If you ask me, my answer will always be, "Absolutely not." Being a generalist is a must-have requirement for all entrepreneurs.
That’s the answer to the question. As much as I just want to finish this post right here (as I tend to look for excuses not to write), I know I need to explain, not only how to become a good generalist, but also why it is important to be one. I will do exactly that. So, stay with me.
Here are the take-aways from my June 19th fireside chat with Tai Odunsi (Wizker.com), to discuss his entrepreneurial journey as an eCommerce brand owner.
We experienced a massive tropical rain storm in NYC, that night. As my luck would have it, it was the biggest one yet this summer. Still, there were plenty of eager attendees who braved through the storm to witness firsthand the testimony of an author turned into an owner of a product-based brand. It turned out to be a very intimate, and special event.
In my previous post, I wrote about how to take the entire December off without feeling guilty (and having battle plan for January) by start planning for it in late summer. The whole point of this idea was to accentuate the importance of understanding what your top three must-accomplish projects are for your business. (You can revisit that post here.)
Now in early September, we only have 10 solid weeks left this year, not including the time after Thanksgiving week. That’s right, just 10 weeks!
For many, December is sort of a wash in terms of operating a business. When I was in the music business many years ago, getting the last two weeks off in December was a “given,” and I don’t quite recall what I was doing during the first 2 weeks of December other than cleaning out my office and going to holiday parties or hosting one for the label I worked for. I’m sure those holiday parties did not help in sharpening my memory… Those darn parties…
As an entrepreneur, though, it is incredibly difficult to draw a clear line to be able to say to oneself, “Okay, since no one is really working, I’m turning everything off in December.” In your mind, there is always something to do, and there is always something to fix.
Recently, I was very fortunate to have Pia Silva as the guest for my live event in NYC (www.meetup.com/GrowthDrivenEntrepreneursWorldwide) to celebrate the release of her book, "Badass Your Brand - The Impatient Entrepreneur’s Guide to Turning Expertise into Profit." The whole room was energized after the interview, and we all had a blast!
Among all the value bombs Pia dropped, I handpicked a few major takeaways to share in this post so that you can apply them to your own business or side hustle projects.
If you are frustrated with your bookkeeper, most likely it is the sign your business has outgrown your current set up. It is quite common for 7 figure business owners to continuously focus only on acquiring talent to carry out their core business to keep the momentum going for rapid growth because it is an intuitive move. As a result, they overlook the backbone of their business such as Finance, HR and Operations to support growth.
Here is the bottom line: 7 figure businesses with more than 6 or so full-time employees and with a physical office should have a full-time finance person at a minimum, not a part-time bookkeeper especially if you don’t have an accounting/finance background. In other words, your frustration towards your bookkeeper is misplaced.
“My Obsession with…” is a new blog category I am starting to share a bit of personal side of me. Some will be related to business, productivity, and self-improvement; some are probably completely unrelated to my professional life. Either way, I want to keep this category informational for you so that you might find it useful in some way!
To kick it off, I am going to share my obsession with notebooks. At the moment, I use 2 different types of notebooks. Here, I am going to show you the one I carry around in my bag.
A recent study shows that, for 78% of startups, professional networking plays an important role in getting traction and growing their businesses. (More here: http://bit.ly/2lBDXz2) Yet the fact that there are many books and online learning products on the subject of better networking techniques suggesting many entrepreneurs are facing challenges with networking.
The #1 complaint I hear from business owners about networking is they find most of the events they went to were disappointing as they felt those events false-advertised in terms of what organizers promised to deliver. Also, they said comparing the amount of effort required to the level of results generated, they weren’t able to justify the effort.
The word in question is everywhere and, of course, all over social media. The next 3 months is THE season for this word to pop up even in many ads. Can you guess what that is?
“Have you set your goals for 2017?”
“Do you have goals for your business?”
“7 goal-setting tips for 2017”
Coupled with the, ‘resolution’, you will start seeing similar posts or polls like these very soon if not already in your social media timelines and feeds.
Goals are great. Knowing what you want to achieve personally and professionally is important. However, I feel that psychological impact of the word, goal(s), has been diminishing over time. It almost feels lukewarm.
