, and workplace culture to deliver repeatable, scalable, and exceptional customer experiences. An extra pair of expert hands for your business. Pictured from left to right are Lamia Bolton, Dr. Valerie D.W. James and Noland Mackey.
When Dr. Valerie James moved back to her hometown of Mobile, her company’s services to its global clientele didn’t skip a beat, but the business culture around Mobile Bay got a significant boost. James operates VisionSpot Enterprises, a consultancy firm that develops operations management strategies for leaders in a variety of industries by being “the extra pair of expert hands for businesses around the globe,” according to James, its president and CEO.
VisionSpot Enterprises is the Mobile Chamber’s Small Business of the Month.
Since she left her longtime home in California, where she founded her company in 1998, James has built a roster of clients and countless mentorship opportunities that have allowed VisionSpot’s influence and acumen to grow right alongside those it serves. And James says that having headquarters located in a completely different part of the country will only help its resonance for years to come.
VisionSpot Enterprises is comprised of two entities: VisionSpot Enterprise Strategies and the Solutions Maximizing Brilliance (SMB) School of Leadership. Both involve onsite training and creating learning infrastructures within organizations. The company is “system agnostic,” James said, which means they customize process improvements and strategic planning depending on what each client needs.
The coronavirus pandemic created global shifts in workplace dynamics, which became an opportunity for VisionSpot Enterprises to pivot and dedicate resources toward building out its digital processes for operational efficiency and improvement with existing and prospective clients.
“Being that thought leader bringing a hands-on process of thinking things through with other leaders was a challenge,” James said. “We began working with people who were asked immediately overnight to work from home who had never worked from home before.
“And we had leaders who have never managed people who worked from home before, and we helped make sure they were still able to operate with the greatest level of efficiency while continuing to measure and monitor performance.”
One key way the company was able to create new strategies and develop evolutionary processes for its clients is hiring only highly experienced consultants – who number around two dozen. “We pride ourselves in recruiting and hiring subject matter experts who specialize in certain areas,” James said. That includes those who focus on a range of areas, from human resources to workplace analytics, corporate structures to nonprofits. “Our success partners have a wide range of professional experiences from working all over the world,” she said.
VisionSpot Enterprises is a committed supporter of the Mobile Chamber, where James serves as a board member and was vice chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2021. To James, the subject of diversity and inclusion isn’t solely about race, but “the diversity of experience, thoughts, industries, leaders and leadership.”
Mentorship is a consistent passion of hers, whether it’s through Innovation Portal — where VisionSpot maintains office space — or the RAMP Mentoring Program, housed at the University of South Alabama. She is also the founding president of the Alabama chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.
“My business reflects not only the diversity of the regions that we cover, but the people we serve,” she said. “Our primary focus is helping to take the growing pains out of expanding businesses by shaping and aligning their leadership strategy, structure and talent.”
COMPANY NAME: VisionSpot Enterprises
OWNER: Dr. Valerie D. W. James
WEBSITE: visionspotenterprises.com
PHONE: 866.970.1114
LENGTH OF CHAMBER MEMBERSHIP: 5 years
Click here to read the Business View – May 2022
Additional information is on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s website at mobilechamber.com, on Facebook at @MobileChamber, Instagram at @mobile-area-chamber and Twitter at @MobileChamber.