In this episode Carla Meine shares her experience from corporate America to telecom services. Meine outlines her path in gaining venture capital from Tim Draper and by learning from past managers.

Show Notes:

• The inspiration that to bring the work to the workers and what it took to convince the boss [02:22]
• How to manage staff remotely and the powerful use of commission incentives [06:53]
• Setting business terms with Tim Draper unaware of his status as the Godfather of venture capital [11:22]
• A demotion that allowed for increased growth, training and mentoring [14:40]
• The need to focus on quality improvements, not just getting money back to the bottom line [16:15]
• The Role of social media in building Ideal Shape [18:10]
• Meine's to not overreact and don't sweat the small stuff [19:46]

We welcome back Amy Rees Anderson, Managing Partner and Founder of REES Capital, an angel investment firm, to talk about women in tech, integrity, and faith.

Show Notes:

• Why keep writing a blog 5 days a week for 7 years? [01:22]
• Entrepreneurship can save the world because it teaches self-reliance [03:14]
• What teaching entrepreneurship to young people looks like [04:20]
• "I love companies that solve simple problems" [06:36]
• No one's ever going to be offended by you asking for advice or help or input [07:26]
• No one likes a know-it-all [08:31]
• Integrity: "Do what is right. Let the consequence follow." [10:30]
• Why are we shy when talking about personal values or beliefs? [13:16]
• Really listen with the intent to understand commonalities [16:43]
• Women have such a creative knack for technology—they just don't know it [18:35]
• All of our kids should be learning to do basic coding [21:08]
• Work/life balance: "Is what I'm doing right now leading me to where I want to be or to what I need to accomplish?" [22:27]
• Have faith in business [24:19]

References:

• REES Capital
• IPOP Foundation
• MediConnect
• Amy's Blog
• Forbes: Success Will Come and Go, But Integrity is Forever

In this episode Amy Rees Anderson discusses the importance of communicating with employees, providing positive resources, and the current state of work ethic in youth. She also shares valuable examples and advice given to her from her father and grandfather.

Show Notes:

• How MediConnect stood out compared to the competitors [02:43]
• Why retaining employees strengthens a company [03:15]
• Find a way to communicate directly with employees, because if you don't, someone else will for you [04:46]
• How the use of a blog increased staff trust and unity [07:23]
• Amy Rees Anderson's mentors and how their approach helped her grow [09:00]
• Why having all the answers doesn't impress her [12:39]
• The example of work ethic from her father [15:36]
• The value of reading good books and providing them to employees [18:29]
• 2 greatest pieces of advice she ever received [21:25]

References:

• The 4 Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni
• Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
• Amy's Blog

In this episode Jane Ann Craig reveals how partnering with competition increased their success, her 3 keys of success and how she found investors after she stopped asking and instead began to share her vision with everyone she ran into.  

Show Notes

• Jane Ann's 3 keys to success.  [01:00]
• Failure wasn't an option, so she kept showing up until the work was done. [04:08]
• How to partner with competition in a way that will benefit both parties. [07:00]
• Stop asking for people to invest, instead share the vision and let them see what they have to gain. [11:25]
• How to build and strengthen shareholder relationships despite missed deadlines. [13:46]
• The life changing decision to hire David Crenshaw that gave her more time and slowed down her imagination. [16:05]
• The church marquee that gave Jane Ann the confidence she needed. [22:30]

References:

• David Crenshaw
• How to Write a Business Plan for Dummies

In this episode Jane Ann Craig talks about her beginning and how as a single mother there was no room for pride. She address the importance of relying on your team and providing them with a clear vision and processes for your business that will protect them and the customer.  

Show Notes:

• How Jane Ann went from receptionist to starting her own company as a single mom [00:46]
• Expect your plan to take 3x as long, be 3x as hard and take 3x as much [03:26]
• You don't need all the answers. Just surround yourself with those who do. [05:51]
• Have a clear vision that your team understands and can invest in. [10:07]
• The struggle of being the one everyone relies on. [11:31]
• Understand where you want to end up and what vehicle you need to get there. [16:53]
• Create consistent systems that protect employees and clients a like. [20:32]
• Don't be one of the 95% of business that fail because they didn't write their business plan. [23:13]

References:

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

In this episode, John Richards explains Startup Ignition and how a bootcamp can streamline the learning process while helping entrepreneurs gain skills and a network. He shares book recommendations and names of those who have influenced him and his career. Look for his important life tip at the end of the episode where he explains why he ended up not going into medicine.

Show Notes

• The goal is to fail faster, not necessarily less. [01:51]
• Eat 3 of the 5 business day lunches out with someone you can learn from. You probably cannot afford their fees, but you can afford to take them to lunch. [05:00]
• Startup Ignition helps spare entrepreneurs of wasted time and capital for the fraction of the cost of a four year degree. [07:00]
• The many relationships, formal and personal, formed as a member of the C4. [12:32]
• Better to find an A Team with a B idea rather than an A idea with a B team. [16:17]
• Book recommendations on building business traction, people management and general entrepreneurship. [18:20]
• How shadowing doctors lead John into a career in business and not medicine and his advice that could save you a lot of disappointed, time and money in selecting a career path. [21:39]

References:

• The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard
• Traction by Gabriel Weinberg

Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

In this episode John Richards shares his story of entering the yellow pages industry as an innovator who adapted to the internet at the peak of the dotcom era and his experience starting an entrepreneurship boot camp, Start Up Ignition. He shares how to work with disruptions instead of fighting them and how a natural curiosity will assist in networking.

Show Notes

• How John Richards became an innovator in the Yellow Pages Industry [00:52]
• When the disruption to the industry arrived and the response. [05:04]
• The need to let go of the old and accept the new. [07:35]
• The way a natural curiosity will lead to more natural networking. [11:39]
• The value of Corporate Alliance and the relationships that can be formed in the C4. [15:10]
• Start Up Ignition's role in entrepreneurial education. The increasing demand for bootcamps rather than four year degrees.  [17:49]

References:

• Innovator's Dilemma
• Lean Startup

Walking the tightrope of business is hard. Keeping all of your stakeholders happy is probably the hardest task of any executive. While maintaining personal and professional relationships, patience and execution, and the needs of stockholders and employees, John Dudash built MityLite into a global brand. It takes intense focus on the end game to survive the inevitable mistakes and hard choices that won't please everyone, but you can't sacrifice the customer experience while trying to balance the needs of other stakeholders. John said:

"I just try to communicate, and all my people, we teach and we try to portray a genuine desire to have the best customer experience we can give you, whatever that means to you. It varies buyer to buyer, person to person. And in the course of that interaction, if they believe you, if they believe you're not just after their pocketbook, they will begin to allow you into their personal life."

In Part II of our interview with John Dudash, John shares:

"We're going with their team and we're letting go of ours." [01:18]

Never leave yourself with a weak link [04:55]

Navigating the delicate balance of personal and professional relationships [06:56]

The minute you lose sight of the end game, you're done [08:05]

My pyramid model: Stockholders and employees [09:00]

The four personnel decisions I regret not seeing earlier [11:01]

Don't be a benevolent executive [12:46]

"I was so stupid. I don't know what I was thinking." [14:17]

Portray a genuine desire to have the best customer experience, and you'll have a friend for life [15:42]

Closing advice: Learn all you can, work hard, be passionate [20:10]

Interact with others and find passion again [21:50]

John Dudash is the CEO of MityLite, a domestic manufacturer of tables and chairs often used in large meeting areas and dining spaces. The company is wildly successful as it distributes internationally and employs thousands throughout the Utah County area. John credits his personal success with the quality of his network. What makes his system work is his understanding of the difference between networking and learning from others and then curating it with people who have different life experience. He said:

"Every CEO is challenged with and try to get different perspectives on how to approach problems and how to overcome certain obstacles. And that type of advice you can't get from your staff, you can't get from strangers, you rarely get from a book. But you can get from a group of people who've done it before or in the throws of it. And you can give back to those people as well."

John focused on building relationships with people that didn't have an obvious financial return, working to learn from others who may not have followed a traditional path. He didn't happen to follow the yellow brick road himself. He did things a little differently, getting his MBA at 40 instead of in his 20's as he realized he needed to grow in new ways to contribute at a higher level. He credits his company's longevity and high employee retention from his desire to create a genuine, personal connection with others.

In Part I of our interview with John Dudash, John shares:

What is MityLite? [00:49]

A brief overview of John's career [01:45]

What I wish I learned earlier [02:21]

Be right 90 percent of the time [04:47]

I got my MBA when I was 40 [05:52]

Allow yourself to network in the right circles [07:58]

Networking can cut out the cultural learning period [08:52]

Not all networking created equal: learning vs. networking [09:59]

Networking events: advice from people who've done it before [11:58]

The fact of the matter is, the relationship is still hugely important [14:17]

The reason for our company longevity and employee loyalty is genuine connection [17:17]

The traditional school vs. what I did [19:25]

But, the company comes first no matter how much I value our personal relationship [20:16]

Personal and professional: parallel relationships that work together [21:59]

Want to learn more about MityLite? [24:38]

No man (or business) is an island. People skills (trust, communication, and delegation) are the most effective routes to success. Even then, mistakes will be made. Those mistakes will leave less of a scar if there isn't a network of support backing you up. And you can't expect that kind of loyalty without humility.

Cameron Gunter is investing in major deals with other people's money at PEG, so those mistakes have the potential to be life-altering for more than just his employees. With that amount of pressure, it is easy to become fearful that those around you will make some big mistakes and put everything at risk. Cameron feels that pressure, but he reminds himself that allowing for those mistakes allows him to grow over time.

"What I learned by letting go, is there's a lot smarter people than I am… and you just have to trust that. They're going to make mistakes because I made mistakes. We all made mistakes early on. We just corrected them."

In Part II of our interview with Cameron Gunter, Cameron shares:

Accepting that as CEO of a growing company you can no longer make every decision and why you need to trust others [00:38]

Making mistakes is a part of business. Do not fight this just learn from them and correct them [07:01]

The logistics of delegation in weekly and monthly reports [10:04]

The process of deciding on what your business's next step will be [12:00]

Let others remind you of the deals that went sour to prevent repeating those same mistakes [16:45]