2025 Accelerate Lab Series: Strategic Planning for Real Life

For early-stage entrepreneurs ready to lead, not just hustle.

This four-part lab series is designed for founders who are no longer just testing ideas, they’re building something real. Each lab blends coaching, peer connection, and hands-on working time to help participants gain clarity, build systems, and step into sustainable leadership. You won’t just learn what to do, you’ll start doing it, with expert support.

These Labs are working sessions. Bring your laptop, your planner, your messy notes, and your stuck spots. You’ll leave each one with real tools, real clarity, and a real plan forward.

Lab 2: Strategic Planning for Real Life

When: December 3, 2025 at 5:30 pm

Focus: Focus, Planning, & Business Strategy

This Lab helps you:

• Stop chasing random goals and build an aligned business plan
• Understand the difference between strategy, goals, and tactics
• Prioritize across mindset, marketing, operations, sales, and delivery
• Build a 90-day roadmap rooted in what matters most to your business

You’ll walk away with:

• A 90-day strategic plan (with quarterly targets and monthly focus areas)
• A “Not Now” list — so you stop trying to do everything at once
• A repeatable planning tool you can use every quarter

Join us for all four sessions at a discount! Register here.

Lab 1: From Freelancer to Entrepreneur to CEO

When: October 8, 2025 at 5:30 pm

Focus: Vision, Mindset, & Owning the Leadership Role

This Lab helps you:

• Reframe how you see yourself and your business
• Audit your current role and identify what needs to shift
• Spot the gaps in knowledge, systems, and structure that are slowing you down
• Understand what “being the CEO” of your business actually looks like

You’ll walk away with:

• A CEO Decision Map outlining what only you can do (and what you shouldn’t)
• A business clarity snapshot: your goals, your gaps, your growth edge
• A mini roadmap for stepping into leadership in Q4

Join us for all four sessions at a discount!

Lab 3: Create Capacity to Grow

When: February 4, 2025 at 5:30 pm

Focus: Time, Tools, & Support Systems

This Lab helps you:

• Identify the real bottlenecks in your time and energy
• Learn how to vet and delegate to the right support
• Start using tools (including automation + AI) to streamline operations
• Set yourself up for breathing room before burnout hits

You’ll walk away with:

• A Capacity Map and task audit showing where your time should go
• A Delegation Checklist: what to offload and how
• A curated stack of tools and systems to support your next stage
  

Lab 4: Leading While You Grow

When: April 8, 2026 at 5:30 pm

Focus: Delegation, People, & Leadership

This Lab helps you:

• Stop doing everything yourself and start leading others — contractors or team
• Develop a simple, effective delegation framework
• Understand what kind of help you actually need (and how to manage it)
• Learn the Inside Out Leadership™ model to grow your business without growing resentment

You’ll walk away with:

• A Team & Talent Map: who you need, when, and how to find them
• A Delegation Playbook: scripts, expectations, and follow-up strategies
• A confidence boost that you're ready to lead, not just manage

Why "Labs"?

Because learning isn’t the goal, implementation is. These aren’t lectures. They’re working sessions, guided by real frameworks, practical coaching, and action. You don’t need more information, you need space, structure, and support to do the right work well.

Pricing

$50: Individual Sessions

$150: Full Series (4 Sessions) - Register here.

$25: Individual Session Replay

This is your chance to gain insights that are usually offered at a premium to leaders at large corporations.

About the series leader

Denitresse Ferrell is a leadership strategist, executive coach, and founder of Culture Refinery, a consultancy that partners with leaders, teams, and organizations to build cultures that drive clarity, connection, and sustainable growth.

With over 20 years of experience leading high-impact strategy and transformation initiatives inside Fortune 100 companies, Denitresse brings a sharp business lens to leadership development and culture-building. She holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and is known for translating bold vision into grounded, actionable plans that align people, purpose, and performance.

In addition to her corporate advisory work, Denitresse has supported nonprofit founders, small business owners, and mission-driven professionals as they grow into confident, values-aligned leaders. Her coaching and facilitation create space for clarity, strategy, and courageous next steps, whether you’re leading a team or building something of your own.

As the creator of the Inside Out Leadership™ model and the Culture A.D.D. Framework, she is deeply committed to helping leaders evolve from the inside out and to building the skills and confidence needed to lead with purpose at any stage of their business.

Register today to reserve your spot for this valuable series with

This event series is made possible in part through a NC IDEA ECOSYSTEM grant award from NC IDEA Foundation.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Blush Cowork, 201 Shannon Oaks Circle, Cary, United States