Happy Pride Month!
How entrepreneurship gave me the confidence to be me
Nobody told me growing up that I needed to get straight A’s and a college degree.
Nobody told me that I needed to get a stable, well-paying job and climb the corporate ladder.
Nobody told me that I needed to find a nice girl, settle down, and start a family. (Ok maybe my Jewish grandmother did, but let’s roll with it).
But in upper-middle class suburbia where I grew up, when the dominant thing you see around you is one kind of path, you think that’s the path you’re supposed to follow too.
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Adulting is hard, in life AND business
Remember when you were young and life used to be simple and fun?
When your biggest worries were whether mom brought home the right flavor of cereal from the grocery store or if you'd be allowed to sleep over at your friend's house.
And then you grew up, and adulting happened…
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Why you should treat your employees like inventory
Have you ever had that suffocating feeling that the more your business grows, the further behind you fall?
Or maybe you’ve been burnt out one too many times, and you’re afraid to press on the gas pedal for fear that everything will fall apart if you’re not careful.
I’ve been hearing this kind of thing a lot from people lately. Business is booming, or they see opportunity ahead, and yet they find themselves unsure of how to manage it all.
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Why you DON'T want to grow your business
Think you want your business to grow?
You might want to think again...
I recently conducted a poll on LinkedIn where I asked people if they wanted their business to grow or to scale. Here were the results.
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Don't Be Like Lucy
How to scale your business by fixing the weakest link first
Recently, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I was browsing Hulu when a flash of red hair and bright lips caught my eye. It was a timeless masterpiece and one of the most well-known shows of classic TV - an episode of I Love Lucy titled The Chocolate Factory.
Have you seen it?
In the episode, Lucy and Ethel are hired to work on the assembly line of a chocolate factory. Their task is simple - pick up each piece of chocolate that comes down the conveyor belt, wrap it, and place it back on the belt.
Sounds easy, right?
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All Things Are Created Twice
How to improve your creation process so that you can actually attain your vision
“All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.” - Stephen Covey
Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has had a profound impact on me throughout my adult life. I always seem to be reminded of Covey’s wisdom and lessons at precisely the right times. And it’s particularly during this time of year that I’m reminded of one of those lessons - that all things are created twice.
I’m reminded of that lesson because it was during this time five years ago that I went through a pretty big turning point in my career. One that started with the sudden and devastating closure of my last business, but ultimately led to the creation of BE Lean.
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How I stopped selling and made more money
In 2011, the company I was working at was at the brink of bankruptcy. I didn’t know it at the time, but we were just one payroll away from having to close our doors.
A year later, we not only survived, but had earned over $5M and expanded our team by 5x.
As incredible as that turn of fate was, I’m not here to tell you about how we turned things around and went from near failure to unequivocal success. I’m here to tell you about what came next.
Just two years after our meteoric rise, our profits had vanished entirely, we were forced to lay off half of our staff, and we were on life support - again.
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Why Businesses Aren't Like Roller Coasters
Coming home from Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, I was in sheer bliss.
I had just fulfilled a lifelong dream of going to the roller coaster capital of the world.
As the towering masses of steel shrank into the flat horizon of the Ohio landscape, I could still feel the ups, downs, twists, and turns. I closed my eyes wanting to hang on to the feeling as long as I could.
That feeling.
The feeling you get after riding a roller coaster is why they’re so often compared to the journey of entrepreneurship. The highs and lows. The intensity of the ride.
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How to Automatically Track Your LinkedIn Activities
It’s Tuesday morning at 8:30am and I’ve just posted on LinkedIn.
In what’s become a weekly routine, I go to the menu at the top right of my screen and pull up my history of posts and activities. It’s the posts I’m after.
As I scroll through the list, I jot down the most up to date number of views, likes, and comments for each post in a spreadsheet I use to keep track. I calculate my engagement rate too, a tip I picked up from a client of mine that runs an influencer marketing agency. I repeat this process each and every week, often having to update my numbers for the same posts over and over again as they continue to garner engagement.
Is there anything more mind numbing and tedious?!
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Sometimes you have to smell your own feet
Six months ago, I set out to create an assessment tool in order to gain some insights that could help me help more businesses. I wanted to see what businesses were (and weren't) measuring, how they viewed the importance of process in their business, and how they made decisions about what to work on and improve.
Recently, I sat down to take a look at what the past six months of data showed. I was curious if there would be a pattern or narrative that emerged that would tell me something about how business owners grow and operate their businesses.
There was. And surprisingly enough, the pattern emerged in the first five questions…
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Shopping for Business Software Sucks
Here’s how to do it the right way
Imagine this.
You walk into a grocery store on a mission to hunt for a better breakfast. You’re looking for something healthy, affordable, and substantial enough to keep you going through your morning Zoom meetings.
But in this grocery store, every brand name is foreign to you. It’s like you’re grocery shopping for the very first time.
As you walk down the breakfast aisle, you’re overwhelmed by the dizzying array of options stacked on either side of you. There’s granola and grits. Muffins and muesli. Jams, jellies, and marmalades (what’s even the difference?). And more than two dozen peanut butters that come in every variety imaginable.
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Three ways to look beyond ROI and make better decisions
“How is the guy who is all about systems and data looking at this decision on the basis of whether it will be fun?”
I was recently chatting with a colleague when she asked me this question about a meeting we had with a fellow operations consultant. The three of us were batting around the idea of collaborating together on a podcast or some other way to jointly promote our services.
I let out a small chuckle. Her question caught me by surprise. For a moment, I too was surprised by the words that had come out of my mouth. Was I really assessing the potential of a new marketing strategy through a lens of enjoyment rather than some calculus of return on investment?
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When that "oh sh*t moment" turns into the highlight of your week
“Hi Brad,
This is Andrew from the Workato Customer Success Team. We wanted to inform you that your currently active automations may be hugely impacted due to an update on the Google Sheets API which will occur in January. To avoid huge disruptions, you will need to implement workarounds in your automations. Can we schedule a call to discuss?”
This was how my morning started last Thursday…
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Creating Genuine Connections in a Virtual World
It’s been so easy over these past nine months to fall into the monotony of everyday life. I once took for granted how the ability to meet someone for coffee or go to an event breaks up the work week and puts you in a different state of mind.
So when I had the opportunity earlier this week to be on a podcast, the experience refreshed me and gave me an energy that’s lasted all week. It’s what got me out of bed this morning excited to share it with you!
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I spent months creating a new free offer. Here’s what I learned.
At the beginning of this year, I set a goal for myself that I wanted to share the knowledge and methodology behind my work with more people. I’ve seen how Lean has transformed the businesses I’ve worked with, and I want others to be able to achieve the same. So over the past few months, I’ve been working to make that happen.
I’m thrilled to have recently released the BE Lean Assessment - a free tool to give business owners expert insight into whether they have the systems, structure, and culture in place to achieve sustainable growth.
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Beating Imposter Syndrome
By revisiting the worst week of my career
It was 8pm on December 12, 2016. After three hours of tense back and forth discussion, we had just decided to fold our company. Just five days later, December 16th, was greeNEWit’s last day in business.
I’ve thought a lot about this moment in the time that’s passed since. The failure of greeNEWit after nine years in business is what motivated me to start my own company, BE Lean. I’ve been driven by the desire to prevent other businesses from ending with the same fate. To help others achieve what greeNEWit never could: a sustainable business model.
And while greeNEWit’s failure inspired me to start my company, it’s also held me back. If I’m brutally honest, since the moment I started BE Lean, I haven’t been able to shake the imposter syndrome whispering in my ear, “If you couldn’t make greeNEWit succeed, what makes you think you can help others succeed?”
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Behind Every Business Is a Story
Over the past year, I’ve had some truly meaningful and inspiring conversations with small business owners and entrepreneurs for this blog. I call it Entrepreneurship In Real Life because I believe it’s important to share authentic stories about the people behind businesses.
These individuals have affirmed for me how passionate I am about helping small businesses and startups fulfill their visions, but they’ve also taught me some important lessons that have altered the way I think about my own career and my business.
But there’s another story I haven’t yet told. My story.
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How We Should Have Done It
Two energy startups. One succeeded. One Failed. This is what I learned.
I recently got to know Zack Moore and Shannon Sentman of Sol Vista in their office around the block from me in the Silver Spring Innovation Center (SSIC). As they told me their story, I was struck by how uncannily similar it was to my last company, greeNEWit.
Both companies started with the same vision of unlocking the potential trapped inside of buildings in the form of energy costs. Both raised capital to develop software products. Both faced similar setbacks and market challenges.
Yet ten years later, Sol Vista is a market leader with a bright future while greeNEWit closed its doors days shy of its ninth year in business.
I couldn’t help but walk away from my time spent with the Sol Vista guys wondering, what could we have done differently…?
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The Definition of Success Belongs to You
“Scale thoughtfully. Source locally.”
My ears perked up.
I had just finished listening to an episode of The Tidbit on Full Service Radio hosted by Kim Bryer, Founder and CEO of Cureate. The show discusses tidbits of knowledge around starting and running small businesses with a food and beverage lens.
The outro Kim uses to sign off from each episode reverberated through my mind.
Scale thoughtfully...
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Why People Quit Their Job to Become Entrepreneurs
How Quick Base gave this entrepreneur the platform to pursue her dream
When Sharon Faust was 5 years old, she knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur.
She looked up to her mom and watched as she crafted the life that she wanted with her own hands and spirit. A true creative, Sharon’s mom was an artist and entrepreneur who started a graphic design firm and opened a store that sold local crafts and artwork.
Sharon’s mother wasn’t the only source of inspiration in her life. Her grandmother ran a real estate business, and her father grew up on a family-owned farm.
These examples instilled in Sharon a deep desire to create something of her own one day. She wanted that life of independence and fulfillment she admired so much about her role models.
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