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Dave Lukas, The Misfit Entrepreneur_Breakthrough Entrepreneurship

The weekly podcast with serial entrepreneur, Dave M. Lukas, devoted to giving you incredibly useful and unique insight from the world's top entrepreneurs with a focus on their non-traditional methods for achieving success, their Misfit side. Misfit was created to give YOU the breakthrough entrepreneurship strategies and actionable advice to accelerate your success! The show's open format and Misfit 3 concept, combined with Dave's intuitive and engaging interview style quickly uncover each guest's key tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can start using in their lives right now. Learn more about the show at www.misfitentrepreneur.com and become a member of Misfit Nation by signing up for the Misfit Minute, the FREE weekly email with specific resources from the week's "Misfit 3," and actionable tips and items from the world of Misfit Entrepreneurs. It is delivered every Friday to your inbox!
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Now displaying: 2018

The weekly podcast with serial entrepreneur, Dave M. Lukas, devoted to giving you incredibly useful and unique insight from the world's top entrepreneurs with a focus on their non-traditional methods for achieving success, their Misfit side. Misfit was created to give YOU the best, actionable advice to accelerate your success!

The show's open format and Misfit 3 concept, combined with Dave's intuitive and engaging interview style quickly uncovers each guest's key tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can start using in their lives right now.

Learn more about the show at www.misfitentrepreneur.com and become a member of Misfit Nation by signing up for the Misfit Minute, the FREE weekly email with specific resources from the week's "Misfit 3," and actionable tips and items from the world of Misfit Entrepreneurs. It is delivered every Friday to your inbox!

May 30, 2018

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.

www.GetHealthie.com

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?

  • The most important thing Cavan has learned about success is to learn about failure, learn from it, and understand it.
  • The ability to keep trying and iterating and with each new pass at a product or solution, you get closer to succeeding.

Most important thing you’ve learned about yourself?

  • How to be persistent
  • Doing the smaller, incremental changes over and over again and persisting through them is where you get your biggest breakthroughs.

Is the trait of persistence natural or can it be learned?

  • Everyone has the ability to be persistent.
  • But, it’s hard for people to be persistent in things they are not interested in or passionate about.

What should people know about Millennials in business?

  • The general view is wrong and stereotypical
  • Millennials are very driven and competitive
  • They may do things differently, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t striving and driven to succeed.
  • But, Millennials are not particularly patient.
  • They have grown up in an instant age.
  • This is good because they want to move faster and find ways to be more efficient.
  • Finding leverage is more abundant that ever with the technologies and capabilities that exist today and Millennials are well equipped to be problem solvers in this area.

What has helped you the most in building Healthie?

  • Asking how things can be done in a different way?
  • Expecting improvements vs. accepting what is already there
  • A culture of constant improvement
  • Being conscious to the little things – the small tweaks here or there make a big difference.

What have you learned about how to build a successful company?

  • Get out of the gate. Get a product out there and start getting feedback to improve.
  • Hiring. Finding people smarter than you in every other discipline. Have a goal to put yourself out of a job. Hire up.
  • Listen, take in feedback from clients, and learn what they really want/need. Then actually do it.

What have you learned about leadership and how have you grown as a leader?

  • Hire well and be open to their ideas. Take them in and execute on them.
  • Hire “good” people. People that are good and that are good for the team and not just good a job.
  • Be transparent with your team
  • Separate business decisions from personal decisions

Tip on creating a good hiring process?

  • Do interviews with multiple people in person and include those in which the candidate may work with or alongside.
  • Look for aptitude skills – how do they think on their feet? How do they interact? Body language?
  • For startups or fast growing companies – scrappiness, resourceful, and self-starters are critical.

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?

  • 60% of Americans are overweight or obese
  • This costs not only the people, but is very taxing on the whole system
  • The big shift we will see if the shift to preventative care
  • Technology will play a huge role in this because it now able to monitor and help people manage their health – not just getting it from a doctor once or twice a year.
  • The biggest challenge is behavioral change and using technology to be able to do this.

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:

  1. Show up. Put yourself out there. Engage.
  2. There are no shortcuts or silver bullets. Constantly improving in all areas of your business and life is the only way.
  3. Listen to your advisers, investors, mentors, etc. but make sure you are keeping your own independent thought. Keep your head when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too. (from IF by Rudyard Kipling)
May 23, 2018

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.SRFitbands.com

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?

  • Like most things – it’s not as easy as you think You have to put in the time
  • Engagement is key – make your followers part of your strategy, especially if you have a physical product and you can show pics of them using the product and help them gain influencer status.
  • Focusing on a very narrow niche works very well.
  • Interestingly, Seth posts only 1x per day – he focuses on quality over quantity
  • Stories work and he uses those often
  • For promoting your product – giving useful and educational posts that incorporate the product work best
  • He uses the full amount of hashtags per post
  • Seth suggests that you should be a member of a Facebook group on Instagram marketing

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:

  • Do use Instagram on your computer. The browser is limited for the website – you can comment and like, but you could also use Facebook messenger. A way to use the full site is using Bluestacks.com and it functions on your computer just like it does on your phone.
  • Engage, engage, engage. Comments over likes. And quality comments. Don’t write what a bot would write.
  • It is ok to consider outsourcing, but you do have to put in the time.

Don’ts

  • Don’t edit a post right after you submit one. It slows engagement.
  • Posting time matters and consistency matters in posting.
  • Make sure you have good standards for your posts.

How did you know when it was time to make the leap from employee to full time entrepreneur?

  • It is easier when you are single, but when you have a family it changes things.
  • Seth and his wife committed to saving up for several years to have a big enough nest egg that they could live without an income for a while.
  • Set real concrete goals that need to be met before you leave. Keep them realistic. Leave as little as possible to chance.
  • Your business should be making some money.
  • Delay gratification. Even when you think you are ready to leave your job for good…stretch it out a little while longer.

What do people need to know about building a business online with Amazon and sourcing and fulfilling a product?

  • It is not as difficult as it may sound.
  • If you are going to go overseas, Alibaba is the platform. It will give you the details of the suppliers you can choose from.
  • Seth uses “fulfillment by Amazon” which gives you Prime and makes it easier. It is a little more expensive, but being to be Prime makes it worth it.
  • You have to create your listing and is important to have good quality pictures and a good description of things. There is an art to having a good listing page.
    • You get 5 bullet points and they are most important – You need to weave your keywords into these points.
    • Reviews are very important
    • Have a good quality set of pictures or even a video are key as well.
    • Make sure that you take full advantage of the description area
    • Seth uses software called “Manage My Stats” that tells him how his keywords are doing

At the 48 min Mark, Seth tells us about how to get things done on Alibaba…

  • Alibaba is more of a product directory
  • You go on and search for what you want to get made
  • Most likely a product exists and is being made by several suppliers
  • You can then take it an innovate
  • The key is to overcommunicate and be extremely descriptive
  • Get samples from 3 companies before moving forward
  • You can then negotiate terms and move forward
  • Like anything, it takes work, learning, trial and error, but anyone can go through and do it.

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:

  1. At some point you know enough. You need to stop consuming information and start producing results. Don’t get stuck in learning mode.
  2. You don’t need a product to get started. Your audience can come before your product. In fact, it can be easier because you can learn what they want and what they need ahead of time for creating your product.
  3. We can get so busy that we don’t stop and evaluate our life, life goals. Stop running and check the map. Have a written list of life goals with dates on them. This is especially powerful to do with your significant other or spouse. Another thing to do is put up a vision board as a constant reminder for your goals.
May 16, 2018

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.

www.barefootwinefounders.com

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?

  • Mike and Bonnie had to learn that the wine business was totally different that what they thought. It’s understanding distribution, warehousing, selling, etc.
  • It took 3 years before they really saw success
  • They realized that distributors weren’t going make the sale for them, they had to do it all the way down to the individual store level – they had to go direct.
  • They asked questions of everyone they met in all the aspects of the supply chain. It was their curiosity that helped them become a success.
  • What really made a difference was taking on some of the distributors work for them. They secured the orders and services the retailers.
  • The biggest challenge was to understand how to make the most out of all areas of the distribution channel front to back.
  • No one is going to put the focus and energy into selling your products like you will.

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?

  • Work with an organization that has a territory that is local to your market. Work with small non-profits or community fundraisers.
  • Become part of the organization and collaborate with them – don’t just give or donate samples of product.
  • Promote your shared goals together.
  • Your brand is a way to help others and make a real difference.

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.

May 9, 2018

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

  1. Relationships will always give you the best return on investment.
  2. Make sure your relationships have the 5 elements: Mutual Respect, Honesty/Trust, Integrity, Consistency, and a Willingness to Give from both parties.
  3. Remember, if everything is taken from you, you still have your relationships.
May 2, 2018

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?

  • Entrepreneurs want to hep everyone, the bright shiny object syndrome. This can be distracting.
  • The most important first step is to find a focus. What is the #1 thing that you want to be known as the expert in? What will you be the “go to” for?
  • Be careful not to confuse brand as it confuses the prospect or potential client. If you have more than 1 business, you have to make sure that each brand is uniquely separated.

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?

  • Neurobranding is the way the human brain “sees” brands. But, it is not just the look, it is sound, tastes, texture, etc. everything that helps form a memory of a brand.
  • The human brain see brands with memory and emotion.
  • The human brain makes the same decisions when it comes to choosing things as it always has, even back to the time of cave men. Is it good for us or not good for us (emotionally and physically)
  • The part of the brain that regulates this is that part that deals with fear, the Amygdala

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.”

  • The human brain thinks in pictures – not in words. Then it goes to the emotion and feeling around those pictures.
  • Neurobranding is about creating a brand that has meaning, but then using pictures that help it easy to absorb and cement that meaning emotionally.
  • Lauren uses FedEX as an example by highlighting their colors and the unique arrow in their logo that tells you that they “get it their fast and with good service”

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!

  • Business need a map and compass
  • The map tells you lays out the land for you, but if you are lost and don’t know where you are, it doesn’t help you.
  • A compass does one thing – points north and can help you understand where you need to go with your map
  • Marketing and branding are like the map and compass – you need both
  • Your brand is your “True North”

The compass points you in the right direction..

  • There are 4 points – N, S, E, W
  • West stands for “What.” What is the problem that you solve? This goes deep. The problem you are solving is deeper than what you do. It is all the ways in which what you do affects and helps a client.
  • East stand for “Execution.” This is the “how” of delivering your what. The systems, processes, and actions of how you deliver you value. What are the unique things you do to deliver the service or services that you do.
  • South is “$.” This is all about the value that you deliver. What is the real value that you deliver to people’s lives. How will they feel having worked with you.
  • North is your “True North – Your purpose, passion – your why.” Why are you so intent on being the expert and help people with what you do? Why is it so important to you? What do you keep doing what you are doing – why are you driven?

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?”

  • Once you know your True North, you then have what you need to do a good elevator pitch.
  • There is one purpose of an elevator pitch – to get them to ask your more about what you do.
  • The formula is the B-E-S-T Formula
  • B = Be Clear. Keep it to the point and succinct.
  • E = Exactly who you help. Be clear about exactly who you help. “I work with ___ that want____”
  • S = Solve the problem. It is important to talk about the problem people have. If you have can describe their problem better than them, you stand out.
  • T = Tell them why. They want to know that they are working with someone who cares. That you have purpose and meaning.

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:

  1. Get really clear on what you want to be BEST at in your business and your life. You have to decide and stick with it.
  2. Stay on track. Make sure you have your true north and are so driven that you cannot be distracted or derailed.
  3. Take action. There is no perfect world. Put yourself out there and give it a go. You cannot achieve anything without action.
Apr 25, 2018

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.

www.TheImmigrationGuy.com

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?

  • Rick had a drastic realignment of his values
  • Up to that point, It had all been about status and material things
  • When his wife divorced him, he had to think about how he could still be a good father and realized that traveling 70% of the time, which he had been doing, was not going to allow him to do it and contributed to his current state.
  • He had to change his values before he got hope
  • You may have to let go of your sense of security, your sense of place and current identity to find who you truly are meant to be and that is scary.
  • He realigned what was important to him and started with his children first.

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.

  • He did his own canvassing, putting up flyers – but it was so hard. He was worried about how it looked. What it look like to a client to walk in the office to see the lawyer was the same guy putting up flyers?
  • He didn’t get a single client for 6 mos.
  • At that time, he got a call from a friend that let him know another guy he went to school with had a really successful law firm focused on the Latin community
  • He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he went and met with him
  • He didn’t want to let on how dire his financial situation was because of the potential embarrassment.
  • Later, it was letting go of this that actually changed his path
  • The meeting went about as good as it could- the former schoolmate gave him an office and allowed him to work with his clients for business and split the revenue.

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.

  • It is the littlest things that make a huge difference, like locating your business outside of the city and offering free parking.
  • Or extending the concept of education and informing people in a way they can understand through social media in other countries with a goal to help them know what they need to do to come to the US legally.
  • You can spend $5 a day on Facebook in Guatemala and look like Coca Cola
  • Rick can now start helping a client from the time they make the decision to flee their country and keep them from making huge mistakes of putting themselves in harm’s way.
  • It is entirely new way of working with clients

Tips for growing a tribe on social media:

  • Serving people through education is one of the most valuable things you can do
  • If you can consistently give people value that is vital and important to them, they will begin to follow and trust you
  • Don’t be afraid of giving away your best advice
  • You cannot operate from a place of scarcity – give everything you’ve got and you’ll attract abundance.
  • Get honest with yourself at who you are optimal client is – they are looking for YOU and your experience
  • Breaking things down into small pieces is good to do

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:

  1. Personal Practice: Everyone needs to have a practice that is reflective of where they are and what they need on a regular basis such as meditation or personal growth. You have to have a way to activate your ability to grow.
  2. Fail big. Fail often. Every time you fail you learn the most.
  3. Patience: If you build something of quality and operate from a set of core values that are principled – you will find a way to succeed. Patience will allow you to stay with it until the results come.
Apr 18, 2018

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…

www.PerryMarshall.com

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?

  • Adopting is a crazy adventure
  • At times it has been hard and put strain on the household and relationships
  • But, it has been incredibly rewarding.
  • From an entrepreneurial standpoint, it has created a keen awareness to specific things
    • For example, almost every epic story features an orphan (Batman, Superman, Tony Stark, The Lion King, Cinderella, and on and on)
    • All humans feel abandoned and shoved out into the world to fend for themselves at some point.
    • In some way, all humans are orphans and every day when you get out of bed, you are selling to “orphans.”

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

  • 80/20 is really a law of all cause and effect.
  • 20% of all causes generate
  • 80% of all effect
  • There isn’t anything in your business that isn’t 80/20. It’s everywhere. The pattern is universal.
  • Every aspect and area of your business down to how you track your numbers has an 80/20 to it.
  • Further, there is an 80/20 on the 80/20 – so for example, 20% of your customers produce 80% of your revenue. And 20% of those customers and 4% generate 80% of 80% or 64% of your revenue and so on.

What's working/not working today with AdWords?

  • First, don’t even bother if you are not willing to get a serious AdWords education. It’s like playing against the casino, so you have to be prepared.
  • Start with remarketing and retargeting before your buy cold traffic, because retargeting is reaching out to people that have shown interest for your solutions on your site already.
  • Remarketing/targeting will help you find our more about who these potential customers are so when you do AdWords, you will have a much better idea of who to target.

 

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

  1. Get off social media. Period.
  2. Most people start their day wrong. Grabbing a phone and checking your social media or email should be replaced by a notebook and a cup of coffee and some prayer, meditation, focus, gratitude, priorities, etc. Get your brain settled before you start your day. Read something written before “Gutenberg” every day. 99% of the information coming at you is irrelevant.
  3. Read something written before “Gutenberg” every day. 99% of the information coming at you is irrelevant. Reading something before “Gutenberg” ie. Before the printing press means that text had to be laboriously hand copied and re-written – which means it was considered very valuable and precious (or they would not have taken the time to hand copy it over and over)
Apr 11, 2018

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.

www.Rotiblat.com

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?

  • When you are sailing, you know what time the race starts and you know where the finish line is, but there is no playing field. How you get to the finish is up to you.
  • The race finishes when the first boat crosses the finish line – there are no quarters or periods of time.
  • The winds change without warning just like the environment in business can change without warning and you have to be able to respond.
  • You leave the dock with the people on your time, just like you run your business with the employees that you have and they may not all be the perfect ones that you wish you had. You run your business with who you have today.
  • The rules can change in that people in sailing can follow and take advantage of other boats and the ruling committee has to sort it out, just like someone in business can copy your product or service and a judge has to sort it out.
  • There are so many parallels.

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.

  • But, market and customer research is a lot like weather forecasts – they are predictions, not contracts.
  • Just because the weather is supposed to be something today doesn’t mean that it will, just like your market research.
  • That is why test markets are so important to see if what the market research “the weather” is saying, is actually correct.

At the 9-min mark, Bob discusses how entrepreneurs can prepare themselves for the storms that come up in business

  • Look for leading and lagging indicators in your industry
  • If something is happening in one area of the industry, how does that impact you? What changes do you need to make to get ahead of things?
    • To find your leading/lagging indicators, look at the big impacting factors of your industry
    • Are they technological?
    • Seasonal?
    • How does the economy impact you?

There are 3 kinds of business owners: Reactors, Managers, and Leaders

  • Reactors deal with what happened yesterday
  • Managers are dealing with what’s happening right now
  • Leaders anticipate what’s going to happen tomorrow

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?

  • Most organization start innovation by asking for ideas – this is backwards
  • You should start with by gaining insight first
  • They make sure they really understand the customer’s pains and frustrations first
  • They ask what your company’s needs are
  • Once you know you company’s needs and the pain/frustrations of the customer, then you can move to deliver a solution that solves both

What steps are needed to have a good innovation process?

  1. Gain insight before asking for ideas
  2. Asking for ideas focused on the two targets (fixing he customer pain and the major need of your company)
  3. Implement an idea boosting culture – leadership must be willing to listen
  4. Be open to ideas from all sources – be open to borrowing ideas from other industries and bend them to your needs
    1. Bob gives a great example of how Ford really came up with the assembly line
  5. Getting buy in from the constituents and stakeholders – you need everyone on board to implement an idea
  6. Validate and Iterate – focus on an MVP (minimum viable product) and roll it out to a test market. Go through several iterations to get your solid product, then roll out.

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?

  • Unending curiosity – Be curious like you were when you were a kid when it comes to business

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?

  • Biggest challenge for a business is understanding “cost to serve”
  • 140/20 rule. 140% of your profits comes from 20% of your customers
  • 60% of customers are breakeven
  • 20% of your customers are so unprofitable, they cost you money every time you do business with them.
  • If you can keep track of everything it takes to deliver a service to a client and allocate it to the specific client, you will find that a portion of your clients (20%) cost you money and bring your profitability down.
  • Your best course of action is to stop doing business with these customer

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:

  1. Healthy pessimism goes a long way. Don’t be overconfident.
  2. Get perspective and realize that things aren’t always as bad as they seem.
  3. It is not about you, it is about delivering value. You have to deliver value to get value.
Apr 4, 2018

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:

  1. Don’t hold onto regret. It is a complete miracle that you are alive at this moment. Embrace it and live your life to the fullest and be the best you can be in in the world.
  2. Laugh and bring joy to others. Help them to be happy.
  3. Humans have an amazing reserve of resilience. You can overcome even the greatest odds and insurmountable challenges in life.
Mar 28, 2018

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.

www.SteveDSims.com

www.TheBluefish.com

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.

  • How did it all come together and how did you figure out how to make the magic happen?
  • Steve says he was both uneducated and ignorant and that was a benefit
  • Steve didn’t recognize that he couldn’t do anything – he didn’t have the fear
  • He simply started asking and he did it in a way where they couldn’t answer “no.”
  • He acted like he was supposed to be there and was brazen
  • He would take care of the little guy – the guy at the door, the gatekeepers, etc.

“Never ask a question where they can answer “no.” If they say no, you are asking the wrong question or asking the wrong person.”

  • What can entrepreneurs do to set their business apart through the experience of working with them?
  • The experience of working with you is critical to success
  • You must have a secret sauce in you, the entrepreneur - you will build loyalty.
  • Don’t conform to the perceptions of the industry you are in. Be you.
  • Staying true to who you are takes zero effort
  • Be more interested than you are interesting – pay attention to the little details and show that you care.

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.

  • It’s only impossible until someone does it
  • The biggest obstacle for Entrepreneurs is them – we mess with the wheel when it is going smoothly and then mess things up.
  • An entrepreneur can be the best and worst part of the business
  • Stop emailing – it’s not how you build a relationship. Video text, call, have coffee, send things like magazines and other items. This fully engages people – not an email.
  • Be yourself, stand for value – credibility is king and communicate in ways that really engage and separate you from the masses. 

Advice for getting out your own way and removing your limiting beliefs?

  • People have to realize that they are good at only one thing, maybe two
  • Look at what you do every day and ask if someone else could do those tasks as good as or better than you, because you need to focus on the one or two things you are absolutely brilliant at.
  • You have a gift – focus on it and keep doing it.
  • When you find success or have success, be careful not to distance yourself from what really makes you special.
  • It should be no surprise that in order to grow to higher levels you will have to outsource and delegate.

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.

  • Design your avatar – your ideal client. Know them as well as you know yourself.
  • You have to be where the clients are, so make sure you are putting yourself in a position to meet those you want to do business with.
  • Don’t market to get likes – market to get clients

What is the most important learned about yourself that has helped you to be consistently successful?

  • Steve says he learned early on that “he had a low IQ, but a massive I CAN”
  • You need something to drive you. It could be the naysayers. It could be competition. But you need something that keeps you driven
  • It's tough to succeed as an entrepreneur if you are not a fighter

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:

  1. Forget email for 24 hours. Try every other type of communication to get in touch with your clients. Try it.
  2. Fire the vampires. Get rid of all the negative detractors in your life and business. Remove those people.
  3. Accept challenges like they are race fuel. Rise to the challenge.
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