Karen McPherson - McPherson Consulting

Hands-on Traffic Engineering, Transportation Planning, and Project Management

Karen McPherson, P.E. is the President/Owner of McPherson Consulting. McPherson Consulting is a certified small, women-owned business drawing on over 25 years of hands-on traffic engineering, transportation planning, project management, analysis, and delivery experience. The firm provides a broad range of traffic engineering and transportation planning services including signal timing, signal design, traffic analysis, comprehensive signal system design, transportation planning studies, and interchange justification reports. McPherson Consulting combines extensive local and national experience to provide our clients with comprehensive solutions.

After spending 25 years working for a large, national engineering firm, Karen McPherson started McPherson Consulting to offer expert traffic engineering and transportation planning services while fulfilling any SWaM or SBA requirements.

How ODU Women's Business Center helped Karen with her business: "The Women's Business Center has been an invaluable resource to me and my business. The Center has served as a constant point of support; they have offered advice and resources from the beginning, from when I placed my initial call to the Center two weeks before I had put in my resignation with the large firm, to the present. I am most impressed by the continuity of support and their proactive, hands on approach. Over the past three years the Center has reached out to me, checking in quarterly to say hello and see how things are going, as well as provide information about pertinent training sessions or conferences that have proven to be an excellent source of information and networking for me and my business."

What has been the toughest obstacle in starting her business: "The biggest obstacle being a small business that is 100% service-based is struggling to find a balance between billable "work" hours and hours spent attending to all of the administrative duties that are required to run a small business including billing, payroll, taxes, banking, marketing, certifications, etc."

Karen's advice for someone starting a business: "My advice for anyone starting his or her own business would be to have open and honest conversations with people who have opened their own business. These business owners have been where you are and can offer invaluable advice and insight to the process and most importantly they can share their lessons learned with you. I'd also suggest that before opening your new business, allow yourself six months to one year to get the foundation pieces in place for your business so when you officially 'open' you can be organized and focus all of your time and energy on your work and your customers/clients."

Business Progress for McPherson Consulting: "When I started my business two years ago I had two major clients with 80% of my business in the federal market. Since then, I have welcomed over a dozen clients with a more balanced portfolio of federal, state, local, and private market developers. I am also proud to say that since opening I have been awarded three contracts as the prime contractor. I am extremely grateful to the Women's Business Center for contributing to the success of McPherson Consulting!"