Find Out How a Seasoned Executive and MIT Alumni is Helping Entrepreneurs Beat Their Business Challenges

Welcome back to another episode of the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

On today's episode we're excited to sit down with special guest and Australian Entrepreneur, Murray Smith. Murray is a professional EOS implementor (Entrepreneurial Operator System) who heads Grip6 Implementation. He is based in Melbourne, Australia, and boasts an impressive background. In addition to his studies abroad in the US at the eminent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he has accrued an impressive fifteen-year career as a police officer. His experiences have helped him become the result-oriented individual he is, and he continues to use this expertise to support other entrepreneurs to grow their business to its full potential.

What He Does

To put it simply, Murray helps entrepreneurs get what they want from their business. By employing a holistic, systematic approach, he helps organisations define their purpose, and operate as a functional cohesive team. He admits that although his method may be simple, the difficulty is in executing and integrating all these elements simultaneously. He boils them down to their core:

•Vision - know where you want your business to be, at what point in time, and how it will get there. Ensure everyone else is well-aware.

•People - put the right people in the right positions.

•Data - measure performance using objective data, as well as processing an influx of data.

•Issues - learn to resolve issues as they occur, that also offer a long-term solution.

•Processes - documentation of processes to deliver consistency between staff and customers

•Traction - design goals that are executable steps and create accountability.

Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Murray thinks fondly about his days at MIT and all that he learnt during his time there. A particularly important lesson he continues to apply in his daily life is to become comfortable being uncomfortable. Entrepreneurs often must learn to do tasks for the first time, and this can be unnerving. He also emphasises the necessity of attending to responsibilities that may not be particularly enjoyable, such as filming podcasts or videos. He reminds audiences to regularly ask themselves, "What do you want to achieve?" and "What have you done today to achieve this goal?". Murray recommends attending to at least one task each day that drives you closer towards your vision, whether it is that one email you've been dreading, or that conversation you've been avoiding. Always continue to move forward.

Regrets & Bad Advice

Murray confesses that he regrets doubting himself and his own abilities. His insecurities and risk-aversive attitude prevented him from taking the plunge into entrepreneurship for years. He wishes that he had enough confidence to get started earlier. Although, he'd like to reassure others that it is never too late, according to Murray statistics show that people who become entrepreneurs in their 40s are more likely to be successful.

When asked about the worst advice Murray has received or heard given to others, he recounts a meeting with a potential client. While preparing in the conference room, he noticed a message scrawled on the board "What product are you selling?". Murray, disturbed by the question, rewrote it as "What problem are you solving?". A common and incorrect approach is to position the product before th...