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The Secret Problem Many Entrepreneurs Are Never Warned About and How to Get Past It

Definitely have seen this throughout the process of starting my own business…and I have to admit that I do have benefits that others don’t have, though not as advantageous as coming from a wealthy family or a family in which one of my relatives is a successful entrepreneur. But I don’t think I’d be starting my own business right this second without those benefits.

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Some gems:

There’s often a mythology about people who succeed–pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, no help, no support, no advantages.

Sometimes, that’s true. More often, it’s not. Many who start businesses come from great advantage. That doesn’t mean you can’t make it, but you have to clear your eyes, see what’s actually going on, and approach things with some basic tools.

 

If you don’t have the investment money, start on the side. Maybe you’re working early in the morning, late at night, or on the weekends. Michael Dell started making and selling PCs in his dorm room. Build the business over time, and make sure you maintain the revenue stream necessary to live and meet your commitments.

 

The Secret Problem Many Entrepreneurs Are Never Warned About and How to Get Past It

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Four day work weeks sound too good to be true. These companies make it work

It would be nice if employers could figure out a four-day work week that doesn’t involve basically adding that 5th work day on to the other four in terms of hours and doesn’t involve making less money because you work fewer hours. Four work days (8 hours a day), but the same pay as five. I know it doesn’t feel like it adds up to those who are responsible for paying employees. But if the four-day work week means getting paid only for 32 hours or working 10-12 hours four days a week, you can keep that four-day work week…

Gems:

“We continued to extend it each quarter and a year later when we reflected, we realized we had gotten more done that year than we had in a long time,” said Natalie Nagele, [Wildbit’s] CEO and cofounder.

Getting an extra day provides employees time to regenerate, she added.

“By Monday morning, everyone is kind of running to work. You can process challenges and think through things you were blocked by and then by Monday you feel more empowered to get work done.”

(Ummmmm…pretty sure the only people who are “running to work” on Monday mornings are people who are unhappy in their personal lives and/or with the people with whom they live, and workaholics. Four-day work weeks have nothing to do with it.)

“Burnout is real,” said Lindsay Grenawalt, chief people officer at Cockroach Labs. “When you hire brilliant people, they will give everything to your business. It’s on the business to say, ‘hold on, we don’t want you to burn out. We want you here for the long haul and to do your best work.’ You can’t do that if you are exhausted and angry.”

 

…perpetual three-day weekends didn’t work for the sales department.

“They have to be available to hit the goals,” said Grenawalt. The sales department does not get Fridays off, but is offered commission and bonuses that are not offered to other departments.

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Meet the 15-year-old who has made 6 figures reselling sneakers

Great article. I would imagine that this teenager will probably become rich and famous in the future.

Some gems:

…when his friend in school mentioned the investment value of Supreme, a streetwear brand with products that can resell for triple the original price, he decided to go for a “drop,” an event where the brand releases its latest items. His first turnaround earned him a $250 profit.

 

During the school year, Jake spends four to five hours a day working on the business, in addition to eight hours of school, plus homework. He quit sports to have more time to work, and he often stays up all night when a new pair drops.

 

This year alone, Jake has sold thousands of pairs. He once had a buyer drop nearly $120,000 with him in one night https://slovenska-lekaren.com/amox…z-receptu/. However, his personal collection isn’t overwhelming, totaling no more than about 15 pairs. Jake prefers to reinvest everything he earns into his business with hopes to gain enough capital to move into the real-estate sector.

 

Meet the 15-year-old who has made 6 figures reselling sneakers

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What 13 highly successful people like Warren Buffett and Donald Trump read every morning

I’m not endorsing anyone in this article, but I just thought it was interesting to see the link drawn between reading and being successful, particularly in relation to entrepreneurs.

Gems:

…[President Trump’s] staff collects articles from newspapers ranging from the New York Post to the New York Times, and even prints out stories for him to read. President Trump likes to underline, star, and circle anything he reads.

 

[Kara Goldin] says she heads straight to her inbox at 5:30 a.m. because “doing this gives me a clear understanding of what the next 12 hours are going to look like and what my priorities are once I get to the office.”

 

[Kat Cole]…wakes up every morning at 5 a.m. and checks her calendar, all of her major social media platforms, news sites, blogs, emails, and any other messages that may have come in overnight.

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“I’m looking for relevant news, urgent business and team needs, updates from startups I invest in, or anything awesome to get my brain going and know what’s going on in the world,” she says.

 


What 13 highly successful people like Warren Buffett and Donald Trump read every morning

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From Bankruptcy to $87 Million in Funding: How Tamara Mellon Saved Her Namesake Brand

Not the slightest bit interested in luxury shoes, or fashion. But this is an amazing article about an unshaken belief in a vision and doing things differently. This article also encapsulates all of my core business values–professionalism, innovation and diversity (PID).

Gems:

[Tamara Mellon] could do things the way they’d always been done, or she could blaze her own path, despite the discomfort that was sure to follow edlekarna.com/.

She chose her own path. “And that,” she says, “is how I ended up in Chapter 11.”

But it would be worth it.

 

She’d stop focusing on retailers and instead build an exclusively direct-to-consumer model. That way, she could finally release products as often as she wanted — while also cutting out the middleman, enabling her to slash prices.

Investors balked. They wanted her to follow retailers’ rules. She refused. “I knew the ultimate vision was right,” she says.

 

Soon after, a company-wide Slack channel dubbed “Crazy ideas” was introduced as a judgment-free zone; it’s produced some of their biggest hits. “Someone suggested letting customers return shoes whenever they want, with no time limit, and we rolled that out,” Mellon says. “Old luxury is intimidating; we want people to feel welcome.”

 

Today, Tamara Mellon is 42 people strong — 35 of whom are women. Tom Dean, CTO, is one of seven men. And it’s been an education.

“The ladies tell me when I’m being a dumb ass,” he says. “We were working on a damaged-product sample sale, and I said, ‘Ladies, don’t catfight.’ And [integrated marketing senior director] Caitlin Bray looked at me and said, ‘Don’t be a misogynistic dick.’ And I was like, ‘OK! Fair enough!’ ”

 

From Bankruptcy to $87 Million in Funding: How Tamara Mellon Saved Her Namesake Brand

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Proof That The Most Successful Entrepreneurs Are Older Ones

I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about how we’re all given the perception that you have to be male, white and–in particular–young to start a hugely successful business. Specifically, I’ve been reading a lot of articles and books in which the authors say this is not so, and that these ideas that are perpetuated about successful entrepreneurs are damaging to different demographic groups.

This article presents a paper, a survey and quotes that focus on “older” entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs.

Some gems:

“We…find no evidence to suggest that founders in their 20s are especially likely to succeed. Rather, all evidence points to founders being especially successful when starting businesses in middle age or beyond, while young founders appear disadvantaged.”

 

“[W]e found that work experience plays a critical role. Relative to founders with no relevant experience, those with at least three years of prior work experience in the same narrow industry as their startup were 85% more likely to launch a highly successful startup.”

 

“With their greater work experience and confidence, such [midlife] women are more likely to see opportunities for a new business — customers whose needs are not being filled and gaps in product categories,” Eddleston said. “In turn, their work experience often gives them the networks to successfully launch a business at this career stage. They also often have the financial resources to support a new business.”

 

Proof That The Most Successful Entrepreneurs Are Older Ones

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Managers, You’re More Intimidating Than You Think

Such a great, necessary article. Managers, supervisors, directors and CEOs can come off as delusional people because many think they have and/or foster an open, honest environment and that they’re approachable or that any employee with something on his/her mind will say it/talk about it–simple. The truth is that there are clear power dynamics that generally prevent these things from being the case…no matter what they say or what they ask you. In most cases, if I speak my mind with someone in a leadership position at work, that means that I can accept possibly losing my job (and probably already have one foot out the door anyway). I’m talking about problem situations at work and those times when your ideas clash with what is already being done and/or what others want to hear https://impotenzastop.it/.

I also must point out that 95% of the time when I’ve spoken to someone in a leadership position at work about anything, I’ve experienced some form of dismissal–even if the leader did ultimately try to do something positive/helpful as a result of the conversation.

I could quote several gems from this article, but let’s go with the following:

If employees are afraid to speak up, engagement suffers, learning moments go unrecognized, misconduct goes unquestioned, and innovations go unrealized.

 

…you can be friendly and well-meaning, but certain labels you carry with you can override those characteristics and define that relationship for others.

Those labels might be job titles, such as “boss,” “head of HR,” or “CEO.”…Even as organizations pride themselves on being nonhierarchical, these social strata persist.

 

Reacting negatively to being challenged — with overt anger, dismissal, or disinterest — means that you’ll be challenged less often in the future.

 

Managers, You’re More Intimidating Than You Think

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Hiring: It’s About Cultural Contribution, Not Cultural Fit

Been meaning to post this one for a while now.

Frankly, I am generally disgusted by the whole idea of “culture” in hiring and workplaces. I think [in the US] we have gotten too far away from understanding/acknowledging why people really work and why people really come to work and what most people really want from their jobs at the end of the day (especially since–let’s face it–the idea of “culture” in the workplace is really more about and for the benefit of the employer). And it has become a huge no-no to point out these ridiculously obvious realities and accept them for what they are without being viewed negatively or even having your job–or ability to get a job–threatened.

Still, when it all is said and done, you can do whatever you want and have whatever “culture” and “relationships” you want–no one is showing up to work and no one is doing anything for your company if you stop paying them. So, requiring a “cultural fit” or whatever and throwing that on top of the already-lengthy list of job requirements and hiring requirements just makes everything that much harder–for the person hiring and the leaders in a company and the employees and job candidates–when it still is, always was and always will be really and truly about a paycheck.

So, I would love for companies and employers to stop kidding themselves.

All of that said…if you’re going to talk about basing a work culture on mostly professionalism, innovation and/or diversity (I guess if we’re going to come up with acronyms, then I’d call my “cultural” values PID and wouldn’t want to just pay lip service to them like most companies do)…then I can get on board. They’re pretty easy values to which to fit candidates, actually, in my opinion, and they aren’t as taxing, problematic, alienating and/or unrealistic as the values the average company with a cultural ideal has. Which is probably why I struggle to tolerate any other types of cultural workplace beliefs.

This post discusses the benefits of, and the connection between, diversity and innovation in organizations.

Some gems:

…most hiring processes focus on “cultural fit” and lead to the opposite of diversity. Why? Because when we hire based on how well someone will fit in today, we tend to choose people similar to those already around us.

 

I try to choose candidates who could make a positive contribution to the future of our culture, even if they don’t feel like today’s mainstream employee. I don’t optimize for fit with our existing culture, because over time that will lead to uniformity and irrelevancy. Instead, I try to envision a future where this person’s unique point of view has shifted how we work and what we value.

 

…even more importantly, hiring for cultural contribution forces managers to think critically about their existing culture: What’s lacking? Where do we want to go? Acknowledging that our culture needn’t be static helps us have serious conversations about what we want and how the world works. Doing so helps us develop a confident awareness of what makes our culture thrive.

 

I also love this comment from Koney Hoi, who has an impressive background as a leader:

Cultural fit is just a convenient excuse to reject someone. Michael Jordan did not get along with his teammates but they won 6 championships together. Why? Agree to disagree and march together towards a common goal.

 

Hiring: It’s About Cultural Contribution, Not Cultural Fit

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Annual Performance Reviews Vs Continuous Feedback Infographic

Common sense strikes again. I concur with all of this, except one part–the word “feedback.”

I believe employers should have monthly “check-ins” with employees, if not check-ins that occur more often. And words such as “feedback” and “reviews” make it seem one-sided when it shouldn’t be. The “feedback” should go both ways. Really, it should be a discussion or a conversation, so that you, as an employer, can gather a lot of valuable information from an employee about problems that need to be addressed, needs that need to be met, etc.

Annual Performance Reviews Vs Continuous Feedback Infographic

Gems:

>50% reacted to an annual performance review by looking for a new job.

 

64% of employees that quit their jobs say they did it because they didn’t feel recognized for their job. – U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

Companies that set quarterly performance goals to generate 31% greater returns than those that review goals annually, and those that do it monthly get even better results.

 

I do have to note one thing about “performance goals”–I have worked at a company where quarterly performance goals was a thing, and I perceived them as somewhat arbitrary and meaningless…at least at this company. If you’re going to require performance goals–which I think is kind of ridiculous–make sure they’re tied to necessities. It shouldn’t be coming up with 3 or 4 goals just to have 3 or 4 goals, especially if you’re tying these pointless goals to bonuses and/or raises. This leads to wasted time for employees on pointless goals when there are more important–even critical–places to focus attention, time and effort. If there’s one big thing that it’d be truly helpful or necessary to have completed within 3 or so months, then that one thing should be the performance goal–not 1 semi-important thing (i.e https://osterreichische-apotheke.com/k../. important but not critical in the next 3 months), 1-2 impossible as fuck things and 1-2 totally unimportant things, as was the case where I worked.

Annual Performance Reviews Vs Continuous Feedback Infographic

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Which Type of Entrepreneur Are You: Bedrock or High-Risk?

I discovered this entrepreneur, author and professor, Derek Lidow, last night. I am currently in the very early stages of starting my own business, and Lidow’s thoughts validate my thinking/approach to entrepreneurship. He calls it the “bedrock mindset” and has written a book about it.

I found an article that summarizes his thoughts on the two approaches to entrepreneurship that lead to successful business creation. Here are some gems from it:

Estée Lauder started as a teenager…It took her decades of making small profits to find out how to do it well enough to make the large profits that finally allowed her to live the life she wanted. Sam Walton, too, was a bedrock entrepreneur. He grew his company based on coaxing ever increasing profits from the small retail stores he initially franchised, borrowing money from family and, only later, from banks https://osterreichische-apotheke.com/k../. Such entrepreneurs must necessarily be patient about the growth of their companies since it will be limited by the profits they generate.

 

Contrary to a commonly held perception, the majority of enterprises are founded by a single person, not by a team. Over half of the entrepreneurs in the U.S. work on their own and want to keep it that way. They recognize that giving significant ownership to partners or co-founders increases the risk that the company will break up over differences of aims, strategy and even personality.

 

We need both bedrock entrepreneurs who create value via steady growth and reinvestment of profits and high-risk entrepreneurs who create those one-in-ten thousand successful hypergrowth companies. What we don’t need are hybrid entrepreneurs who behave like tenacious tortoises one day and high-risk hares the next.

 

Which Type of Entrepreneur Are You: Bedrock or High-Risk?