ï»żThese are the âBest Insightsâ from entrepreneurs in 2023 shared on Resilient Entrepreneurs with Two Four One podcast. Itâs their Challenges, their Successes and their Stories.
Spotlight on Motivation
EPISODE 48: Davida O' Brien
So being able to give myself grace and time, being able to champion my small wins as small as they are, to champion and get excited about it so that I keep refuelling myself to keep moving forward. I don't think we do enough of it. I'm not perfect, so there are times I still fall short. And I'm so grateful for the friends and family that I have that support me to be able to say âNo, what you're doing is great.â, âOr no you're doing that great jobâ, just those little incentives or comments, they help and push me along.
EPISODE 49: Judy Wilkins-Smith
I couldn't even have impostor syndrome, which led me by the way to another insight, and that is there's no such thing as impostor syndrome - for all the entrepreneurs out there it's Pioneer Syndrome, we mislabel it. Continue on with the reel - letâs use this part about imposter syndrome all the way to the end of the reel. Ends: â...so youâre not an imposter.â
EPISODE 52: Shenali Rajaratnam
I don't think we can ever change the world or anybody. But what we can do is change ourselves and inspire another person to change for themselves. Because I think that's so important to remember and I had to learn it early on. You can never change someone. If I take accountability for myself, I think that's the first step. And if every single person takes accountability for just themselves, don't try to change another person, your mother, father, your friends, the society, the world, just take accountability for yourself. If everybody did it that's collectively changing the world, that's literally how you change the world by just taking accountability for yourself and showing up.
EPISODE 53. Dr. Dravon James
Passion is connected to emotion, right? Even when we worry, if you're an entrepreneur and you're worried that you won't meet payroll, well that's you imagining that you won't meet it. So you're creating an imagination and you're creating emotion around that imagination. If you change that imagination, you create emotion and feeling around. Gosh! How excited am I, I met payroll, trust me, it works. I did this for many, many years, owning businesses where people were depending upon me to make payroll and low and behold, Iâd make it. Now I'm still doing the work, but I'm using my imagination to support my work instead of using my imagination to distract me, or to cause me to worry.
EPISODE 47: Denise Carnihan
"You just have to do it, you have to believe in yourself, you have to remove any barrier, because we are actually very capable of doing whatever we want to do. It's our mindset that stops us from doing things, I could easily have not done any of it. In terms of the school, who in their right mind would have just created a school, we had never had that on our, and tourism as I said to you earlier, was never on my radar, I didn't know the first thing about it but I learned and I followed my passion, my intuition and I knew that I wanted people to see what I see and experience what I experience when I go to Africa every time I go."
EPISODE 43: Sandra Gartner
Okay, the first thing you just reach out and talk to someone. There's plenty of places you can go, whether it's just finding a business networking group, either online or in person where you can actually talk to other people on the journey. That's forever useful, just to know that you're not alone. And you'll get ideas, you'll learn stuff, but you'll feel supported in some way that you're not just working in this vacuum, which can be so difficult for solo operators. You've just got to reach out and you've got to muster the energy, muster the effort to either pick up the phone, go meet people, talk to someone, find someone on LinkedIn that you like, can I have a conversation with you? People are very willing to talk.
EPISODE 38 Alisa Newey
"I wanted to be successful and I was fundamentally, I didn't want to have the life that I had as a child where we didn't have enough money and there was scarcity. So as much as I felt like I was building something I was actually running away. And I was using a business as a vehicle to do that, to create the opposite of the life that I didn't want. Whereas this time, I have a vision of the change I want to see in the world. So I know what the target is, I know what I'm building towards and it energises me to try to get there."
EPISODE 23 Christina Flach
The best thing and most important thing in being an entrepreneur, you have to really love what you do because it is going to take so much more time, so much more effort, so much more money than you can even imagine so you really have to enjoy the process.
EPISODE 58. Livia Jenvey
a lot of it is the type of mindset that you have, the type of thoughts, your beliefs, your values, these are things that you want to look at and address and really program and control them. Because as an entrepreneur, you can't control what happens in the world. You can't control your competitors, you can't control the market, you can't control the economy, but you can control yourself. And so it's prioritizing yourself and giving yourself time before you even start everything to just give yourself âwhat do you want to focus on todayâ? And that makes a really big difference for you as an entrepreneur.
EPISODE 64. Giuseppe Grammatico
If I told everyone it was easy, I'd be lying to you so just know that it's going to be rocky, you'll get through it, and just look for opportunity. If your head is down in the dumps and you're constantly negative, that's the results you're gonna get so if you could just keep your chin up and talk to people that are energising, don't talk to the the people, the mooshes as we as we call them, they just suck the energy out of you, avoid them. Yes, you may have friends that maybe are a little on the negative side or family members, and that's okay but just focus on those conversations with others that are growing businesses, that have had success, and it just keeps your spirits up.
Spotlight on Strategy
EPISODE 24: Reyna Drake
Having the feeling is not enough, having the skills is also important, right. And having the skills as well is not enough, you also need to be able to be paid for it, and then that also is not enough, it has to have some positive use or value to your community and to society. Because we don't find our, we don't find fulfilment in life by just doing things that we want for ourselves on our own.
EPISODE 67. Zachary Leyden
We're teaching them how sensitive horses are and how they speak through body language, and how very little pressure and release of pressure goes a long way, and how a 1200 pound animal can react to your subtlest moves. You can get a lot done with very little, you need to think about what your body's doing and how you're saying what you're saying. The big thing is, it's not what you say but how you say it.
EPISODE 46: Karl Schwantes
I sometimes say the ultimate gold standard for me is having service or being of service, as one of your highest core values without judgement and the âwithout judgementâ is the hard part. Because we all do it. They say, Don't judge a book by its cover, but we all do, this person, or that annoying client, oh he was a cranky client⊠Oh maybe something really bad happened in his life or that morning, maybe he got into a car accident or whatever, so being of service without judgement is the hard part. But when you can achieve that, you'll always go that extra mile for somebody because youâre wanting to help them in every way without holding anything back.
EPISODE 34: Pat Phillip-Fairn
What is your purpose? What is the purpose of your business? What is the problem you're solving? Be clear on that. Because then you can stay focused. If you're clear on your purpose and what it is that you're actually providing, then if something is put in front of you that doesn't align with that, then you can decide, okay, really, should I be doing this? Is this in my skill set? And so stay focused on your objective.
EPISODE 39: Piers Carr
Partnerships are massively valuable particularly in a small place like Bermuda. So there was a time when I wanted to be very closed with working with others, because we were very focused on what we were doing and then realised that there are so many great supporters out there and people that can expand our brand. And there's cross branding opportunities out there.
EPISODE 42: Tan Pongsukwewchkul
What's more important, is to focus on what really drives the revenue and profitability of your business. Whatâs the bottom line for your business? Is it leads? Is it the sale? What's the best thing that you can track online because digital marketing is about being able to track what people do with your business. So if you can track sales, track sales, if you can track leads, if that's the best thing you can do, track leads.
EPISODE 54. LaSean Smith
I naturally found myself in meetings with brand consultants and folks who are developing identities, and I was like, oh, goodness, this is so critical to the rest of the decision making, if you don't figure out what you stand for, and I'm not just saying like culture posters that you put in the hallway at your office, but like what you deeply stand for, everything else is harder, the website is harder, the product is harder, your go to market is harder, your comfort, everything is just harder. And so why not invest the appropriate time and money up front? So it's almost like the teenage years, youâve got to figure out who you are, your identity and everything else becomes a much easier decision process once you have that articulated.
EPISODE 55: Rana Salman
I learned also about selling and about understanding your buyers. Know who you're targeting, know their bus iness plan, what business problems are you trying to solve, speak their language, stay laser focused on helping them. And when you land your first customer, delight them, make sure that you're taking care of them, make sure that you deliver and over deliver on your promise.
EPISODE 57: Tom Jackobs
I don't suggest that people just take, copy and paste exactly what AI gives you but rather ask it for outlines. Because that is often time for a creative, especially for me, all I need is an outline and then I can just riff on an idea very quickly. But it takes me forever to figure out What should I talk about on this video that I'm going to do? Well, I just go into AI and say, give me 10 topics on sales, Oh, yeah, this one, let me talk about that, 2 seconds, super easy.
EPISODE 59: Jill K. Thomas
Maybe you need to make some adjustments to your messaging, maybe you need to do 10 times as much messaging as you're actually doing, which is, quite frankly, usually what's going on. Or maybe you need to adjust your prices. Or maybe what you're doing isn't resonating with the public or maybe the public who wants your message isn't able to find it, there's usually something you need to do. But resilience really means just the ability to understand that there's more going on here and saying, Look, I'm not stopping because the indications are that it's not working, I'm just going to make adjustments to figure out what does work.
EPISODE 61: Deevo Tindall
I realised that my resource, my time, my energy is a resource and is a commodity that I'm trading and every time I interact with somebody I'm either having a positive interaction or not so positive interaction. I actively seek out positive engagements now with people. I actively seek out positive clients that I know that I will bend over backwards for them, because they're part of the process and the solution. I had a couple of clients early in my business where I hired them because it was all this money. And I'm like, Oh my God, I made it, I just literally signed a half million deal with this client, and then she started asking me to promote all these things on social media that I philosophically do not agree with. And I can't get behind that. And I'm not asking you to judge me by my opinions, I'm just saying it's my business and my life, so if I'm going to support this and exchange my resources for that, I'm going to be empowered by it. And I need to be behind you, because if I'm behind you, I'm really **** good at what I do. And if I believe in you and you believe in me, dude, we can go to the stars. I shifted my mindset around that, and so once I sorted that out and started realising I'm actually hiring clients, just as they are hiring me.
EPISODE 63:Josh Kropkof
The formula is: Story + Point. And all that means is you tell a story, and then you tell the point of the story. And that's your email. And you can make it long, you can make it short. As long as it's relevant. That's the thing, people care about relevancy. So if they signed up to hear from you, it's because what you're offering or what you do is relevant to their lives, they have problems that they want solved, they have desires that they want, they're looking for the things that they can find those benefits from you.
Spotlight on Entrepreneurship
EPISODE 31: Donte Hunt
Ideas do not make money. You're not the first one with this idea. You're not, and you won't be the last. Entrepreneurs make money. Entrepreneurs make an idea successful. Entrepreneurs go that extra mile. Entrepreneurs wake up early. Entrepreneurs learn the stuff that they want to. Entrepreneurs find out what other successful entrepreneurs have done to be successful.
EPISODE 33: Antonia Holder
Since I've become more of an entrepreneur and I have that entrepreneurial spirit, I'm constantly thinking about how I can improve things or has this been done before? Oh, that's a great idea. or out of the lack that I'm experiencing, can I capitalise on that? Do other people need that, if I'm looking for it, somebody else must be looking for it, right? And you get excited about that. And the idea that you can be successful, not just making money but also making an impact.
EPISODE 36: Nick Steiner
I find if you just do what it is that you want to do, even if it's a scale model, something tangible that people can see the shift and understand, you'll get that buy-in which then fuels you as an entrepreneur or CEO or a founder to actually move to the next step.
EPISODE 37: Slava Podmurnyi
I believe actually that languages will disappear very soon because of AI technologies. Like imagine you will have wearables, they are smart, intelligent and they are able to, already you can Skype, they have live free translation and it's already operational, you can really use it. Imagine in a few years there will be no languages in the world.
EPISODE 40: Fiona Anchal
I think itâs just listening and calming down the noise and knowing that you have a gift, whether you're trained or not, it doesn't really matter anymore. I mean you don't always need that piece of paper, and I just felt that I needed to share the gift, and when I'm cooking and when I'm eating I feel the most joyous I feel in any area of my life.
EPISODE 62: Aneace Haddad
That's a mantra that I use a lot, is An organisation at the end of the day is just a bunch of human beings creating value for other human beings. That's all it is. We get lost in the details of how we're creating value and we think that's the important thing, but really it's human beings creating value for other human beings.
EPISODE 65. Aderonke Bademosi Wilson
Pass on your wisdom, pass on your guidance, pass on your suggestions to others, because you never know where your feedback, and I mean the good feedback, the positive feedback, where your knowledge of x, may be just the thing that person needed in order to move forward. So I would definitely say pass it on, be absolutely generous and share because I know the people that I've talked to, even if it's just once, people that have been so generous with their time, so generous with their knowledge, that I want to make sure that I'm in that same space if I can help somebody, even if it's just that one conversation to be able to say yeah, this is the knowledge that I have that I can share.
Spotlight on Wellbeing
EPISODE 25 Claire McDevitt
For me it was knowing when to ask for help and being okay with that, delegating the big stuff out, whether it's marketing or finances right, there's no way you can know it all, you can't do it by yourself, I can't do it by myself, I don't want to do it by myself but you can't do it by yourself.
EPISODE 29: Tracy Baker-Lawrence
To be able to be self aware, and be self compassionate, and to be able to self regulate, I think those three things are really powerful and I think if we can do that, then we'll be resilient. And I love, I don't know, if you've heard of wonderful Michael Singer, who's a spiritual teacher and I'm just listening to his podcast all the time, he's fabulous and he says it's about getting the ego out of the way or as I would talk about and he says that really spirituality is about can you handle it? And for me, that's what resilience is. Can you handle it? There's a lot of traffic and you're running late, can you handle it? Can you handle it? Can you be okay?
EPISODE 30: Jaemin Frazer
When you understand the heart of insecurity is actually your own opinion of yourself, that's what it is. You are not afraid of what others think about, you are afraid of what YOU think about you. You just don't want it confirmed by the world. That is the heart of insecurity;
EPISODE 41: Skip Bowman
We know that people who are resilient have good relationships, and whether we're talking about resilience in the moment of crisis or through life in general, relationship is the most clear determinant, in particular mental health for men, and length of life. All of the theory is around that if you have good relationships you live longer, screw the diet, screw everything else, you've got to get that sorted.
EPISODE 45: Dr. Ayesha Peets Talbot
That burnout medically is called Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome. And what that means is the adrenal glands that are usually giving us all the adrenaline, the go, go, go, go go, they start to tweeter out, and they cannot do the go go go anymore. So burnout and hormone imbalance is all the same thing.
Spotlight on Resilience
EPISODE 26: Tasha Price & Adam Sheppard
Stoke that Why with fire. You want to.. you want to give passion to it, not just have a Why, not just have a reason, but keep stoking it (keep it going), keep that fire burning so that you have that reason to get up every day, you have that reason to keep chasing your dreams and the only way you can do that is by figuring it out and knowing exactly what it is, hone in on it and then use that as the fire in your belly to keep you going.
EPISODE 27 : Colin Rego
If you want to grow, you're constantly being put in uncomfortable positions. And it's that uncomfort that constant desire to be broken, the constant desire to want to grow and evolve, that's what for me is what resilience is about, is embracing adversity to make us stronger.
EPISODE 50: Russell Harvey
It's really curious around how much do people genuinely understand what their strengths are, those natural things that energise them, that they really enjoy doing. I use a psychrometric to do that, you don't necessarily have to, but I use it because it's a good conversation tool essentially, for them to specifically clarify what their seven significant strengths are out of 24. And I may also get people as much as possible to think about their top three. So the idea is that when you can spend as much time as possible utilising your strengths, the things that you love doing, you naturally enjoy doing to achieve all the things that you want to achieve and you've harnessed them, they build natural resilience, and natural confidence.
EPISODE 51: Maureen Falvey
So it's a commitment that you make to yourself, no matter what. No matter if fear comes up, no matter if somebody doubts you, no matter if you make a mistake, you tried something, you reached out, somebody said âno thank youâ, what is the meaning you're going to give to that? Are you going to light the match and the spark and boom, go no matter what, or you fold up your cards, you go home? You take your toys and you go home. So it starts with a commitment to ourselves. I want to make it our must no matter what, no matter whether there's fear, of course there's going to be failure. You're a brave entrepreneur, of course you're gonna try some things and some won't work and some will.
EPISODE 60: EUGENIA OGANOVA
If somebody thinks that they're gonna get it from the first try, they might as well not even bother being an entrepreneur, go get a job, because being an entrepreneur is freaking hard, it's very confronting, because you're constantly faced with your own issues, and it's also a great way to evolve but the only way to do that is to experiment, and then follow through to see the next step, and then experiment and follow through. And as long as you have that, it's actually resiliency, as long as you do that, you're gonna naturally end up successful because the last one standing is the one that's actually going to get paid.
EPISODE 66. Ben Kirk
From a personal training perspective we lift weights to failure. The only time that our muscles are going to stretch enough and that are going to grow enough is when we fail on that rep. We don't want bad failures where you pull your elbow joint out or something like that but it's when you can't do one more rep, you've depleted all the muscle fibres, all the energy is gone. And that is when your muscles are going to start to grow because you've torn the muscle fibres, and when they build up again when you're eating the right foods and you've got enough protein, they're building up stronger. I think there's your perfect analogy for failing as an entrepreneur, right? We need to be able to do that because it's going to grow us, it's going to make us stronger. And if we can look at it from that perspective, then there's our failures. I mean I've failed so many times in business, I've got bad beat stories that we can speak for the next two hours about, but if you look at it from that perspective, Hey I've taken something away from it. I'm not making that mistake again. I'm gonna partner with these other people next time. I'm gonna ask these additional questions when I partner with people again to make sure they're not that kind of person, or I'm not going to throw everything into one basket necessarily. I'm not going to do the whole burn your ships thing, I'm going to cap my downside as Tim Ferriss says, so that analogy of muscle growth, I think, comes perfectly into entrepreneurial ventures and failure and growing and overcoming and being resilient. And that all just ties together.
EPISODE 68. Megan Gluth Bohan
I think that if it was super easily developed by just reciting certain things in your mind, and through repetitive mantra, I think more people would probably do it. So I think there is something to be said in your mind, but I think there's also something to be said for utilising our experiences in life, even the difficult ones. To realise how they, even though in the moment they look terrible, but they have essentially equipped us with skills that we would not have been able to gather otherwise, and then to employ them and deploy them as resources, I think that's more than just a mindset.
EPISODE 28: Krystle Divertie
Be the dumbest person in the room really, to seek out people that are at that next level of business so that you can surround yourselves with people who can guide you and you can ask those questions that the people at your level or below are not going to know the answers
