Serial Entrepreneur Pete Martin joins A.J. to discuss how you can go from entrepreneur, to enterprise, to empire, to exit by doing less. They talk about the importance of having the right team, why not all business is good business, escaping the rainmakers dilemma, and how co-innovating with your customers can maximize your growth and business income. 

Tune in to learn how to build a business around what’s important to you to create long term value.

About our Guest: 

Pete Martin is the founder of Ask My Board, which is the sixth company he has started. In AskMyBoard, he coaches businesses using the Four Pillars of Power and the Catapult Method, ensuring they grow to be resilient and financially healthy businesses. He has sold his other 5 businesses with an average return of 11x to his investors. He is the author of the upcoming book, "Sparking a Mobile Revolution; How Mobile Voting Will Change the World as We Know It.”.

On today’s episode: 

• Who is Pete Martin? - 0:47
• How Pete Martin was doing this work pro bono before starting his company. - 02:11
• How he grew his company without outside capital (and how he learned about organic growth). - 04:21
• Who is his ideal client? -06:58
• The four transition points of the entrepreneurial journey (where are you on this scale?). - 07:48
• The four pillars of power explained (and how he turned down a $5 MM dollar contract).- 10:24 
• How the four pillars of power work together and influence each other. - 17:04 
• 99% of the problems that entrepreneurs have are THIS kind. - 18:05
• What is the rainmaker’s dilemma? (and how to make a plan that actually sticks). - 24:01
• What is the Catapult Method? - 27:27
• How Pete Martin defines success. - 30:26 
• Did you know Pete Martin has an awesome band? - 32:55
• Takeaways from today’s show (and a HUGE discount on Pete’s services)- 37:29 

Key Takeaways: 

• The decisions you take when growing your company largely depend on whether you have external funding or are growing organically. 
• There are four key stages of the entrepreneurial journey: entrepreneur, enterprise, empire, and exit. Moving between these stages, and within these stages, requires different skill sets, different strategies, and different investments. 
• The four pillars of power are: team, customers, capital, and strategic execution. Strategic execution is when you are co-innovating with your customers and when you are co-innovating with your customers you’ve got an extremely valuable business and have the maximum amount of options with what you can do with your company.
• People problems constitute the large majority of problems that an entrepreneur faces. So, a great way to overcome this challenge is to ask yourself: what is my dream employee like?
• The Catapult Method is about maintaining a healthy business from the outset so that it is set up for growth but can also be a lucrative exit. 

Are you using your time strategically? 

[26:19] “How we approach entrepreneurs as they create this growth plan is, it literally comes down to ’what are you doing on a day to day basis?’, literally, because that’s where the rubber meets the road. And if you say ‘hey I want to grow and I want to scale’ and you’re spending 8 hours filling RFPs I can tell you that you’re going to hit your limit. And frankly, a lot of ego gets in the way.” 

How does the way you use your time facilitate or hinder your growth? Tell us in the comments, and don’t forget to say hello if you would like to share your entrepreneurship story on our podcast. 

Connect with Pete Martin:

• LinkedIn: @petegmartin
• Twitter: @askmyboard 
• Website: https://askmyboard.com/ 

Connect with A.J.Lawrence:

• Website: ajlawrence.com
• Email: [email protected] 
• Instagram: @ajlawrence
• LinkedIn: A.J. Lawrence
• Twitter: @ajlawrence
• Medium: @a.j.lawrence

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