Who is Dana Naegele?
Your ideas. Your projects. Your goals. Just say go.
I'm Dana Naegele, founder of Be What It Takes. I'm a fractional operations and growth leader: implementation and activation of your projects and to-do list.
Based in Chicago, working with clients anywhere.
Hi, I’m Dana Naegele
An executive leader who does the work
I'm an executive leader who works alongside businesses of all sizes and industries, real estate brokerages, teams and top agents in a consulting partnership, and does the hands-on work that turns their plans into running systems. Based in Chicago, working with clients anywhere.
I like crafting strategy and turning it into results: company growth and sales success, operational efficiency, exceptional team performance and client satisfaction. Strategies activate once they become pathways, built from scalable processes, data insights and cross-functional collaboration.
Success is not a destination, it is a way of viewing circumstances, outcomes, attempts and accomplishments. Growth, personally and professionally, is essential. Your story is what’s going to uniquely position you from the rest. Share it with me, and I can tell you how I can add value.
Results from my career in operations and growth leadership
in new business generated in three years, including $5M through M&A
P&L managed, with expense reductions of 10% or more
client satisfaction achievement rating in 10 months
people on the largest teams I’ve led
Be what it takes
Values to work and play by
Be flexible
- Flexing has a new meaning
- Egos left at the door
- Activating big objectives takes patience and curiosity
- Technology is ever changing
- People learn at different paces
Be interested
- Be interested instead of interesting
- Gain understanding
- Learn more
- Build relationships
- Strategize for wins
Be an implementer
- Activation is how we win
- Your ideas and big picture objectives, executed
- I do the work so you can focus on running your business
Be inspired
- Collaborate
- Be creative
- Have purpose
- Be accountable
Implementation and activation
How I work
Q&A
More about how I work
What results have I delivered?
- Growth and revenue: produced over $17M in new business in three years, and added $5M in sales volume through mergers and acquisitions.
- Operations and P&L: managed a $10M+ annual P&L, streamlining operations and finding expense reductions of 10% or more. Built KPI and OKR accountability with 90% of teams meeting their objectives.
- Customer retention and experience: sustained 95% client retention and a 96% client satisfaction achievement rating in 10 months, supporting books of business of 200+ customers.
- Team development and leadership: led teams of up to 300+ across sales, operations and customer success.
- Technology enablement: ran technology enablement programs adopted by teams of 80+, turning new technology into daily workflow.
For the specifics, see my LinkedIn profile.
How do I work?
I'm an implementer, not just an advisor. Activation is how we win: your ideas and big-picture objectives, executed. I do the work so you can focus on running your business.
- Ideate, construct, produce: coaching programs, company-wide panel discussions and events
- Leadership and change management: a culture of collaboration for engagement and productivity, and developing elevated leaders
- Curate and analyze: technology stacks, new affiliate partnerships, client retention strategy and process management solutions, through launch
- Build and implement: culture creation and the systems behind it
- Thought leadership: industry awareness, critical thinking and predictive implications
