A Conversation with Bo Ryals

Sit Down With Success is a feature of the Huntsville Business Journal on entrepreneurs and their keys to success. To read the full story, please visit the Huntsville Business Journal Website.

From a very early age, Bo Ryals always wanted to innovate. Born and raised in Huntsville, Bo had the backdrop of a city where the success of entrepreneurs and small businesses reverberated throughout the Tennessee Valley.

After graduating from Grissom High School, Bo went on to pursue a degree in Commerce and Business Administration with a focus on Management from the University of Alabama. After college, Bo spent a few years working in Nashville before he returned to his hometown.

His experience in college, combined with his desire to simply help entrepreneurs and businesses grow, brought him back to Huntsville. In 2014, Bo co-founded Decisive Intelligence, Inc. with his wife Ashley

Ryals. Early on, Decisive Intelligence focused on helping local small and medium sized businesses with recruitment.

Would you consider yourself an entrepreneur?

Yes I would. From a very young age, I have always thought of different ways to create products or to improve them. This quality is what I think is a core element of being an entrepreneur. There is a constant desire to innovate that really has defined how I have worked over the past few years.

If I see a product I want to improve, I try my best to push myself and my ideas to the next level, which is what entrepreneurship is all about for me.

What’s your favorite thing about being a business owner?

There’s a lot of advantages to being a business owner. For one, there’s flexibility. Having the opportunity to control my day is really important to me. If I want to throw around a football with my eldest son, I can do that before I do some work to wind down in the evening. If I want to pick up my boys from school, I can.

What advice would you give to someone considering starting their own business?

Be prepared, but don’t be afraid. Don’t focus on perfection. Perfection is not possible when it comes to owning your own business, because starting a business, innovating products, and pursuing your ideas can and will get messy. You might not ever launch if you are too focused on the “perfect” time, because there really is not ever going to be a truly perfect time.

Also, do not take no for an answer. Find ways to adapt and to innovate. If you have an idea, and it really can help people, it deserves another shot.

What would you say is the secret to your success?

By Gus Wintzell /

Babin

I am a people person. It’s always how I have operated. My secret is that I genuinely focus on people and relationships. If you genuinely care about your customers and your people, they will always take care of you.

That’s really core at Decisive Intel. We want the best for everybody, which is one of the main reasons that we started the business in the first place. Nothing happens, especially in Huntsville, without building relationships. w

President /Publisher

Subsidiary of EVENT Publishing

Todd Stephenson

Editor Gus Wintzell

Writers

Contributing Writers ………………………………………

Graphic Design

Ashlyn Grey

Marie Johnson

Noah Logan

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Alexander Duck

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Dawn Suiter

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Website Jim Gharib

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Steve Babin

Justina Simon

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