Profit Coaching Roundup: Mentors Throw You in the Fire

| February 6, 2015 | By
Profit Coaching Roundup: Mentors Throw You in the Fire

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As part of our profit coaching efforts, we try to go beyond number crunching and help clients really grow their business. We weed through a lot of junk on the Internet, but we save the good stuff to share with you. Here's the 8 most insightful and inspiring bits we found on the world wide web this week:

For the Entrepreneur:

01. 5 Tips for Entrepreneurs to Improve Their Decision Making

As an entrepreneur, you need to be a problem-solver and decision-maker. Forbes.com offers these excellent tips to improve your decision making skills:

  1. Don't delay.
  2. Shelve ego and emotion.
  3. Ask an expert.
  4. Question your data.
  5. Plan for doomsday.

02. Advice for First-Time Founders

One entrepreneur shares a few tidbits of advice he offers all first-time founders: it's about hiring the right people and getting excited about what you do.

"That moment when a CEO gives up their core competency to someone else so they can focus on running the company is the moment they become a great leader."  
-Robert Hayes, First Round

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 03. "How 3 Guys Risked Everything to Turn an Idea into a Global Business"

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Co-founder of Zendesk, Mikkel Svane, spoke with Mixergy.com about starting a business in an otherwise "boring" industry. Through founding a $1.7 billion business, Svane's key takeaway is crucial:

"As soon as you start having employees, you really need to think about having enough cash on the balance to ensure that you don't make short-sighted decisions." -Mikkel Svane, Zendesk


For the Leader:

01. 30 Thoughts on Leadership and Trust to Make You Think

Lolly Daskal, CEO of Lead From Within, wrote a super inspiring article for Inc.com about the importance of trust in leadership. Our favorite is #16:

"People follow leaders by choice. Without trust, at best you get compliance." -Jesse Lyn Stoner, author of Full Steam Ahead

 02. Leadership Tips from Founders Who Started Young

Inc.com created a list of 8 pieces of leadership advice from young founders. However, this article is chock-full of inspiration for founders of any age. We especially liked the tip Niles Citrin, owner of Citrin Cooperman, offered: find a mentor who'll push you to grow as a leader.

"They didn't ask me if I wanted to do it; they threw me into the fire." -Niles Citrin

For the Budget-Conscious:

01. How Startups Keep From Burning Through Cash

Shuly Galili of UpWest Labs shares insight on VentureBeat that she's collected over the years from founders on running a lean company. 

  1. Promote a culture of survival.
  2. Recruit for loyalty.
  3. Entrepreneurship is not about a lifestyle.

02. How One 27 Year-Old Entrepreneur Built a $15M TV Company in Uganda

Forbes.com interviewed Ali-shah Jivraj, CEO of Royal Electronics, and one of Africa's most successful entrepreneurs. The reason for his success was due, in part, to some serious ingenuity and prices 50% lower than competitors.

"We succeeded very quickly because of our pricing. We are still able to make a profit, while not comprimising on quality." -Ali-shah Jivraj

 03. "How to Claw Your Way Out of Debt"

Did you know that 26% of small business owners carry a balance of nearly $10K on their company credit cards? Founder Jason Zook shares the steps he took to get his own company out of debt:

  1. Draw your line in the sand.
  2. Change your mindset.
  3. Make a spreadsheet of all your current expenses.
  4. Reassess your expenses.
  5. Make a few difficult calls to your credit card or loan companies.
  6. Build a get-out-of-debt plan.

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