From Garnett Newcombe's business went from stuck to generating multi-millions of dollars with a simple shift in mindset—an epiphany about strategy. It was an "aha" moment that changed her life. Newcombe’s business, Human Potential Consultants (HPC), helps local government agencies find employment for individuals exiting workforce development assistance programs.
When the business hit a plateau at $500,000 in revenue, Newcombe decided to apply for a Make Mine a Million $ Business award, a program developed by Count Me in to encourage female entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. During this process, Newcombe looked at her vision in an entirely new way. She put her current numbers down on paper alongside her vision for the future. That's when it hit her: "Hey, why can't I go after bigger contracts? After sending her application to Count Me In, Newcombe answered a "request for proposal" (or RFP) for an $800,000 deal.A double dose of good news soon followed. Newcombe won her place as a Make Mine a Million $ Business awardee. Then she won the $800,000 contract that would help her business vault over the million-dollar mark. Along the way to exceeding the million dollar mark,. Newcombe found that her biggest obstacle was learning to delegate and trusting staff members to do the things she thought "only she could do." Through coaching she received as part of the Make Mine a Million $ Business award package, Newcombe realized: "I was a little bit of a control freak." Once she learned how to let go, her staff flourished into a team and gained the freedom to be creative and productive. She has also created systemsfor hiring managers and for identifying which upcoming contracts best match HPC’s capabilities.
Newcombe founded HPC in 1997 around the belief that improving individuals with any type of background will help them become productive members of society. The goal was to identify skills in these individuals that they could use to secure their own financial and social stability. Today, HPC's satellite office has 85 employees. It has secured contract commitments for the next five years and further growth nto the multi-millions is expected.
Newcombe, 56, of Carson, Calif. developed her expertise in project management, program development and service delivery of various programs while teaching at several southern California community colleges and at California State University for more than 10 years. She also has 20 years of experience working in community outreach and recruitment. Newcombe has also worked with people who face extraordinary challenges re-entering the workforce such as disabled individuals, dislocated workers, youth 17 to 25 years old, people with little or no work history and those on parole or probation.
Newcombe's resume also includes a number of publications. She co-authored Income Rights, Mothers' Rights, or Worker's Rights? Collective Action Frames, Organizational Ideologies, and the American Welfare Rights Movement article published in Contemporary Social Problems, May 2003. She also co-authored Impact of Welfare Reform from Two Perspectives: Welfare Mothers and Professionals; Welfare then and Now; Primary Investigator for Research Project: City of Carson Senior Citizen Needs Assessment. In addition, she co-authored many HPC publications with her partner and sister, Joyce Keener.
Married for more than 32 years, Newcombe has one daughter and two grandchildren.