LEARN AND GROW FROM OTHER LEADERS

Recently I had the privilege of meeting with Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O’Leary, from Shark Tank. Shark Tank is the #1 show in America.  For those of you who are not familiar with the show, it’s where entrepreneurs come to pitch their business to a panel of investors to take them to the next level.  Kevin O’Leary is one of those investors.  Kevin is an extremely successful entrepreneur himself and he shared his success thoughts.

 There were many takeaways from his talk that I want to share with you.  A profound way he described being an entrepreneur is that it’s about the Pursuit of Freedom.  So what does he mean by that?  Well, when you are a successful entrepreneur, you are rewarded with a certain amount of wealth.  That wealth provides freedom. The freedom to do what you enjoy; send your kids to the best schools, see the best doctors, travel, or to pursue dreams.  That is the essence of the American dream.   It’s not about greed or money, it’s about freedom.  You turn success into financial freedom.

Shark Tank Funding Success Metrics

Kevin talked about the three most important things successful leaders know. 100% of the companies who got funded on Shark Tank have these 3 things in common: 

1)The entrepreneur was able to articulate the opportunity in 90 sec 

2)Proved that they were the right team to execute the business plan

3)Knew their numbers very well

When you start a business, you are entering an uncharted territory.  Unfortunately many startups do not make it and go out of business within the first five years.  Others go on and generate growth at various levels.  So what does it take to have a business that grows 100% or more every year?  This kind of growth doesn’t happen by doing the status quo.  It usually takes a different type of vision and business acumen.  So what are they?

I recently talked with Robert Herjavec.  He runs a security company but he is mostly known from the hit television show, Shark Tank.  The show depicts him as one of five investors who decides whether he will invest in the company that is pitching their business to the group.  Robert is a very smart man and there are a couple of things he said that stands out.  I believe those are the reasons he is able to build a company that went from $440k in revenue its first year to $320M in revenue in eleven short years.

Here are some tips I picked up from Robert:

Tip 1) Never let anyone know you are having a bad day.  Other people don’t care that you are having a bad day.  It’s all about the other person.  Do what is necessary to make others fell happy.  Don’t tell others about your issues.  Share only good news with employees, colleagues and clients.  You have to become the source of sunshine for others as they have their own bad day.

Tip 2) As a CEO, growing sales should be your number one job.  Everything else can be delegated.  Don’t get sucked into doing other operational things that are important but those that can be delegated.  As a CEO, your focus should be on...  building customers.  He said sales cures all ills.  He also went on to advise that if your company is less than $5M in revenue, then everyone in the company has a responsibility to sell.

Tip 3) Most small business owners stay small because risk seems very final.  People are afraid to take risks as a result.  But risks don’t have to be final.  Taking risks is a must to growing your business.  If you are small, you have to do something no one else is doing.

Tip 4) You and your sales people have to have a comfortable relationship with money.  Money is relative.  A Ferrari is expensive but not if you compare it to a Bugatti.  Also be comfortable with rejection.  In sales, you will get rejected more often than not.  During a sales interview, ask the candidate how they feel about rejection.  He also states that if you suffer enough, you will have persistence.

Tip 5) This tip I thought is pretty unique.  He said that your Unique Selling Proposition or USP needs to be customized depending on who you are talking to.  Your USP shouldn’t be a standard pitch.  It should start with “who” rather than “what”.

Robert Herjavec taught us to think big.  He encouraged us to not be fearful of fear itself.  Taking risks is not an “all or nothing” option.  People who take big risks also see the big growth in their business.  And he also taught us that it’s all about how you make another person feel.  People are emotional beings trying to be rational! 

I recently had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet an American hero: Buzz Aldrin.  Half a century ago, he was among the first to walk on the moon, along with Neil Armstrong.  

After listening to Mr. Aldrin, it hit home just how much I depend on those around me in order for our team to be successful.  I am not a computer engineer; I don’t know how to fix IT issues, and I can name a number of other functions that are beyond my skill set.  As a matter of fact, if I missed work one day, neither the employees nor our clients would be impacted...business would go on as usual.  But that's OK, because our staff are pros at their positions.  I know we all play our roles as a team for a common goal: to help our clients.

If you visited the Capstone Operations Center, you would see how we are managing over 3500 client computers, servers, and network devices.  You would see our clients' calls coming in, helpdesk engineers answering the calls live, engineers being dispatched to client sites, strategic roadmaps being created for client meetings, new client computers being configured, backups and security updates from the previous day being checked, and complex technology problems being discussed and solved.  It’s fascinating; much like watching the NASA team executing a space ship launch.  You quickly gain an appreciation for why the team concept is so important, not only to what we do but also to how we do it.    

Capstone is often imitated, but never duplicated.  Our competitors can advertise similar response times and claim they can provide similar service, but they cannot match our people, culture, and teamwork we display in fulling our mission: making sure our clients have the right fit technology in place to meet their business objectives, their network dependable, and their IT costs stabilized. 

As Buzz says, “Think and do beyond what’s expected, and shoot for the moon.”