His most current successful business is the Warren Group, LLC a management consulting and business developing agency that prides itself on holding the client’s hand through the entire process of building their business. Warren explains, “I literally sit there and go through every piece of it with you and give you homework, tell you what you need to do, have weekly meetings, and do a weekly call in order to get that stuff done. When it’s time to open the business, I’m right there with you to make sure it happens.” Warren designs the FBI—Franchise Business Intelligence. “It is understanding what the clientele can offer and deciding if their acumen matches the vision they have.” Warren goes on to say it isn’t his responsibility to tell the client what his or her vision should be, but it’s his responsibility to help set up the business properly and execute the vision to the fullest. His company also offers franchising assistance, legal structuring, and extensive marketing and advertising plans.
Warren and his team find their clients at a number of Chamber of Commerce meetings and business/social gatherings. They are also found and contacted via LinkedIn by young inquisitive entrepreneurs looking to launch start-ups. Warren Group, LLC also works with existing companies, helping them expand or taking small aspects they do well growing that sector nationally.
Warren’s company is growing exponentially, despite the challenge of securing funding to maintain his business and those that he helps create. “The challenge is identifying the right funders to do the work that you are trying to get done and understanding what their motivation is as well.” He tells BE Modern Man.
Community involvement is one of his biggest passions and he is currently working on a project that will benefit many people in his community. “I love it, I love it, I love it! I am actually working with some folks in Cincinnati trying to get a grocery store in a food desert in Cincinnati. If it works out correctly, many thousands of folks will be able to get fresh food at a reasonable price in their local community.” Warren also stressed good deeds should not be done for a plaque. It should be done out of the kindness of one’s heart and the genuine longing to help others.
His biggest motivation is seeing dreams come to fruition. “I like to see goals met, achieved, and the next goal set.” He even highlights his greatest achievement as seeing his young employees grow personally and in the realm of entrepreneurship and start their own business.
Sidney Warren defines a modern man as a “forward thinker and forward dreamer…he is bright-eyed to opportunity and committed.” He uses a unique word to encapsulate his identity: ‘semicolon’—connecting the pieces to life’s jigsaw puzzle.
In the next five years, he wants to grow his business to all new heights and motivate the next few generations of entrepreneurs. Beyond his business endeavors, being a great husband and father to his family is always top prioroty. Always in the mood for an escape, Warren jokingly says “if there’s room to go to Mars and it’s kind of groovy, I’m all for it. I’ll give it shot.”
The BE Modern Man team honors Sidney Warren on all of his successes and work he has done (and continues to do) to uplift the next generation of entrepreneurs.
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–written by Fatima Bangura