In August 2019, EO Austin member Dr. Max Kerr was the recipient of the Patsy Woods Martin BIG Giver Award in Austin, Texas. He was nominated for his considerable commitment to giving back to the community through dentistry as well as his generous support for the Capital Area Dental Foundation. Dr. Kerr is well-known for donating his talents to give free dental care to uninsured or low-income people. Dr. Kerr’s commitment to giving back goes way back. After receiving his general dentistry degree in 2007, he spent five years providing dental care for underserved children in Texas and New Mexico. In May 2013, he opened his own dental practice, Vista Ridge Family Dentistry. Today, Dr. Kerr also runs a dental sleep medicine clinic called Sleep Better Austin. He remains committed to treating his patients to the highest standards, helping them live long and productive lives. “Helping has always been in my DNA, but I recently have become more aware of my ability to leverage my influence as an entrepreneur and make larger more impactful positive change,” Dr. Kerr says. Recently, we had the opportunity to talk with him about his philanthropic pursuits and his experiences as an EO member. You’re on the record as saying that one of your life’s missions is to positively impact the health of over 1 million people. How did you arrive at this mission? And how are you making it happen?It actually came to me when I was reviewing our big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) for my sleep apnea treatment business, Sleep Better Austin. I realized that I needed my own BHAG. One million sounded like a nice round number, and I am always up for a challenge. I realize I will not be able to see 1 million patients all on my own, so my focus is on building sustainable, scalable businesses that value mentorship, employee growth and market expansion. I want to grow our business by building the knowledge base of our personnel so they can impact the health of our patients for me. Hopefully, with the growth of the business, revenue will follow. I plan to continue to use a portion of our revenue for charitable purposes. I have also started a learning platform that will allow me to teach my successes to other, like-minded professionals so they can, in turn, positively impact the lives around them. Your staff is also involved in charity work. What is the ROI of encouraging employees to engage in the community?I started very tenuously adding philanthropic work to our schedule. I would pay my team to do charitable work at first, but the feeling of doing something positive just wasn’t there. It seemed like just another day to my team. I then began to have my team choose what they wanted to give to, as well as volunteering on the days that we would be providing charitable work. I really got buy-in then. Now it has become part of how we do business. I know the team is extremely proud to be a part of it. How did you come to join EO?I was looking for a group of entrepreneurs who would encourage me and hold me accountable. With this in mind, I asked [EO Austin member and Bixby Zane founder] Jason Crawford to join me in having a cup of coffee. He immediately suggested EO. The rest is history. Has your EO membership influenced your charitable mindset?It has in that I look at our chapter and see our amazing members and all the amazing work that they do—both commercial and charitable. Seeing all this keeps me “upping my game” for sure. Can you share a particular experience that helps drive you forward? What inspires you to continue this work?Two patients come to mind. One is a woman who was a victim of domestic violence. Her daughter’s boyfriend bound and gagged her. She would not let anyone get close to her mouth because her body associated anything near her mouth with that trauma. Little by little, we have been able to treat her, help her feel safe, help her believe in her own self-worth and give her a beautiful smile. The second is a young lady who was a victim of human trafficking. We were able to bring this young woman in to treat her teeth, and partner with an orthodontist to give her a straight beautiful smile. She remarked to me that she was going to start a speaking career to speak against all the things that happened to her and to give hope to people who are in horrible situations. Needless to say, I start bawling every time I think of how courageous these two women are and how blessed I am to be able to serve them. The post Meet Big Giver and EO Member Max Kerr appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2UfTJlC
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Because being an entrepreneur is hard. And low points are inevitable. Written by Mike Scott, co-founder and CEO of NONA, a software development studio based in South Africa. I started my first business when I was 16, and as I write this I am 36. In my 20 years of being an entrepreneur, I cannot even begin to count the number of times that I have had bad days that could have been the beginning of the end for the business in question. But they weren’t. There’s a lot of press about the overnight successes, but the reality is that being an entrepreneur and business leader is about the hard, often lonely, work in between the few moments of clarity and celebration. Being able to thrive in those less-than-newsworthy periods in between the moments of celebration is what makes a successful entrepreneur. It’s about continuous disciplined execution—and that is not easy. This is why I developed a process that I activate whenever I hit a low point. I wanted to share it because it has helped me so many times. 1. Meditate.During those low points, the first thing to hit me is generally the feeling of complete defeat or anxiety. Often I can’t even articulate what it is that is causing it, but it doesn’t actually matter. The feeling is there and that is the challenge. When this happens, I am in a state of amygdala-hijack and I am in full primal flight or fight mode, which renders me pretty useless at making good decisions and thinking sensibly. So, I meditate. By meditating, even for 5 minutes, I allow my brain the chance to shift its energy away from the amygdala (fight or flight), toward the pre-frontal cortex (awareness, concentration and clear decision making). Simply put, if I give myself the time to meditate I move out of panic and into calm. I like to use the Calm app to guide my meditation, but there are plenty of ways to meditate without any tools. Then I do 25 pushups. 2. Improve my environment.Now that I am no longer looking around for the saber-toothed tiger that is supposedly hunting me, I turn my attention to my immediate physical environment. I take a few minutes to properly tidy and clean my workspace. Here’s why. We think that our feelings control our actions and, while this is not untrue, we do have the ability to flip this around and use our actions to change our feelings. Some call this brain hacking, and I believe it really works. The thought model is a common and powerful tool used in coaching. Once I have identified what the feelings are, and therefore what actions I am likely to take, I look at how I can reverse this effect. Rather than let my feelings dictate my actions, I take action to change how I feel. By taking the action (tidying up my workspace), I shift my feelings from being overwhelmed and anxious toward being calmer, clearer and ordered. Then I do 25 pushups. 3. Reflect and be grateful.Now that I am sitting at an organized workspace and feeling good about my physical surroundings, I stop to appreciate that I have taken difficult and deliberate action to improve my state of being—just this is more than most are prepared to do. Now I reflect on some of the positive things that I have achieved and experienced in my life. By this stage, my brain is truly beginning to shift. My amygdala is losing its control to my good friend the pre-frontal cortex. Here I often remind myself, “What got me here won’t get me there,” which always helps me to affect more change. Then I do 25 pushups. 4. Set my intentions for the day.By this stage, I am thinking more clearly. The world, while not perfect, does not seem to be burning down around me. I turn to my ever-loyal whiteboard and I write down my intentions for the day. This will include how I want to think, what I want to feel and what I (realistically) can achieve. My list might look something like:
This will stay on my whiteboard (or whichever medium makes sense) throughout the day and allows me to tick things off as I go, further ‘hacking’ my brain into feeling like I am progressing and moving upwards. At the end of the day, I complete a quick reflection to see how I did on each item. I also reflect on which items increased my energy and which drained my energy. Setting intentions and reflecting is a habit that has become part of my daily life, and its effects have been astounding. Then I do 25 pushups. 5. Make things smaller.I use Trello to manage my personal tasks, goals, habits, etc. I like Trello because it allows me to make tasks extremely granular. At this point, I am generally in a better headspace and I am just about ready to start getting into the work and back to a mental state of progress, confidence and clarity. The way that I go about this is that I make a list of the all the things that need to get done in order to move the needle on the areas that got me into this negative headspace in the first place. I divide them into two groups:
This next part is crucial: The things that I cannot change, I delete and give them up to the universe. If I can’t affect change on an issue, it is nothing short of insane to worry about it! Now that I have released myself from the things that I cannot change, I focus on the things that are within my locus of control and I get to work. I break these items down to the smallest tasks that I can with the view to be able to move items across from “to do” to “done” in as short a time as possible. Each time that I complete even the smallest task, I get a little hit of dopamine and a sense of improvement which then incentivizes me to get the next one done. So the upward spiral of positive action and feeling begins. Then I do 25 pushups. This entire process can take as little as an hour and the effects for me, every time, are transformational. The hardest part by far is getting started. If you can stop what you are doing (freaking out) and give yourself the gift of focused, mindful self-observation and disciplined action, the rest follows naturally. It’s pretty incredible how things begin to miraculously fall into place after that. Trust the process. The process has variations depending on the severity of the situation at hand but the above serves as a general outline which I hope is useful to you. My hope is that this gets you a little closer to being able to manage life as a business leader without the crushing stress that too often comes with it. And now I’m off to do 25 pushups… Mike Scott is a member of the EO Adelaide chapter and the co-founder of NONA. A serial entrepreneur, he is also a father, a blockchain enthusiast and an avid mountain biker, swimmer and trail runner. The original version of this article appeared on Medium.com. The post How to Pull Yourself Out of a Mental Low Point appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2MJ3lUQ Written for EO by Jeff Thompson, managing partner at Windermere Group One (WGO) What do 9-to-5 office workers and rock stars have in common? Maybe not much on the surface, but their incentives should be similar. Though each member of a band brings unique skills to the enterprise, they have to pull together as a team to make better music than the competition. When they hit a groove, they all ride the wave—and if they can’t get the next gig lined up, they all suffer. Contrast that picture with an all-too-typical corporate scenario. Many employees just come in, do a job, and get their paycheck and perks. They feel zero ties to the company because they’re not impacted by its success. Eventually, they’ll ditch the band and look for the next big thing. This philosophy of one-step-removed workers doesn’t promote employee retention or loyalty. What does? Giving personnel a stake in their employer’s total economic rise or fall through ownership. When Incentives Do More Harm Than GoodTo be sure, many founders and CEOs balk at the notion of giving workers an ownership stake. They prefer the old-fashioned methods of incentivizing workers by offering monetary rewards for a job well done or for bringing in new hires. Here’s the problem: This method does nothing for the good of the company. When my company did this, we noticed that workers tended to send anyone our way just to snag a monetary reward—even if they weren’t confident in the recruit’s ability to benefit the company. It’s like an example from Intel that Dan Ariely describes in “Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations.” During an experiment, Intel offered employees a significant bonus to hit a stretch quota. Though the employees met the goal, they immediately returned to lower pre-quota productivity after receiving the cash. It was a one-time boost that lost its shiny allure. By contrast, ownership holds its impact over time. Skin in the Game Is the Best Way to Boost Employee RetentionCase in point: Our business started with seven shareholders. Today, we have 25. Each one is a worker who earns dividends based on profits. Not only does this create a relationship between owners and team members, but it keeps everyone focused on what matters. The owner doesn’t have to worry as much about workers’ desire to improve performance: Those who understand they are actively creating income streams naturally want to stick around and do their best. Most people have heard about the value of employee engagement—high engagement prevails as the best indicator of performance. Offering ownership in the company gives employees a reason to feel tied in and engaged for the long haul. By providing a profit-sharing program, you attract talented people who understand and value the concept of ownership and collaboration. Aside from naturally changing the tenor of the workplace from a group of self-interested individuals into an efficient, driven team, ownership gives staff members an opportunity to peek into profit and expenses. This insight helps them realize how important their expertise is, no matter what their positions. If you’ve tried incentivizing employees to stick around and still see them dropping like flies, consider offering an ownership stake in your business. Here are some strategies to get you started. 1. Create a profit-based bonus plan for all staff. Your bonus plan for both hourly and salaried staff should not be based on meeting individual quotas or bringing in new hires, but on the profitability of the company overall. Outline your profit plan very specifically so workers know what to expect and how they can earn more money. Remember to stay fair and consistent with your plan. Otherwise, the incentive will seem arbitrary, and people will lose interest in contributing to the collective good. 2. Set up stock acquisition, if possible. Employee stock options allow you to keep ownership within your ranks. When employees who own stock leave our company, we buy back the shares. This means that the team members who are driving the company to success will be the ones to reap the advantages of the good years. Plus, stock ownership makes exceptional team members more apt to plant roots because their shared equity anchors them to the brand. Our personnel see themselves not as single players but as part of a productive group responsible for the company’s reputation and growth. 3. Encourage active participation. We give our employee-owners the opportunity for more involvement by asking them to help run the company in a variety of ways. Staff representing management, sales, administration, and compliance have all joined forces with our agents to serve on committees, be part of task forces, and join the board. This is optional, of course. Yet it opens the door for people to feel heard and respected. In addition, workers blame management much less frequently because they know the buck stops with them. When was the last time you saw employees voluntarily shutting off the lights, picking up trash in the parking lot, or mentoring colleagues just because it made sense for the organization’s health and viability? I see it all the time. Many types of incentives work in the short term, but an ownership stake reduces friction and increases momentum over the long haul. Give your employees more than a reason to stick around—motivate them to go the extra mile. Then, sit back and watch in wonder as your team makes some profitable music. Jeff Thompson is managing partner at Windermere Group One (WGO). WGO is a member of Windermere Real Estate, a real estate network comprised of 300 offices and more than 6,000 agents throughout the western United States. Jeff is truly passionate about helping build companies by building their people. He leverages his 25-plus years of experience in real estate to coach other managers and brokers. Jeff credits much of his success to hard work and a willingness to partner with good people. The post For Greater Retention, Offer a Stake in the Company appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2PdKfs5 EO is committed to supporting the next wave of entrepreneurs. One way do that is through the EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), EO’s premier competition for university students who own and operate a business. The annual competition culminates with the Global Finals, where finalists from 50-plus countries compete and make connections with both seasoned entrepreneurs and fellow “studentpreneurs.” One of the 2019 EO GSEA US finalists, Benjamin Steinhorn, is an Oregon State University graduate and co-founder of ShoeBio, an online shopping site with a mission to provide consumers the best prices on their favorite sneakers. We recently caught up with Benjamin to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey and how EO GSEA has shaped his business. When did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur—specifically a shoe entrepreneur?I first became a sneakerhead back in sixth grade. I was watching an episode of “MTV Cribs” that was profiling 50 Cent. He had a huge mansion in Connecticut stocked with all the coolest technologies and cars you could want. When the camera panned to his closet, I laid my eyes on hundreds of the latest sneakers in every color imaginable! I knew right then, I had to have that kind of closet. I started researching everything I could about sneakers and the culture that surrounded them. I started my first company, SchewhornShoes, when I was 14 years old. Before it was cool, I was reselling sneakers. I would wake up at 4:30 am to get on to Nike’s site and try to get a couple of pairs of the latest shoe that was launching. If I was lucky, I would resell them for a profit on eBay. It was then that I was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. Since then, I have been focused on the goal of starting my own company and leading it to a successful acquisition. Tell us about your current company, ShoeBio.The idea for the company came from my business partner, Mitchell Stebner. After a few years of working at Adidas and hearing thousands of questions from customers like “why isn’t my favorite color here?” or “If my size isn’t here, where can I find it?,” he decided there must be a better way to shop for sneakers. ShoeBio was born. You competed in the 2019 EO GSEA competition. What lessons did you take away from the international student entrepreneur contest?I competed at the Northwest Regional Finals in Seattle, Washington, at the University of Washington Campus. Then I went to Denver, Colorado, for the national competition. One of the biggest lessons I learned is to never underestimate the power of your voice and your body language. I made sure that during my pitches to judges, I spoke with integrity, vigor and passion—the perfect recipe to command a room. I watched dozens of speeches from the likes of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, learning to mimic their tenacity and energy when speaking to a large (or small) number of people. I knew that the content within my presentation would certainly help me win and add to my credibility, but to really seal the deal, I had to nail the pitch. The second lesson I learned is to trust yourself. There is no more powerful or important trust that you can have than the one you put in yourself. If you trust your own capabilities, there’s nothing you can’t achieve. I think one of the biggest takeaways I had from the entire competition was the further realization that I never want to work for someone ever again, and that being an entrepreneur is what I was born to do. I was so happy being in a community of fellow entrepreneurs that shared my passion and vision for a better life, not only for myself but for the rest of the world. What changes have you made to your business as a result of your GSEA participation?The biggest takeaway was in communications. After closely viewing and taking note of how other members of my cohort talked with their teams, I started jotting down key points about how to have effective meetings, how many meetings we should have, what kind of atmosphere I want to set for the meetings themselves, and several more. The second major change that I personally made (and have tried to spread this across the entire company) was to increase the sense of urgency and importance of every decision we make. I listen to a podcast called the MFCEO Project Podcast, from the CEO of 1st Phorm International, Andy Frisella. He is a ruthless, tenacious owner and drives his brand by consistently confirming that the landscape of entrepreneurship or “becoming successful” (whatever that means to you) is not a “la-la fairyland,” but a hard, everyday struggle to make something that people want. At GSEA, the contestants were at different stages. Some were farther along than mine. I took this not as a sign of failure, but as a sign to do better, work harder and dive deeper. In doing so, I made more of an effort to inspire the rest of my team to do the same--cultivating a space of innovation and inspiration. How was your experience in GSEA different from other business pitch competitions or accelerator contests you’ve participated in?I felt truly cared about. I felt like it was where I was meant to be. The atmosphere was unique. It was professional but laid back, like how an entrepreneur should be. It felt like it was more than just a pitch competition. It was a time to learn and become a sponge for knowledge. Going to the national competition was an even more surreal experience. When I got there, it was almost like coming home to a second family. People were talking to me as if I was family, and in a sense, I was. We were a huge family of entrepreneurs who want the world to be a better place. It was a beautiful and humbling experience. Where is ShoeBio today?Right now, ShoeBio V2 is in its alpha stages. We are currently making some cosmetic changes to the front-end of the website as well as optimizing the scrapers on the backend. We plan to roll out the final website soon. We are executing an email marketing campaign for our close friends and social channels in hopes that they will be early adopters of Shoebio.com. Visitors to the existing site, ShoeBio.com, can sign up for a newsletter and be the first to try out our new site. We are also raising a US$250,000 seed round in hopes that it will bring us to a spot where we can become a self-sufficient company and really start to grow. We hope to be acquired in the next five to seven years and then I’ll move on to the next business venture with my co-founder, Mitchell Stebner. https://ift.tt/2OfXLuH The post EO GSEA Finalist Talks Takeaways appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2HowFf4 Written for EO by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, disaster avoidance expert, speaker and author. Decision-making research shows that many entrepreneurs don’t know when to rely on their gut instincts and when to follow reason. Here’s a pop quiz for you: Let’s say you’re interviewing a new applicant for a job and the interview feels a little off. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but you’re uncomfortable talking with this person. She says all the right things, her resume is great, she seems like a perfect hire—except your gut tells you otherwise. Should you go with your gut? When it comes to job interviews, research indicates that they are actually poor indicators of future job performance. So, the right answer in the case is to be wary of that gut feeling. Follow the facts. We are often told to “trust your gut,” and many entrepreneurs trust their guts over their heads too often, giving jobs to people they like—people who they perceive as part of their in-group—rather than to the most qualified applicant. There are other situations, however, that it makes sense to rely on your gut instinct. The reactions of our gut are rooted in the more primitive, emotional and intuitive part of our brains that ensured survival in our ancestral environment. Tribal loyalty and immediate recognition of friend or foe were especially useful for thriving in that environment. In modern society, however, our survival is much less at risk. Our instincts are more likely to compel us to focus on the wrong information as make decisions in the workplace. For example, returning to the job candidate we introduced earlier, is she similar to you in race, gender, and socioeconomic background? Even seemingly minor things like clothing choices, speaking style and gestures can make a big difference in determining how you evaluate another person. Our brains tend to fall for a cognitive error known as the halo effect, which causes some characteristics we like and identify with to cast a positive “halo” on the rest of the person. Its opposite is known as the horns effect, where one or two negative traits change how we view the whole. Yet, just because a person is similar to you does not mean she will be the best employee. The research is clear that often our intuitions don’t serve us well in making the best hiring decisions. Such reliance on intuition is especially harmful if you are trying to establish workplace diversity. It also paves the path to bias in hiring, including in terms of race, disability, gender and sex. Despite the numerous studies showing that structured interventions are needed to overcome bias in hiring, many business leaders and HR personnel still rely on unstructured interviews and other intuitive decision-making practices. Due to our overconfidence bias, a tendency to evaluate our decision-making abilities as better than they are, leaders often go with their guts on hiring as well as other business decisions rather than using analytical decision-making tools that have demonstrably better outcomes. One way to get around issues of bias during the hiring process is to list the ways in which the applicant is different from you. Then, give each factor a “positive point.” Another option is standardizing the interviews—establish a list of questions and ask them in the same order to every applicant. Let’s take a different situation. Say you’ve known a fellow entrepreneur for many years. You’ve collaborated with her on a variety of projects and have an established relationship. Imagine yourself talking with her about a potential collaboration. For some reason, you feel less comfortable than usual. Most likely, your intuitions are picking up subtle cues. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe that person is having a bad day or didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Do you trust your gut or rely on previous experiences? This situation is an example of when it makes sense to trust your gut reaction. Signs of being uncomfortable or anxious are indicators for lying, and it’s worth being cautious. In well-established relationships, then, your gut instinct is a vital part of decision-making. Generally, when you’re facing a significant decision about your business, trust your head more than your gut in order to make the best decision. When possible, find ways to limit the influence of your gut instinct. Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is CEO of the training, coaching, and consulting firm Disaster Avoidance Experts, empowers entrepreneurs to avoid business disasters by addressing potential threats, maximizing unexpected opportunities, and resolving persistent personnel problems. He’s an EO speaker, a recent EO 360° podcast guest, and a best-selling author of Never Go With Your Gut, The Blind Spots Between Us, and The Truth Seeker’s Handbook. The post Should Entpreneurs Trust Their Gut? appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2MqZsUx Written for EO by Angela White, an ed-tech consultant and contributor. Despite options like remote work and virtual offices, adults will spend at least one-third of their lives working. And our workplace environment, culture and habits have a significant impact on our health—particularly our mental health—which, in turn, has a great effect on our productivity. In fact, a study led by World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year in lost productivity. The organization further states that “Employers and managers who put in place workplace initiatives to promote mental health and to support employees who have mental disorders see gains not only in the health of their employees but also in their productivity at work.” Smart employers, then, know that tending to their employees’ mental wellbeing will support the organization’s overall success. The Top Signs of Mental Health Issues at WorkThe first step in tackling mental wellbeing issues is to recognize how depression and anxiety manifest themselves in the workplace. Look out for these signs in your organization:
Risk Factors That Affect Mental Health in the WorkplaceThere are several factors that increase your employees’ risk of developing mental health problems. The most common aggravators include:
While you may be able to spot the signs of trouble, how do you confirm or quantify your instincts? Furthermore, how do you track the success of any initiatives you put in place to improve workplace mental health? Employee net promoter score (NPS) software is a useful tool for gathering measurable data about your team’s experience. Through most survey software tools, you can even design surveys geared to each department in your organization. NPS survey software works best if you are looking to collect employee feedback on specific aspects of your organization. Steps to Improve Mental Wellbeing In Your Organization
Taking these first steps is critical. To ensure that mental health remains a priority, start an ongoing conversation with your leadership and staff, as you continue tracking employee happiness using survey software. Angela White is an ed-tech enthusiast with a passion for product research and marketing. The post Making Steps Toward Better Mental Health in Your Workplace appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2KFQ7pU In a July 2019 episode of the Food Network’s show “Chopped,” EO Fort Worth member Juan Rodriguez competed against other chefs in hopes of landing the top stop. (Spoiler alert.) Juan Rodriguez was chopped. But he’s OK with it because he landed a table at Red Rooster, the acclaimed restaurant by James Beard Foundation Award winner Marcus Samuelsson, one of the judges on “Chopped.” As a child, Rodriguez spent time in Mexico and Illinois. He grew up in a family of entrepreneurs—his parents sold pottery and his grandfather built an excavation company—but he followed in his grandmother’s steps, developing a passion for cooking. He earned his associate degree in Culinary Arts from The Art Institute of Dallas. He spent 15 years working in restaurants all over the US and eventually settled in Fort Worth, Texas, where he launched a catering business called Magdalena’s. While at the helm of Magdalena’s, he was accepted into EO Accelerator, a program designed to help startups reach US$1 million in annual sales. Once he reached his target revenue, he was accepted as an EO member. Rodriguez says, “A little bit of hard work and faith goes a long way. There is so much competition in the food industry, and it’s hard to stand out among so many great companies. We definitely got more no’s then yes’s, but with some persistence, hard work and faith, we were able to open doors.” We recently asked Rodriguez to tell us more about his experience on “Chopped.” How did your appearance on the food competition show come about?My wife was the one who made it happen. She saw that “Chopped” was looking for chefs in the Fort Worth/Dallas area. She applied for me—and then told me about it! We got an email the next day arranging a Skype interview with producers. I was a sous chef on the show “Iron Chef America” in 2006, so I had a taste of what it’s like to compete on the Food Network. What would viewers be interested to know about the behind-the-scenes aspect of the show?I think viewers might want to know that you really only get two to three minutes after the ingredient basket reveal to start cooking. You don’t see ingredients until then, and then it’s non-stop cooking for 30 minutes. You have to be quick on your feet and come up with a menu. Also, another challenging moment is locating all of the equipment you need. It’s a new kitchen to you, and you don’t know where everything is located, so you spend a lot of your time looking for ingredients or equipment. What was it like competing against your friend, California chef Rashad Armstead?He was my toughest competitor! He cooked his heart out. We both have similar backgrounds, growing up cooking with family—and that can be a lethal weapon in a cooking! How will your appearance on “Chopped” impact your business in Fort Worth?We have gotten calls from clients who want to have a “Chopped” catering! My appearance will help my catering business get more recognition but, more importantly, it will help shine a light on the culinary scene in Fort Worth. That’s what I wanted the most—representing Fort Worth/Dallas. Any entrepreneurial lessons learned from your experience or tips you would share with other chefs considering a TV food competition?I learned that staying true to who you are is important. You represent yourself and your business by how you carry yourself. Speak from the heart and cook from the soul. Also: Be humble! I can’t preach this enough. We all started at the bottom and we should never forget that. It’s what makes us who we are. People will respond to it. The post On the Rise in the Fort Worth Food Scene appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2OXQjF7 Written for EO by Scot Cockroft, president of Sigma Mergers & Acquisitions LLC. For many business owners, working with a business broker can ease the stress involved with selling their organization. From preparing the business for sale to determining the right valuation and vetting potential buyers, selling a business is complex. But how do you know if you’ve chosen the right broker? Would you know if you’re working with a bad broker? Consider these telltale warning signs. They Only Tell You What You Want to HearWhile you may see your business in only the most favorable light, it is the business broker’s duty to identify possible red flags to buyers. Your business broker should lay out any potential problems in time for you to make necessary changes before a buyer walks through the door. Additionally, your business broker should set realistic expectations for the sales process. Signs your business broker is only telling you what you want to hear: They Don’t Understand BusinessA successful broker doesn’t need to know everything about your particular business, but they should have a general understanding of your industry, and have a vested interest in learning about the details of your company. This knowledge will allow them to communicate clearly with not only you, but prospective buyers as well. If your broker doesn’t understand the basics, it will be hard to negotiate a deal that all parties can agree to. Signs your business broker doesn’t understand business: They Don’t Have a Clear PlanExperienced brokers may not be able to predict how the sales process will go, but they should have a clear plan to market and sell your business. A bad business broker, working without a strategy in place, could significantly delay the sale of your business. Signs your business broker doesn’t have a clear plan: They Don’t Provide a Detailed Business ValuationDetermining the right valuation for a business is a critical part of the sales process. Ask too much and you could turn away prospective buyers. Undervalue your business, and you could leave profit on the table. Experienced business brokers will analyze every facet of your business, from financial records to the condition of the property, to determine the right valuation. They’ll provide the details of the valuation to you as well. Do not accept an offer until you’ve seen a detailed valuation. Signs your broker hasn’t done a detailed business valuation: They Charge Upfront FeesSome business brokers are more concerned with signing your business than selling it. They know their closing rate is low, so they rely on the upfront fees of business owners to cover their overhead. Successful business brokers will not charge a signing fee or ask you to pay the cost of marketing your business. Signs you need to find a new broker: Finding the Right Business BrokerYou’ve worked hard to build a successful business. Don’t put the sale of your business in the hands of an inexperienced or unprofessional broker. The right broker will work to find and correct any red flags within the business. They will ask the right questions and develop a clear plan to market your business. An experienced broker will provide you a detailed business valuation, and you won’t pay upfront fees. If you spot any warning signs in your current broker, it may be time to consider finding a highly qualified business broker to take over the sale. Scot Cockroft is a serial entrepreneur and business broker who helps business owners realize their full potential in selling their business. He is passionate about the process, having created and sold four of his own businesses to date, and helped hundreds of other businesses do the same. He is the president at Sigma Mergers & Acquisitions. The post How to Know if You’re Working with a Bad Broker appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2H6C9uK For many established entrepreneurs, establishing a purpose and passion beyond business is a fulfilling way to truly make a mark. Ravi Machani, an EO member in Bangalore, India, is one entrepreneur who has done so admirably. In fact, the work he does outside of his original business helped him earn the 2019 EO Global Citizen of the Year. In 2010, Ravi founded IndiVillage, the first information technology (IT) and information technology enabled services (ITeS) company in India to become certified as a B Corporation. With its innovative model for empowering rural women and youth, IndiVillage introduces balance to India’s ecosystem—where cities tend to grow exponentially while rural villages have few economic opportunities. “We brought together the best of all worlds: Conscious customers invested in uplifting the underprivileged, a low-cost and motivated rural workforce, and passionate leaders in urban communities who nurture and grow global opportunities,” Ravi explained in a 2018 interview published on Inc. Ravi also devotes time to Bangalore’s early-stage entrepreneurs through EO CARES, a program designed to catalyze the local startup ecosystem by identifying high potential startups and providing them mentoring, valuable industry connects, rapid revenue opportunities and investments.
The program’s name reflects its focus on five pillars for startup success: Customer, Achievement, Recognition, Education and Social. It provides participants with opportunities to shadow a CEO, connect with mentors and exchange ideas with EO members. Plus, through partnerships with India’s leading startup enablers, the program gives younger organizations in India an additional advantage. “EO CARES is designed to address learning, networking, growth and scalability for startups. The program forges strategic collaborations between startups and established entrepreneurs,” explains Ravi. “Many startup incubators and accelerators are funded by large multinational corporations who induct startups that align only with their own agendas. Our startups, by contrast, just need to meet minimum required criteria in order to gain equal access, equal exposure, no external equity participation and no tying down with stakes in their startup journey.” Ravi further explains, “EO CARES is not sector-specific. The program is a fair and all-encompassing launchpad for the next generation of entrepreneurs.” When asked about the most surprising aspect of EO CARES, he points to the long-term relationships developed with graduates. “Most accelerator events and programs are short-lived, whereas the relationships built at EO CARES last for years. This was an unexpected win! There is no mention of continuity as a lasting benefit of the program in any other model being run out there.” Ravi Machani is a prolific entrepreneur and engaged EO member. He is currently focused on real estate development with the Machani Group and auto components manufacturing with Stumpp, Schuele & Somappa. An active parent, a skilled entrepreneur, a music enthusiast, and a perfectionist, Ravi Machani believes in the strength of Indian design and Indian businesses. The post Next Level Entrepreneurship: Investing in a New Generation of Startups appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2Tp9h5Y When we asked EO members what they’ve learned from being a parent and an entrepreneur, we heard from Jessica Honegger of EO Dallas, the founder and co-CEO of Noonday Collection. She revealed how she strives for success in both work and home life.“One thing I’ve learned about entrepreneurship and parenting? It’s that starting a business is basically akin to having another baby. It requires as much time, energy and emotional grit—and if you’re going to be successful in finding balance between work and family, you have to bring your whole family along for the entrepreneurial journey. I used to believe that I couldn’t be both a good entrepreneur and a good mom—but eventually, I realized that wasn’t true. It was just that I was operating as if those were two separate spheres, rather than one interconnected, shared journey. Entrepreneurs can have a tendency to operate as islands, but I’ve learned that it’s vital that we develop a “we” mentality instead—and that goes double for entrepreneurs with kids. We have to recognize that entrepreneurship requires sacrifice from the whole family. That’s why it’s so important that we bring our families along and help them understand our work. With my kids, I’ve done that by bringing them along with me on business trips to meet the artisans who Noonday Collection partners with across the globe. On these trips, they’ve met people whose lives are being changed by the work that mom and her team are doing around the world. I’ve also included them in our annual sales conference, where they’ve connected with our salesforce and learned how important Noonday Collection is to them, too. My kids are just as bought-in to the vision of this business as I am, and that is what allows us to flourish as a family. What I’ve realized is that despite what society tells us, we can do both, and we can do both well—as long as we’re bringing our families along with us.” As co-CEO of Noonday Collection, Jessica spends her days inspiring others to live lives of purpose. She travels across the United States and around the world, training Noonday ambassadors to be stylists and storytellers, and visiting artisans to encourage them in their work. When she’s off-duty, Jessica loves spending time with her husband Joe and their three kids, Amelie, Holden and Jack. The post The Secret to Succeeding at Work and Family appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2ZKGOtH |
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November 2020
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