The Entrepreneur Ethos

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Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Stephanie Slocum, founder of Engineers Rising and author of She Engineers: Outsmart Bias, Unlock Your Potential, and Create the Engineering Career of Your Dreams. 

Stephanie has a degree in architectural engineering and worked as a corporate engineer for 15 years, achieving executive-level status. At that point she realized that she had a passion for helping and mentoring others, particularly women engineers. While still employed, she wrote She Engineers and then quit her job to start her own company to coach and support female engineers. One of her motives is to show her three daughters what is possible. 

Stephanie says that there are different rules for women in both the engineering industry and in entrepreneurship, and she helps women navigate those differences. She believes it’s important for executives to become aware of and check their biases, because promotions often get handed to people who remind them of themselves. Stephanie also explains why the “work harder” mentality is not necessarily going to help when it comes to being a successful executive or entrepreneur. 

Now, let’s get better together.

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Summary

Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Allison Mahmood, founder of fair, a brokerage focused on ethical trading and financial education. 

Allison’s early experiences with entrepreneurship including borrowing money to buy clothes in Paris and then selling them back home in Prague and selling fidget spinners. He says he “always had something going on on the side.” One area of expertise he quickly developed was an understanding of trading and finance. He found he enjoyed sharing this knowledge with others and has made it his mission to provide free financial education to as many people as possible. Allison is also pursuing a degree in physics while building his company. 

Allison’s current venture, fair, was founded during the pandemic when he and his cofounder were brainstorming ideas for something to do. The original idea was to develop a hedge fund built on the principles collectively called ESG, or environmental, social, and corporate governance. They also developed a platform to teach financial literacy. In this episode, Allison shares some insights into how entrepreneurs should think about risk by looking at where they are in the journey. 

Now, let’s get better together.

Actionable Insights

One of the key takeaways for aspiring entrepreneurs Mahmood offers is how to think about risk. 

In addition, Mahmood also encourages entrepreneurs to ask the question of what success looks like other than just producing a successful product. Using principles of social, environmental, and community impact, as well as looking at the work culture you create, what outcomes do you want to achieve? 

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Summary

Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Seth Erickson of Storify Agency. 

Storify Agency uses principles of storytelling to help startups communicate. Seth’s agency was originally a website design agency - a successful one at that. But Seth realized that ultimately the website designs weren’t bringing in customers for his clients, so he went on his own hero’s journey to figure out why. He dove into the science and art of storytelling, and what he learned is documented in his book, How to Hack Humans: Storytelling for Startups. 

What Seth found is that there is scientific proof for why and how stories are the optimal way to connect with others. When his agency takes on a client, they find out who they are and what their story is, and then work with them on reshaping their messaging to best communicate their story. Seth is heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, and he explains how often a company fails to understand that they need to position themselves as the mentor rather than the hero, the one who goes out and learns something, and then brings it back to help others. 

Now, let’s get better together.

Actionable Insights

Erickson offers the following advice:

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Other books mentioned: 

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Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Tino Go, CEO of Baru, a company that enables customization of furniture while reducing inefficiencies in the manufacturing process.

The idea for Baru was formed when Tino was trying to find a bookcase in 2014. Not finding what he wanted, he researched customization, which, he discovered, is a “medieval” process. Tino, who has a background in operations logistics and corporate finance, sought out a more efficient route to customizing furniture. The result is a digital platform that enables customers - whether individuals or businesses - to put in an order directly to a local manufacturer. The process is a win for manufacturers since, as Tino explains, furniture manufacturer machines generally sit idle for much of the day. By enabling this type of customization, shipping and packaging costs are reduced as well as easing the complexity of putting together a customized order. 

Baru currently offers furniture customization in 22 regions in the United States. Customers must live within an hour of the manufacturer in order to make the shipping cost effective, so  Baru is working on expanding. Tino also plans to eventually offer customizable kitchen cabinets, recognizing these are in high demand right now. 

Now, let’s get better together.

Go encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to ask themselves the following questions:

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Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Betsy Graziani Fasbinder, an author, writing coach, speaker, and public-speaking trainer. 

Betsy started out as a teacher, then became a therapist, and is now a published author and public-speaking trainer. The common thread she sees behind her various forays is storytelling. Whether it’s trying to get your kid to do a chore or explaining your company’s latest gadget, storytelling needs to be at the core of your communications. 

While Betsy’s latest book is about public speaking for authors, public speaking did not come naturally to her. In this episode she shares that she actually had a phobia of public speaking and would get physically ill before having to speak. When she started writing and publishing books, she realized she would have to acquire some skills in speaking in order to better promote herself and her work. She shares the skills and strategies she learned in her book From Page to Stage: Inspiration, Tools and Public Speaking Tips for Writers. She shares some of these insights in this episode. 

Now, let’s get better together.

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Hello everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Vinay Raman, CEO of CAARMO and host of the Business Blind Spots Exposed podcast. 

Vinay grew up around engineers and earned a master’s in artificial intelligence and machine learning. He also grew up in the Hindu faith, and has always been interested in the intersections and relationship between science and religion.  What he’s most passionate about is bringing data together with stories. He uses hard data to help companies see where they need to take a closer look and find out the story behind what’s happening. This helps companies build a better culture and lead from a heart-centered, rather than simply a numbers-driven, place. 

At CAARMO Vinay helps businesses improve performance by gathering data, studying it, and then encouraging managers to find the story behind the numbers. So, for example, instead of simply firing an employee who is not meeting standards, data can show specifics about where he or she is lacking and then use that data as a springboard for a conversation that will invite the employee to become better. It may also point to ways the company itself is getting in the way of performance, too. 

Vinay encourages leaders to use questions to achieve better understanding and to invite employees down the road of improvement, flipping the traditional management model. In this model, data becomes critical information, but it’s information that forms a basis for a conversation, rather than the last word. 

Now, let’s get better together.

Vinay’s vision is of a world where business leaders are heart-centered and dedicated to fostering a work culture that is empathetic and resilient. He has the following recommendations for aspiring entrepreneurs:

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Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Jonathon Hensley, chief creative officer of EMERGE Digital Transformation, which helps empower businesses to build better products and companies.

Jonathon grew up in the Bay Area, where he was exposed at an early age to the emerging computer industry. He took his parents’ interest in psychology and combined it with his fascination with tech. He became “obsessed” with understanding the connection between the new technologies and human behavior, an obsession that has grown and changed, just as the tech industry has grown and changed. EMERGE has grown through several iterations, starting with helping to solve the problems of infrastructure, then to applications, to now, with a focus on empowering companies and their teams to grow and be resilient using alignment as the core principle of success.

Jonathon’s desire to help companies, and his recognition of the high failure rate among startups, led to a deep dive into understanding why so many companies fail and what they can do to increase their chances to succeed. It’s all about alignment, he explains, an argument he develops in his most recent book, Alignment: Overcoming Internal Sabotage and Digital Product Failure (2021). A company needs to be in alignment on multiple levels to succeed. These are: product-market fit; organizational; within and among teams; and on an individual level, where everyone in the company has a clear understanding of the company’s mission and what their role is in contributing to its success. Jonathon also explains why “failing fast and often” might not be the best strategy for an aspiring entrepreneur.   

Now, let’s get better together.

Hensley says that businesses that are successful are in alignment in all of the four areas. To help you get more aligned, he recommends the following: 

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Summary

Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Alan Silvestri, founder and CEO of Growth Gorilla, a content promotion and distribution agency for the SaaS space. 

Alan put in nine years as an electrical engineer in Italy before making the jump to entrepreneurship. He quickly learned that he didn’t like working at an office job; he also wanted to be able to take time off to tour with his band. He turned to the internet and started learning skills in SEO and website building. One of his course teachers took him on as an apprentice, enabling him to further develop his expertise, particular in link-building. He created efficient processes and eventually started his own agency so he could finally quit his day job. Alan credits his interest in American popular culture with helping “push him over the edge” into entrepreneurship. He also believes that for an entrepreneur, “the stress of staying the same is more than the stress of change.” 

Growth Gorilla has a very specific mission: to provide content promotion and distribution through SEO and backlinking for SaaS companies. Alan believes that having a specialization is key. He also encourages companies to keep their language simple if they want to engage new clients. 

Now, let’s get better together

Actionable Insights

Alan shares the questions he’s asked himself, and periodically asks himself, to make sure he is heading where he wants to go:

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Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, Ginni Saraswati, founder of Ginni Media and host of an award-winning podcast about life as a gay Sri Lankan-born woman growing up in Australia.

Ginni’s first entrepreneurial attempt was an art show which she advertised on a foam board. Twenty years later, she found herself in traffic on her way to a corporate job and realizing she wanted something else. Having already cultivated a strong interest and skills in media and production, she started Ginni Media, a podcast production company.

Ginni leads a team of 27 freelancers from around the world to produce content for thought leaders, influencers, and more. Leading a diverse team remotely is not without its challenges, but Ginni always puts people first. She approaches her business clients in the same way, by shooting for exceptional customer service and cultivating loyalty. Ginni plays the long game - focused on retaining clients - rather than the quick sale. While she’s willing to give away services to some extent, she’s also keenly aware of the importance of boundaries. Ultimately, for Ginni, being a successful entrepreneur is about self-awareness, the willingness to acknowledge mistakes, and always striving for the best. 

Now, let’s get better together.

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Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening. 

Now on to my guest for today, George Chasiotis, founder of the Greece-based content marketing agency MINUTTIA. 

George got his start on Upwork, a freelancer’s job site, when he couldn’t find a job. He did anything he could, from data entry to Facebook ads. Of all the jobs he’d done, he found he liked and had the most talent for content and SEO and started working as a consultant. He started his own company last year, which now has six employees. MINUTTIA focuses on working with SaaS and tech companies in the growth stage. 

George explains how he is building a reputation for success by being selective about what companies he works with. A company just starting out would not be the best fit for what he has to offer; instead, a new company should focus on building content and an audience; then, once they hit a certain point and are poised for growth, they should then seek help with their SEO and content. George believes that your story and perspective are key to hooking customers and getting them engaged. He also stresses that when it comes to SEO, you can’t expect overnight results. 

Now, let’s get better together.

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