business entrepreneur

Have you ever been sitting around a campfire with friends, or riffing with your partner about some great business idea you had when you were walking the dog, or driving to the grocery store? We all get ideas that pop into our head when we see a need, have an unfilled want, or notice the way something we’re interested in could be done better. Sometimes it’s easy to spit-ball with a close friend about big, potentially life-changing ideas like, “Hey, we should start a band!’ But we all know the unspoken truth when we say those things out loud — we’re probably never going to start that band and someday end up on a stadium tour. It’s those ideas that we really believe in, the ones that could actually be something real, that, ironically, we hold a little closer to our chest. They are harder to talk about. 

Andrew Suzuka, the founder and creator of Otamot Foods, was no stranger to having good ideas and turning them into entrepreneurial successes. In fact, when the idea for Otamot Foods first popped into his head, Andrew was already running his own company. But success in one area didn’t make Andrew any more willing to share the new ideas he had brewing. 

”You have to have a lot of self-confidence, but you also have to have enough self-awareness to know that you don't know everything and you have to pull in people and you have to share your ideas with people,” Suzuka said. “And it's probably, I would say the number one challenge of being an entrepreneur is sharing your idea before it becomes something. And if you can get over that, you're on your way.”

Andrew had to walk a long path to get over that fear. Today, he knows collaboration is the only way forward, but what did it take to get to that realization? Who did he finally lean on, and how did all of this ultimately lead to Otamot landing on the shelves of Whole Foods? Let’s jump into this week’s episode of The Journey. 

Main Takeaways:

• Sharing is Caring: No matter how great of an idea you have for a business, nothing significant will come from it without extreme dedication and investment of time, money and energy. You don’t need to worry about someone “stealing” your idea; the chances that they’ll take it to the finish line are almost nil. The power of sharing a good idea is getting early feedback on what could make it better and what could make it really work well. 
• Be Nimble: Everyone talks about pivoting, but especially in the Consumer Packaged Goods space, being nimble and being able to negotiate with all of the different parties involved in getting your product to market is a useful skill. 
• Your Support Network Should be Multi-Tiered: It’s important too have all sorts of people in your network, including outside mentors, industry advisors, and company board members, all of whom can help you make important decisions about your business. Make sure that you’re still tapping into your original support network as your business scales. Your close friends and family can offer support and perspectives that really help and uplift you.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

Here are three words that might ring a bell: The scientific method.

In its most basic form, the scientific method follows these steps:

First, you identify the problem or question. Then you hypothesize a solution or outcome. From there, you design and run an experiment to test this prediction. And finally, you analyze the results from your test to see if your hypothesis was correct.

The scientific method is the basis of all scientific thinking, but, even when we don’t recognize it, this process is also the basis of human thinking. Everyday we hypothesize, test our hypotheses, and draw conclusions. 

It’s easy to see how this same process can be — and should be — applied to a growing business. And it’s a methodology that today’s guest has leveraged time and time again.

“[In math], you start with a problem and a solution -- it's up to you to figure out the stuff in between in the most efficient way possible. And that is entrepreneurship to the T... and leveraging the scientific method, which is just a hypothesis-based single variant test, is critically important, particularly in the world of software and technology.”

That’s Adam Callinan, the co-founder and President of BottleKeeper, a company producing an innovative insulated bottle designed to keep glass bottles and aluminum cans cold. 

Since its founding, BottleKeeper has skyrocketed; today it is a multi-million dollar company consistently growing dramatically year over year. But it didn’t start that way. Early growth was slow, and it took careful testing and iterating again and again to achieve the success the company has seen. So what tools and mindsets did Adam and his cofounder lean into in those first couple of years that set them on the road to success? And what have they changed since launching that’s continued to allow them to grow far more than they could have imagined? Find out on this week’s episode of The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Test, Iterate, Test Again: Throughout his entrepreneurial journey, Adam turned to the scientific method as a way to test and verify his business assumptions. But don’t forget to retest those assumptions as the business grows and changes. For example, for years, Adam had built the business with the philosophy that he would never hire anyone else, but he was forced to revisit and retest that assumption as the company grew and new opportunities presented themselves.
• Leverage Video: For many consumers, seeing is believing. Find the best way to communicate how your product works and why the consumer needs it. For Adam, this meant focusing on video. (Bonus Lesson: Don’t wait until you have big marketing dollars to spend on making the perfect materials. Instead, take a page from Adam’s book and write, shoot, and edit those first ads yourself.)
• Get a Patent… and Be Prepared to Enforce It: Copycats will inevitably come to market after they see your success. Be prepared by filing for a provisional patent as soon as possible, and then filing for the actual patent once you can afford it. More in the episode about what this process looks like and why your patent is only as good as your enforcement of it.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

You might have heard someone tell you to “protect your yes.” Meaning, you should not feel obligated to agree to do things, participate, or take something on that you truly don’t want to do. If it doesn’t fulfill you in one way or another, why do it? In business, sometimes you can’t protect your yes, though. Sometimes, if you don’t say yes, you don’t have customers. But you can’t say yes to everything… Or can you…?

“We did just about anything,” Paul Rathnam says. “I said no to nothing. Like my dad taught me growing up, just say yes to everything and figure it out later. So, I often quoted things like plumbing and stuff. I had no clue how to do it. And then I'd go to the plumbing store and ask them how to do it. And they kind of have somewhat of an idea anyway, the story of my life. 

Rantham is the owner of ModPools, a multi-million dollar company that builds swimming pools out of shipping containers. And, as you can tell, he took saying yes to a whole new level. But while Paul was busy saying yes, throughout his life, he heard a lot of nos. And even though his just-say-yes strategy eventually paid off, saying yes to everything had its pitfalls. We’ll get into all of that on this episode of The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Exceeds Expectations: Throughout your life, people will place expectations or limits on you. But you should never let what other people think dictate where you wind up. Even if you lack certain skills in one area does not mean you can’t be brilliant somewhere else. Find your passion and let that guide you beyond what anyone else thinks is possible.
• Yes To All: Saying yes to every request is a strategy that many entrepreneurs have tried. When you say yes, you gain business and accounts. But if you say yes, you have to be willing to do all the work necessary to do the job properly, otherwise you’ll be left with not just dissatisfied customers, but a bad reputation as well.
• All It Takes is One: Whether it’s an idea, a design, or a word of encouragement, sometimes all it takes to keep going is one small thing. When you are on the brink or struggling, that one small thing could be right around the corner. Persevere and be open to wherever that one spark could turn into a wildfire.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

We’ve seen it time and time again — entrepreneurs build a business driven by an existing passion for a product or service. They then leverage that knowledge of an industry’s pain points to find new and exciting ways to innovate within it. But we’ve also heard stories of the exact opposite. The entrepreneurs with absolutely no industry experience that fight tooth and nail to break into a market they know nothing about.

The cofounders of Blk & Bold fall into that latter camp, building an online coffee company with zero knowledge of coffee roasting, no experience making a D2C website, and a nearly nonexistent interest in specialty coffee.

They dove into their industry blind, but they saw a market gap ripe with opportunity - an opportunity that could not only drive business value but create meaningful social impact. 

“We knew we wanted to do good,” Rod Johnson says. “We didn't want to just build a business to line our pockets and go sit on a beach and drinking drinks with umbrellas. We want to do something else. We want to make sure that we can have profound impact. We just didn't know profound would manifest into working with Ben and Jerry's and Congresswoman and Corey Bush. That was definitely not on my vision board. And I just want to continue to avail myself to be a servant making black and bold a servant to those opportunities.” 

Johnson is the Co-founder of BLK & Bold. Before founding the company, he admits to preferring tea over coffee, but when his friend — and now co-founder — came to him with an idea for a new kind of coffee company, Rod knew it was a vision he couldn’t ignore. 

So how did Rod and his co-founder break into the 102 billion dollar US coffee market with no knowledge of the industry? How did they make Blk & Bold stand out among competitors? And how have they turned their own experiences growing up into a social good mission that’s impacting the nation? Find out all that and more on today’s episode of The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Create Synergy with other Do-Good Brands: Serving the community and giving back through your business can result in unforeseen benefits, including the opportunity to work with other great brands that care. There is a lot of synergy behind building a community around doing good, and when you partner with others, your reach is expanded exponentially. 
• Natural Curiosity Can Compensate for Know-How: Even if you’re not an expert in a field that you’re interested in starting a business in, you can still do it! Interest and curiosity will take you down all of the right rabbit holes to fill in your knowledge and become a subject matter expert in your industry. Plus, experimentation will allow you to learn by doing, and maybe even find a way of doing something that no one else in the industry has thought of because they have blinders on.
• Unseen Value of Long-standing Co-founder Relationships: The depth that comes from having a long-standing relationship with your co-founder can really come into play and shine when times are tough. A deeper personal understanding as to how the other person deals with unforeseen circumstances or hiccups can lead to better advice, powerful encouragement, and quicker solutions.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

In a book there are chapters that, together, create not just a story, but an entire world or reality that you can transport yourself into. Each of our own lives is made up of similar chapters that form the whole story of who you are and what you have become. Entrepreneurs often take elements of their own story and inject them into the businesses they start and the work they do. Few have done that as well as Michael Chernow, the founder of multiple businesses, including The Meatball Shop, Seamore’s, and now, Kreatures of Habit.

“Authenticity is not duplicable right?” Chernow says. “No one can take your authenticity away from you and you can't create it. You can't just fabricate it. It either is, or it's not… The business of businesses is storytelling, and also the business of businesses is relationships, two things that I believe wholeheartedly in. If you're not able to tell a story with your business, it's not good. Human beings for hundreds of thousands of years have always sat around a fireplace and told stories and listen to stories and some of the best times in my life, right? Like those moments where you're engaged and, you know, someone's telling a great story and people are laughing and crying and those are the moments in life that really make memories. And so how do you do that with a business?” 

To understand who Michael is, you have to peel back his layers. And with each layer you uncover, you realize that Michael’s unique life experience, his likes, interests, hobbies, and routines, they not only make up who he is, they reveal the throughline that runs across all of Michael’s business ventures. He has woven together not just one story, but many in a way that is authentically Michael. And we’re getting into all the layers right here on The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Finding Lasting Inspiration to Start a Business: If you have a deep connection with the purpose behind the business that you’re creating, you may have an advantage as you hit the market and launch. When you have personally felt the need for what you’re solving, you can bring a solution to life authentically. The mission or purpose behind your company will shine through the products and marketing tactics and carry you through tough times. 
• Authenticity Matters as a Founder: Founding a business will take everything from you — all your time, energy, and abilities. Approaching all of it with an authentic reason for “why” will give you a strong foundation to build from. When you and your resources are stretched thin — as they often are in a start-up — you can’t fake it or mask your feelings about what you’re doing. IF you are personally connected to the why of the business, you can share that enthusiasm through your work and your team will be more likely to buy in and work through cchallenges. 
• Serial Entrepreneurship vs Founding and Staying: What it takes to found a new business isn’t always what it takes to keep running it. Some people are more drawn to going through the process of getting a new company built, staffed and launched than to sticking with a passion project for your whole life. There’s no right or wrong way to found a company, but know where your skills and passions lie and if you’re hankering for the next start-up project, maybe serial entrepreneurship is for you! 

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

Have you been investing in fossil fuels and climate change without realizing it?

Alex Wright-Gladstein, Founder, and CEO of Sphere, sits with A.J. Lawrence to discuss how the investment holdings of most people’s 401(k)s support the financing of fossil fuels. They also talk about her journey in climate change and sustainability, transitioning from being CEO of Ayar Labs to starting Sphere, and all the entrepreneurial lessons along the way.

Listen to this episode to learn more about climate change, entrepreneurship, and understanding where the finance in your investment holdings actually goes.

About our guest:

Alex Wright-Gladstein is an entrepreneur with a passion for addressing climate change.  She is also the Co-Founder of Ayar Labs founded in 2015, formerly OptiBit, a company transforming computing performance by moving data with light. 

On today’s episode:

• Meet Alex Wright-Gladstein, Founder and CEO of Sphere – 00:50
• Alex shares where she stands in her entrepreneurial journey – 03:51
• The difference switching from technology to finance – 08:18
• The importance of developing a community focus when creating a movement – 12:08
• The approach for advocating climate-friendly practices in companies today – 16:19
• Alex explains the impact of each person's “pocketbook” – 17:41
• Alex talks about what had the most significant impact on improving her growth as an entrepreneur – 20:52
• The intentionality required for building the right team – 23:29
• Alex shares about what she currently finds really interesting – 27:42
• How Alex defines success – 33:01

Key Takeaways:

• Understanding the need for systemic change is really important for tackling climate issues. There are so many factors that keep things in place and are root problems for why an issue exists. It will be tough to make a significant difference if you don’t understand the deeper problems and hidden forces behind why they still exist. 
• It is so crucial for entrepreneurs to be intentional. Intentionality is about where you focus your time and energy. Being intentional about building the right team that can run with your vision is time worth spending. Do not make the mistake of quickly filling gaps in your team and stunting long-term growth with the wrong people in the driver’s seat.
• Have clear, measurable goals towards your success. Do not make the journey towards success and progress vague or arbitrary. Some things have to be made black and white. The clearer and more measurable you make your goals, the better you will have insight into what you need to do to reach them.
• The next seven years are a crucial window for climate change action. Scientists predict that the global warming impact will cross the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold in seven years if things continue as they are. This can lead to irreversible damage to the planet. The good news is 80% of Americans are concerned about climate change, and the correct systemic change can avert this problem. (Read about the Sunrise Movement for more information)
  
  

What do entrepreneurs need to be intentional about and focus on?

[22:39] “Be really intentional about hiring. It can be so easy to take shortcuts and bring someone on because you desperately need to fill a gap, but it is very hard to reverse mistakes.”

Are you on the journey of growing as an entrepreneur? Let us know how you are building your knowledge and developing intentionality. Also, don’t forget to drop a hello if you want to share your entrepreneurship story on the podcast.

Connect with Alex Wright-Gladstein:

• Sphere: https://www.oursphere.org 
• Ayar Labs - ​​https://ayarlabs.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ga1ex
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/alexwrightgladstein/ 

Follow Beyond 8 Figures:

• Website: Beyond8Figures.com
• Twitter: @beyond8figures 
• Facebook: Beyond 8 Figures
• Instagram:@b8fpodcast
• Email: team@b8fpodcast.com

Connect with Insights Lab: 

• Website: https://insightslab.ai/ 
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheInsightsLab/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insightslab.ai/
• Email: weare@insightslab.ai 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/insightslab-ai/ 

As Ernest Hemmingway wisely said, “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." But trusting blindly doesn’t come without risk and if someone ultimately proves they didn’t deserve your trust to begin with, it may already be too late.. That is the devastating lesson that Mitchell Hayes, founder and CEO of Los Sundays Tequila had to learn the hard way. 

“We had some people involved with the business in the early days where a lot of money went missing,” Hayes said. “There was no way for us to get it back. And it nearly sunk us. We were working out of my lounge room at home, around the dining room table. I stopped paying myself cause the money disappeared out of the account to keep paying the three employees that we had. The bank account literally hit zero twice.

This was a sink or swim situation for Mitchell and Los Sundays. But, frankly, Mitchell was made to swim. He had been finding his way through all kinds of choppy and unfamiliar waters his whole life. Where did that grit and determination come from, and where did it ultimately lead? Let’s find out. Welcome back to The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Compensate for your Weaknesses: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and so does every business. Learn first what the demands of the industry are, learn your competition. Then take stock of your own store of goods; what are you especially talented at, what are your strongest skills?  Then think about where you might be able to utilize your skill in an area that your competitors are weak in. This tactic can be enough to toe the line with your competitors. 
• Any Means Necessary: Every business owner comes across trying times and difficult challenges, but sometimes overcoming those things takes superhuman effort. Owning your own business will likely involve a good bit of personal sacrifice and struggle at some, if not many, points. Go into entrepreneurship with the mentality of getting it done by any means possible.
• It’s Okay if Dreams Change: What we start out wanting to do as kids is rarely what we end up having a career in. When you dedicate your entire childhood and younger adult years toward achieving that same goal, the transition to something else can be difficult. Know that changing your dream doesn’t mean that you failed at the first one, you just re-negotiated the terms of your dream. 

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

There are some beloved characters in pop culture. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. Yoda from Star Wars. 

And then, of course, Dora The Explorer…

Okay, maybe that last one is a bit of a stretch. But for Ellen Bennett, the founder of multi-million dollar apron company Hedley and Bennett, that children’s character’s can-do adventurous spirit resonates with and lives within her. And she has tapped into those qualities to approach entrepreneurship in a somewhat unique way. 

I definitely feel like I was a bit of a Dora the Explorer. With enough kind of humble enthusiasm, you open a lot of doors. That's what I did. And it worked. And, you know, I don't always land all of my wild adventures, but in this case, it really was the beginning of a whole new journey. And it's so simple as just showing up sometimes up to the place where you're going to meet the people, or have a chance to talk to somebody who will get you into the next door. And then you keep asking and you keep asking and you're just, you gotta be relentless.

The places Ellen was showing up? They were Michelin star restaurants in Los Angeles and she was going around to the back doors to put her product in front of some of the best chefs in the world. Ellen was not well-known. Her product was an apron — something that every restaurant in town already had in bulk. And she was a one-woman operation trying to leapfrog all of the traditional lanes to go straight to the top and find success. 

She didn’t have Dora’s map or her partners in crime to guide her. She was Ellen the explorer and she was out on her own.

Welcome back to The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Walk Through the Door and Ask: You don’t always need to go through regular channels to get things done. If you have enough confidence and gumption to be aggressive, get in front of the decision-makers, and simply ask for what you want, you just might get it. There is risk and rejection involved in this strategy, but the opportunity is there for the taking if you’re willing to try.
• Don’t Listen to the Haters: Those who don’t see your vision may try to dissuade you at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. Push through, turn those voices off, and do the work that is in your heart. Along the way, you will have to inspire others through your own passion, and you will need to get creative at times to help your vision come to life.
• Let It Go: Utilize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. Learn when you need to turn off the hustle of doing everything yourself and let someone else whose skill set is more suited take over tasks that you are less apt for. Lean into the assets you have that brought the business to life and delegate those smaller, albeit necessary, tasks.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

Have you ever had an idea for a business or a product? If you are listening to this podcast, then the answer is most likely a resounding “yes!” 

But here’s a harder question… What did you do next? Maybe you jotted some things down in a notebook, or even went as far as making a business plan. But again I ask, what did you do next? Did a few weeks roll by and you forgot all about it? Or maybe, like Ju Rhyu, you took a couple steps forward before realizing what a difficult and risky journey it would be. 

“I was doing it by myself. It was very intimidating. I got intimidated by the amount of money that I realized I had to put in for the first PO. So then I stopped, I stopped and I took a job.”

Ju had a vision for a company she called Hero Cosmetics, but there were years between the birth of that idea and actually getting a business off the ground. 

Ideas are plentiful. I’ve had them, and I’m sure you have, too. But what is that missing piece that keeps us and those like us from executing on these ideas and dreams? What was stopping Ju? 

There is so much risk and so much to fear when you’re about to jump off that proverbial ledge into entrepreneurship. Ju felt that fear deep in her bones and it stopped her in her tracks. That’s not unique.

Main Takeaways:

• Reasons to Have a Co-founder: Creating a business can be easier with support from co-founders. Sharing the many responsibilities of running a business — including financial obligations and time investment — can help you get more done quicker and on the road to success faster. Know what you need as a founder to get the project launched. Do you need someone there with you, sharing the burden? What part of the business is the most difficult that could be aided with another person coming on board? When you answer these questions and then act on your decision, you can start to bring your idea to life in real ways.  
• When to Expand: Knowing when to focus your company on a limited number of products and when to expand your offerings is key. You have more limited resources in the beginning stages, so every effort needs to be poured into a select few (or singular) products so that you can make it succeed. At some point you will need to expand if you want to grow, so being strategic when and how you do so is key.   
• Journeys Don’t Have to be Linear: It doesn’t matter what path you start out on, you can still find your way to becoming that successful entrepreneur. Even if you get handed a set of unfortunate circumstances, those can become learning opportunities and blessings in disguise. Learning how to reframe perceived difficulties and how to take the next step when you’re ready are two ways to help navigate an indirect journey. 

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

Oculus - a VR company acquired by Facebook for 2 billion dollars in 2014. 

Popsockets - the little pop out button that attaches to the back of your phone, a simple idea that is now making more than 100 million dollars in profit every year. 

And Tile -  the bluetooth device that lets you find misplaced items, has partnered with Amazon and sold more than 35 million devices.  

What do these three companies have in common?

They all got their start, their first dollar earned, on the crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter. But even with recognizable products and massive success stories like theirs, crowd-funding is still far from the normal way to secure funding, and it is certainly not the ordinary way to secure ALL of your funding year over year for more than a decade. 

Yet for Peter Dering, the founder of Peak Design, crowdfunding was the only business plan he bet on. And it was that bet that would propel him from here:

“I had already run out of money and taken a job at a restaurant to make ends meet. I was a food runner, which is the lowest man on the totem pole.” 

To here:

“I had a profitable business after two days of selling… The Kickstarter community just flocked to this idea. And so that success was pretty immediate and it felt incredible.”

How did launching a Kickstarter get Peter out of odd jobs and place him at the head of a business skyrocketing to success? And how is he carrying on Peak’s crowdfunded origins every year to continue to fund new projects while building unwavering customer loyalty? Find out that and more on today’s episode of The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Building Customer Loyalty: Crowdfunding built a fiercely loyal customer base early in the company’s life. From there, Peak continued to nurture that relationship by investing in thoughtful, reliable products and honestly addressing complaints if a customer ever ran into any issues. 
• Employee-first Approach: Their company has near-zero turnover and focuses a lot on creating a space where their team can feel fulfilled by their work. Peter hires slowly and intentionally and in so doing has built a time that he trusts to set their own goals, timelines, and budgets.
• A Formula for Success: To this day, Peak is still 100% crowdfunded. Every year, Peter and his team launch a new Kickstarter. They’ve created a winning formula that can be repeated again and again.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

What were you doing when you were 11 years old? Whatever it was, do you think it was shaping the person you are today? Not philosophically, I mean directly. Was the 11-year-old you learning the skills you’d need to succeed in the job you’re doing now?

Very few people would answer yes to that question. Russell Aldridge is one of them. 

Russell has been a tinkerer and a builder his whole life, and eventually, that passion led him, like many entrepreneurs, to take a leap of faith.

“I said, ‘I'm thinking about quitting my job and starting a company in the garage,” Russell said when recalling the conversation with his wife. “‘What do you think?’ And she said, ‘Well, what's the worst that could happen?’ And I said, ‘Well, we could lose everything and have to move back to Utah.’ And she said, ‘Well, we don't have anything. And I'd love to move back to Utah. So go ahead.’”

There’s no doubt that the company Russell was starting was a gamble. He called it SISU Cinema Robotics and wanted to build robots that could do … well, pretty much anything. He’d had some practical experience, and yes, as an 11-year-old, Russell was learning the skills he’d apply to this company, but now Russell was a father and a husband. He’d already uprooted his family once to walk into the unknown, and now he was asking them to trust him again. 

What led Russell here? And how has SISU evolved from that roll of the dice idea into a company that is revolutionizing the film and television industry?

Find out on this episode of The Journey.

Main Takeaways:

• Connections Matter: Who you work for and with is important. When you choose a business partner or to take on a company as a client, understand exactly the commitment you are getting into, what is expected, and how you can make each other better along the way. Additionally, try never to burn bridges. A company you once worked for and left might become a customer later on, and you’ll want to be able to fall back on the good impression you left.
• Solve What Needs Solving: There is an endless number of problems in the world, and no matter how good your product is, it won’t be able to solve issues for every person. Narrow down who your customers are and what one big challenge they face that you can solve, then do that exceptionally well. 
• Take The Chance: You hear all the time that you should follow your passion and it’s true. When you do the things you love, the hard times you face become more manageable because you have a “why” behind what you do.

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

Hey, Journey fans! It’s been a while, and I’ve been eagerly waiting to tell you something exciting… we’re back! Starting this Wednesday, we’ll be releasing weekly episodes highlighting the stories of some of the world’s most incredible small business leaders. They’ve risked it all, made big bets, and ridden the rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship, and today they are running successful, fast-growing businesses. The path is never easy, and on The Journey, we bring you the authentic, unfiltered story of how each of these entrepreneurs really achieved success.

Every entrepreneur has a story to tell, and there are lessons for all of us within their journeys. So I hope you’ll tune in, get inspired and take some knowledge with you on your own journey in business and life. 

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This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

Sleem Hasan - Financial Market Expert, CEO & Founder Privity - Technology, Art & Interfaith Dialogue is the guest in this Dinis Guarda citiesabc openbusinesscouncil YouTube series.

Sleem Hasan is a Financial Entrepreneur with a truly global background. Born in Fiji of Pakistani parentage, raised in Nigeria, Oxbridge educated, worked with the Japanese at Nikko, and now resides in Dubai, UAE. Sleem founded Hasan Financial Corporation in 1996, an independent FCA regulated buy and sell side advisory firm focusing on the Japanese Markets based in the UK. Sleem Hasan is currently the CEO and founder of Privity, an early stage venture-focused firm in Dubai.

Sleem Hasan Interview Questionnaire

1. An introduction from you - background, overview, education...
2. Can you tell me about your geographical wealth background from Fiji, Pakistan, Nigeria, UK, Japan, UAE, Dubai?
3. You have both a Oxford and Cambridge background. Can you tell us about this academic background where you studied Mathematics.
4. How do you see the relationship between education and technology?
5. Having studied under Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose. How did this influence who you are right now? And how did this change your view on the relationship between Tutors and Mentors?
6. Coming back to your geographic and multi-cultural background can you tell us how this changed who you are?
7. You had a first startup after working in Nikkel and after you created Privity in Dubai. Can you tell us about that?
8. In your career you have been going through multiple changes of the capital markets industry and financial industry and lately in data, STEM and technology that became a glue of all sectors and our global cultures. How do you see this going forward?
9. During your career you saw the growth of Dubai and all the Middle East from being oil and gas powerhouse and exotic place in the desert to becoming one of the leading destinations and growth developments in the world. How do you see that?
10. Do you want to give us some of your career highlights so far?
As a person that has a passion and focus on interfaith dialogue. What are your visions for the present and future of our society?
11. You have developed and special nurture a special passion for arts and technology. Can you tell us about it?
12. Covid-19 has been a disruptor in many ways. It has its impact on health, financial and economics but is also a fast forward accelerator of digital and technology. What ways do you envision to redesign our society with technology and social impact?

About Dinis Guarda profile and Channels
https://www.openbusinesscouncil.org
https://www.dinisguarda.com/
https://www.intelligenthq.com
https://www.hedgethink.com/

https://www.citiesabc.com/
https://twitter.com/citiesabc__

Dinis Guarda's 4IR: AI, Blockchain, Fintech, IoT - Reinventing a Nation https://www.4irbook.com/

Intelligenthq Academy for blockchain, AI courses on https://academy.intelligenthq.com/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IW0kiUQ3Oo8

About Tony Guarnaccia:

Tony Guarnaccia is widely recognized as an authority on digital marketing and has driven results for thousands of businesses across the globe, from small businesses to the Fortune 500.

Tony’s personal mission is to Democratize Marketing…

To level the playing field for every business to grow and succeed by sharing exactly what they need to do, how to do it, and providing the resources they need in a way that is easy-to-understand and simple-to-execute.

He believes that by growing small businesses, together we can impact not just our local communities but also our world by supporting the non-profits, charities, ministries and causes that drive positive change.

Tony’s entrepreneurial endeavors began over 20 years ago when he created one of the first internet bakeries and later founded Image Cake, an award-winning promotional products company that served celebrities including Jennifer Lopez and Jay-Z as well as the Fortune 500 including Microsoft, IBM and Oracle. He also founded Occasions, an entertainment agency whose clients included Nissan, Pitney Bowes and Morgan Stanley.

Tony spent over a decade in enterprise marketing for ADP, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, AutoNation, Lithia Motors, Mohegan Sun, BMW and many others. In 2009, Tony and his team achieved the distinction of being recognized as the Google AdWords Reseller of the Year.

After a decade working at the Fortune 500 and managing over $400 million in marketing, Tony returned to his entrepreneurial passion and founded Big Fish Results to bring the same strategy, tactics and resources normally reserved for larger enterprises to small business. He later created RESULTS Trained and RESULTS Suite to provide the knowledge and tools necessary to successfully execute marketing campaigns.

Tony has educated thousands of businesses on digital marketing, business planning and growth.

He focuses on three main topics at the present time:

♾️ Growth Compounding: 6 Reasons Why So Many Businesses Struggle While the Fastest Companies Multiply

💡 Break the Circle: How to Build an Innovation Culture

🌎 Driving Positive Change: The Four Qualities That Great Leaders Share

Tony’s Vision is to directly impact the growth of 1,000,000 businesses by 2026 by sharing how any business can leverage Growth Compounding and the 6 Growth Factors that the world’s fastest growing companies use to drive exponential growth.

~

You can find Tony Guarnaccia on...

Website: https://smallstepsgrowprofits.com/

Download Small Steps Manifesto! https://smallstepsgrowprofits.com/manifesto-confirmation/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyguarnaccia

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Before his 25th Birthday he was hit by a minivan, and ended up in a comma for a week.

When he woke up, he was told that he would never walk again. 

At the time, he was an athlete, and aspired to have a family. So hearing the news, as it would for anyone, it goes without saying that it was completely devastating.

Most people would crumble at news like this. Most people would fall into depression and not know what to do with the rest of their lives. But this guy isn't "most people".

Instead, he had a vision that he would prove the Dr.'s wrong and walk by his 25th birthday. And that he did. 

His focus, his vision, his determination is what helped him achieve that goal, and on this Episode we discuss the steps he took to achieve that massive life changing moment.

Joining me on this Special Edition of The MindShare PodCast is my friend Anthony Brown. He is the Team Leader of Ask Anthony & Associates out of Canada's East Coast, in Halifax Nova Scotia.

The MindShare PodCast is sponsored by KiTS Keep-in-Touch Systems, and is a Founding Member of the Industry Syndicate Media Network.

Please subscribe, rate the show, and share your thoughts by leaving a review. You can also get more #MindShare on Facebook @MindShare101 and Instagram @davidgreenspan101. Check out YouTube #MindShare101, and http://www.mindshare101.com and http://industrysyndicate.com/ 

If you would like to be a guest on the show, or know someone that should be a guest on the show, please get in touch anytime!

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This week we bring you a replay of the main attraction from our May Connect event: a Q&A session featuring a panel of Jacksonville real estate professionals, answering your most pressing questions! Pat, Obi, C.C., and Jamie respond to some real estate FAQs and share the secrets to their business success. If you missed our May Connect event, or just want to hear from our panel again, make sure to give this episode a listen! It’s packed with information and insight from our all-star panel lineup. 

Featured on the panel are:

Pat Flynn, Yellowbird Homebuyers (@patflynnhomes)

Obi Dorsey, Freedom Homebuyers (@jaxfreedomrei)

C.C. Underwood, Sellin’ with C.C. (@sellingwithcc)

Jamie Holmes, Movement Mortgage (@movementmtg)

Kyle chats with Sean Tierney, Vice President of CoreVest Finance. CoreVest specializes in originating loans and credit for residential and commercial real estate investors, having financed over 35,000 properties and closed over $5 billion in loans. Kyle and Sean discuss issues in the affordable housing space, the advantages and disadvantages of working in the Jacksonville market, and predictions for the near future of the real estate investing industry. If you’re interested in the financial nitty-gritty of real estate investment, you’ll find a lot of value in this episode!

You can connect with Sean on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-tierney-a0193334/

1:26 - Sean’s background

5:32 - Sylvan Road Capital

10:01 - Into the affordable housing space

15:15 - Day-to-day at Corevest Finance

18:01 - Money for different investment spaces

23:21 - The Jacksonville Marke

27:42 - The government and affordable housing 

30:39 - Predictions for the future of the industry

35:42 - Wrap-up and contact information  

Kyle chats with Douglas Skipworth, co-founder of Crestcore Realty and the 6AM Core Collective in Memphis, Tennessee. Doug is a veteran CPA and CFA with experience in many spheres of the real estate industry, including property management, brokerage, maintenance, construction, and lending. The guys talk about how Doug and his business partner Dan built up their business, their day-to-day operations, and thoughts about managing properties in today’s competitive markets. They also talk about the ins and outs of collaborating with a business partner and how individuals can push each other to grow and improve!

1:21 - How Doug got started

5:55 - “It’s time to actually make this a business.”

10:09 - The 6AM Core Collective

18:33 - Working in the Memphis area

20:20 - Portfolio management

23:59 - The power of partnerships

30:48 - “At what point is enough enough?”

36:18 - Wrap-up

Contact Doug:

linkedin.com/in/skipworth

douglas@crestcore.com

6amcc.com

Pat & Kyle sit down this week with Obi Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Freedom Home Buyers. Since 2012, Obi has made himself a mainstay in the Jacksonville real estate community and served as a mentor and inspiration to many, including Pat. The guys talk about how Obi got started in the industry, his methods for success, and how he scaled up and grew his business in just a few short years. If you are thinking about taking the leap and "going all-in" on real estate investing, this is the episode for you! 

1:09 - How Obi got started

3:28 - The straw that broke the camel’s back

8:50 - You have to identify your vision

10:51 - “Easy decisions, hard life; hard decisions, easy life”

12:00 - Obi’s first deal

15:35 - Going all-in

16:52 - Freedom REI

19:06 - Don’t limit yourself

21:30 - A recent lease-option deal

26:36 - How to build a wholesaling team

32:10 - The effect of mastermind groups

35:49 - Wrap-up

Check out Obi and Freedom Home Buyers on the web: webuyhousesjax.com
and on Instagram: @jaxfreedomrei