Entrepreneur Success Magazine - October 2021

Building A Great Team For Your Business

3 Things A Business Can't Afford To Run Out of

NAVEEN & ANU JAIN

FastScaling How Entrepreneurs Get through

the growth valley of death

RAISING ENTREPRENEURS

ENTREPRENEUR SUCCESS MAGAZINE

CONTENTS 05 EDITOR'S NOTE 06 3 THINGS A BUSINESS CAN'T AFFORD TO RUN OUT OF

09 FASTSCALING

12 RAISING ENTREPRENEURS 22 BUILDING TEAMS IN YOUR BUSINESS

12

25 FRANCHISE OWNERSHIP: THE GOOD,

RAISING ENTREPRENEURS

THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

CREDITS

22

09

25

04 OCTOBER 2021 | ISSUE 04

06

PUBLISHER DOUGLAS VERMEEREN

EDITOR/PROJECT MANAGER KRISTI MAGGIO

GRAPHIC DESIGN KRISTI MAGGIO

CONTRIBUTORS DOUGLAS VERMEEREN PATRICK FLESNER KRISTI MAGGIO LARRY ULEP OMAR MEDRANO

PHOTOGRAPHY RODNAE PRODUCTIONS ELINA SAZONOVA ANDREA PIACQUADIO

Editor's Note

idea of “raising an entrepreneur.”

However the term entrepreneur in this case is much more than just a risk taker looking to make money and resembling Uncle Scrooge. For the Jain Family, it is solving the greatest challenges the world is facing.

I had the privilege of interviewing Naveen and Anu Jain, as well as their 3 children, Ankur, Priyanka, and Neil.

They are a family of entrepreneurs; a family who has redefined what it means to be an entrepreneur, which by their definition isn’t something to be taken lightly and has a huge impact on solving real world problems.

What is it that makes a person stop dreaming, stop believing in possibilities, and settling for the known or safe path forward? At what point were we told that we are no longer able to be anything we want to be, as if it was a lie like Santa Claus, initially cloaked in excitement and joy only to be unveiled and left with uncertainty? When did the time come that we were afraid to share our dreams with those around us because we knew we would not be received with support, but instead told to be realistic?

never work for them. Then, because of the disappointment they experienced, they began to believe that dreams are only attainable by some people. This way of thinking is then passed down to the next generation, and in trying to protect their children from the same rejection and disappointment, the child is told to be realistic, to play it safe, to do what they know. However, these adults seem to forget that just because they did not achieve their goals and dreams, others have, and it doesn’t mean their child or other children won’t.

Think about it. Think of what you would like to be doing in this life, and if you are not doing it, ask yourself why. Approximately 95% of people do not fulfill their dreams or achieve their goals.

Instead, they settle for a decent life, a comfortable life, but not exactly the life they thought they would live. What happened? The biggest reason is they tried, and things didn’t go the way they had planned; they hit a bump in the road. So, they gave up, ultimately believing it would

What does this have to do with business and entrepreneurship?

Well, the textbook definition of an entrepreneur is a risk taker. So when you think about it, there are few entrepreneurs because there are few risk takers. Perhaps these are the 5% who actually live the life they want to live because they took the risk and didn’t stop at the first sign of difficulty or disappointment.

In this month’s feature story, you are going to be introduced to the

Naveen says it best, “Entrepreneurship is not about starting a company but about solving a problem that you are truly obsessed about solving. Do you jump out of the bed when you wake up in the morning? If not, you should quit what you are doing. When you find something that’s your calling in life, you will automatically want to jump out of the bed wanting to solve it. Ask yourself what you are willing to die for and then live for it.”

The road of an entrepreneur is the path most people forgo, as it is not easy nor is it for the lighthearted. It is the road less traveled. However, choosing this path is the most rewarding, as penned by Robert Frost, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

Kristi Maggio editor-in-chief kristi.maggio@entrepreneursuccessmagazine.com

ENTREPRENEUR SUCCESS MAGAZINE | 5

3

Things A Business Can’t Afford To Run Out Of

by Douglas Vermeeren CEO Certified Entrepreneur Coach Over the last several decades I have had the opportunity to learn first hand from some of the most incredible entrepreneurs and business leaders from around the world. Indeed it would be fair to say that these individuals have literally shaped the business history of the world.

Some of these individuals created brands that have literally changed the way that people everywhere live and function.

Some of these incredible brands started as nothing more than a dream. Some of them began as the solution to a problem or frustration. They all had in common these simple beginnings and most of them were underestimated and even ignored.

Often the creators and visionaries behind these companies were thought foolish or even delusional. The reality is that these individuals had a fortitude that allowed them to create something that most other people could never do.

As I have contemplated what made the biggest difference between these amazing people that defied the odds and others who never made it, I reflected on what it was that made them successful.

Naturally I started by thinking of all the personality traits and attributes that are often ascribed to high achievers. You have heard or seen the list before: Passion, persistence, strength of character, determination, clarity of vision, the ability to delegate and many other important attributes. Certainly there is no disputing the importance of these attributes in the life of an entrepreneur. If you don’t have these things you will not survive, but as I reflected on these attributes, I found it difficult to quantify and often qualify them. I had also seen many business owners throughout the years that had many of these things yet they still failed.

As I reflected on these attributes, I returned to my notes from my lessons on entrepreneurship through the Harvard Business school. Harvard is known for their prestigious alumni who are respected around the world. While my courses returned again to the same list of attributes that is repeated so often, one insightful professor whom I am thankful for changed my perspective on the attributes we so often talk about.

While I can’t remember the exact conversation, the substance of the message was that all of the significant entrepreneur attributes could be summed up as contributing to the three essential things that every business needs in order to become a success. If that business can maintain these things long enough, it will become successful. While it may not become the next Apple, Facebook or FedEx, it will thrive.

If a business runs out of any of these three things it will fail. It was also pointed out that no matter how many of the positive entrepreneur attributes the leader of the company or the other team members possess, if they run out of one of these three they will perish. That’s right. These three things are fragile, and when one of them, not all three, one of them is lost, the company’s death will inevitably follow.

The three things that every business must never run out of are TIME, TRUST, or MONEY. Let’s talk about each one individually.

TIME All companies are on a race against the clock. It was once said that all good ideas are eventually duplicated. It isn’t always the first person to market that owns that market.

There are many times when a company discovers a new opportunity, but they are slow to exploit it and lose the position. Often entrepreneurs get so focused on the idea of launching perfectly or having a prototype complete that by the time they are ready all windows are closed.

Early in my business career we had investors involved in a project that unfortunately had some initial struggles. We were running out of money and the achievements we needed to get cash flow had not yet been met. Had we not possessed the trust with our investors, we would not have been able to have the difficult conversations.

With trust intact, we were able to communicate the difficulties more easily and have an open and honest discussion about what the future required if we were going to be able to stay alive. In the end, we were able to face those difficulties as a team that had complete confidence in each other.

I have seen the opposite occur as well. I was once involved in a startup where it was clear almost instantly that one of the partners was mostly concerned about what they could get quickly from the opportunity. They did not possess the same long term vision as the others and everyone sensed it. When the first opportunities came for personal benefit he put himself above the others, and it made everyone upset. Within a short time this individual was removed from the venture.

He was rewarded for his effort and time up until that point.

However in the long run, he was excluded from the major significant wins that the company experienced later.

A wise mentor once told me that functionality always trumps perfection. In the film The Opus, I shared the concept that top achievers are not perfectionists. They are improvisors. I would like to add that improvisation means that you are in a state of constant improvement and change.

There’s a saying that nice guys finish last, but the reality is that nice guys get to continue playing. Sometimes finishing last means you don’t get to participate in the future wins, and most often the future is where the real rewards are.

TRUST

MONEY

Trust is based on managing the expectations of those you have relationships with. In business this can include not only the relationships you have with customers but everyone from employees, suppliers, investors, partners and many others. Once trust is broken, it is very hard to restore. Trust is what allows people to have confidence that you and your business will provide exactly what they expect. The reality is that when trust is strong between a business and those it associates with, it will grow and be healthy. Trust doesn’t mean that everything will be perfect. In fact, many businesses that have had major failures have been able to succeed or rise above the challenges because they have had trust.

The reality is that running a business takes money. One of my mentors during my initial research with the 400 top achievers said something interesting about business that I will never forget. He simply said, in regards to business - “if you don’t make a profit, you don’t get the privilege.” Being in business is a privilege, and it is one that is given to you by your customers. They vote with their wallets. If they don’t want you in the marketplace it won’t take long for you to disappear.

Operating any business requires cash flow. If you don’t have it, you can’t do it. One of the biggest reasons why so many entrepreneurs fail, even if they start with money, is that they don’t understand how money flows and is created through their organization. They don’t understand the burn rate, and they don’t have clear objectives that need to be met with the money currently flowing into their company.

The difference between companies that thrive and those that die most often comes down to an understanding of how money moves in your company. All attributes that you develop as an entrepreneur should be connected to getting better at increasing and using these three keys in your business.

As you learn how to grow and expand time, trust and money in your company, the chances of your company's survival will increase dramatically.

ENTREPRENEUR SUCCESS MAGAZINE | 7

How Entrepreneurs Can Get through the Growth Valley of Death

BY PATRICK FLESNER In this era of unicorns, IPOs, SPACs and investors pouring hundreds of millions into early-stage companies, it is easy to get caught up in stories of founder and startup successes. However, entrepreneurs who end up being the focus of admiration are the exception to the rule. Most entrepreneurs and startup founders fail.

If you ask these entrepreneurs why they have failed, many will answer they have failed because they ran out of cash. You will also find ‘running out of cash’ as a reason for startup failure in almost every article dealing with startup failure, but running out of cash is by no means a reason for failure. Entrepreneurs do not fail because they run out of cash. They run out of cash because they fail.

There are many reasons why startups fail and many mistakes entrepreneurs can make. However, there seems to be one major mistake. A Startup Genome Report, which was co-authored by researchers from UC Berkeley and Stanford, surveyed 3,200 startups in order to better understand what makes high growth technology startups succeed and fail. The results were astonishing: 70% of startups failed because of premature scaling.

Startups that scaled properly grew about 20 times faster than startups that scaled prematurely.

Entrepreneurs can therefore significantly reduce the risk of failure if they avoid any form of premature scaling.

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Premature scaling comes in many shapes and forms, but it essentially means that entrepreneurs accelerate growth before they have validated the fundamental elements of their business models. They strive for top-line growth only. They burn unnecessary amounts of cash. They accept the risk of making mistakes and operating inefficiently, in exchange for moving faster. They scale and hope all the other pieces will fall into place over time. They try to take shortcuts.

If you are an early stage entrepreneur, a startup founder or a growth leader, avoid shortcuts. Do not prioritize speed over efficiency unless market dynamics require you to do so. Instead of blitzscaling, scale properly. You can choose to FastScale and pursue a smart path to building a massively valuable business.

If you FastScale, you first build a solid high growth foundation and, only then, accelerate growth.

FastScaling - On the basis of a relentless and companywide focus on customer success, product/market-fit, product/channel-fit, strong unit economics, and a scalable technology infrastructure, efficiently and predictably leading and scaling a business fast towards market leadership in a large market.

ESTABLISHING A SCALABLE TECHNOLOGY If your strong unit economics tells you that you have validated your business model and that you are ready to accelerate growth, you should not eventually fail anyway because you have neglected that sustainable high growth requires a stable, secure, and scalable technology. If you want to create sustainable growth, you must make sure that product and tech grow in sync.

You must ensure your tech teams constantly pay back technical debt. You must make tech scalability a company-wide priority.

FOCUSING ON CUSTOMER SUCCESS If you have validated your business model and have ensured tech scalability, you can accelerate growth. Accelerating growth requires more than heavy investments into marketing and sales.

Your customers' preferences may change over time, and your customers may congregate at different places. Product/market fit and product/channel fit may be short-lived, unless you focus on customer success throughout your growth journey. Put your customers first. Ensure a great customer experience and a strong return on your customers’ investment. If you make your customers incredibly successful, they will not switch to competitive products and refer your products and services to potential new customers. Such referrals will, in turn, lead to a strong brand and reduced customer acquisition costs. You will grow even faster and even more efficiently, as the Genome Report study results confirm.

GROWING PREDICTABLY

STRIVING FOR MARKET LEADERSHIP IN A LARGE MARKET FastScaling starts with striving for market leadership in a large market. Before you embark on a venture, you must ensure that your target market is large enough and that you can become the market leader in this large market. If you do not target a large market, it is highly unlikely you will ever build a big company.

Potential market leadership is so important, because strategic and financial acquirers will pay significant price premiums for market leading companies.

GENERATING PRODUCT/MARKET FIT In this large market, you must focus on generating product/market fit, before you accelerate growth. If you do not find product/market fit and nevertheless heavily invest in growth, you sell products nobody needs. You may be able to acquire customers, but these customers will churn fast and leave bad reviews. This will not only lead to massive cash burn but will also make acquiring new customers even harder.

FastScaling also enables you to grow your business predictably.

Predictable growth is the result of a thorough prediction process, in which all departments must be involved. As you understand the economics of your business, your customer acquisition costs and the customer lifetime value, you can predict where and how much you need to invest in order to grow your revenues. You can also assess what this means in terms of costs, EBITDA, and cash burn.

GROWING EFFICIENTLY As you have thoroughly planned your growth journey and have a good understanding of the cash you need to get to the next milestone on your growth journey, you can carefully balance cash burn and growth and scale more efficiently than companies pursuing a more aggressive growth strategy. With less cash burn and less external financing need, you can also retain a higher stake in the company, the company you have founded.

STRONG LEADERSHIP

DEVELOPING STRONG UNIT ECONOMICS

You may be the founder of your company. You may call yourself an up-and-coming entrepreneur. You may also be the Chief Executive Officer, the CEO, but these are only titles. If you want to successfully scale your business, you must be more. You must be a strong leader. You must be self-aware in regards to your strengths and weaknesses. You must attract and retain strong team players who complement your weaknesses and follow you on your growth journey. You must set the right north star and communicate a compelling and authentic vision. You must be a role model and walk the talk. You need to create an environment of trust, in which people feel safe and speak up when you move into the wrong direction.

Finding product/market fit and product/channel fit in a large market usually translates into strong unit economics. The unit economics concept is a powerful tool that helps you better understand whether you are pursuing a viable business model.

Strong unit economics tell you that you make money on the customers you acquire. The customer lifetime value significantly exceeds your customer acquisition costs. Have the patience to develop strong unit economics. It will eventually pay off and pave the path to sustainable high growth.

Even if you FastScale, you will make mistakes. This is part of starting and scaling businesses, but you can avoid one major mistake many entrepreneurs make. You can avoid any form of premature scaling. You can choose to scale properly on the basis of a solid high growth foundation. You can choose to FastScale until market dynamics require you to change gears and prioritize speed over efficiency. If you FastScale, it may take you a bit longer to build a massively valuable business, but the probability you succeed is significantly higher.

GENERATING PRODUCT/CHANNEL FIT Product/market fit is not all that matters. What good is product/market fit if you do not find a distribution channel through which you can sell your products on attractive economic terms? You must also generate product/channel fit. Do not underestimate how difficult it is to generate product/channel fit.

As Peter Thiel rightfully said: “Most businesses get zero distribution channels to work. If you try for several but don’t nail one, you’re finished.”

WHAT WAS IT THAT INSPIRED ANKUR, PRIYANKA, AND NEIL JAIN TO FOLLOW IN THEIR PARENTS FOOTSTEPS?

RAISING ENTREPRENEURS

by Kristi Maggio

Lately, the term “entrepreneur” is a buzzword people hear all the time.

Everyone seems to be or wants to become an entrepreneur. In looking at the traditional definition of the word, it is often misconstrued and used interchangeably with merely being a business owner. However, an entrepreneur is actually an incredibly inspirational person and much more than someone who has simply started their own business.

Imagine the overwhelming number of problems that the world currently faces, and envision there is an actual solution to every problem that exists. An entrepreneur is the person that tackles said problems, and the outcome is one that impacts millions if not billions of people to make their lives better. It’s not exactly the cutthroat idea of capitalism and greed, to make money just so the individual owner can get ahead, is it.

Naveen and Anu Jain have raised their children to not answer the question, “What do I want to be when I grow up,” but instead respond to the question, “What problem do I want to solve?” This is the first step in helping young people shift into what is the entrepreneurial mindset, or what is really the beginning of being a great human.

Have you ever thought of a world where illness could be optional? Sounds crazy, right? Well, not for Naveen Jain and his company Viome, which is looking to find the solutions to chronic illnesses in this world. Remember there was a time when the car, airplane, computer, even vaccines, seemed like crazy or impossible ideas. Looking at the great entrepreneurs of the present and the past, they have all been told they were crazy or that their idea was impossible. However, Naveen often states, "If people don't think your idea is crazy, then you aren't thinking big enough."

The sum of a great entrepreneur is the creation of a great human. They are people who give back and make it their life’s mission to change the world. To raise such a person, the focus is never on money or material objects; it is on helping others. For children to believe they can make a difference in the world, they must first understand that there is no sky and there are no limits to the possibilities of what they can create. Second, children must grow with the mindset of constant curiosity, and actually believe that any problem can be solved.

Throughout their development, youth must feel completely comfortable with making mistakes and learning from them, so fear does not impede their ability to go out and tackle any challenge that comes their way. When looking at creating something so important, error is inevitable, however to err is to be human and to fail is to give up.

So what specific dynamic did Naveen and Anu bring to their family in raising their children, and how did this shape them to be who they are today?

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"Dream so big that people think you are crazy and never be afraid to fail because you only fail when you give up. Everything else is just a learning experience.”

- Naveen Jain

Since Naveen Jain was a boy growing up in India, he was consumed by his dreams. Coming from humble beginnings, he learned early on from his parents that trust, integrity and honesty are something that you never compromise, no matter how difficult the times are and no matter what the situation may be.

You will often hear Naveen speak about the “ups and downs” as an essential part of life. These fluctuations are the best way to describe the life of an entrepreneur. He says, “It's like a heartbeat, which goes up and down when you are alive and is flat when you are dead. When you are looking for a smooth life, to play it safe and not have any ups and downs, then you are opting to live the life of a dead person. Remember, you are alive, and when you are down it’s time to stand firm because the next beat is going to be up. At the same time, never be too arrogant when you are at the top of the beat because you should know that “winter” will be coming soon.” This is life in general, and even more so this is the life of an entrepreneur.

When people grow up in poverty, they have a hunger and a desire to create a better life for themself, and a part of this “curious entrepreneur” was concerned that this wouldn’t be the case for his children as they grew up being part of an affluent family. Therefore, he had to pose the question, “How do you create that same hunger and desire as he had growing up?”

Naveen realized early that his job as a father wasn’t to “take the children to the water and make them drink.”

Rather, his job was to make them thirsty. He knew once they became thirsty they would find their own water and drink. He understood that the best way to create thirst was to make them intensely curious, wondering and dreaming about the possibilities of what the world can be and not focusing on what the world is. It sounds easier said than done, so what did he do exactly to create these curious children who wanted to drink?

First, don’t think by any means that it was easy, because he and his wife went through the same problems as every other parent does raising teenagers. However, every time his children didn’t accept something or declared their love for one specific thing, he looked at the situation with what he calls an “entrepreneurial lens,” turning the problem into an opportunity for them to learn something new. As he wrote in an article for Inc. Magazine, “When your child comes to you at a young age and declares he or she is passionate about this or that, the natural tendency for many parents, out of love, is to simply support that decision. That's the path of least resistance, but it's not necessarily the best path, in my opinion.”

To Naveen, two things are critical for children as they grow. up One is to expose them to as much as possible.

While they may really like something, they may equally love something else but just haven’t experienced it yet.

Second is to lead by example, always showing them what you do and not just telling them. Naveen showed his children that the world was a place with unlimited possibilities by continuously focusing on audacious challenges that can help billions of people live a better life. Whether it’s through his space exploration company, Moon Express, that is focusing on creating a multiplanetary society, or his latest venture Viome, which is focused on preventing and reversing chronic diseases, he shows his children that anything is possible. To learn more about what Naveen is doing to help billions of people live healthier lives, visit Viome online.

While there are changes in children from generation to generation, the fundamental things do not change, such as how you define success and how you measure your self worth. For Naveen, success is equal to the number of lives you improve and not the amount of money you have in the bank. Similarly, he defines self worth as what you create and not what you own. He told his children that if they own a lot but haven’t created anything then they will still be a parasite on society, living at the expense of others.

As a father, his children knew that his love for them was unconditional, but to truly be proud of them, they needed to be creating something that would be for the benefit of everyone else, not just for themselves. Naveen was not alone in his way of thinking and what it took to raise incredible and thoughtful children. His wife and their mother, Anu, played a crucial role as well.

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“Children are constantly learning from a young age by observing their parents' behaviors.

Hard work and dedication is the key to success and having a mindset to always help others.

Do your best and leave the rest."

- Anu Jain

Let’s paint a picture: Two children; both toddlers, your third child is on the way. Your husband has a good job at Microsoft and at this moment, you are content and at ease.

The door opens, and as your husband returns from work one day, you hear him say, “I am leaving my job, and I am going to do something on my own.” Your only response, “Are you crazy? Did you forget we have a third child on the way? Go back and say you made a mistake and want your job back!”

For Anu, this was the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey alongside her husband. He locked himself in his office and spent hours on the phone everyday orchestrating what was to come. Anu got involved early on and managed HR and Finance to help grow the company which went public within a few years of inception. She then created a company foundation and focused her time on getting employees engaged in their local community creating a culture of giving back which she has continued to do with every company her husband has started.

The children were part of this journey since the inception of the first company, and this developed not only their entrepreneurial spirit but also their desire to help others from a very young age. Anu’s children describe her as the most selfless person that they know, always putting everyone else’s needs before her own. Growing up, every year on their birthdays, she would take Ankur, Priyanka and Neil to volunteer and donate money to their favorite charities. One activity they would do frequently was to cook a meal, bring it to the shelter, and serve it to the people there. As well each year, they would also adopt a family and buy gifts for those less fortunate during the holiday season.

Anu’s parents engrained the importance of giving back and helping others from a young age, which she now passes on to her own children. Born in India, Anu was only two months old when her dad got transferred to Israel as a diplomat with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. As a family, they moved from country to country in the Middle East almost every two years. Anu remembers her childhood as being very special, going to an international school with students from all over the world, and growing up in a city with three of the most important religions of the world. Education was very important to Anu’s father, and he sacrificed being with the family by getting himself transferred to war zones so that he could afford to give all his children the best education possible and have the means to send them to universities in the United States.

witnessed the mistreatment of women in many countries.

Even after coming to the United States for higher education, she was shocked to learn and experience that women weren’t safe on college campuses either. She knew the day would come when she would be able to seriously advocate for change, and she has dedicated much of her life to advancing gender equality.

Today you can find Anu on multiple boards for foundations to make real change both locally and globally. She is the founder of the Women's Safety XPRIZE, where she launched a $1 million competition to incentivize innovators to design a technology-based solution that sets a new safety standard for women. She is also the Founder and CEO of the Anu and Naveen Jain Family Foundation, where she focuses on advancing girls & women and increasing global access to education, health, & wellness through technology and innovation.

Anu is also on the Advisory Board for the United Nations Foundation's Girl Up, along with her daughter Priyanka, and is currently funding a curriculum for gender based violence.

She is on the Health Board of Advisors at the University of California San Diego, as well as their Science, Technology and Global initiatives Committee. As a member of Women Moving Millions, she and other members have a big and bold mission to mobilize unprecedented resources for the advancement of girls and women.

Anu, like her husband, has shaped her children’s lives through leading by example, showing them the importance of helping others and incorporating them in the work she does. As a family, Anu, Naveen and the children are part of the XPrize board, which helps solve some of the world’s biggest problems through innovation and technology. Anu and Naveen have always included their children from a young age in all their endeavors, cultivating a mindset of abundance and entrepreneurship, with the intent that they too would dedicate their lives to solving humanity’s greatest challenges.

Growing up, Anu witnessed how unsafe it was for girls to travel alone, regardless of which country she was in. She saw huge disparities between women and men and also

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Ankur Jain would have to be classified as a very special human being. As co-founder of Kairos, he is a man on a mission, creating an empire to make life simple and affordable for his generation, by fixing the systems that have set them up for financial failure with the rising costs of education, housing, and healthcare. Unwilling to accept the status-quo, he has partnered with and created other companies (Rhino, Bilt, Little Spoon, Alloy, Cera+) to form a group of entrepreneurs, who are taking on the fundamental issues people face today and creating viable solutions.

Since we know where he got his entrepreneurial spirit, when and how did it start?

At an age when most kids only think about having a lemonade stand for a business, Ankur was thinking way bigger than that. He attributes it not only to watching his parents and being put in the middle of everything they did early on, but also needing to be resourceful to get what he wanted as a boy. Although his parents could have easily given him and his siblings whatever they asked for, this was not the case in their household. If they really wanted something that wasn’t a basic need, they had to earn it, and that required creativity.

His sister Priyanka recalls her first memory of “Ankur the Entrepreneur.” She was only 6 at the time and remembers him walking around the house with a headset on, secretly running some business or another. Although she was young and doesn’t remember the exact details, she does remember that he would get checks in the mail, and even had an employee. Resourceful would be an understatement.

His creativity went into overdrive at the age of 10, when he was convinced a new product would help him make the basketball team, as it promised to help him jump higher and dunk better. Knowing he would be denied the purchase of said product by his parents, he had to figure out how to get it, and he did. After coding a website for online gaming, Ankur called the company and spoke to the CEO. Explaining that he runs a website with a large number of young people that visit each day, he convinced the CEO to send him the product in exchange for putting an ad banner on the webpage, and this went down as one of the first of many business deals throughout his life. (Note: His hopes of being a great basketball player faded, as he still didn’t make the team.)

Exposure to different experiences and people at such a young age played a vital role in Ankur’s development. When his dad started InfoSpace, Ankur was only 6. He spent much of his childhood watching his parents build their first company from the ground up. He remembers being a part of everything, from being at the office after school through the evenings, attending board meetings and company dinners, and watching his parents grow the company, ultimately shaping who he is today.

Ankur’s most recent achievement is the company Bilt. It is literally a rewards system for paying rent. A genius idea since a great percentage of everyone’s money at some point of their life goes to paying rent. Therefore, he posed the question, “What if paying rent could help you buy a home, go on vacation, fund your next night out or even a gym class?” It is a loyalty program that lets you earn points on rent, a fixed expense that usually has no return on the investment, until now!

For Ankur, being an entrepreneur is like being an artist.

“The world is your canvas, and upon it, you can paint your vision of how to make it better. Look around, everything you see was someone’s start-up idea; someone’s way to solve a problem.” He is grateful for his parents’ guidance and support to dream big, help others and never be afraid to try new things. With multiple companies under his belt, as well as many awards and recognitions by the age of 30, his masterpiece has yet to be complete.

As a child, Priyanka Jain never thought of her world as being entrepreneurial, she just thought, “this must be how the whole world works,” which is what most kids think of their world as they are growing up. Between her mom’s love for helping others and her father’s infectious energy, she never thought about what she couldn’t do; her focus was always on what she could do.

Growing up with 2 brothers, she felt endlessly competitive.

“Everyone talks a thousand miles a minute and to get a word in at the dinner table, you had to be good at jumping into the conversation,” claims the now 27-year-old CEO of Evvy. She admits that she sometimes forgets she doesn’t have to jump in to get her voice heard when speaking with friends or colleagues, “It’s a hard habit to break but has tremendously built my confidence in making sure I am being heard when I want to be.”

As the only female sibling, Priyanka was never treated differently and was exposed to everything her parents did early in life. She was put on stages to speak in front of crowds and was always encouraged to try something new. She had the entrepreneurial spirit within, but unlike her brother Ankur, her first entrepreneurial memories involved the usual child endeavors of lemonade stands and Girl Scout cookies.

As years passed, Priyanka internalized the lessons from her mother and the importance of helping others, especially young girls. At 14, she got involved with girls’ rights and became a part of the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up Campaign, as well as helped build a school for girls in Afghanistan. Through this work, she learned about ways to build community around a social mission, deliver outcomes, and raise money.

From here, Priyanka knew anyone could really impact someone’s life, no matter their age, if that’s how they choose to spend their time, and she did. She then started a nonprofit that would connect friends with similar interests for social causes and help them find organizations where they could volunteer in hopes that it would be a more fun and social experience.

In light of being surrounded by technology on a regular basis, Priyanka wanted no part of it. She remembers her dad saying to her, “It’s not my job to tell you what to love, but it’s my job to expose you to as many things as possible so you can find the things that you love.” Since she had made up her mind that tech wasn’t necessary for what she wanted to do, her father wanted to expose his “anti-tech” daughter to the workings of technology and how it could solve human’s greatest challenges. After an eye-opening experience at Singularity University, the teen was confronted with the fact that her father was right and technology can be an incredible tool to help make an even bigger impact. It was here that Priyanka fully appreciated her father’s desire to expose his children to everything possible before making choices about their life.

As the President of Stanford Women in Business during university, Priyanka continued to face the signs of gender inequality, as she helped other women prepare their resumes and get ready for interviews in hopes of finding their dream job. However, when Fortune 500 companies would visit the school and talk about the importance of gender equity, it didn’t take her long to come to the conclusion that nothing was really being done about it. This led Priyanka to join Pymetrics, a start-up company that used AI technology to match people to jobs making the selection more efficient, transparent, and fair.

Today Priyanka has started her own company, Evvy. Evvy was founded on the simple insight that there is so much we still don’t know about how to best care for women and people with vaginas — after all, women weren’t required to be in US clinical research until 1993. At Evvy, Priyanka is building a new understanding of the female body by discovering and leveraging overlooked female biomarkers. Their first product is an at-home vaginal microbiome test using metagenomic sequencing to tell you "what’s up down there," why it matters, and what you can do about it.

Priyanka’s driving force remains making a better world for women and girls around the globe.

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Inquisitive and curious growing up, Neil Jain describes himself as the annoying kid that always asked, “Why?” As the youngest of the Jain family tribe, he exudes the entrepreneurial spirit. Just like his siblings, Neil was exposed to as much as possible from an early age. Not only was he exposed to different things by his parents, but he was intentional about ensuring that he exposed himself to multiple paths as he wanted all the information he could gather to make the right choice. Like Sid the Science Kid, he was that kid who wanted to know everything about everything!

Unlike his sister who initially resisted anything to do with technology, Neil understood that it could help solve the world’s biggest problems. He was also a teen when he had the opportunity to attend Singularity University for the first time with his sister.

This experience exposed him to the amazing things happening in the world which made him constantly curious about where the world was headed.

For this young man, not only is the experience important in the learning process, but equally important are the relationships you build and who you surround yourself with. Most people today use the word networking, not relationship building, but for Neil networking is more transactional whereas building a relationship is an investment, something that you grow together. He states, “There is nothing superficial about creating a relationship, and there is something to learn from anyone that crosses your path.” He learned this from his father, and even more so as Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Peter Diamandis, founder of Singularity University.

In working with Peter Diamandis, Neil had the opportunity to go to China with a group of 15 CEOs where he made great connections and learned from some of the top entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists in the industry. Wanting to continue his studies in China and make more connections in a multicultural group of young people, he applied and was awarded the Schwarzman Scholarship, which allowed him to further explore what he had previously been introduced to.

When asked what he remembers of his first entrepreneurial transaction, it was simply the reselling of candy bars to his friends at school, a typical childhood business endeavor. Today, Neil is part of an early FinTech start-up. His reason? To learn how to become an entrepreneur from the ground up and go about the day-to-day tasks involved with it. Currently he is the Chief-of-Staff at Valon, a start-up company that is disrupting the mortgage servicing space by modernizing the system, making it easier for borrowers to service their own loans and get the information they need by taking out the mortgage servicer in the middle.

Neil’s vision of the future is one of endless possibilities. While he is unsure exactly where or what the future holds, he has a profound interest in biotech and gene editing to detect and eliminate genetic diseases. Knowing this young man’s levels of curiosity and determination, whatever real-world problem he chooses to conquer, you can guarantee he will come across a viable solution.

Building Teams In Your Business

by Larry Ulep

Hire slowly and fire quickly. That may appear harsh until you consider the expenses of employing the incorrect individual. It's incredible after you add up all the money spent on pay and benefits before the employee can contribute in a meaningful way due to all the costs of onboarding and training and all the billable hours spent on interviewing and hiring.

Even for a lower-level candidate, incorrect hiring may cost a firm a huge amount of money, not to mention the time lost due to the inability to find the right candidate. It's understandable that hiring managers, or business owners, may be hesitant to take a chance on someone who isn't a standout prospect. Therefore, it is critical to select the right team members.

Teams should ideally be small, with no more than 10 members, so that members may develop a strong awareness of responsibility and connection. Members of small groups must have both technical capabilities, such as writing and presenting talents, as well as excellent interpersonal skills. When collaborating on institute-wide initiatives, a diverse membership within your company can result in a richer team with better outcomes.

There are other important things to think about as well, while putting together a team. First and foremost, you need to create your culture and beliefs. It will be easier to build a team around those once they are established. Then build your team members' based on how you want them to fit into your business.

If you're searching for someone to fill a gap in your team, these options may be of interest to you.

Consider someone you want to create a base with, suggesting that you want to grow and be a long-term collaborator. These are new recruits for your group who will be handed more duties. It is usually the most cost-effective alternative. It might be someone you wish to draw from; while they may just be temporary,

they are laying the groundwork for your culture and beliefs. They might be project-based professionals or consultants that can help you with launching or upgrading anything in your business. Finally, you may need to hire a more experienced candidate to join the team.

Additionally, when you are searching for someone to recruit, you should also prioritize the person's attitude. You can get a sense of a candidate by asking them questions about how they would handle a certain situation, or how they have handled different circumstances and experiences in their former positions.

At times, a leader can have a great team, however, they still fail at bringing that team together. Why? The failure of a leader often stems from his or her inability to cooperate with the team they have built. Leaders who build excellent teams around them excel in two areas: 1.) their emotional intelligence and 2.) their ability to provide the team with a clear vision. Without these two traits, a leader will struggle.

In today's multifaceted environment, the value of cooperation cannot be overstated. Teamwork wasn't as crucial as it is today during the industrial period when most employment consisted of individuals working on a production line doing the same thing all day. So then, what do the team members need?

Just like the leaders, the team members themselves must also exhibit high emotional intelligence levels, so that they can engage with one another with the least amount of friction. Almost all of the professions in today's knowledge-based economy need us to engage with people who are not even in the same field of work. Every organization needs to have a strong sense of collaboration. For growth and success, you must be able to operate both alone and collaboratively with your coworkers or employees.

Various talents are required for success in every element of a firm. To build excellent communication skills, take advantage of every chance you have to work with others. With his unique and creative thinking, Steve Jobs revolutionized the whole pattern of living.

His inventions, however, would not have entered the hands of so many people throughout the world if not for his ability to effectively communicate with his team of hardworking experts and their talents.

As a result, collaboration is crucial and necessary to achieve an organization's overall objectives and aims, and to recognize each person's unique strengths. Your new workers or members of the team are likely to come from a range of backgrounds. They will have various personalities and, because of this, they will have diverse views about how to accomplish their tasks. Managers must recognize this since having a deep knowledge of people is worth its weight in gold.

You're on the right road if you can help each employee channel their talents and shine in ways that benefit your organization.

Here are some pointers for transforming a group of individuals into a cohesive, effective team that will assist your company in reaching its maximum potential: First, describe your company's vision. Begin by setting the tone for your team. Let them know what they're striving for and assist them in understanding your company's goals.

Second, when replacing an important member of the team, like a supervisor who may be resigning, make the post available to both internal and external candidates, as it will be a tall order for the new team member to fill. If the supervisor that is leaving is going on amicable terms, have them help in identifying their replacement, and if possible, wait till the new person is hired so they can onboard their replacement.

Next, if you are looking to change how you conduct business in any way, it would be a good idea to bring in someone from the industry where you are looking to grow and transfer such information and experience into the established working environment and culture.

When this happened in my company, we were able to hire a new person, onboard them, and be working with the team after a few weeks. It was a challenge for the newcomer, and it was unfortunate that the individual we initially hired had to leave after less than a year, however, this happens.

As a result, here are some recommendations when taking on a new team member: Discuss the culture you wish to create. Plant the seeds of your company's culture in your employees so that they can develop and thrive. Make them enthusiastic about being a part of the team and the atmosphere.

Explain plans. Make a plan for where your team should be in six months, a year, and two years. Create accurate financial projections with your accounting software, or even in a spreadsheet, and share them with your workers.

Describe the environment of your consumers, prospects, and partners. If required, use diagrams to depict the interactions of all the individuals in your organization.

When discussing your company, use 'we' rather than 'I.' It's a classic startup error to connect oneself with your company, but if you want your employees to feel like they're part of a team, you must involve them as well. It is critical to immediately include your staff in the day-to-day operations of your company. Maintain their involvement and capitalize on their abilities to assist them in integration and development.

Assign them duties right away. Your new workers should be doing valuable work on the first day, so engage them from the beginning. As well, provide mentorship opportunities by assigning new employees to a senior member of the team. The more mentorship you provide, the faster your team will form.

Define duties precisely. Everyone must understand their work responsibilities, including what is and is not required of them. If you don't make this obvious, your employees' morale will suffer, and progress and efficiency will suffer. For example, if one person is waiting for another to do a task but the other person does not feel the work is part of their job description, progress will be slowed. As a result, keep your responsibilities and task lists up to date. Your staff will then understand what they are expected to do.

The above elements mentioned will help your staff feel at ease and offer them an understanding of the situation in which they are working. Once that is completed, you can begin to bring out the best in them. Simply put, you need to care for your employees to build a great team. Demonstrate your concern for them and get to know them by asking questions about their family, personal life, and interests. It's important to invest in your staff and assist them with the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Businesses grow when they have a varied team of employees who can each offer their unique ideas.

Problems may be solved more effectively when people work together, and collaboration within a group can aid in the resolution of tough challenges.

The success of a new business is not only dependent on the founders and their vision. Long-term success will be achievable only when those entrepreneurs recruit a fantastic team around them, bringing in more expertise and a wide range of talents to drive the founders' vision forward.

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Franchise Ownership

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

by Omar Medrano Author of "What If It Did Work?"

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Growing up, most children do not say ‘entrepreneur' as one of the answers to the highly acclaimed question of “what do you want to be when you grow up,” and I had zero thoughts of ever becoming one either.

My dream, like many other kids, was to play sports, however, I was not gifted with athletic greatness. God made me five feet eight inches tall and blessed me with zero athletic ability. I was so bad at sports that even my high school, which wasn’t known as having winning teams, cut me at every tryout. Since I couldn’t play them, I figured I would report them. So, my Plan B was to become the next Bob Costas or Howard Cosell. I was going to be the next major sports reporter, and off to journalism school I went.

I got a degree in journalism, but then reality hit. I realized that everybody wanted to do the same thing, many of whom were college athletes, pro athletes, or retired athletes. My career in journalism was short. It only lasted two years, and it never included any assignments in the wide world of sports.

Then, I thought the next best thing would be to become a salesman, and it was in sales that I found my true calling, as well as business. For a complete introvert, it was tough at the beginning, but I learned how to sell myself and my services. I sold stocks and mutual funds and became a successful financial advisor, but as most stories go, life has its ups and downs, so when the global financial crisis hit in 2007-2008, it brought a screeching halt to my days as a financial advisor.

As America was collapsing economically, I took a seminar from Tony Robbins, and I realized that while I was really great in sales, I needed to couple that with being an entrepreneur. I was tired of working 10-12 hour days every day of the week for someone else and not really seeing anything for my efforts. I figured if I was going to work that hard anyways, I wanted to see more of the profits, and I wanted it to be for me.

My wife at the time was in pharmaceutical sales, while I was a financial advisor. We decided to quit Corporate America and go into the world of entrepreneurship. We were both very good at sales, and, even though I believed in myself, I didn’t believe my imagination was strong enough to figure out a business to start. We chose the cookie-cutter approach, a franchise. We thought that was the best way to go because we knew they would tell us what to do.

We chose to sign on as franchisees to a small, obscure company that made sandwiches. It was an utter failure, or what I like to call “a learning experience.” We were bogged down in permits, and it took us a year just to be able to open. We were in business for about a year after that before we realized the numbers weren’t right. So, that took almost two years of our lives. We were inexperienced at looking at leases, and in scaling. We had a long personal guarantee, and we knew we couldn’t just walk away or the landlord could go after our personal assets.

Luckily, my father-in-law saved us when we sold the business to him. He already had his own chain of barbecue restaurants, and he took over that location and ran it for another year or two. Later, we learned that most people who opened that particular franchise closed down rather quickly.

I chalk it up to lessons learned.

So, what were those lessons? First, we realized that if you’re selling something, you need to have a passion for the product. You’re basically going to be married to it for a while.

On the bad days, you have to be able to say, “I love this product. I believe this will help people.”

Second, we realized that you can’t look at surface-level stuff to make a decision about joining a franchise or buying a business. You have to do a full investigation. The numbers they show you will always look good. You have to do your homework and dig for answers.

Third, we learned that there’s never a guarantee of success.

There are closures in every franchise, even the big guys like McDonald’s. There are variables like timing, location, the economy, etc. that you just don’t have any control over.

Fourth, we learned that if you want to make any type of profit, you need to have more than one location. If you only have one location, you just bought yourself a job.

Finally, we learned you have to keep emotions out of business. Pick something you’re passionate about, yes, but you have to separate yourself from the emotion of it. You can’t make business decisions or keep people around just because you’re emotionally tied to them.

Some people see a company in freefall and the narcissist comes out. They say, “I alone have what it takes. I alone can make it work. My concept is better.” This is called the Falling Knife Syndrome. When they see a business close, they don’t know that five other locations of the same business also closed. They just think they can save it; things will be different for them.

Landlords love this sort of thing because they get your first month, last month, and security deposit. They also have your personal guarantee, so they can come after you if your business folds before a predetermined period of time. Now, we know you have to negotiate a personal guarantee. It’s usually a year, so you have to stick it out for at least that amount of time.

Being part of a franchise, our first experience taught us that if we were to succeed, and ultimately we did, then we would have to be resourceful and figure out a lot of things on our own. We saw that when we did well, the franchise people took credit. When we did poorly, they pointed a finger to those other variables. “It’s not our system; your location is horrible.” They take all the credit and none of the blame.

That’s okay, it made us more resourceful.

Our next business was Smoothie King, and it overlapped the first failed franchise. It’s based out of New Orleans, and I went to school there. I had an emotional connection to it, as Smoothie King made me feel like I was back there. (As you will notice, we hadn’t learned to keep emotions out of business decisions yet.)

In the franchise world we were “pioneers.” That’s when you take an existing franchise, and you introduce it to a place where the people have no knowledge of it. It was hard. I would get up at 3:00 in the morning to blend smoothie samples, then I’d go out and distribute the samples to random places like schools and businesses. Always with coupons! I stood outside in the hot Florida sun in a blow up

costume, really! I stood on street corners spinning a sign before it was a thing. It was guerilla marketing at its best. None of this was in the corporate manual. We made it up as we went along because we knew we’d have to hit the ground running.

It was all about branding, and this was all before social media. We had going for us, “This is what the product is. This is what it can do for you. This is who I am,” and it was on repeat.

We got involved in the neighborhood. Our first Smoothie King was in a college area, and we started our marketing efforts way before we opened. We had high school and college kids as our first employees, and I made them feel like they had ownership in the business. We taught them leadership skills. We gave them coupons and incentivized it by paying them a quarter for every coupon people brought into the store.They saw it as a challenge. On opening day, there was a line around the corner, and we were positive from that first day.

The first couple of years, we were smoothie evangelists. It was just my wife and me surrounded by a gaggle of motivated kids. We opened up our second Smoothie King location full of confidence. It was just before the market collapse and the location was less than ideal. The neighborhood was full of retirees who couldn’t afford the product and really didn’t want it. Another business lesson to be learned.

We had to move that store to another location which was very expensive. The economy had tanked, and the new location didn’t help that much. We were having $200 days, which in business is horrible. The first location was making a profit, and became a crutch for our second location. We had two small children by then and now had to pay for daycare too.

I was motivated to make it work. I didn’t want to go back to Corporate America, and I had my wife telling me, “You better get out there and make this happen!” So, I went all in. I sucked it up for a little while. I was working 80-90 hours a week. I invested money into learning marketing and promotion. I knew nobody was going to come save me; it was all up to me.

Back then, pre-social media, I invested in print advertising. I made sure our stores were spotless and our customer service was on point. I cut back on labor. I made sure I was there all the time meeting people, and shaking hands. I went to every 10K event, every chamber event, and every local gym. I was omnipresent and still the smoothie evangelist.

My background as a financial advisor gave me the tools to get past the fear of rejection. It had served me well in the past. Working for Edward Jones taught me how to approach businesses, knock on doors in neighborhoods, and attend corporate events. I learned not to take the word ‘no’ personally. As a result, I came into this new venture with zero fear of rejection.

My customers and my employees saw that I had a “whatever it takes” attitude. It won the customer’s business, and it caused my employees to go all in too. I’ve never minded working hard, and I knew that when you open up a business, there’s a level of commitment there. You have to be all in for as long as it takes. Every location you have is like a child. You’re up at night worrying about them.

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There will always be naysayers in anything. Don’t listen to them. They usually have the case of the “once I’s.” “I will… once I...” “I’ll study once I get into college.” “I’ll work once I get a real job.” I learned to read people, especially employees. I learned that the way you show up for me tells me if you’re going to be successful, if you’re going to struggle, or if you’re going to be a giant pain in the butt. I learned the way you show up for one thing is the way you show up for everything.

I have survived a major economic meltdown with multiple franchise locations when Lehman Brothers collapsed. I survived a recession and a pandemic. However, I believed in myself, and I knew I could make it through. Did we have to suck it up at times? Yes, but there will always be times when some belt tightening is necessary. Ultimately, you have to ask yourself, “Is what I’m doing right now worth it?” If you’re working 24/7, the answer should be no. You’re worth more than that.

When Facebook came onto the scene and others were cyber-stalking their exes or posting their views on politics, I was learning how to use it to market my stores. Gone were the door-to-door cold calls. I no longer had to pay for print media and be happy with its 2% return.

It took me 14 years before I stepped back and was able to let go and trust my team. Don’t let that be you, too. It’s actually easy to scale your business. You just have to believe in yourself and take the leap.

Within a year and a half, we turned what was one of the worst stores in the system into one of the best. I used the negative comments I heard as fuel. “He’ll be closed within six months.” “He’ll never make it.” Well, that kind of thing motivates me. I wanted to prove them wrong.

You can pay people to do the $9/hour jobs while you maximize your profitability by getting out there and marketing your business. Quite frankly, nobody is ever going to have the same passion and drive to succeed as you. Watching the bottom line can motivate you to succeed. Just don’t let it make you cut the payroll, as that’s living in scarcity.

I was still working 80-90 hours a week though. I was still replacing a $9/hour employee. I was taking shifts that frankly, nearly anyone with a little training could cover. I didn’t have faith in myself or others. I felt as if I wasn’t there things would fall apart. I could have empowered my people to take on some tasks, but I didn’t trust anyone else to do a good job.

You and your skills are unique. There’s no other person quite like you. Nobody can market and promote your business like you can, and that’s where your talents should be spent. After you’re gone, what do you want people to say about you? “Well, he was a great provider. He missed every important event in his personal life, but he made sure payroll was always low. He made sure to maximize profitability.” I don’t think so.

My aha moment came when I joined a mastermind with Tai Lopez. At dinner one night, he leaned over, looked at me and said, “You’re killing yourself. I want you to scale.” It was like all of a sudden Moses parted the Red Sea and the Angels descended from heaven and sang to me.

Think about it. Major corporations like Disney, Apple, Microsoft, etc., keep going, even after their founders are gone.

These companies have outlived their founders, and all the CEOs. If they could replace Steve Jobs, surely someone can replace you. Hopefully, before you’re gone and while you still have time to really live.

I realized that it was me that made me successful, not the franchise or even the product. We could have been selling anything. I realized where my strengths were, and started empowering some of the employees. I still heard Tai in my ear telling me to “work smarter, not harder.” I had a kid who had been working for me all through high school. It had been his first (and only) job. I made him my general manager. I realized that my time was better spent doing other things. I knew I could bring more attention to the stores by going all in on marketing. My labor costs went up, but so did my profits.

Too many people buy or start a business and think they’re going to start collecting money right away. It’s time to go on vacation. Time to buy some Gucci. I’m always hearing, “I want to buy a business that just makes me money, but I don’t want to have to be there.” In reality, this is actually the furthest thing from the truth. I don’t care if it’s McDonald’s.

Nothing is guaranteed!

When you start out, are you going to have to be there and work more than anyone else? Yes. I would never lie to you.

At the beginning, you’re going to have to work harder than you have ever worked before, but, there will come a time when you want to scale your business, and you realize maybe you could accomplish what you want by using other people’s efforts.

Once you hit some profitability, you may ask yourself, “Will it be okay if I step away from my business?” Do you know what the answer is? Yes. You have to be profitable in order to scale, and that’s going to take some time. If you’re not in the black, it won’t work.

You need to find a team, and you need to find someone to run your entire organization. I promoted someone from within who was with me for years. He became my CEO, and he runs all my companies. Now, if someone is late, or calls in sick, that’s not my job.

You need to get to a place where you can step away. Your job is to find a team you can trust. Your job is to promote, promote, promote, and create more business. It’s your job to set the standard, set goals and set targets. Trust your team, and if problems arise, never lower your target. Ask the person you hired, “What went wrong? What can we do to make this better? Do we need to replace people? Do we need to create incentives?” Then, trust them to do their jobs. You need to cultivate leadership that inspires other people to work.

In scaling your business, you may make a bit less money.

However, you may make a lot more, but, you won’t be there 24/7. What is that worth to you?

Remember, work smart, not hard.