This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Cavan Klinsky. Cavan is the co-founder of Healthie. Healthie is a practice and client management software for nutrition and wellness professionals. The platform gives providers the tools they need to succeed in coaching and care, allows them to build closer relationships with clients, and helps contribute to a society with better healthcare outcomes.
Here’s what I love about Cavan. He is a self-taught programmer who went to college, met his business partner, took action, and created a software and a company that now services thousands of health and wellness professionals in over 25 countries – and he’s still in college!
There’s a lot we can learn from this young entrepreneur who is wise beyond his years.
Cavan got interested in health and wellness when he was early in High School when he was running on a treadmill and started to have trouble. He felt tired, dizzy, and almost passed out. When he saw a doctor, they told him he was born with a congenital heart defect. He ended up having to have heart surgery, being the in ICU, and for several months was not allowed to do any real physical activity.
It was during this time that he got into coding and built his first webapp. He also began ti immerse himself in health studies and getting himself back to where could do sports and activity. He ended up wrestling during the rest of time at school and winning a NYC championship. He also started a freelance web development business at the same time. He then went to college at University of Pennsylvania that is where he met his co-founder and came up with the idea for Healthie.
They launched and got their first client in just a few weeks.
What has been the most important thing that you have learned so far about success on your journey?
Most important thing you’ve learned about yourself?
Is the trait of persistence natural or can it be learned?
What should people know about Millennials in business?
What has helped you the most in building Healthie?
What have you learned about how to build a successful company?
What have you learned about leadership and how have you grown as a leader?
Tip on creating a good hiring process?
At the 28 min mark, Cavan talks about productivity Hacks he has used to balance being a full time college student and building Healthie.
The future of medical care?
At the 37 min mark, Cavan talks about why wearables are so interesting to him and why they will change how we manage our lives.
Best Quote: “There are no shortcuts or silver bullets. Constantly improving in all areas of your business and life is the only way.”
Cavan's Misfit 3:
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Seth McKay. For those of you out there who may be have a job, but are building a business on the side – have you ever wondered how you will know when you are ready to make the leap? Or maybe more importantly when to make the leap? Seth went through that same experience.
Seth is the CEO and co-founder of SR Fit Bands, a physical products company that developed a new variation of the resistance band. Seth built the business while working his job and designed it to be infinitely scalable with selling 100% online.
But, the one thing that really caught my attention about how Seth and his co-founder, Ryan Lee, a former NFL player, is how they have grown the business exponentially using Instagram. It is their largest traffic source driving sales to their site besides organic Amazon traffic and I’ve asked Seth to share his system and the other unique things he’s learned in making the transition from employee to full time entrepreneur with you in this episode.
www.FatherhoodFitnessFinance.com
Seth grew up with a pretty traditional view of going to school, getting a good job, etc. as an engineer. He did just that. He came out of college and went to work. He worked at several companies as an engineer. He then decided to go get his MBA.
It was this time that he had his first child. Between traveling for work and study, he started to notice that he was just tired. He was tired at home. Not present in the way he should have been. And he started to realize that there was a difference between what he thought he wanted and what he really wanted.
What it came down to is that “if you don’t control your time, you don’t control your life.” That is when he started looking at creating his own business. It was foreign to him. But, after about 5 months, he started. He began small by selling a website. He then went through a couple of other things. But, he knew he needed something that had the ability to impact at a larger level and that was scalable. It was when he was working out with his friend, Ryan, a former NFL player that they came with the idea to improve on the fitness bands they were using. SR fit was born.
You primarily use Instagram to sell your product, can you talk about the unique process you’ve developed for how to sell using that platform?
At the 22 min mark, Seth talks about hacks you can do with Instagram stories using polls, links, and other features. Top Do’s and Don’ts for Instagram?
Do:
Don’ts
How did you know when it was time to make the leap from employee to full time entrepreneur?
What do people need to know about building a business online with Amazon and sourcing and fulfilling a product?
At the 48 min Mark, Seth tells us about how to get things done on Alibaba…
At the 51-minute mark, Seth talks about his podcast, Fatherhood Fitness Finance
Best Quote: “If you don’t control your time, you don’t control your life.”
Seth's Misfit 3:
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneurs are the king and queen of the wine business. Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey are the co-founders of Barefoot Spirits, the world’s largest wine brand. You no doubt have had some of their product before. In fact, my wife and I toasted in the New Year with some Barefoot Bubbly just this year.
As you can imagine, Michael and Bonnie have won just about every type of award and been featured on every major news outlet you can think of. But, they haven’t just created an amazing business, they have created a mission to help others do the same. After writing their #1 New York times best-seller, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle and Heart Built America’s #1 wine brand, they set out to teach entrepreneurs how they can create their own success using the principles they learned in starting Barefoot with no money, no knowledge of the wine industry, and a vision.
It’s these principles that I am most excited for them to share with you in this episode.
Mike and Bonnie were never really interested in getting into the wine business. But, they did like the wine country. After a year of being together, Bonnie came to mike with a crazy idea. They were both consultants in the area and an opportunity came up to help a client of Bonnie’s collect on some large outstanding payments from a winery. Mike went to help negotiate and found that the winery had just declared bankruptcy. In the absence of Money, Mike negotiated for bulk wine and bottling services.
Now, they had to figure out how to bottle and sell the wine. By the time they had everything together, the winemaker they had worked to get the deal for said he wasn’t interested in selling it. Bonnie and Mike cut a deal to take it over and sell the wine paying the client back in full for the payments that were owed. That is how they got into the wine industry.
At what point did success come and what did you learn that helped it to happen?
What is the Barefoot Spirit?
It is the spirit behind the Barefoot brand. From starting in a laundry room with no knowledge to the success they have had – it came to down to belief. Believing in yourself and your business through the challenges, the ups/downs, and working in a good relationship with everyone that touches your product. It’s about creating the win-win-win.
At the 14 min mark, we talk about why Bonnie and Mike’s book is dedicated to Randy Arnold, how he supercharged the growth of Barefoot, and what they learned from him.
“One of the best ways to grow a brand is to turn your customers into your advocates…”
How can people find ways to turn customers into advocates by being involved in the community?
What are the 4 stages of growth?
Startup
This is the phase where you have just begun, probably not making money, and learning lessons.
Buildup
You’ve got 1-2 big customers paying the bills and your company can exist.
Buildout
This is the stage where most businesses fail This is the stage where customer growth has to happen, but many grossly underestimate the cost of sales and servicing your clients You really have to understand all of the costs that go into growing the business at this stage.
Enterprise
Your company has expanded and is solid But now you have divisions of labor and isolation – this can beget a corporate mentality which can lose the entrepreneurial culture where everyone knew that they could still go out of business, so everyone sold the product and had “skin in the game.” The greatest challenge here is losing that entrepreneurial spirit.
What can companies do in each stage to be successful?
Startup
Don’t make the mistake that your product is so good or needed that it will sell itself. At this stage, you have to be more interested in making a sale and getting your product into the marketplace before improving the product. You have to get it out there to get feedback so you can give the market what it wants. Don’t fall in love with your product yet in this stage. Get it out there, learn, make adjustments, and dial it in. The little things matter here.
Buildup
You have to discover who your strategic allies are. Ask yourself, “who gets rich if you get rich?” Those are your allies. You are looking for that one or two “sugar daddy” clients. Mike and Bonnie use the example of connecting up with Trader Joes when they only had 3 stores and growing with them together.
Buildout
This is a tricky stage. You are growing your footprint and sales organization You will run into challenges in this stage – good challenges. Like a client wanting more than you can currently service – so you have to figure this out with your strategic partners and find the ways to deliver. You will feel growth pressure and cashflow issues You should have a cost-accountant for your business in this stage. Someone who gives you to cost of your product or service where you sell it. They will help you understand where you can afford to sell and create cashflow.
Enterprise
You must be aware of the disconnect that can happen in this stage between sales and sales support. They must function with the shared goal of growing sales and making the client happy. Each area needs to help the other understand how they can grow together and collaborate. Do not let your company get siloed or become victim to status management where just because you are a C-level or management level doesn’t mean that you are better or even understand what is happening in the business better than those on the ground.
At the 42 min mark Mike and Bonnie give a few points from their programs on skyrocketing sales and “shelf smarts.”
Why is entrepreneurship so important in today’s world?
Entrepreneurship is the growth engine and innovation engine of our economy. The big companies are acquiring the startups and small companies because they are the ones with the ideas and taking the risks. This is an amazing time to be an entrepreneur.
Best Quote: “One of the best ways to grow a brand is to turn your customers into your advocates…”
Michael and Bonnie's Misfit 3
1. Start small. Learn your lessons in a small place. Get your act together before you take it on the road.
2. Find a strategic ally. Ask “who gets rich if I get rich.”
3. Keep sales on top. Keep your communication lines open between all areas of your company. Make sure all areas have a healthy appreciation of what each other does.
Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!"
In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.
"Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.
This week’s Lesson for Hannah
Hannah, I want to talk to you about the importance of building great relationships. As you grow in life, you will have the chance to meet and develop relationships with amazing people. Cherish these opportunities. Great relationships are more valuable than money or any material thing because if everything was stripped away from you tomorrow, your relationships with your family, friends, and business partners. would be what you have left.
Relationships will also always give you the best return on your investment – meaning the time and energy that you put into building them and keeping them. I have seen this first hand and admittedly, it took me longer than it should have to figure this out in life. So, with that being said, I wanted to give you some tips on creating great relationships.
Great relationships are built on the following:
First, Mutual respect. You cannot create a great lasting relationship with someone if you don’t respect them or they don’t respect you. Look to create partnerships and relationships with those that you respect and that have proven to respect you.
Second, if you are creating a great relationship, it must be based on brutal honesty. You should be able to say what is true and on your mind and they should be able to receive it and work with you as needed. The same goes for you. Demand that your relationships be built on a bedrock of honesty.
Next, integrity. Simply put, this means doing what you say and following through, so make you are committed to it and that those you are in the relationship with are as well.
Fourth is Consistency. Commit to being consistent in your relationships. This means giving them the time they deserve and staying with them long term. And here’s a secret, the longer the relationship goes, the better it can grow and the better it gets.
Lastly, come with a genuine willingness to give. If you are willing to give of yourself and go above and beyond when needed, you will find that you will get it back multiple times in return. It is the universal law of reciprocity that has stood the test of time.
Hannah, if you make these 5 elements part of how you approach your relationships, you will have a very blessed life not matter what happens. Always remember, great relationships pay off more than any other investment throughout your life!
I love you, Daddy.
Best Quote: “Great relationships are more valuable than money or any material thing because if everything was stripped away from you tomorrow, your relationships with your family, friends, and business partners. would be what you have left."
Misfit 3
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Lauren Clemett. Lauren is the founder of Ultimate Business Propeller, an award winning personal branding consultancy. The business has helped hundreds of professional service providers around the world to become well known, well paid, and wanted.
Lauren is a 5-time Amazon best-selling author, has won award after award throughout the Asia Pacific region for her business, including the Female Entrepreneur of the Year Stevie Award, and is highly sought after for her speaking. One of the first things that struck me about Lauren was her high energy and quick wit. She thinks incredibly well on the fly. I asked how this came about and she talked about how she has trained her mind for it and has created a process for training on Neurobranding to make sure she is always at her best for her and her brand. I knew I had to have her to teach it to you along with all her other wisdom.
UltimateBusinessPropellor.com
Lauren is from New Zealand. She was born into a tiny little town on a YMCA camp where she got to meet new people every week. She credits this with helping to be able to understand people and feel comfortable in a crowd. As a child, she had trouble reading and writing. She found out that she had dyslexia. She started coming up with unique ways to help spell and remember words. She used pictures or pictures of words to help her.
It was this skill that helped her to be so successful with branding as she could see the “picture” that the brand needed to tell in it’s words.
“It is the things that make me a bit of a misfit that have become my biggest advantage…”
What is a brand?
Most people think of a logo. But branding is a way of setting yourself apart as being different from other people or businesses. When it comes to personal branding, it is something that is instantly communicated to your prospect’s brain. It really is about forming respect. With the overload information, social media, etc. – it is critical to have a brand to stand out.
What does someone need to do and have to create a great brand?
At the 14-min mark, Lauren talks about what those that have multiple brands should do to make sure they focused and standing out in the right way to potential clients.
What is neurobranding and how does it play with the entrepreneurial mind?
At the 19 min mark, Lauren gives examples of brands that help instantly engage the human brain. She also gives a great example of how our minds automatically paint a picture using “bacon and eggs.”
What is the first step that people need to do to make sure they are neurobranding correctly?
Ask yourself “How do I want my brand to make people feel?” What is the #1 emotion you want to make people feel?
At the 27 min mark, Lauren goes through what may be one of the most important exercises you could ever do for your business, finding your “True North.” *Listen to this segment multiple times!
The compass points you in the right direction..
When you put it all together. What it is that you that you solve? The process that you use that is unique to you? The value you really deliver to people.? And the reason why you are doing it? That is your “True North.”
What is the formula for the perfect “Elevator Pitch?”
At the 42 min mark, Lauren talks about how to find focus and getting 10x more done in one week.
Best Quote: “What it is that you that you solve? The process that you use that is unique to you? The value you really deliver to people.? And the reason why you are doing it? That is your True North.”
Lauren's Misfit 3:
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Rick Sterger. Rick is epitome of what it means to find a niche and focus intently on being the best in that area. He is known as “the Immigration guy” and has built a law practice that continues to grow exponentially each year. Rick has a very specific focus in practicing immigration law with an emphasis on removal defense, but also has a breadth of experience in developing business systems and strategies for companies like Samsung, Motorola, Sprint, and Dell prior to starting his practice. He’s received numerous awards and his firm services clients throughout the U.S. and the world.
The reason for having Rick on today is not to talk about immigration, but for you to hear his story of hitting bottom, figuring out what was really important in life, and then creating the life he wanted to have. And of course, to discuss how to identify and maximize a niche in your business.
Rick’s story started with being in the mobile phone market early on. He rode the wave from a 30% market penetration to a 120% penetration. As growth begin to slow and the market started to consolidate, Rick found there was no place left to go and in 2008/2009 with the economy was collapsing, while going through a divorce, he was laid off.
He took a gig consulting, but knew he needed to find out what he was truly meant to do.
The opportunity came serendipitously. He was having a conversation with a friend, who worked in borders/customs and was told that you don’t have to be a California lawyer to practice immigration law in California, because it was handled under federal law. The light bulb went off to go start a firm because Rick had originally gone to school for law.
Within 8 mos, he had gotten rid of everything (fancy car, house, expenses he didn’t need), had his new practice up, but had not clients. He then starting building from there.
You hit bottom – how did you get back up and get out of the bottom you were in?
At 12 min mark, Rick talks about how it took going through a full financial collapse to make him realize what really mattered.
Ego and pride got in the way of asking for help, but also helped in needing to prove himself and kept him going. He had to learn the hard lesson of balancing them.
He also had his father’s rise from poverty as a role model for him.
At the 19 min mark, Rick talks about how he took his business from $0 to growing at hundreds of percent by bootstrapping in a niche.
At the 27 min mark, Rick talks about how selling his service from a video store became his biggest revenue source and other guerrilla tactics he used to get business…
Rick was then able to use his 6-sigma training from his former positions in the mobile industry to create systems to help his business find leverage through technology and create an infrastructure to grow at a rapid pace.
Tips for growing a tribe on social media:
The best thing and toughest thing about being an entrepreneur is that your growth in business is directly related to your personal growth. Growing yourself will help you come to peace with the things you fear and help you overcome them. The battle is growing as a person so that you can realize the business that you are truly capable of having.
Best Quote: “The best thing and toughest thing about being an entrepreneur is that your growth in business is directly related to your personal growth.”
Rick's Misfit 3:
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Perry Marshall. Perry is one of the most respected entrepreneurs in the world. Perry is the authority when it comes sales and marketing online. His google AdWords books laid the foundation for the $100 billion dollar pay per click industry. And the techniques he created have become the standard best practices. He also wrote the world’s best selling book on web advertising, The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords. Other best-sellers by Perry include the Ultimate guide to Facebook advertising as well as his book 80/20 sales and marketing.
In fact, he has taken 80/20 and turned into a verb teaching people that it's not just a fact about your business, but an action you take on your business.
Perry has consulted in over 300 industries and has served as an expert witness for marketing and Google AdWords litigation.
With all that said, the area of expertise is not the most important thing I want to talk with him about today. You see, Perry is an adoptive father just like me and together we want to share our best advice for adoptive entrepreneurs…
Perry says her journey happened in multiple phases. His first foray into entrepreneurship was when he was 17 selling speakers out of his garage. It was a technical hobby that made some nice money. Perry then went to college for engineering and was working for Grainger.
At the 6:30 min mark, Perry talks about how a prank at his first job that got him fired, turned into a blessing in disguise – it led to a series of jobs that didn’t work out. This totally shook him up and he started to sour on working for someone.
A friend introduced him to Amway and it made sense to him for where he was in his life. Perry did Amway for 6 years, but in Perry’s words, it was a failure as a business. But, he learned how to put on a suit, give a presentation, how to sell, deal with rejection, and cold call. Without knowing it, this was preparing him for his future.
He then moved to Chicago and took an engineering job for 2 years. He was laid off, so he went into sales. It was still hard and not natural for him to sell. He was fired – again.
It was 1997 and Perry was up to high eyeballs in debt. He had another child on the way and was having health issues because of stress. It was at this time that he found Dan Kennedy and started to use Dan’s principles of direct marketing. To Perry, direct marketing was like the engineer’s version of selling because it is based on a system and series of levers.
Things finally clicked for him. At this time, the web is just starting and Perry saw an opportunity to take direct response/mail marketing and apply it to the web.
He got a new job and put it into practice for himself to generate leads. His systems started generating daily leads for him of people who were really interested in his services. When Perry started with the company, the part of the business he was in charge of was doing about $200,000 per year. Within 4 years, he had grown it to over $4 million and the company sold giving Perry a nice bonus because of stock he had. He took what he had done and started consulting in this specific niche. This put him on the path to the business he has today.
At the 28 min mark, Perry talks about success and how he pieced together everything he learned from his numerous jobs and firings and where life took him to build his business. He talks about being a student and teacher and how both are needed to succeed.
How has being adoptive parent impacted your life as an entrepreneur?
Explain the most important points of 80/20 sales and marketing… Your initial thoughts when you hear 80/20 are just the tip of the iceberg
What's working/not working today with AdWords?
Best Quote: “Cynical people think that success is random and accidental. Life is kind of that way, but success is taking what happens to you and piecing it together into a coherent force that makes sense and delivers results.”
Perry's Misfit 3
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Bob Roitblat. Over 3 decades, Bob has innovated, developed, and successfully exited over a dozen businesses. He has developed a unique way of leading and building a business in that he is a competitive sailor and has used the principles needed to succeed on the water to help his businesses and those he consults with to succeed at the highest levels.
The thing that struck me the most about Bob was his thought process around innovation and the tried and true systems he has created to help companies not only be able to innovate and create opportunities at high levels, but to continue to sustain that innovation over the long term.
Innovating is more critical than it ever has been in business. You can come out with a solution today only to see if become obsolete a short time later. Your ability to innovate as business owner, leader, or even just as an individual in your everyday life is a critical skill you must embrace. And in this episode, my goal is to give you a great set of principles to do that from.
When Bob was a kid, he wanted to be a star and he has actually been on more than 60 tv shows, feature films, and movies – it has been a hobby of his for many years. He also has sailed everywhere from California to Hawaii, the Caribbean, and the oceans in-between. As Bob notes, sailing is a wonderful metaphor for business because of the processes, systems, and strategies you need to follow the not only survive, but make a successful sailing trip with a crew.
Why does competitive sailing translate so well to running a business?
What is the one thing you have taken from sailing and used in your businesses that you would say has contributed the most to your success?
Weather forecasting – In business, we do a lot of market and customer research. If we are narrow-minded, we blindly follow the research.
At the 9-min mark, Bob discusses how entrepreneurs can prepare themselves for the storms that come up in business
There are 3 kinds of business owners: Reactors, Managers, and Leaders
We must become leaders and anticipate so we can respond and not just react
Why do some organizations always seem to be on the cusp of innovation, while others stay stagnant?
What steps are needed to have a good innovation process?
Which step is most important? Why?
Insight before ideas. If you don’t have insight into the problem you are really solving, then your idea is much more likely to fail.
“People don’t buy products. They buy results. They buy progress. If your product can deliver the results and progress that people crave, it’s a winner.”
Characteristic of Great Innovators?
How does being a contrarian fit into innovating and success?
Things are different in that there are tons of micro-markets now
When everyone is going one way in the “red ocean,” you can be a big player in a small market and create a blue ocean.
Look for the contrarian play as they exist in almost every industry in today’s world.
At the 34-min mark, Bob talks about what he has learned about creating a business to sell and selling a business How can businesses best boost their profits?
What is the most important area for business owners to focus on in their business?
Spend more time educating employees and expanding their ability to think and innovate
Best Quote: “The Customer is always right. Just sometimes they are right for someone else.”
Bob's Misfit 3:
Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!"
In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.
"Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.
This week’s Lesson for Hannah
Hannah, It is amazing how fast time flies. You are 5 years old, soon to be 6 and heading off to school. I still vividly remember the day we became a family like it just happened yesterday. Your mother and I have been so blessed to have you as a daughter and create all the amazing memories we have in such a short time. As I took some to reflect on our journey as a family, I realized some awesome things that I have learned from you, even in our short time together at this point. Here they are.
1.) The Power of Resilience
When I first held you in my arms, you could not talk, you could not walk, and you had but 2 teeth growing in. You had spent most of your life sleeping on a wooden flat, a board, and playing on the ground. You caretakers had done the best they could with what they had, which was not much. But through it all, you kept your smile. I remember the first smile you gave your mother and I shortly after we were united. It was a sign of your resilience because you still really had no idea what was happening and were still trying to figure out who we were. You had made it through so much, from being found out in the cold as an infant, to living in the conditions you were in, to going from everything and everyone you knew at 18 months old to your mother and me. You were and are so resilient and have proven that the human spirit can accomplish anything. I learned what real resiliency is from you.
2.) The Value of Taking Care of Yourself and Getting Good Nutrition
As I mentioned before, when you, your mother, and I were united, you could not walk, talk, or had any teeth – at 18 months, but in less than two weeks of getting you on a steady diet, you had teeth coming in and were walking chasing me up and down the halls of our hotel. It was so amazing to go out in the hallway each night and work with you until you finally stood up and ran around on your own. I’ll never forget that moment – and I’ll never forget how just a little bit of good food and care can make such a difference in a person’s life. Make sure you always take care of yourself and feed your body well.
3.) A New Type of Love
Hannah, in becoming your father, I was very lucky in that I got to join a unique brethren of men who get to call themselves “Dad”. And as a dad, I have learned a new type of love. A bond that only a father and daughter can have. It is not easy to describe, but what I can say is that it creates a lasting soft spot for you in my heart and brings about a heightened sense of attention to the world in which we live, both from a protective sense and opportunistic sense. It also gives me a deeper focus in life and in my work as I know that I only have so much time in this world and I want to be able to maximize it with you and your mother. Thank you for showing me this new level of love in my life.
4.) Don’t Hold onto Regret
Everything that has happened to get us here right now, had to happen exactly as it did. We are fortunate to even be alive. It truly is a miracle. One wrong step throughout history by someone and we wouldn’t be here. In fact, I read an amazing stat the other day on the probability of being born that said the odds of any one of us being born is 10 to the 2.7 millionth power. To put that in perspective, That’s the probability of 2.5 million people getting together — about the population of San Diego — each to play a game of dice with trillion-sided dice. They each roll the dice — and they all come up the exact same number. The fact that we are alive is a miracle and it means for us to be alive, so many others weren’t. The story of finding you and becoming a family had even less of a chance. So, here’s one of the biggest lessons the journey with you has taught me. Embrace everything, don’t hold onto regret. Yes, learn from mistakes. But, don’t have regrets in your life because you are a miracle, you only get one life, and you must live it to the fullest and be the best that you can possibly be in the world.
5.) Impact of an Infectious Laugh
The last lesson I learned from you is the power of an infectious laugh. Those that know us as a family of have ever spent time with us, know what I am talking about. You have one of the most distinguishable, infectious laughs I have ever heard – and every time I hear it, it brings a smile to my face no matter what is happening in life. Your little laugh brings so much joy and echoes daily through the house. Don’t ever lose it. In fact, infect others with it. Make them laugh. Help them find joy and happiness in laughter because it is such a gift in life.
Hannah, keep being awesome and teaching your mother and I great things!
I love you, Daddy.
Best Quote: “Everything that has happened to get us here right now, had to happen exactly as it did. The chances of us ever being born are so small. Don't hold on to regret and live your life to the fullest..."
Misfit 3:
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Steve Sims. Steve is the founder of Bluefish, the world’s first luxury concierge that delivers the highest level of personalized travel experience to corporate execs, celebrities, pro-athletes, and those looking to live life to the fullest. Looking to be James Bond for a weekend in Monte Carlo? No problem. Or maybe, you want to have a private dinner in a museum for you and your friends in front of Michaleangelo’s David and have Andrea Boccelli serenade you – Steve and Bluefish have made that happen too.
Steve has been featured in everything from Forbes to the Wall Street journal and is the master at figuring out and creating the perfect experience. But, you wouldn’t be able to tell if you saw him on the street. With his shaved head, body piercings, and imposing frame, Steve looks more like the head of a biker gang.
But, beneath all of that is a driven, what you see is what you get entrepreneur that doesn’t mince words, but at the same time is a remarkably open, engaging, and generous man who has a mission to share everything he has learned about being successful professionally and personally.
Steve was a bricklayer from east London and left school at 15. He tried a whole bunch of things from a keg delivery man to selling insurance. He then somehow talked himself into a job to be a stock trader in Hong Kong from London. They flew him out and he partied with the group Saturday and Sunday, did one day of orientation and then was fired on the next day.
He didn’t know what to do, but ended up working the door of a club and started to network and get to know influential people. He became somewhat of a fixer creating events and access to parties and other unique experiences for people - someone who could make things happen.
As it grew, requests got bigger and more outlandish and he became the go-to guy. That was 23 years ago and now today, the business is known as the world’s top concierge service, Bluefish.
“Never ask a question where they can answer “no.” If they say no, you are asking the wrong question or asking the wrong person.”
At the 14 min mark, Steve talks about how to make things happen and what you can do to create more opportunity in your life.
Advice for getting out your own way and removing your limiting beliefs?
What is something that everyone needs to hear, but don’t want to hear?
No one ever drowned by falling in the water. They drowned by staying there.
Wear failure like a badge of honor
Failure doesn’t define you - it refines you
At the 24 min mark, Steve talks about the time he changed to be what he thought people thought he should be and what he learned from it (he changed back to himself pretty quickly).
“Never settle for what is achievable – always stretch yourself.”
At the 28-min mark, Steve talks about the power of building a referral based business and how you can get your first few clients in a business.
What is the most important learned about yourself that has helped you to be consistently successful?
At the 37 min mark, Steve talks about what is next for him and Bluefish…
Best Quote: "Screw Bitcoin. Relationships will always give you the best ROI."
Steve's Misfit 3: