In today’s complex business landscape, small business owners often find themselves wearing too many hats—managing operations, leading teams, and driving growth simultaneously. This fragmented approach frequently leads to burnout and stalled progress, a challenge that integrated business consultant April Salsbury has built her career addressing.
“Most entrepreneurs reach a point where they’re working 80-hour weeks just to stay afloat,” Salsbury told me during our recent interview at her Seattle office. “They’re experts in their field but struggle with the business mechanics that actually create sustainable growth.”
As founder and CEO of Salsbury & Co., April has developed a holistic approach that’s gaining traction among small businesses across the Pacific Northwest. Her integrated consulting model tackles the interconnected challenges of business development rather than offering piecemeal solutions.
The traditional consulting model often falls short for small businesses. Hiring separate experts for marketing, operations, and financial guidance creates disjointed strategies and implementation gaps. The result? Wasted resources and conflicting priorities.
“I’ve seen clients who previously worked with three different consultants getting contradictory advice,” Salsbury explains. “Their marketing consultant pushed for expansion while their financial advisor recommended cutting costs. No wonder they felt paralyzed.”
Recent data from the Small Business Administration shows that approximately 20% of small businesses fail within their first year, and nearly 50% close their doors within five years. These statistics highlight the crucial challenges entrepreneurs face beyond simply creating a good product or service.
The Boston Consulting Group recently published findings indicating that businesses taking an integrated approach to problem-solving are 1.7 times more likely to report above-average financial performance compared to those using siloed strategies.
Salsbury’s approach begins with comprehensive assessment across five core business areas: leadership development, team dynamics, operational efficiency, financial management, and market positioning. This 360-degree view enables her to identify the interdependencies causing bottlenecks or missed opportunities.
For Rainier Valley Brewing, a craft brewery struggling with inconsistent sales despite a quality product, Salsbury’s intervention proved transformative. “We were focusing exclusively on brewing excellence while neglecting distribution relationships and brand positioning,” says co-founder Michael Desmond. “April helped us see how our production scheduling was creating ripple effects throughout the business.”
After six months of implementing Salsbury’s integrated framework, Rainier Valley Brewing reported a 32% increase in distribution and 28% revenue growth.
What separates Salsbury’s methodology from traditional consulting is her emphasis on implementation. “Strategic plans are worthless if they collect dust,” she asserts. “We build executable roadmaps with clear accountability measures, then walk alongside clients through implementation.”
This hands-on approach addresses what the Harvard Business Review identified as the “execution gap”—the disconnect between strategy and implementation that plagues up to 67% of well-formulated business plans.
Small businesses typically lack the resources for multiple specialized consultants or the luxury of addressing challenges sequentially. Salsbury’s model delivers comprehensive expertise at a price point accessible to growing enterprises.
“When we began working with April, we were approaching each business problem in isolation,” explains Sarah Chen, founder of Emerald City Tech Solutions. “She showed us how our customer acquisition challenges were actually symptoms of unclear messaging and positioning. The integrated approach saved us from investing in expensive marketing solutions that wouldn’t have addressed the root cause.”
The Seattle business community has taken notice. Salsbury & Co. was recently recognized by the Washington Small Business Development Center for its innovative approach to entrepreneurial support.
Financial data supports the value of integrated consulting. According to research from McKinsey & Company, businesses that successfully integrate their improvement initiatives achieve 30% higher returns on their consulting investments compared to those implementing isolated changes.
“What’s particularly valuable about April’s approach is that it builds internal capacity,” notes James Wilson, Director of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Support Initiative. “Her clients don’t just get short-term fixes; they develop integrated thinking capabilities that serve them long after the engagement ends.”
As small businesses navigate post-pandemic challenges and economic uncertainty, the ability to align all aspects of operations becomes increasingly critical. Salsbury believes integrated consulting represents the future of business support.
“The days of narrow, specialized consulting are numbered for small businesses,” she predicts. “The interconnected nature of today’s market demands interconnected solutions.”
For entrepreneurs feeling overwhelmed by competing priorities and contradictory advice, Salsbury’s message is simple: success comes from seeing the business as an ecosystem rather than isolated components.
“When clients start understanding how their hiring decisions impact their market positioning, which affects their operations, which influences their financial health—that’s when breakthrough happens,” she says. “Everything connects.”
As small businesses continue to form the backbone of local economies, integrated approaches like Salsbury’s may well determine which enterprises merely survive and which truly thrive in challenging times.
