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You can always learn a new hard skill but soft skills, on the other hand, are a lot more challenging to learn or acquire.
Businesses tend to overlook soft skills and focus on hard skills. But as employee-employer dynamics are always adapting and changing, soft skills are becoming more prevalent.
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Adrian Shepherd
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Have you ever experienced doubts about your own abilities or felt out of place among successful individuals? Do feelings of inadequacy persist even when external evidence suggests competency or success? If so, then know that this sensation is known as “imposter syndrome,” first described by psychologists Pauline Rose and Suzanne Imes over four decades ago.
Young entrepreneurs navigating this exceptionally dynamic field can find this phenomenon incredibly challenging. However, remember that such struggles are normal for many, as studies show that 84% of entrepreneurs are faced with this. As someone who began their entrepreneurial journey at 20 years old, I am no stranger to feeling outclassed or underprepared when compared with more seasoned professionals. But embracing these moments can help foster growth within oneself — don’t let mere self-doubts hinder personal triumphs.
Imposter syndrome can significantly hinder the personal and professional growth of young entrepreneurs. A lack of confidence and second-guessing themselves can paralyze decision-making processes and impede progress. It becomes a barrier to networking and building relationships, as the fear of being perceived as inexperienced or fraudulent can limit their interactions.
To overcome imposter syndrome, it is essential for young entrepreneurs to adopt effective strategies.
Here are some of the strategies that helped me beat the beast of imposter syndrome:
Related: Mindset Techniques That Will Help You Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Imposter syndrome can manifest in different ways, such as self-doubt, perfectionism, procrastination, overwork, underpricing, avoiding feedback or praise or feeling like an outsider. If you notice any of these signs in yourself, acknowledge them, and name them as imposter syndrome. Don’t let them define you or your work.
One of the reasons why imposter syndrome thrives is because we tend to downplay or dismiss our accomplishments. We think they are not enough, that we got lucky, or that anyone could have done them. But that’s not true. You put in a lot of effort and worked hard for your achievements, and you deserve to be proud of them. Make a clear list of your successes, big and small, and review it regularly — say every week, monthly or quarterly (I prefer to do mine once weekly). Share your successes with someone you trust and who supports you. Celebrate your wins, and give yourself credit for them.
Another reason imposter syndrome persists is that we tend to magnify or dwell on our failures. We think they are proof that we are not good enough, that we don’t belong, or that we are doomed to fail again. But that’s not true either. Failures are inevitable and normal in entrepreneurship. They are not a reflection of your worth or potential in any way. They are opportunities to learn and grow. Instead of beating yourself up for your mistakes, ask yourself what you can learn from them and how you can improve next time. Failures are a stepping stone to your success.
Related: How to Avoid Imposter Syndrome and Be a Successful Entrepreneur
Imposter syndrome can make us feel isolated and alone. We think we are the only ones who feel this way or that we have to hide our feelings from others. But that’s not healthy or helpful. Imposter syndrome thrives in secrecy and silence. It shrinks in the light of honesty and connection. Don’t be afraid to reach out to others who understand what you’re going through and who can offer you constructive feedback and support. Find a mentor, a coach, a peer group or a friend who can help you see yourself more objectively and positively.
Imposter syndrome can make us feel inadequate and insecure. We think we have to be like someone else, fit into a certain mold or follow a certain path to be successful. But that’s not true at all. You are unique and valuable as you are. You have something to offer that no one else can. You have your own voice, your own style, your own vision. Embrace your uniqueness, and let it shine through your work.
Surrounding oneself with positive influences is key to combating imposter syndrome. Seeking mentorship from individuals who have experienced similar challenges can provide valuable insights and encouragement. Joining entrepreneurial communities and networks fosters connections with like-minded individuals and creates opportunities for collaboration and shared experiences.
Related: How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Tame Your Inner Critic
Overcoming imposter syndrome as a young entrepreneur is an ongoing process. By recognizing and understanding the causes and triggers, entrepreneurs can implement effective strategies to regain confidence and overcome self-doubt. Cultivating a positive mindset, celebrating achievements, seeking support and building a supportive network are essential steps on this journey. Remember, success as a young entrepreneur is not measured by the absence of self-doubt, but rather by the ability to push through it and believe in one’s capabilities. Embrace the challenges, take one step at a time, and trust in your journey to reach your entrepreneurial goals.
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Candice Georgiadis
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I grew up immersed in hustle culture. As a girl, I watched my Dad scarf his food and rush out the door, leaving us at the table. Mom explained, “Sabrina, your Dad never ate a relaxed meal as a family. They always ate on the go, usually out of the concession stand: popcorn, hot dogs and soda pop.”
In my Dad’s childhood, everything revolved around the family businesses. My grandpa, “Slim” Starling, owned a service station. To sell more gasoline, he put a big screen on the roof of his filling station and gave purchasers of five gallons of gas a free ticket to the show. Cars came in droves. Gas sales boomed!
There was work to do. Now, not only are they in the service station business, but they are in the drive-in movie theater business. It was tough to find good help. The family ran the businesses. Everyone worked, even my father, a child at the time. The businesses, as successful as they were, took over their lives.
Related: 5 Traits and Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs in 2023
Growing up, I saw my Dad always on the go, never taking a break. Work always came first, and there was always more to do. This mentality was harmful. In graduate school, I juggled teaching, a practicum, a full courseload and writing my dissertation. My mind buzzed with what I needed to do. I woke up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. I turned down my friends’ invitations because there was always work to do.
In my 30’s, I was a hot mess of anxiety. I signed up for a yoga class and learned there were spaces between breaths. I realized it’s possible to pause in life. To this point, I have filled the pauses, rushing through the breaths and life because there is work to do.
When pregnant with my first daughter, I was determined to get a handle on this. I quit my job to start my coaching business and control my time. You likely are picking up on the flaw in my thinking. Simultaneously having a baby and starting a business made it challenging to manage my time.
A few months after my daughter is born, I rocked her to sleep in a dark room with just enough light from the moon shining through the window for me to read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Like most of us, I realized I was doing it all wrong. Hard work does not lead to success as an entrepreneur. Grinding it out grinds us up.
Related: Health Is Wealth: How to Move Away From Hustle Culture
When I met Michael Gerber a few years later, I asked the question I carried with me, “I coach business owners and help them have a better life. Yet, I am doing it all. How do I build a team and a repeatable business model?” He replied, “My dear, I own a coaching company, and I have never coached a day in my life!”
That answer ticked me off. He told me nothing — Yet, he told me everything. He is telling me to think differently about my role. If I continue doing my work, I will get a similar result. Not only do I have to think differently, but I also have to show up differently. My very being had to shift.
I started asking myself a different question: “What’s possible?” and I became clear on what I wanted — a business to support my life. I wanted to work no more than 25 hours weekly to be present with my family. That’s one of the best decisions I ever made.
Related: Hustle Culture Is Killing Your Greatness
Limits force innovation. A 25-hour workweek over the last 18 years forced me to be effective, not busy. I paid attention to what worked and did more of it. I focus on my $ 10,000-an-hour activities daily and let the rest go. My business continued to grow; I cared for my health and was present with my family.
I have made mistakes, experienced setbacks and learned from the school of hard knocks. I’ve also been privileged to coach thousands of entrepreneurs. We start with the question: “What are your wins and successes?” I’ve tracked the answers, focusing on what works to get the best results — a profitable business and a good quality of life at the same time.
I study successful entrepreneurs, collecting data from over 400 with our Better Business, Better Life Assessment. Clear patterns distinguish successful entrepreneurs with profitable businesses and a high quality of life from those burning out. The majority, 9 out of ten entrepreneurs, are burning out. One out of 10 is not burning out. I am excited to share what we are doing differently in future articles.
I’m on a mission to disrupt hustle culture in entrepreneurship. Hustle culture reinforces the notion that you must sacrifice your life to have a successful business. Hustle culture would make us believe that’s just how it is.
Related: Why Hustle Culture Might Be Toxic to Your Business
I believe in a different possibility for entrepreneurship. I believe work supports life, not the other way around. You don’t have to sacrifice your health, well-being and important relationships for the sake of the business. I invite you to declare that your business will support your life. You will be better for it, and so will your business.
I did not let my clients know I worked 25 hours per week for years. They were working 60 or more hours per week. I feared they would judge me for not having a “real” business. When a team member said, “Dr. Sabrina, not only do you have a real business, you have a really cool business,” I knew it was time to share what’s possible.
Limits force innovation. Limits force you to put systems in place and train your team. You can leave work at 5, or earlier, each day. You can turn off your phone in the evenings. You can take weekends off. You can exercise. You can be fully present with your family. You will be better for it, and so will your business.
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Dr. Sabrina Starling
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The aviation industry is transforming thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of individuals and companies launching their own MRO services in Europe. These entrepreneurs are disrupting traditional norms and bringing fresh perspectives to the industry. With a focus on innovation, specialized services and customer-centric approaches, they drive growth, deliver value and shape the future of aviation in Europe.
MRO services, or Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul services, refer to a range of activities involved in the maintenance and upkeep of aircraft, ensuring their safe and efficient operation. These services encompass inspections, repairs, upgrades and overhauls of various components and systems within a plane. MRO services cover both routine maintenance tasks and more complex repairs or modifications.
MRO services are critical for maintaining the airworthiness and reliability of aircraft throughout their operational lifespan. They involve comprehensive checks and inspections to ensure compliance with regulatory standards, identify potential issues and address required repairs or replacements. Additionally, MRO services encompass the management and sourcing of spare parts and the implementation of safety and performance enhancements.
In this article, we will explore the advantages these entrepreneurs bring to the MRO sector, their innovative approaches and what they can teach us about collaboration and innovation.
Related: Why the Drone Startup Market Holds Real Economic Potential
One of the key advantages that entrepreneurs bring to the MRO sector is their ability to identify untapped niche markets and offer specialized services tailored to specific aircraft types, customer segments, or regional needs. By conducting thorough market research and understanding the unique demands of these niche markets, entrepreneurs can position themselves as experts in their respective domains. This allows them to provide highly specialized and targeted services that meet the specific requirements of their clients.
For example, entrepreneurs may focus on servicing particular aircraft models, such as regional or business jets and develop deep expertise in maintaining and repairing these aircraft. By concentrating their efforts on a specific market segment, they can differentiate themselves from larger MRO providers and offer their clients a more personalized and tailored experience. Furthermore, entrepreneurs may also identify regional needs, such as specialized maintenance services for aircraft operating in harsh climates or remote locations, and develop capabilities to address these specific requirements.
Entrepreneur-led MRO services prioritize technology adoption to optimize operations, reduce downtime and improve maintenance processes. They understand that leveraging technology is crucial to staying competitive and providing efficient and cost-effective client services.
One area where technology has made a significant impact is advanced analytics. By harnessing the power of data, entrepreneurs can analyze historical maintenance records, track performance trends and predict potential issues before they become critical. This proactive approach to maintenance allows for preventive measures to be taken, reducing the risk of unexpected failures and minimizing costly downtime. Predictive maintenance solutions enable entrepreneurs to schedule maintenance tasks based on actual equipment conditions, optimizing resource allocation and streamlining operations.
Additionally, entrepreneurs are exploring using automation and robotics. Robotic systems can perform repetitive tasks with precision and speed, freeing up skilled technicians to focus on more complex and critical activities. Automation not only enhances efficiency but also improves safety by reducing human error.
Furthermore, entrepreneurs invest in digital platforms and cloud-based systems to streamline communication, documentation and workflow management. These technologies enable seamless collaboration among team members, enhance data accessibility and facilitate real-time information sharing with clients. By embracing these technological advancements, entrepreneurs are able to deliver faster services and provide a higher level of transparency to their clients.
Related: Where Did Go First Go Wrong & What Should Airlines Learn From It?
Entrepreneurs in the MRO sector prioritize customer satisfaction by offering personalized services, quick turnarounds and customized solutions. They understand that each client has unique needs and requirements, and they strive to provide a tailored experience that goes beyond the standard MRO services.
Entrepreneurs foster close relationships with their clients, taking the time to understand their business objectives and aligning their services accordingly. They act as partners rather than just service providers, working collaboratively with clients to develop innovative solutions that address their specific challenges and goals. By actively listening to their clients, entrepreneurs can anticipate their needs and provide tailored recommendations and strategies to optimize their fleet’s performance and minimize operational disruptions.
In addition to personalized services, entrepreneurs in the MRO sector are known for their quick turnaround times. They understand the importance of minimizing aircraft downtime, as it directly impacts their clients’ profitability and operational efficiency. Through streamlined processes, efficient resource allocation and effective project management, entrepreneurs are able to complete maintenance and repair tasks in a timely manner, getting their clients’ aircraft back in the air swiftly.
Entrepreneurs understand the power of collaboration and actively seek partnerships with industry stakeholders to foster innovation and drive continuous improvement. By connecting with aircraft manufacturers, suppliers, regulatory bodies and other MRO service providers, entrepreneurs create an ecosystem of knowledge sharing and collaboration.
Through these collaborations, entrepreneurs gain access to the latest industry trends, emerging technologies and best practices. This enables them to stay at the forefront of innovation and offer cutting-edge solutions to their clients. By challenging traditional practices and exploring synergies with their partners, entrepreneurs push boundaries and create novel solutions to address industry challenges.
Furthermore, entrepreneurs often invest in research and development initiatives to drive innovation within their own organizations. They allocate resources to experiment with new technologies, test alternative maintenance methods and explore novel approaches to optimize MRO processes. This commitment to innovation allows them to constantly evolve and adapt to the changing needs of the aviation industry.
Entrepreneurs launching MRO services are reshaping the aviation industry through their innovative approaches, specialized services and customer-centric focus. By identifying niche markets, embracing technological advancements and fostering collaboration, these entrepreneurs drive growth and shape the future of MRO services. Their ability to offer specialized services tailored to unique market segments, leverage technology for efficiency and cost savings, provide personalized and timely solutions and foster collaboration for innovation sets them apart from their competition.
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Henri Al Helaly
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In the middle of a quarter-life crisis, I began evaluating my professional career choices. While working a day job as a sales executive at a very large and successful tech company, I became jaded by corporate jargon, acronyms and daily standups. So, to spite my professional career, I started a personal blog as an attempt to go out on my own and build an audience. The premise for my blog, a.k.a. Justin’s Live, was that every weekend, I’d visit a new restaurant or bar with friends in San Francisco and write up a comedic review of the weekend shenanigans.
My thought was that the reviews would be informative and hilarious. What I learned was that my reviews were in fact useful, as I observed readers cross-posting on their travel blogs; However, no one thought the content, or the producer of the content, was funny or entertaining.
So, in an attempt to become a more entertaining writer for the blog, I decided to sign up for stand-up comedy classes in San Francisco. Every week, I began writing jokes and standing up at open mics throughout San Francisco. While I don’t believe I got that much funnier, I believe every entrepreneur should try stand-up comedy at some point in their lives. Here are a few ways that a failed career in stand-up comedy made me a better entrepreneur.
Related: This Comedian Breaks Down Stand-Up, Startups and Entrepreneurship
The first time I stood up at SF Comedy College for an open mic, I delivered the perfect fart joke. It involved my grandparents, a church pew and the act of confession. Not a single person in the room laughed. Not one.
Fart jokes aren’t unique or special. They’re funny when the actual fart happens, but someone talking about a fart isn’t all that entertaining.
It’s no different when you’re a valuable startup that solves a real customer problem. My former investor, Phil Libin, uses the analogy of building new apps into a developing ecosystem. When Apple launched the concept of mobile apps, there were hundreds of fart apps, but none of them stuck. It took years to build quality experiences that solved real customer problems. Farts are a shortcut. Same as the F- word. Go deeper to find substance versus relying on cheap laughs.
Whenever a comedian bombs on stage, they get the flashing red light indicating that their time on stage is over. The quicker you fail on stage, the faster that red light flashes in the back of the audience. I became really accustomed to seeing that flashing red light, or in other words, experiencing rejection from an audience that didn’t think my aforementioned fart jokes were funny.
It took six months of visiting late-night open mics before my sets progressed beyond two minutes. What’s more, throughout the process, my skin thickened. I noticed my performance in my day-to-day selling career improving. I was able to manage more difficult conversations, and I didn’t take “no” personally. The blinking red light taught me how to deal with rejection and failure in a very public manner. No matter how bright or fast that light blinks, don’t be afraid to face the red light.
Related: I Recently Made My Stand Up Comedy Debut. It Was Terrifying, But So Rewarding.
On several, if not most, occasions, my written material bombed. So, during many of those sessions, I was forced to “riff,” or improvise, by engaging directly with an audience.
As every improv purist knows, stand-up comedy and improv are two very different things; However, there are a number of skills from applied improv that carry over to stand-up comedy. The ability to take cues from an audience, accept their offer and riff on it, is one of the most important and valuable skills I’ve obtained as an entrepreneur.
Whether it’s handling sales objections, defusing conflict or collaborating on a whiteboard, the ability to listen to a group of people, take what they give you and build upon it is a superpower.
With every open mic set, I made it a goal to get at least one joke to land. It took months to get a full two- to three-minute set where I was stringing a handful of decent jokes together to avoid the blinking red light.
These were a couple of things I learned in the process of nailing my punchlines:
I found that the more specific I got into the details of real-life scenarios and problems, the more those stories resonated with my audience.
I learned to use hard consonants because words with letters like K, B and P are just funnier.
By using the foundations of joke structure, I could take an audience’s preconceived opinions and expectations about everyday scenarios, like going to the grocery store, and break those expectations by injecting an unexpected outcome to make them laugh.
The more life experience I acquired, like getting married and having kids, the more relatable my material got.
Coincidentally, this process and these insights were identical to the work that was required in finding product-market fit and crafting stories that resonated with investors, partners and customers. More specifically:
The more I focused on the specific pain of our customers and understood their business and lives, the better my “material” got.
During my startup pitches to VCs and customers, I learned to focus on the language I used to communicate my ideas.
In scenarios where venture capitalists or prospective customers had established beliefs about a problem area, I could break their expectations by showing them a better way forward.
The more work experience I obtained, the more I could speak to real-life business problems and tell a story about how to fix them.
Related: How Amit Tandon Turned Comedy Into Serious Business
It goes without saying that I’ll likely never become Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock, nor will I sell out an entire stadium to hear my legendary church pew joke. There isn’t a blinking red light big enough for my stand-up comedy career; However, not to “toot” my own horn, but I’m confident those late-night open mics helped me put the gas on my entrepreneurial endeavors. So, entrepreneurs, what are you waiting for? Let ‘er rip! (Ok, I promise that was the last one).
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Justin Vandehey
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The co-founder and first CEO of Netflix, Marc Randolph, has a personal mission to help entrepreneurs around the world achieve their dreams. He has mentored hundreds of early-stage entrepreneurs and helped seed dozens of successful tech ventures, and now he wants to help you.
In our livestream series Ask Marc, you have the opportunity to ask Marc Randolph any of your most pressing business questions, from big-picture problems to in-the-weeds details, including:
This is a remarkable opportunity to ask one of the most successful and innovative business leaders anything you want! Submit your questions now then join us on June 21st at 3 p.m. EST to hear your answers live.
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Entrepreneur Staff
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Combining an entrepreneurial background with a medical career can unlock a world of innovative opportunities to improve patient care, transform healthcare systems and drive positive change. By leveraging your entrepreneurial skills, creativity and business acumen, you can bring a unique perspective to the medical field.
In this article, we will explore practical ways to integrate your entrepreneurial background into medicine, with specific examples showcasing how these skills can be applied in various aspects of healthcare.
Entrepreneurs excel at identifying gaps in the market and developing solutions. In medicine, apply this skill by observing the healthcare system and identifying areas for improvement.
For example, you may notice a lack of accessible healthcare services in underserved communities. Using your entrepreneurial mindset, consider innovative solutions such as telemedicine platforms or mobile clinics to provide care to those in need. Collaborate with healthcare professionals and community organizations to bring these ideas to life.
Related: Making the Move from Medicine to Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs understand the transformative power of technology. In medicine, leverage your technological know-how to improve patient outcomes and streamline healthcare processes. For instance, you could develop a mobile app that allows patients to easily access their medical records, schedule appointments and receive reminders.
Alternatively, you could explore the application of artificial intelligence in medical diagnostics to enhance accuracy and efficiency. By embracing technology, you can revolutionize how healthcare is delivered and make a tangible impact on patient care.
Entrepreneurs thrive in startup environments, and the healthcare industry offers numerous opportunities for entrepreneurial ventures. Consider joining or creating a healthcare startup that addresses a specific need or problem. You could launch a digital health platform that connects patients with specialized doctors for remote consultations.
By leveraging your entrepreneurial background, you can navigate the challenges of building a startup, securing funding and scaling the business while improving healthcare access and quality.
Related: Why Medical Schools are Pumping out Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs are skilled at optimizing processes and maximizing efficiency. Apply this expertise in healthcare by identifying inefficiencies in healthcare systems and streamlining operations.
For instance, you could develop a software solution that automates administrative tasks, reducing paperwork and freeing up time for healthcare providers to focus on patient care. By improving operational efficiency, you can enhance the healthcare experience for both patients and providers while optimizing resource utilization.
Entrepreneurs prioritize customer engagement and satisfaction. In medicine, focus on empowering patients through education and engagement. You could create an online platform that provides patients with reliable medical information, personalized health recommendations and tools to track their progress. Promoting patient engagement enables individuals to take an active role in their healthcare, leading to better health outcomes and increased patient satisfaction.
Entrepreneurs are catalysts for change, which can influence healthcare policy. Utilize your entrepreneurial skills to advocate for policy changes that improve the healthcare landscape. For instance, you could join forces with other healthcare entrepreneurs to lobby for increased funding for medical research or implement regulations that promote healthcare innovation. You can contribute to an environment that fosters entrepreneurship and advances patient-centered care.
Entrepreneurs understand the power of collaboration and partnerships. In medicine, forge alliances with healthcare institutions, professionals and organizations. For example, you could partner with a hospital or clinic to pilot-test a new healthcare solution or collaborate with researchers on cutting-edge medical technologies. By building strong networks, you gain access to the expertise, resources and support necessary to bring your entrepreneurial ideas to fruition.
Related: How Entrepreneurs Can Capitalize on the Digital Healthcare Revolution
Successful entrepreneurs often have mentors who guide and inspire them. In medicine, seek mentorship from experienced physicians or healthcare entrepreneurs who can provide valuable insights and advice. Continue your education by enrolling in courses or programs focusing on healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship. This ongoing learning will deepen your understanding of the industry, keep you updated on emerging trends and equip you with the necessary skills to drive entrepreneurial endeavors in medicine.
Entrepreneurship is accompanied by the possibility of failure. Embrace failures as learning opportunities and adapt your strategies accordingly. Medicine is no different, and setbacks may occur. Learn from these experiences, iterate on your ideas and persist in the face of challenges. Embrace a growth mindset, continuously improve your skills and remain adaptable in the ever-evolving healthcare landscape.
Related: Why Success Makes No Sense Until You Embrace Your Failures
Integrating your entrepreneurial background into medicine opens up possibilities to revolutionize patient care, improve healthcare systems and drive innovation. You can make a tangible impact in the field by identifying unmet needs, embracing technology, pursuing entrepreneurial ventures, enhancing operational efficiency, promoting patient engagement, advocating for policy changes and collaborating with healthcare professionals. With determination and creativity, you can leverage your entrepreneurial skills to shape the future of medicine and positively impact patients’ lives.
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Adam Ramsey, MD
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Vivian Tham works at a veterinary hospital in Singapore by day, helping doctors run tests that are crucial in determining treatment plans for sick animals.
After her 9-to-5 job, Tham sheds her lab coat to “service the dead” through taxidermy — the art and science of breathing life into dead animals through careful preservation.
Together with her husband Jivan Jothi, they run Black Crow Taxidermy & Art, a studio that offers pet preservation services and conducts workshops on butterfly domes and animal dissection.
We help to beautify the face, cover up the stitches and give owners … better closure.
Vivian Tham
Black Crow Taxidermy & Art
“Serving animals, whether alive or the dead, is very meaningful to me,” Tham, 29, told CNBC Make It. “Through taxidermy, I help [pet owners] with their grieving.”
“There are a lot of cases where animals [go through] premature death, or a sudden accident … We help to beautify the face, cover up the stitches and give owners … better closure.”
Tham, who has a bachelor’s in zoology and master’s in pathology, started practicing taxidermy “as a hobby” at home for close friends whose pets died.
“At that point, we figured that to take on more [and] bigger stuff, you will need a physical space and if we get a physical space, then we need to treat it like a business and run it like a business,” Jothi said.
“That was the natural progression.”
In Asia, we still have that taboo against death. People even associated us with witchcraft.
Jivan Jothi
Black Crow Taxidermy & Art
In 2021, the couple put in about $14,000 to launch the business. Tham said she’s the “artist and the hands” behind its taxidermy services, while Jothi does everything else from public relations to scheduling of appointments.
While they believed there are “plenty of people” who would like an alternative to cremating pets after death, not everyone took kindly to the idea.
“In Asia, we still have that taboo against death. People even associated us with witchcraft,” Jothi said.
“We also had a situation where people reported to authorities because they thought we were killing the pets to do taxidermy.”
Jothi said fighting misconceptions of taxidermy remains the business’ “biggest struggle,” and the business operates on a strict no-catch and no-kill policy.
“Everything that comes to us has to die naturally or have a vet put it down,” he added.
“This taboo in Asian culture is always going to be there, especially with the older generation, but the younger generation are more open to taxidermy.”
Public perception was just one of the reasons why the couple wasn’t sure if the business was going to be a success.
“We are the first ones [in Singapore] to do it on a commercial scale, at this level. There was no sort of template for us to follow,” Jothi said.
“If you open a bar … you have other people or competition that you can study.”
Given the nature of the business, it was also difficult to gauge how much they could earn each month. “It’s very dependent on how many pets pass away,” Jothi said.
“Last month, we had 12 chickens come in. We didn’t have chickens for months!”
Tham added that the volume of animals they get could depend on the season as well. For example, pet owners may bring in more birds that died of pneumonia during wet seasons.
“If there’s a heat wave, there would suddenly be a lot of other pets that pass on by accident,” she said.
Despite the doubts, Tham and Jothi surprised themselves when they were able to break even “quite quickly.”
With the workshops they conduct every weekend, Jothi said they would make around $7,000 on a “bad month.” On a good month, they can bring in up to $22,000.
We do live shows for students so they won’t view taxidermy as a taboo or something morbid — taxidermy is science.
Jivan Jothi
Black Crow Taxidermy & Art
For now, the duo said, the number of animals they can take in is limited, given their full-time jobs. They also recently extended their wait time from six months to a year for pet owners who want their pets preserved.
“The owner would bring it to us in the first four hours of passing and we store it in our freezers until we get to it,” said Jothi, who is a pilot.
“We have express service which was half the time, at double the cost.”
The price of preservation varies with each species — dogs and cats start at $1,800, while smaller pets like hamsters start at $260.
Though juggling their day jobs and a side business has been challenging, the couple still hopes to do more — specifically in the area of public education.
They’ve been visiting schools to give talks and demonstrations on taxidermy, Tham said, which makes biology more fun than simply reading words on a page.
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For more than 60 years, my family has owned and operated a mid-sized dairy farm in Junction City, Wisconsin. I spent many of my formative years at the barn working alongside my grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts and cousins milking, “sweeping in” and making hay. And while I’m sure I caused them more work and stress from having to fix my daily mistakes, the experience working on that farm influenced how I’ve approached entrepreneurship and made me a better technology company founder.
It’s well known that farm life is insanely hard work, both physically and mentally (which is why I got a marketing degree). However, beyond grit and determination, there were several less obvious lessons I learned from my family during my childhood about what it takes to own and operate a successful venture.
These are a few of the lessons I learned and how working on a dairy farm made me a better tech entrepreneur.
Related: The 8 Lessons Entrepreneurs Could Learn From Farmers
There is no way (yet) to control the weather. Meteorologists can predict it, and we can plan for it, but we can’t dictate when and how much it rains. Farmers never receive “perfect circumstances,” especially in the unpredictable weather conditions of the Midwest. Farmers often have a very narrow window in which they can plant and harvest crops throughout the summer months, without any real control over what the weather will bring them. The expression, “You need to make hay when the sun shines,” still holds true to this day and is equally relevant to building a software company.
As a tech entrepreneur, I’ve come to accept that you’ll never own or control all of the market conditions. Oftentimes, you’ll need to adapt or adjust to the macro-environment to make your business work. The benefit of doing this with software, of course, is that you don’t have the machinery or livestock that you need to pivot with (although aligning teams around a new strategic direction, particularly the larger you are, can feel like herding cattle).
At my last company, Disco, we had a great product that solved a problem for customers; However, for almost three years, the market viewed it as a “nice-to-have.” The dynamics of the market needed to change and mature in order for the narrative around Disco to become necessary for business operations.
There were two “hay-making” windows for Disco. First, when platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams began building out their ecosystems, we were able to launch our app alongside that momentum to accelerate our initial growth, signal market interest and raise capital. Second, when Covid and remote work became mandatory, our value proposition around building culture across a distributed workforce was table stakes. We were able to double our revenues in a 6-month stretch, secure a Series A term sheet and have a great outcome in selling the company to Culture Amp.
Although the conditions might not always be ideal for your venture, if you have a good product that solves a customer problem, a committed team and the revenues to sustain your business and support, be patient and know that the weather can change at any point. And when it does, make hay.
Related: What the American Farm Can Teach Business Leaders About ‘Sowing’ Success
AI and automation are improving efficiencies across every industry, farming included. We’ve seen the evolution of automated milking machines, and more recently, the introduction of autonomous farming equipment and IoT devices to monitor crop and animal health to optimize yield with data. These innovations are exciting, but the reality is that farmers need to be selective with these investments to ensure they can sustain their daily operations and keep the cream flowing.
What I observed was how our family tested new concepts, all while minimizing capital outlay and disrupting daily operations. They approached innovation through creative and strategic financing to pilot hardware and new workflows, and they isolated tests to smaller portions of the farming operation before investing more capital. Additionally, they’d occasionally hire less expensive help (like a pudgy kid with a bad bowl cut, ahem, yours truly) to do the jobs that could be put on auto-pilot. This was my first exposure to the practice of Horizon Planning, where projects were resourced and staged according to experience and skill and during times that would minimize disruption to our cash cows.
While building my last company, we were faced with similar opportunities and questions around how, where and when to innovate. We were often forced to evaluate the tradeoffs of paying down technical debt or building a boring but crucial HR systems integration versus developing a feature like rewards that we knew would delight our customers.
By splitting our team and product priorities into horizons, as well as separating a smaller group to focus on “delighter features,” we could keep our operation going, pay down our technical debt and more cost-effectively deploy resources and capital on tasks that required less mindshare from our more senior engineers.
Related: I’ve Been a Tech Entrepreneur for Over 20 Years — Here Are 5 Key Lessons I’ve Learned Along the Way
Imagine Leonardo DiCaprio from The Wolf of Wall Street walking into his office with Dickies pants and boots. Farmers are basically day traders with less cocaine and hair gel. The financial models involved in understanding agricultural derivatives are no joke. Not only do farmers need to endure the physical aspects of their job, but in most cases, they’re playing the role of part-time stockbroker.
I observed my family actively monitor the market rates for milk to understand their margin and calculate COGS based on the inputs from feed prices, as well as improved operational efficiencies from investments in technologies that could help the farm scale. It taught me to look at a balance sheet and the importance of cash burn. I also learned how critical it was to stay informed of market conditions and how they impacted commodities, and more specifically, how to use tax, subsidies and legislation to help your company survive.
At Disco, these observations and lessons helped us run an incredibly lean operation while making the company profitable. This is rare for a young, growing software business, and it’s ultimately the reason it was able to survive dry periods when growth stalled.
There are many other reasons I’m grateful for the farming experience — dealing with ambiguity (animals are predictably unpredictable), overcoming a fear of heights and the joy of working toward creating a product that does a body good.
While these baby-soft hands have softened over time, I’m grateful for how much dairy farming prepared me to be a technology entrepreneur. But more than anything, it taught me how fortunate I was to have that time and those lessons with my family. And for the record, I’m confident the cows are happier in California than in Wisconsin. Just ask them in January.
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Justin Vandehey
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Marc Randolph, the co-founder of Netflix, joins us for another episode of Ask Marc, a live Q&A series about starting and growing your business. The event will begin on Tuesday, May 23rd at 3:00 PM ET, streaming on our YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter channels.
Watch and stream: YouTube, LinkedIn & Twitter
You can watch on your phone, tablet or computer. Ask Marc will be shown in its entirety on YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter
Date: May 23rd
Time: 3:00 PM ET
The episode kicks off at 3:00pm ET.
Get free business advice directly from the co-founder of Netflix, Marc Randolph. Marc loves helping founders and small business owners, and this your free opportunity to ask him any of your questions about topics like:
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Entrepreneur Staff
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Newswise — Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Despite vacillating economic conditions between and across markets, that statistic has remained consistent for 30 years. A new study from the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal suggests an elegant explanation: a business’s long-term success depends significantly on its founding conditions not just changes in its markets.
“A venture’s performance following environmental change depends on its internal processes,” says D. Carrington Motley, an instructor in entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University and co-author of the study. “Environmental conditions at a business’s founding shape those processes, and they quickly become cemented and embedded in beliefs about how to operate.”
Motley and his co-authors, Charles E. Eesley of Stanford and Wesley Koo of INSEAD Asia, examined performance for more than 1,000 ventures founded from 1960 to 2011. The businesses operated in 19 industries ranging from agriculture to energy and utilities. The authors used data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to quantify dynamism within each industry over time and within each venture’s founding year. They used alumni survey data to establish the composition of each business’s founding team as well as its longevity and ultimate outcome.
“Businesses founded in dynamic environments by a functionally diverse team show meaningfully more ability to survive during market change,” Eesley said. “However, they don’t necessarily have an increased likelihood of a positive exit.”
Businesses founded in dynamic environments typically favor slower, decentralized decision-making and increased creativity and flexibility. A founding team with many distinct functional roles compounds these behaviors — they have broader strategic focus and seek large amounts of information. These risk-averse structures and strategies help businesses persevere during environmental change, but the study also found that these businesses where less likely to gain IPOs or acquisitions if their market stabilized.
“In stable, more predictable environments, being more aggressive can produce better outcomes,” Woo said. “The risk of untested assumptions is less, so continued use of risk-averse processes produces fewer benefits and may detract from a venture’s ability to respond to opportunities.”
The authors argue that the key differentiator for businesses founded in dynamic environments by functionally diverse teams was slower decision-making. They tested the theory by first examining their performance in industries where fast product development was critical to competitive advantage and second by determining how quickly they took to receive angel or venture capital funding. Businesses founded in dynamic environments by functionally diverse teams fared worse in both instances.
Whether an industry is in flux or stabilizing, the study indicates that typically businesses benefit from market change only if that change better aligns with their founding environment. Despite its premise that founding processes become entrenched, it offers an insight to entrepreneurs hoping to both survive chaos and thrive in calm. Businesses need to examine their founding structure and internal processes and consistently re-evaluate whether they are best suited to their market environment.
Find a full explanation of the study and how founding conditions affect performance in dynamic environments in the full text, available in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.
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Strategic Management Society
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Have you ever thought about writing a book? Believe it or not, most people have thought about writing a book, but very few people follow through with it.
I ended up writing my book for fun, but I had no idea how many doors it would open for me. Not only has it opened doors for me professionally, but it also made it easier for me to make friends and date — and I’ve also been able to use it as a tool to get into certain rooms I usually wouldn’t have access to.
In this article, I’m going to share how I accidentally wrote a book and how I was able to accelerate my professional career with it.
Related: 5 Ways Your Business Will Benefit From You Writing a Book
Writing a book is a huge commitment. Most books on the market have between 30,00 to 50,000 words, so writing a book by accident makes no sense.
Luckily for me, I was good at keeping a digital journal. In this digital journal, I documented the lows and highs of starting a company in my parents’ basement. In this journal, I wrote everything I learned, the mistakes I made and everything else in between.
At a certain point, I looked at my entire journal and realized it was enough to turn it into a book. Over the next two weeks, I put together a book cover and immediately ordered a marketing copy (an empty book for marketing purposes).
Once my marketing copy came in, I hired a photographer for a photo shoot and rebranded my entire online presence to pre-sell and build up hype for the book.
As I did this, I noticed some interesting things I initially never expected:
One thing I did not expect from writing and marketing my book online was that companies would approach me with job offers for marketing and writing. I wasn’t getting dozens of offers each week, but once or twice a week, a new opportunity would make its way to me, specifically through social media.
This started to happen after I began marketing my book on Instagram. I took a part-time copywriting gig in mid-2022 and recently accepted a Chief Marketing Officer position at a commercial real estate company. All of these opportunities arose because of my book.
My book “pre-sold” me and made me stand out. It got me in the door. All I had to do was attend the interview and close the deal.
Related: The World’s Best Marketing Tool: Writing a Book
Writing a book, especially within your expertise, is a great way to shoot your credibility through the roof. After I started publicly marketing my book online, I felt way more comfortable and confident charging exactly what I’m worth.
I already accumulated the skills and portfolio, but having a book helped me feel more confident when asking for those prices.
Whenever I am faced with objections, I noticed that they are more focused on the price, delivery of service and fear of taking action. I get fewer objections on the topic of credibility.
One thing that has gotten significantly easier after writing a book is networking. Not only have I been able to meet lots of cool and high-profile people online through platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, but I’ve also been able to connect with people in person as well.
One of my favorite tricks is bringing a physical copy of my book everywhere I go. Naturally, as I go through my day, people ask me, “Oh, what book are you reading?” This serves as the perfect transition for me to dive into the book I wrote and get more into exactly what I do.
These conversations lead to us exchanging contact information and potentially working together in the future. I’ve also been able to make lots of friends this way as well.
Publicly advertising my book online has made it easier for me to attract and land speaking opportunities. Having a book is a great way to boost your credibility, but speaking about the book can open many doors as well. These doors include:
Plus so much more!
Getting book sales is amazing, but there is even more money to be made on the back end through various things such as speaking events, workshops, interviews, etc.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I never planned to write a book. It all happened accidentally, but I’m grateful I did it because the benefits are amazing — especially the professional benefits.
Don’t get me wrong: Writing a book takes some work and requires quite a bit of sacrifice. But if you want to take your professional career or life to the next level, you should highly consider writing a book. You’d be surprised as to where it will take you.
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Dejon Brooks
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As an entrepreneur, failure is not something you want to experience. However, it’s a natural part of any business journey, and it’s wise to learn from it. Some of the biggest success stories have come from those who persevered through various failures to become the best in their respective fields.
In this article, we’ll discuss how failure taught us, as entrepreneurs, some valuable lessons for achieving success in our ventures.
Related: 10 Strategies for Entrepreneurs Dealing With Failure
When you fail, it can be hard to pick yourself up and keep going. It’s natural to feel discouraged, demotivated and even ashamed about the result. However, as an entrepreneur, you cannot let this feeling force you to give up. Instead, use it as motivation to keep going. Failure should be considered as a stepping stone to a successful venture. It’s essential to recognize that most entrepreneurs have failed in their businesses at some point in their journey.
If you’re not failing, you’re not growing. Failure is not the end; it’s the beginning of the next chapter.
Once you’ve embraced failure, how can you improve and ensure it doesn’t happen again? Analyzing the root cause of failure is crucial for entrepreneurs. For instance, if your business fails due to a lack of market demand or limited capital, it’s essential to apply these lessons to your next venture or business idea.
It’s essential to analyze each aspect of your previous venture to have a more in-depth understanding. It would help if you had an inclusive, honest and critical view of your venture to understand the root cause of failure, avoid it the next time or improve.
Being an entrepreneur requires one to be willing to take risks. However, it’s essential to evaluate the risks to ensure they are viable and worth it. Risk is inherent in any business venture. Knowing when to take the risk and when to hold back can be the key to success for an entrepreneur.
For example, starting a business without prior experience or support can be a significant risk. It’s important to consider the many challenges of starting a business and the odds of success. You must weigh the risks against the potential reward and decide if it’s worth investing time, money and resources.
Your target market plays a crucial role in the success of your venture. Entrepreneurs need to invest time in understanding their market, what their customers want and what their target audience likes. Knowing your market’s trends, behaviors and preferences will set you up for success.
For instance, if a business idea is based on an unsustainable market, it’s bound to fail. Understanding what the market needs and adapting to meet those needs is essential to keep up with the competition and stay relevant.
Related: Why You Must Embrace Failure to Succeed in Business
It’s essential to put your audience first when starting a business. Entrepreneurs need to create products and services that meet their customer’s needs. Too often, businesses are built around the founders’ ideas and not centered around the audience’s demands.
Your audience is what will make or break your business. If they feel listened to and value their feedback, you stand a better chance of creating a successful venture. It’s essential to have a customer-centric approach in everything you do.
There’s so much you can do with planning, research and strategy. At some point, you must take action to see if your idea turns into the successful venture you envision.
It’s okay to be cautious and measure your steps, but eventually, you’ll need to start building the business. Putting your plan into action is the only way to create something from your idea. You’ll never know how successful your venture could be unless you give it a chance.
Entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey, especially when starting or experiencing failures. Surrounding yourself with supportive people can make a real difference. A supportive network can help you overcome setbacks, provide necessary feedback and encouragement, and hold you accountable for your goals.
You can find or create a supportive network by attending networking events, joining professional organizations or online communities, or contacting mentors in your field. You can also seek out co-founders, advisors or employees who share your vision and values.
Having a supportive network helps you during tough times. It gives you access to new perspectives, opportunities and resources that can take your business to the next level. So, don’t be shy to ask for HELP and collaborate with others along your entrepreneurial journey.
Accepting that failure is inevitable may not sound like a positive affirmation, but it’s an essential mindset for an entrepreneur. Whatever your experience or knowledge is, there will be setbacks and failures. How you react to these setbacks and what you learn from them will make you a successful entrepreneur.
As an entrepreneur, failures are never fun, but they’re also not the end of the world. Embracing failure, understanding the root cause and taking action to avoid repeating it is essential for fostering success.
Related: How to Overcome Failure and Build a Thriving Business
Taking risks, knowing your market, putting your audience first and accepting that failure is inevitable are part of building a strong entrepreneurial mindset. The knowledge gained from these experiences puts you ahead of those who haven’t learned from their failures.
In conclusion, we hope these insights help you approach your entrepreneurial journey with renewed vigor and success. Always keep in mind: Every mistake is an opportunity to learn and improve. Go forth, conquer your fears, take risks, and don’t give up after a setback. With the right mindset and lessons learned, you can succeed in even the most challenging circumstances.
Finally, always maintain a positive attitude, even in the face of failure. It’s not easy, but negativity will only hinder your ability to succeed. Believe in yourself and your abilities. Know that with each failure, you are one step closer to achieving your goals.
Now go out there and take the business world by storm — failure and all!
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Chris Kille
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How does a business grow successfully without losing its ideal mission, vision and values? In the next episode of our Leadership Lessons series, host Jason Nazar sits down with the CEO of a multinational supermarket chain synonymous with the words healthy, local and organic. As one of the youngest CEOs to ever lead a successful retailer, Jason Buechel oversees more than 100,000 Whole Foods Market employees across 546 stores in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. He joined the Austin, Tex.-based chain in 2013 as Global VP and CIO where he was responsible for all aspects of IT and digital innovation, ushering in large-scale initiatives that played a critical role in the growth of the business. He later served as COO, providing operational leadership over the grocery chain’s 500-plus locations.
In addition to sharing the biggest leadership lessons he’s learned from his impressive 15-year career, Buechel will dive into other topics including:
Don’t miss out—complete the registration below and watch now!
About The Speakers
Jason Buechel serves as CEO of Whole Foods Market. He previously served as COO, providing operational leadership for over 546 locations across the U.S., Canada and the U.K., overseeing the company’s technology, supply chain and distribution, store real estate and design, and Team Member Services (HR) functions. He joined the company in 2013 as Global VP and CIO where he was responsible for all aspects of IT and digital innovation, as well as ushering in large-scale IT initiatives that played a critical role in the growth of the business. Prior to WFM, Jason served as Managing Director/Partner within Accenture’s Retail Operations Practice, where he worked with leading retailers on strategic business and technology transformation. Jason holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Jason Nazar is a serial tech entrepreneur, advisor, and investor with two successful exits. He was most recently co-founder/CEO of workplace culture review platform Comparably (acquired by ZoomInfo), and previously co-founder/CEO of Docstoc (acquired by Intuit). Jason was named LA Times’ Top 5 CEOs of Midsize Companies (2020), LA Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs (2016), and appointed inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence for the city of Los Angeles (2016-2018). He holds a B.A. from the University of California Santa Barbara and his JD and MBA from Pepperdine University. He currently teaches Entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at UCLA.
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Jason Nazar
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Most new businesses fail within a decade. The actual rate depends on your data source — there are lots of small businesses, which means there are lots of small business data sets — and your time horizon.
Many more businesses stagger on, neither thriving nor failing. If we’re being generous, we might call them “boring.” If we’re feeling punchy, we might call them “zombie companies.”
No entrepreneur sets out to run a zombie company. Or a failed business, for that matter. While doing things differently than your peers isn’t a guarantee against either fate, it’s more likely to get your enterprise noticed and to achieve escape velocity before it runs out of capital, talent or both.
Read these four new books to gain the confidence and capability to chart your own course as an entrepreneur.
Related: The True Failure Rate of Small Businesses
Every city wants to be the next breeding ground for unicorn startups. But even at this late stage of the tech revolution, we can count America’s true startup meccas on both hands: Seattle, the Bay Area, Boston, Austin, New York, North Carolina’s Research Triangle and maybe Denver-Boulder, if we’re feeling generous.
What gives? Time and again, it’s not geography that’s the problem. It’s entrepreneurs getting in their own way as they try to build the next big thing.
Chris Heivly’s latest book asks entrepreneurs looking to find (or build) a thriving startup community to stop being so adult about it. He implores them to get back to basics, literally, by channeling their inner child and building a “fort” that attracts talented, ambitious neighbors — and just maybe turns their corner of the world into the next Silicon Valley.
Heivly knows what he’s talking about. Back in 2009, he started Raleigh-Durham’s Triangle Startup Factory. The following year, he launched a long-running accelerator program where he met Brad Feld and David Cohen, one-half of Techstars’ founding team. Inspired by their work, he spent the next decade creating “numerous founder-oriented activities,” which he writes “helped propel the region into one of the fastest-growing startup communities in the world.” (He’s not wrong: Venture capital has flooded the Triangle since 2018, and local startups raised over $3 billion in 2022 alone.)
Building a world-class startup ecosystem is complicated, and Build the Fort won’t guarantee rocket-ship growth for your hometown. But it offers an actionable, easy-to-understand and, most importantly, fun toolkit for entrepreneurs eager to build dynamic early-stage communities.
Related: 4 Books for Entrepreneurs Seeking to Challenge the Status Quo
The typical founder is reluctant to contemplate their exit strategy.
Writing for Harvard Business Review, Tourag Parang identifies five behavioral root causes of “exit avoidance,” including: optimism bias (believing they’ll succeed where most founders fail), present bias (prioritizing short-term gain at the expense of longer-term growth), signaling problems (assuming investors don’t want to work with entrepreneurs eyeing the exits), risk-taking mythology (believing risk mitigation is a sign of weakness) and acquisition failure mythology (overinterpreting rare but high-profile stories of post-acquisition implosions).
For some, exit avoidance is almost pathological. The longer it continues, the greater the threat it poses to the business.
Wayne Zell’s new book tackles exit avoidance head-on. Zell’s blunt, powerful prose loops founders and growth-minded executives in on the dangers of waiting too long to develop an exit plan, then walks them through the pillars of a successful strategy.
Your Multimillion-Dollar Exit covers preparing for “unexpected” exits (death and disability), leveraging a high-quality team to advance your exit strategy, reducing the tax hit from a sale or transfer, avoiding common pitfalls that erode business value, negotiating like an investment banker and more. By the end, you’ll understand your business’ potential value and have the tools to unlock it.
Related: Want Your Succession Plan to Succeed? Avoid These 8 Stumbling Blocks.
The political backlash to environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is growing, but the problems that gave rise to it in the first place aren’t going away. On the environmental front, at least, they’re steadily worsening, and no amount of political wish-casting can change that.
The political dynamics around ESG are a sort of funhouse mirror of the dynamics inside many boardrooms, both at early-stage startups wondering whether ESG detracts from growth and at mature companies used to doing things a certain way. The “old guard” eagerly minimizes the risks of business as usual. And it retains tremendous power in boardrooms across America.
Shireen Muhiudeen’s newest book offers an optimistic vision and an actionable blueprint for entrepreneurs and corporate leaders ready to push back on the old guard and build more transparent, sustainable and diverse organizations. It focuses not just on implementing an ESG lens but on transforming corporate culture with an eye to radical transparency and globally-minded decision-making. It’s a must-read for leaders tired enough of the status quo to break the mold as they reinvent it.
It’s a heavy lift to change the dynamics of a fossilized boardroom. So is changing your personal mindset and its impact on the world. But at least you don’t have to get buy-in from anyone else to reinvent yourself.
That’s the gist of Lisa Guillot’s new book. She writes Find Your Clear Vision for entrepreneurs and executives who are more than ready to make fundamental changes to their professional and personal lives but have no idea how to implement those changes. Or even where to start.
Guillot’s Clear Vision Framework argues for a holistic approach to personal reinvention, one that weaves spirituality, creativity, brand strategy and professional development. She states that we’re more than the sum of our professional credentials and past roles and that focusing too narrowly on traditional measures of success can actually prevent us from reaching our full potential. Sometimes, the easiest path forward is not the best — and that’s okay.
Related: How to Build a Successful Personal Brand in 5 Simple Steps
No business leader or entrepreneur starts their journey thinking that their business will go stale or fail. But, if leaders are willing to adopt practices that help their business stand out and break the mold of predictability, they have a better chance of prevailing. If you are looking to step out of the more conventional patterns of practice in your given industry, these new books can help be your guide.
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Peter Daisyme
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How does a business grow successfully without losing its ideal mission, vision and values? In the next episode of our Leadership Lessons series, host Jason Nazar sits down with the CEO of a multinational supermarket chain synonymous with the words healthy, local and organic. As one of the youngest CEOs to ever lead a successful retailer, Jason Buechel oversees more than 100,000 Whole Foods Market employees across 546 stores in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. He joined the Austin, Tex.-based chain in 2013 as Global VP and CIO where he was responsible for all aspects of IT and digital innovation, ushering in large-scale initiatives that played a critical role in the growth of the business. He later served as COO, providing operational leadership over the grocery chain’s 500-plus locations.
In addition to sharing the biggest leadership lessons he’s learned from his impressive 15-year career, Buechel will dive into other topics including:
Don’t miss out—register now!
About The Speakers
Jason Buechel serves as CEO of Whole Foods Market. He previously served as COO, providing operational leadership for over 546 locations across the U.S., Canada and the U.K., overseeing the company’s technology, supply chain and distribution, store real estate and design, and Team Member Services (HR) functions. He joined the company in 2013 as Global VP and CIO where he was responsible for all aspects of IT and digital innovation, as well as ushering in large-scale IT initiatives that played a critical role in the growth of the business. Prior to WFM, Jason served as Managing Director/Partner within Accenture’s Retail Operations Practice, where he worked with leading retailers on strategic business and technology transformation. Jason holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Jason Nazar is a serial tech entrepreneur, advisor, and investor with two successful exits. He was most recently co-founder/CEO of workplace culture review platform Comparably (acquired by ZoomInfo), and previously co-founder/CEO of Docstoc (acquired by Intuit). Jason was named LA Times’ Top 5 CEOs of Midsize Companies (2020), LA Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs (2016), and appointed inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence for the city of Los Angeles (2016-2018). He holds a B.A. from the University of California Santa Barbara and his JD and MBA from Pepperdine University. He currently teaches Entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at UCLA.
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Jason Nazar
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Let’s face it, sometimes being an entrepreneur can be lonely — especially when only a few people believe in your vision. This, combined with the constant setbacks and roadblocks, makes it easy for any entrepreneur to fall into depression.
I’m only 22, but my journey started around 2014. During this period, I’ve had numerous successes and failures. During times things weren’t going well, I learned different ways to appreciate the moment and find opportunities despite the chaos.
Here are my four favorite things to do to make the journey fun despite the constant ups and downs.
Related: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Happiness
I’ve recently been learning about the concept of letting go. A couple of months ago, I was on a call with my accountability partner, and he just got tired of setting goals, so he didn’t send any for the month of February 2023. Long story short, that month was his best month in a long time because he temporarily released his expectations and let things flow naturally.
You see, when you have high expectations or goals, you’re immediately going to feel the emotions of stress, anxiety, depression, pressure, etc. We often think that this is okay and that these negative emotions will go away once our goals/expectations are achieved, but that is false.
Once you reach an expectation or goal (such as becoming a millionaire), you now have to maintain it, which can often be more challenging. Trying to maintain something like this will bring those same negative emotions back, making you unhappy.
This is why people say money, fame and success won’t make you happy. An effective way to find happiness is to release all expectations and be grateful for what you have and where you currently are in life/business.
Doing this regularly improves my mental health and overall happiness during uncertain times.
I’m not saying you need to get rid of all your goals, but I believe you should find a healthy balance between setting goals and having no goals/expectations.
We’ve all had those roadblocks or setbacks that seemed impossible to go around. I’ve gotten tons of them during my journey, and I’m still getting them. But each time I encounter a significant setback, I see it as a new plot twist to add to my story.
When I first started, I had a specific end goal in mind, but by having the mindset that I’m writing my story in real-time, my end goal is dramatically different and far better than I initially anticipated.
Sometimes in business, the best solution is to do less. As I pull away some attention from my business, one area I love giving more of my attention to is the people in my life. This includes friends, family and potentially anyone I may be dating.
By releasing expectations (as mentioned in my first point) and spending quality time with the people I love, I am not only strengthening those relationships but often finding solutions to my problems by stepping back.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on mental health recently. Taking care of your mental health is essential because it is very easy to overwork yourself and slide into burnout.
Using the concept of letting go, my definition of self-care is letting go of expectations and focusing on yourself.
Some of my favorite self-care/mental health practices include:
Journaling
Going on night walks by myself
Going on solo drives in silent
Eating out by myself
Reading a book
Going to a park
Sitting in a hammock by the water
Working out (giving attention to your body)
Improving my relationship with God
Related: 10 Simple Daily Practices That Will Make You Happier
The world around us is a reflection of our inner beliefs. One of the best ways to improve your circumstances is to work on yourself from within.
Being an entrepreneur is not an easy thing to do. There will be lots of good and bad times. The key is to show up every day and enjoy the process, especially during your worst days. Your worst days are the hardest to appreciate in the moment, but when you look back, you’ll be forever grateful for what you went through.
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Dejon Brooks
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As an entrepreneur, finding the right product to sell can be a daunting task. It’s arguably the most important step towards building a successful business, and choosing the wrong product could seriously limit your company’s potential. Over the last ten years, I’ve successfully started three different brands, ranging from cat furniture to masquerade masks to suspenders (diverse, I know). In that time, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, but I’ve also dialed in on a process for choosing the right product to sell that I believe can work for anyone starting an ecommerce business.
Before we get into the steps themselves, here are the four criteria I look for when identifying a potential product to sell:
The product is hard to find on Amazon and in the USA in general: When diving into the choppy waters of ecommerce, you want to give your business a fighting chance and avoid competing with the biggest fish in the pond.
It’s easy to ship: As your company scales up, shipping efficiency can make or break your business. Do yourself a favor at the beginning and focus on products that can be shipped and stored at a reasonable cost.
It has a retail value of $100 or greater: Higher priced items will help you generate more revenue as a small business compared to small-ticket low-margin items that require massive scale to be profitable.
It has something distinct or unique about it: Pretty self-explanatory! Your product needs to catch the eyes of potential customers online. If it photographs well, you’re already ahead of the pack.
A personal example is my DTC cat brand tuft + paw. When I adopted my cat in 2016, I was disappointed by the lack of quality cat furniture on the market. The offerings on Amazon and big box stores were ugly, poor quality and just generally lacking in inspiration. I sensed an opportunity and got down to researching. Here are the steps I followed:
Related: How to Choose Your First E-Commerce Product
The first step towards finding the right product is to brainstorm ideas. Take some time to jot down all of the ideas that come to mind, no matter how wild or crazy they may seem. There are no consequences at this stage, so it’s the time to get as creative as possible. This process can be done alone or with a group of friends or colleagues, as bouncing ideas off of others can often lead to new and exciting concepts. Feel free to use conversational AI tools like ChatGPT to get the ball rolling.
One of my favorite (and frankly underrated) brainstorming techniques is to search Reddit for souvenirs from a specific country or region. For example, if you search “Japan souvenir ideas Reddit,” you may come across some unique products that are highly valued but hard to find in the U.S., such as high-quality kimonos. Just remember that you’re looking for high-quality souvenirs (i.e., products that retail for $100+), not tchotchkes or novelty items.
Once you have a list of potential products, start a new Google Sheet to track all of your ideas. At first, this document should include the name of the product and a brief description, but as you get deeper into your research you can add details like estimated production costs, potential retail price and any other relevant information.
Once you’ve got a list of possible products, it’s time to weed out the weak ideas and identify the promising ones. At this stage, SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush become invaluable. By typing in a product keyword, you can see other related keywords that people are searching for. This can help you identify potential niches or products that have a high demand but low competition.
Before settling on a product to sell, make sure that there’s enough variety and volume of searches around the general category. Instead of focusing on a single keyword, look for broader categories that have a high demand. This will help ensure that there’s a market for your first product and you can continue to generate new sales as you expand your product range.
Let’s say you start in a niche (e.g., kimonos) but then expand to a broader category (e.g. Japanese-inspired clothing) as your business grows. This will allow you to establish yourself in a specific market before branching out to other areas. Think of it like growing a tree — the initial planting spot needs to be good, but there also needs to be room for the tree to grow as it matures.
Related: 6 Key Things to Consider When Bringing a Product to Market
Finally, it’s essential to choose a product category that you find interesting. Building a successful business takes time, and it’s important to enjoy the work that you’re doing. If you’re passionate about the product you’re selling, you will be more motivated to put in the time and effort to grow your business. Sure, the U.S. kimono market might have lots of potential, but if fashion bores you, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
The ecommerce world is competitive and absolutely gigantic. Every day, thousands of new products hit the market, and I can guarantee the vast majority of them are nothing special. That’s because identifying the right product to sell and targeting the right audience are really difficult things to do — but by starting with these three steps, you can at least give your fledgling business the best possible chance of surviving.
Don’t forget, this is 2023, and we’ve got so many immensely powerful tools to help us, whether that’s ChatGPT for brainstorming or using Ahrefs for keyword research. Leverage these tools, identify your niche, and you’re well on your way to building a successful business.
Related: Before Falling in Love With Your Great Idea, Find Out If Anybody Wants It
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Jackson Cunningham
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As a purpose-driven entrepreneur, your primary goal is to build a successful business and make a positive difference in the world. In today’s world, consumers are becoming more mindful of their impact on the environment and society, leading to the increased demand for purpose-driven businesses.
In this article, we’ll guide you on how to build a business that makes a positive impact.
Related: 3 Ways to Become a Purpose-Driven Company
Your business’s purpose is the driving force behind your company’s success. It is why you established your business and the driving force behind your brand. Every decision you make as a purpose-driven entrepreneur must align with your business’s purpose.
To determine your purpose, consider the difference you want to make in the world, addressing the societal and environmental issues you care about. Once you’ve established your purpose, integrate it into every aspect of your business, including your mission statement, branding and product or service offerings.
A sustainable business model is essential in purpose-driven entrepreneurship, driven toward achieving long-term financial, societal and environmental sustainability. This allows for a balance between economic growth and social concerns while considering environmental impacts and ensuring that the business delivers value to its shareholders.
Within this model, use renewable resources to reduce waste and carbon footprints. Opt for eco-friendly transportation options, such as electric cars or bicycles. Instead of conventional energy sources, be open to using green energy and energy-efficient systems. Be sure to use packaging materials that are recyclable or biodegradable.
At the same time, focus on providing fair wages and benefits to your employees and creating a positive working environment. This will encourage team productivity, cost-efficiency and better customer service, all of which contribute to the long-term success of your business.
Building a community is fundamental in purpose-driven entrepreneurship as it enables the business to create a positive impact and a thriving brand. A community can consist of stakeholders, comprising customers, employees, suppliers and peers who share your values and beliefs.
Creating a community allows for a sense of belonging and shared purpose where your customers can share their experiences with your brand, and you can reward them for their loyalty. You can create a platform for collaborative problem-solving where customers share insights on feedback regarding your product or services.
Through this engagement with your community, you can more effectively understand their needs, making developments that align with your purpose and creating a greater impact in the world.
Related: 3 Steps to Forge Your Company’s Purpose-Driven Path
Measuring your impact is fundamental in building a purpose-driven business. Track your progress, identify areas that need improvement, and justify your impact to stakeholders. Establish clear sets of key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your mission statement.
Social or environmental audits can help identify areas for improvement, track progress over time and guide better corporate social responsibility policies. You can also use assessment tools, such as the B Impact Assessment, the B Corp certification or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to assess your company’s impact on sustainability and set targets for improvement.
Another way to measure your impact is by engaging with your community of stakeholders, including customers, employees and suppliers. Ask for feedback on your impact, and consider their suggestions for improvement or corrective action. You can also participate in industry forums and collaborate with other purpose-driven businesses to share insights and best practices.
Telling an authentic and meaningful story is vital in building a purpose-driven business. Storytelling enables you to connect with customers on an emotional and personal level, creating meaningful bonds that lead to brand loyalty.
Your story should reflect your purpose and authenticity while being compelling. Utilize storytelling techniques like videos or images that appeal to human emotions. Share success stories, testimonials and the feedback you’ve received from customers or employees.
Leverage social media, blogs or other platforms to reach out to your customers and stay engaged with your community. Share what happens behind the scenes, and highlight efforts that contribute to making the world a better place.
Collaboration is an essential aspect of purpose-driven entrepreneurship, allowing you to connect with other like-minded businesses to create a more significant impact. Use collaboration to seek new ideas, share key learnings and leverage best practices to achieve your business objectives.
Collaborating is an excellent way of creating awareness of your brand while bringing diverse perspectives and skill sets to the table. Seek out like-minded organizations that share your purpose, and engage them in collaborations such as joint marketing campaigns, networking events and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Not only will it strengthen your brand’s mission and purpose, but it will also create a lasting impact on society.
Related: 3 Steps for Making a Positive Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Impact
Purpose-driven entrepreneurship requires a mindset of agility and innovation. Entrepreneurs must be adaptable to the ever-changing business landscape, identifying new opportunities to innovate and trend with the latest developments. With that in mind, continuously review your business model and strategies while keeping abreast of the latest emerging trends and technologies.
Stay curious and, where possible, experiment with innovative solutions or new technologies that better assist your business goals. Ask your employees and stakeholders to offer suggestions, and always be ready to pivot when necessary to deliver the best results for your business, customers and the wider society.
Purpose-driven entrepreneurship presents a powerful way of building a successful and sustainable business while positively impacting society. By defining a clear purpose, creating an environmentally and financially sustainable business model, building a community, measuring your impact and telling your story, you can effectively differentiate your brand while creating a lasting legacy for future generations.
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Chris Kille
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Are you an entrepreneur who is struggling with self-doubt? Do you sometimes feel like you’re not cut out to be an entrepreneur and that you’re not going to succeed? Well, let me tell you something — every successful entrepreneur has faced self-doubt at one point or another. But what sets them apart is their capability to overcome it and persevere.
I will share some techniques and strategies for building a successful entrepreneurial mindset in this article. These are the same key strategies I’ve used to build my successful business, and I’m confident that they will work for you too.
Related: 11 Mindset Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs
The first step in building a successful entrepreneurial mindset is to adopt a positive attitude. It’s all about the power of positive thinking — if you believe you can achieve something, you’re more likely to do it.
When faced with a challenge, instead of thinking, “I can’t do this,” try reframing your thoughts to “What can I do to make this happen?” Instead of your weaknesses, focus on your strengths and what you can bring.
One of the biggest fears for entrepreneurs is failure. But the truth is that failure is an inevitable part of the entrepreneurial journey. Every entrepreneur has failed at some point or another — it’s how you react to failure that matters.
Instead of dwelling on your failures, use them as learning experiences. Take the time to reflect on what went wrong, and use those lessons to improve and do things differently next time. As Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Your mindset is heavily influenced by the people you surround yourself with. Surrounding yourself with negative people who constantly bring you down will not help you build a successful entrepreneurial mindset.
Instead, surround yourself with positive, like-minded individuals who inspire you to improve. Join entrepreneurial groups, and attend networking events to meet other entrepreneurs on a similar journey.
Setting goals is an amazing way to stay motivated and focused on what you want to achieve. Start by setting long-term goals — where do you want to be in 5, 10 or even 20 years? Break those long-term goals down into smaller, achievable milestones, and set deadlines for when you want to achieve them.
Don’t forget to celebrate your achievements along the way. This will help keep you motivated and focused on your end goals.
One of the key differences between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs is taking action. Successful entrepreneurs don’t wait for opportunities to come — they create them.
But taking action isn’t always easy. It requires a lot of hard work and resilience. You’re going to face obstacles, setbacks and failures along the way. But it’s very important to keep pushing forward and not give up in the face of adversity.
Related: 5 Easy Ways You Can Turn Self-Doubt Into Success
Entrepreneurship is inherently risky. You’re building something from scratch, and there’s no guarantee it will work out. But successful entrepreneurs don’t shy away from risk — they embrace it with a calculated approach.
Before taking any risks, it’s important to research and weigh the pros and cons. Identify potential risks, and plan for how you’re going to mitigate them. This will surely help you make more informed decisions and increase your chances of success.
To build a successful entrepreneurial mindset, you need to adopt a growth mindset. This means believing that you can grow and improve rather than thinking that your abilities are set in stone.
With a growth mindset, you’re more likely to take risks, embrace failure and be resilient in the face of challenges. You’ll also be more open to feedback and continuously learning and improving yourself and your business.
Entrepreneurship can be incredibly demanding, both physically and mentally. It’s important to take care of yourself if you want to build a successful business. This means getting good enough sleep, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.
Don’t ever forget to take time for yourself and do things you enjoy. Burnout is a real risk for entrepreneurs; regular breaks can help prevent it.
Imposter syndrome is a common feeling among entrepreneurs. It’s the feeling that you don’t deserve success and will be exposed as a fraud. But the truth is that most successful entrepreneurs have felt this way at some point in their journey.
One way to overcome imposter syndrome is to focus on your achievements and the value you bring to your business. Take the time to acknowledge your successes and the efforts you’ve put in to get there.
It’s very helpful to remember that everyone has unique strengths and weaknesses. Instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on building your skills and knowledge.
As an entrepreneur, you’re going to face challenges and setbacks. Having a support system can make a huge difference in your ability to overcome those challenges.
Whether it’s a mentor, a coach or a group of like-minded entrepreneurs, having people to turn to for advice and support can be incredibly helpful. Don’t be scared to reach out to others and ask for help when needed.
Related: 5 Critical Questions You Must Ask Yourself to Master an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Building a successful entrepreneurial mindset requires a lot of hard work, dedication and resilience. But by adopting a positive attitude, embracing failure, surrounding yourself with positive people, setting goals, taking action, embracing risk with a calculated approach, adopting a growth mindset, practicing self-care, overcoming imposter syndrome and building a support system, you’ll be very well on your way to building a business empire.
Remember, every successful entrepreneur has faced self-doubt at one point or another. But it’s how you overcome that self-doubt that sets you apart from the rest. So, keep pushing forward, stay motivated, and never give up on your entrepreneurial dreams. You’ve got this!
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Chris Kille
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