Build a pitch deck. Google pitch deck and find a way to build your pitch deck. The reason for that is who knows you might need to go out and get funding so, that is the first reason you might want it. The main reason is it really does bring home and drive home what it is you do. Why you do it, and why somebody should care. If you do a good pitch deck you touch on your finance, marketing, operation, and founders. You've touched on every single thing in a very short time frame but, it's incredibly...
Dec 16, 2021•31 min•Ep. 49
Definitely, what I said earlier of really looking at what already exists in your community. Not just well, no, I have never heard of someone who is doing this. No, you need to dig in. Most of these have nonprofit councils of some sort. Dig in and see who is at least serving the demographic of people that you want to serve. What in the area are you doing with them? Can you partner with them on adding something to those services?
Dec 14, 2021•34 min•Ep. 312
Definitely get your paperwork and everything in order, and then be ok with the mistakes because that's part of the fun and part of the learning. No matter how much you study or how much you learn, actually going and doing is going to give you better results even though you make a million mistakes than if you just think about it forever.
Dec 13, 2021•24 min•Ep. 311
When you are starting a company, you don't need to decide what you are going to be you should actually focus on what is really going to sell and, can you really add value? In the process, can you learn? It's obvious that you have dreams and aspirations. If they are very big, such as wanting to create a very large company, then focus on finding something very unique that you are going to do. If you don't find it and you still have that ambition stop. It's ok to close down the business if your amb...
Dec 10, 2021•29 min•Ep. 310
If you can get a CRM and set that up and then use that to build out send email marketing. That gets further down the road. Start to collect data on each person you are working with. Use that to further conversations and start to realize how you can plant those seeds. Whether they enjoy a local coffee shop or they are a huge foodie. They love an NFL team. Find things that they enjoy and use that data to plant those seeds. So I think, get a CRM. Start adding people in there. Existing connections, ...
Dec 09, 2021•37 min•Ep. 48
Having a really solid business plan and knowing your competition. Doing a competitive analysis. Figuring out every business model. Having strong advisors and having a good team. Those are all really helpful. It's not just an idea; it has to be well thought of before you actually go and spend years and hours of your life in it.
Dec 07, 2021•22 min•Ep. 309
Set up an advisory board of people that you can talk to along the way immediately. Two days after you start your business. In fact, you should probably, before you start your business, get one or two people that you can really trust and run some of your ideas by them. Not that you're going to listen to everything they have to say but having people around you with diverse backgrounds and experiences makes the process much easier to go through.
Dec 06, 2021•31 min•Ep. 308
Education and research are always key. If there is something you want to learn more of or get on, double down your efforts on the understanding of what it is you are trying to do. I always say that is the best way. Sometimes the right information can be a game-changer. It's out there and, it's about locating it. It's about getting it into your hands and minds to use outwardly. That could be a mentor. That could be a business strategy coach. That could be anybody. It's just about getting it and a...
Dec 02, 2021•33 min•Ep. 47
I think being a ravenous reader is great. I think that you know I've learned a lot from books on how to build a business, culture, and whatnots. I think really reading a lot, especially about a particular start-up. Or if you are starting up just from people that are in your industry is important. The same part is really putting yourself out there to reach out to people that are in your industry. Or get a mentor essentially.
Dec 01, 2021•26 min•Ep. 307
Invest in yourself. Invest in yourself, whether that is reading a stupid amount of books or hiring a coach. Bring in someone to help and encourage you. This can go along with that last one. Know that you are worth it. You have the ability to do this but there are so many things that you probably don't know. Take some of your funds or set aside some of your funds and invest in yourself.
Nov 29, 2021•34 min•Ep. 306
Get really clear on what it is that you want. I'm in the position now where I work with hundreds of business owners. Most of them have gotten lost on the journey and forgotten why they started in the first place. The truth is that we usually tend to overcomplicate what we are doing. We usually tend to add on more than we want and make it more expensive than it needs to be. If you really get in touch with what is the result you want? What is the lifestyle you want? And you build your business aro...
Nov 24, 2021•46 min•Ep. 305
That's kind of my struggle. What to do? Whether to stay with my current lifestyle which, I really like. Coaching businesses and maybe writing books and tinkering with things. Or I should switch gears and try to go for it. I am always thinking of Ray Kroc. I think he was 53-54 when he started McDonald's. So maybe it's not too late for me to do this if I really want to. Try to make a huge impact with the 1.5 million companies that start for the solution that maybe I could provide.
Nov 23, 2021•25 min•Ep. 304
Get a mentor who already has a lot of experience. When I joined Polar, for example, I got a lot of support and trust from one of the co-founders. I got promoted very fast to a very big position. The thing I learned the most is and would recommend to anyone is to learn a lot and in the best way possible to just get a mentor a see how he or she works.
Nov 22, 2021•24 min•Ep. 303
Think about distribution. Think about who also speaks to my audience and how could I potentially partner with them? How can I find a win-win-win solution for the potential customers, the partner, and myself? Distribution is the shortcut to business growth. For us, we really did not do too much marketing at all. We focused on distribution which got us our early customers and still several customers at the moment through these partners that we have established. It's a long game but, distribution i...
Nov 18, 2021•36 min•Ep. 46
Start small. Be methodical with your purchases. You might think you need XYZ to do your job. How can you go about doing that with what you have? Let's say it's a small business that once to start doing website design. You don't need adobe creative suite. You don't need this five hundred dollar a month piece of equipment to do stuff. How can you figure out how to do it with a text editor? How can you figure out how to do it with what you have on your computer? Or what can you use the trial for? A...
Nov 17, 2021•36 min•Ep. 302
Find someone who you admire if you can and, have that person be a guide for you.
Nov 15, 2021•30 min•Ep. 301
Disappointing my customers. So If we get it wrong with our store customers, the ramifications of that are big. Getting it wrong for them can be you, know, it stems from inventory. Do we have the right inventory? Did the inventory come in correctly? We are offshoring so, we don't get to inspect the line and see how things are coming off. We receive it; We pay for it; We put it out there; Yes, there is quality control but, the size and labeling can have mistakes, and if you don't catch it till it'...
Nov 12, 2021•31 min•Ep. 300
Building a little bit of a relationship is always a great thing there as well because you are going to be in the deal with investors for a period of time. They know that too so, they are looking to check you out and, you are looking to check them out. The key is you have to demonstrate the growth story. Step one, you must have a growth story. Step two, you must be able to tell it or articulate it.
Nov 11, 2021•36 min•Ep. 45
Do your research and do it to a level. If you are going to bootstrap anything, you can bootstrap this. Or, if you work in a place that has access to research databases like law firms or consulting firms, you can get this information for free. You need to develop your idea before you even bother stepping out and talking to people about it. Research it to a level where you believe in the idea more than you believe in yourself.
Nov 08, 2021•37 min•Ep. 299
I surrounded myself with around six people who I call personal board of advisers. They were basically people who expected nothing from me. They were getting no financial gain for spending time with me. They just wanted me to be successful. Each of them brought to the table a different set of experiences and often compensated for skill sets I did not have or I was developing. I spent time rotating through them and talking to them. Grabbing coffee with them regularly and shared openly where I was ...
Nov 01, 2021•32 min•Ep. 298
Did you know that 50% of companies that raise series A never raise capital again. So if I just focus on that short period of a company which could be a couple of years. There's an enormous amount of complexity. There's a lot of things that go wrong and, there's a lot of things that have to go right. If you are not passionate about that problem you are trying to solve and the solution you are bringing to market to solve that problem then, you will never make it to series A.
Oct 29, 2021•35 min•Ep. 297
I think the piece of advice I would give to aspiring entrepreneurs here is basically, build something small, simple real right now. Get it out the door, deliver it and then iterate on top of it. It doesn't need to be perfect now. It won't be perfect ever, in my opinion. Being able to get something out the door quickly to validate that idea is a lot more important than spending hours and hours making it perfect and potentially never launching it.
Oct 26, 2021•25 min•Ep. 296
It's worth making the investment in people that are really good at their job. You focus on what you are really good at and your expertise. Hire those attorneys, HR professionals, the marketers, whatever holes that you have. Make the investment on the front end because it's going to actually save you time and money down the road vs. you trying to figure it out on your own.
Oct 25, 2021•27 min•Ep. 295
Refine the product. Always work on refining the product, making the product or service the best version of its self. Ultimately that is what's going to bring people through the door and get people interested. Have people wanting to invest or having people buy out your company.
Oct 18, 2021•27 min•Ep. 294
Make sure you love it even when you hate it. I think the thing I often say about starting a company is it's pretty much the hardest thing a person can do. You don't even know if one in a million people has an easy time of it. I think you are completely right. Every single division is so difficult. I think the people I see that aren't successful are people that just think that it is going to be an easy pass to be a millionaire. It is not that. There are much easier paths to be a millionaire if yo...
Oct 15, 2021•28 min•Ep. 293
Three things you need essentially. You can get along with one of them barely. If you have two things, it's good. If you have all three, that is great. One thing is you can be an expert. If you are an expert in the field, that's already a great start. You could have the money. If you have a bunch of money, that's already a great start as well. You can buy the expertise. Or you can have the right connections. What is another hugely important piece.
Oct 09, 2021•28 min•Ep. 292
Clearly having a business plan. And it does not have to be twenty-seven pages long but knowing where you are going to start and some goals or metrics you are going to hit. Even things like what you are going to pay yourself. Try to predict the next twelve months and check some of those things off as you go. If you miss step three or you are missing a third goal, make sure that it is not part of that critical foundation that will actually prevent you or set you up for failure in the near future. ...
Oct 08, 2021•31 min•Ep. 291
What I mean by getting educated is, know who you can rely on to help you with jump-start the business. But also get better educated around the premise of your idea.
Oct 07, 2021•38 min•Ep. 44
Do your homework. Do your home and be realistic. It's not for everybody. Do your homework. Contact these places and talk to people and make sure you understand what's going on. Make sure you understand everything that's out there because there is a lot going on. You can not go into it blindly. You have to do your due diligence.
Oct 06, 2021•30 min•Ep. 290
I guess it depends on what type of small business or start-up they want to start. If they are not sure what they want to do, I personally recommend starting an online business. It is so much cheaper than a brick-and-mortar or retail type of store. Even if they are selling products where they think they might need a store, I still recommend starting online. The overhead is hardly anything. I run all my businesses for under a hundred. I think it is actually sixty a month now.
Oct 05, 2021•27 min•Ep. 289
