Darlene M. Ziebell Media Kit
Real Business Experience. Real Stories. Lessons Entrepreneurs Usually Learn Too Late.
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BUILD IT
Learn what it really takes to move from startup to seven and eight figures, including the strategy, leadership, systems, and decisions required to scale.
PROTECT IT
Growth creates risks most entrepreneurs never see coming. Learn how to recognize vulnerabilities and protect the business you worked so hard to build.
GROW IT SMARTER
More sales and more marketing aren't always the answer. Learn how stronger strategy, positioning, profitability, and CEO decision-making create sustainable growth.
Popular Interview Topics
Real stories. Practical lessons. Conversations your audience will remember.
FROM ZERO TO EIGHT FIGURES What really changes as a founder builds a substantial company, and why the business that gets you started may not get you to the next level.
EMPLOYEE TODAY. COMPETITOR TOMORROW. What happens when trusted employees become competitors, and what business owners should think about before someone walks out the door.
THE DANGEROUS MYTH OF EASY MARKETING Why more leads, advertising, social media, SEO and AI cannot fix a weak business strategy.
THREE EXITS. THREE DIFFERENT LESSONS. What a sale, merger and ESOP taught Darlene about building a company someone else can eventually operate and value.
MY FIRST LAWSUIT What every business owner should understand before the legal papers arrive, and the lessons most entrepreneurs learn only after it happens.
THE AVALANCHES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP Lawsuits, fraud, competitors, financial disruptions and other unexpected events that can threaten an otherwise successful company.
WHEN YOUR FINANCIAL PARTNERS BECOME THE RISK What happens when banks, payment processors, credit providers and other financial relationships suddenly affect your ability to operate.
FROM ENTREPRENEUR TO CEO How successful founders become bottlenecks, why leadership must change, and what it takes to lead a much larger organization.
Have another business topic in mind? Darlene brings more than 30 years of firsthand entrepreneurial and consulting experience to conversations about growth, leadership, marketing, business risk, financial challenges, competition, business crises, and successful exits. If it happens while building, growing, or protecting a business, chances are Darlene has experienced it, advised on it, or has a perspective your audience will find valuable.
WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE WILL GET
Darlene doesn't simply talk about business theory. She brings more than 30 years of firsthand experience building companies, making difficult decisions, navigating unexpected problems, and learning what it really takes to grow and protect a successful business.
Your audience will hear the stories behind the lessons, including what worked, what failed, what Darlene would do differently today, and what business owners should be thinking about before they encounter the same challenges themselves.
Whether the conversation focuses on growth, leadership, marketing, lawsuits, competitors, financial risk, business crises, or exits, Darlene gives audiences practical insights they can take back to their own businesses and use.
The goal is simple: help business owners learn the lesson before they have to learn it the expensive way.
ASK DARLENE
Start a Conversation Your Audience Will Remember
Every great interview starts with the right question. Darlene's more than 30 years of building, growing, protecting, and exiting businesses provide plenty of places to begin.
Here are a few questions that can lead to candid stories, practical business lessons, and conversations that go well beyond traditional business advice.
- What does nobody tell entrepreneurs about reaching their first $1 million in revenue?
- What really changes when a company grows from seven to eight figures?
- What was the most expensive business lesson you ever learned?
- Tell us about your first lawsuit. What did it teach you that you wish you had known beforehand?
- You've had employees become competitors. What happened, and what should other business owners learn from your experience?
- What do you mean when you talk about the "avalanches" of entrepreneurship?
- Was there ever a moment when you thought you might lose one of your companies?
- Why do successful businesses sometimes become more vulnerable as they grow?
- Why do you believe the promise of "easy marketing" can be dangerous for business owners?
- Can increasing sales actually make a company's problems worse?
- What happens when a bank, payment processor, or other financial partner suddenly becomes a business risk?
- You've exited three businesses in three different ways. What did those experiences teach you?
- How does an entrepreneur know when they have become the bottleneck preventing their company from growing?
- What popular piece of business advice do you disagree with, and why?
- After more than 30 years as an entrepreneur, what would you do differently if you were starting another company tomorrow?
Don't See Your Topic?
Darlene's experience extends across entrepreneurship, business growth, leadership, marketing, risk, turnarounds, competition, financial challenges, and business exits. Interviews can be tailored to the interests of your audience and the focus of your program, publication, or event.
ABOUT DARLENE
Business Experience You Can't Learn From a Textbook
30+ YEARS | 4 COMPANIES | 7 & 8 FIGURES | 3 EXITS
Darlene M. Ziebell is an entrepreneur, management consultant, author, and CEO advisor who has spent more than 30 years building businesses and advising business leaders.
She has founded four companies and built businesses from the ground up to seven and eight figures. Across her entrepreneurial career, the companies she built represent approximately a quarter of a billion dollars in today's value. She has also successfully transitioned businesses through three different types of exits: a sale, merger, and ESOP.
Her experience extends far beyond growth. Darlene has navigated lawsuits, fraud, employees who became competitors, financial disruptions, operational challenges, marketing mistakes, and the unexpected crises that come with owning and growing substantial businesses.
As a management consultant, she has advised major corporations and business leaders, giving her a perspective that spans entrepreneurship, privately held companies, and large enterprise organizations.
FEATURED IN ENTREPRENEUR MAGAZINE
Darlene and her management consulting firm, Actoras Consulting Group, were featured in Entrepreneur magazine's “Stage Right” in April 1997. The article followed the firm's growth and included Darlene's perspective on business strategy, marketing and sales, building organizational capacity, recruiting, and the challenges companies face as they move through different stages of growth.
READ “STAGE RIGHT” IN ENTREPRENEUR →
Darlene holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and is the author of multiple books on entrepreneurship, business growth, marketing, risk, and turnaround strategy.
Today, she brings those experiences together to help business owners and CEOs make better decisions, recognize risks sooner, and build companies that are not simply bigger, but stronger.
Author & Business Expert
Darlene has written extensively about the realities of building, growing, marketing, protecting, and recovering a business. Her books draw from decades of firsthand entrepreneurial experience and the lessons that came with it.
The Dangerous Myth of Easy Marketing — How it Really Works
A Dozen Avalanches Threaten Small Business — Which One Will Bury You Alive?
Business Exit Strategy
