Building To Scale

Mark Shandrow is the co-founder and CEO of Asana Recovery in Costa Mesa, California. Asana Recovery is an addiction treatment center working to help people with various addictions break free of the destructive hardships they deal with.

As an entrepreneur, Mark’s journey took him from the real estate investment industry into the addiction recovery where his first venture took off and grew exponentially like any dream an entrepreneur might have – right up to the point that it crashed overnight.

List to Mark’s story of up and downs and how he has taken the lessons he learned in growing a business too fast and is now applying them in a new business focused on steady growth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEodJF9QcBc

Key Takeaway: Growing a business too fast and overextending yourself can be just as deadly as any other issue a business faces in its lifecycle. Remain focused on your core focus and make sure you are prepared if a vendor, supplier, or other third party makes a change that could impact your business.

Lessons Learned:

Be Very Cash Conscious – A business runs on cash, so be very careful on how extended you get when it comes to your cash flow on both the business and personal sides.

Do not sign personal guarantees

Do not co-mingle funds between legal entities

Do not use operating cash flow for rapid expansion

For More Information:

Asana Recovery @ http://www.asanarecovery.com/ (http://www.asanarecovery.com/)

LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/asanarecovery/ (https://www.linkedin.com/company/asanarecovery/)

LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/shandrow (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shandrow)

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/public/mark-shandrow (https://www.facebook.com/public/mark-shandrow)

Twitter @ https://twitter.com/mshandrow (https://twitter.com/mshandrow)

Vikram Rajan is the president of Practice Marketing and co-founder of both the video blogging community VideoSocials and social media automation app Brander. As a marketing consulting, Vikram saw firsthand the difficulties of getting business owners to participate in the marketing process and thus set out to build a better solution like any great entrepreneur.

With a team of 11 and revenues over $400K, Vikram has seen the power of process development in scaling and growing his company and community. At the same time, as a creative agency, he has found the perfect blend and processes with creativity for his team to ensure the right things get done while still allowing his team to bring their creative elements to the table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj0OXZYZt7M

Key Takeaway: In order to grow and scale an organization beyond a single entrepreneur and the early core team, you must develop processes to be able to replicate yourself and your team members. When building processes, start small with checklists and employ a constant idea of refinement while still encouraging creativity in your team.

Lessons Learned:

Staff Should Document and Delegate Processes – When building out a team and delegating work out to your team, process development is critical.

Leverage Automation – Time is a very scarce resource for all entrepreneurs. Even if you can’t hand off some aspect of the business you don’t enjoy, at least leverage automation to get multiple things or deliverables done at the same time.

Build a Community of Raving Fans – One of your best marketing sources is your community, so ensure you are building a community of raving fans that buy into your culture and systems and will then recommend you.

For More Information:

Video Socials @ https://videosocials.net/ (https://videosocials.net/)

Practice Marketing @ https://practicemarketing.com/ (https://practicemarketing.com/)

LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikramrajan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikramrajan)

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/vikram/ (https://www.facebook.com/vikram/)

Twitter @ https://twitter.com/vikramrajan (http://twitter.com/vikramrajan)

Veena Jetti is a second-generation real estate investor and has been a successful name for herself managing and then founding multiple real estate investment firms. Her latest venture, Vive Funds, was launched in the middle of the 2020 pandemic and now has $400 million worth of assets in her company portfolio. How did she get to this point?

The entrepreneurial drive is strong with this one as Star Wars fans would say. By focusing on innovation and reinvesting in her people, putting them first and operating the firm with transparency, she has built a loyal team that helps her drive forward even in an unknown real estate market.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZpQBC83goo

Key Takeaway: While you are the leader and the risk taker, having a loyal team that buys into the mission is absolutely critical. While the leaders eat well when things are going well, they also eat last, taking care of the team and making sure that there is always an open door for new ideas and questions.

Lessons Learned:

Do Not Be Afraid – This this the entrepreneurial manta. No action will always guarantee failure and each failure is simply a stepping stone and lesson learned moving towards success.

Invest Into Your Company – Be wary of pulling resources out of the company early. Reinvest back into your company – both for your team and your customers.

Choose Your Partners Carefully – By giving up equity in the company – through partners or investors – you lose the ability to direct your vision. While sometimes necessary, choose carefully.

For More Information:

Vive Funds @ https://vivefunds.com/ (https://vivefunds.com/)

LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/veena-jetti-5a87565/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/veena-jetti-5a87565/)

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/vivefunds/ (https://www.facebook.com/vivefunds/)

Twitter @ https://twitter.com/veenajetti (http://twitter.com/veenajetti)

Mark Piller came to the US as a refugee and while working a “real” job he devoted his nights and weekends to building software apps. His entrepreneur journey started in 2003 with a new year’s resolution and with a growing software product in hand, he left his day job and started his first software development firm.

Since then, the one-man software development firm has grown into a major player in the visual application development industry under the company name Backendless – a cloud-based application development platform that makes it easier for people to turn their ideas into real apps.

Mark originally tried growing his company through outsourced developers but ran into issues where the company culture and values were just not there. Developers would have no attachment to the company and would leave for another project that paid a dollar more per hour. This was the impetus for a change in the way Mark built his company with a focus on the cultural fit for his team before and even over a skill fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdxhdBej5ZI

Key Takeaway: When it comes to growing your company, a focus on finding employees (or contractors) that fit and buy into your company culture is more important than specific skills. Skills can be taught, but the cultural fit cannot.

Lessons Learned:

Bootstrap if You Can – If possible, leverage your own resources thus leaving you and your company’s direction under your discretion.

Release Early – By waiting until a product (or service) is 100% perfect in your mind, you will miss out on valuable insights from your customers and most likely cost yourself more resources in the end in rework and redesign.

Listen to Your Customers – Look for every opportunity to solicit input and feedback from your customers.

For More Information:

Backendless @ https://backendless.com/ (https://backendless.com/)

LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/markpiller (https://www.linkedin.com/in/markpiller)

Jefferson Nunn is the consummate entrepreneur, being involved with many different ventures since 1999. Currently, Jefferson leads the team at Code Warriors, a new software development company started in the midst of a global pandemic - yet growing and thriving in spite of the world around them.

Through his work in technology – software development, cryptocurrency, and many other areas – his focus on innovation has been the key to his success and growth as an entrepreneur.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-tWVUR-8QM

Key Takeaway: When it comes to opportunities, the key is to keep looking and innovate when the opportunity presents itself. Opportunities abound if you are looking for them with an eye towards innovation.

Lessons Learned:

Do Not be Afraid to Fail - In fact, embrace failure and study it. The science of failure is how you win.

Listen - That is 90% of communications. Speaking is only 10%.

Look - If you watch what people are doing, you will see patterns.

For More Information:

Jefferson Nunn @ https://jeffersonnunn.com/ (https://jeffersonnunn.com/)

Code Warriors @ https://warrior.software/ (https://warrior.software/)

LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffersonnunn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffersonnunn)

Like many with a technology background, David Moise started as a software developer and over the years transitioned his company Decide Consulting into an IT and software recruiting firm.

Back in 2017, David started saying IT and software jobs will double in 10 years. Three years later, we are on track for that. Even with COVID.

The technology skills that companies need are becoming more specific and the companies that already rely heavily on technology need the people who truly understand it. This is only going to continue, and David has built a successful venture helping companies build a plan when it comes to what technical talent they will need and how to find it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCpoSLWlJsk

Key Takeaway: Having a vision and values for your company is critical and they should go beyond bulletin board material, impacting all aspects of your personnel management.

Lessons Learned:

Be Different – You always need to come to the market with something better than the next person. There is something about you that can translate to and advantage in the marketplace. Find it and exploit it.

Be Efficient – Use technology for an edge. There are a variety of “no-code/lo-code” tools out there. This can be a gateway to being different and bringing value to your customers.

Take Action – Keep moving forward. Try something. If it works, do it again. If not, alter it and try again. Keep moving.

For More Information:

Decide Consulting @ http://decideconsulting.com/ (http://decideconsulting.com/)

David Moise @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmoise (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmoise)

As a long time entrepreneur, Jeff Chastain saw first hand the challenges that come in trying to grow and scale a small business – first with a venture into the IT MSP industry and then again with a software as a service company.

It was his own personal journey as well as his consulting with other business leaders where he concluded that starting a business is not really the goal of most entrepreneurs. Instead, they have an idea or a solution that then turns into a business venture. The problem is they do not have the business background necessary to scale that venture successfully. Jeff has made it his mission to help these entrepreneurs gain clarity into and get more of what they want from their business.

Through his coaching work with Admentus, Jeff has come across many entrepreneurs with stories to share of both success and challenges as they worked to scale their business. This is where the idea of the Building to Scale podcast came from – the ability to help other entrepreneurs through the sharing of these stories. While most never consider themselves “experts”, there will always be somebody a step or two behind you that can learn from your experiences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm3JrNR6ns8andfeature=emb_imp_woyt

Key Takeaway: Growing and scaling a small boutique business into a larger company is not trivial and takes a different set of skills than starting a business. Learn from your peers and enlist the expertise of a coach to make that transition simpler, faster, and less costly.

Lessons Learned:

Ask for Help – The typical entrepreneurial mindset is that I can do this all myself. Being at the top of a business venture can be a lonely place and the sooner you ask for help, the simpler, faster, and less costly the transition to each new level will be.

Delegate – In the early days, we all had to wear too many hats and most entrepreneurs (myself included) struggle when it comes to handing off responsibilities to others. They will never do things the same way you would have, but they might do it better and if nothing else, it allows you to focus on what only you can do and scale the business.

For More Information:

Admentus @ https://admentus.com/ (https://admentus.com/)

Building to Scale Podcast @ https://buildingtoscale.com/ (https://buildingtoscale.com/)

LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffdchastain (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffdchastain)