Entrepreneur Life: 3 Lessons Learned
#3 is not what you might expect
I built the multi-million-dollar company, Lemon Squad.
But I never went to business school. Never had an internship. I was a mechanic, driven by anxiety and an over-active mind, so you better believe I learned a lot of my entrepreneur lessons the hard way.
Today I want to share three of these lessons with you – in case you’re a self-made entrepreneur, too. Maybe it could save you some of the heartache I went through to make my business succeed.
- Expand Your Technology Mindset
Okay, we all know technology is crucial to a successful business, no matter what that business is. But how you think of technology is not as obvious. Because it’s not just having a good website or online marketing and SEO. The critical piece is your technology mindset – that means looking ahead to the future. Not only do you need a robust website that can support your work today, but you need to have a website that can do more than what you think it should do. Look five years into the future – get what you need today, but make sure it has potential to support your needs in the future.
(*Bonus question: Ask the programmer what the site can do that you haven’t even considered – that can lead to all kinds of opportunity for your business, as it did for Lemon Squad.) - Learn to Communicate
Again, this may seem obvious – we all know communication is important. What I didn’t know, and what took me a long time to learn (I’m still learning, to be honest), is that listening is most of communication. Whether it’s an agitated customer on the phone, or an employee who is falling behind, or someone approaching me to buy my business, listening to everything they say – and don’t say – has opened all kinds of doorways for me to move through. I saw opportunities I would have missed had I been totally focused on making sure I was heard. - Make a Decision – Even a Bad One
This might surprise you, but my experience has taught me that the bad decisions aren’t the worst that can happen. Indecision is. I’ve seen business owners sit on indecision for months, weighing the options, talking back and forth, going ’round and ’round. They don’t move on anything. Or if they do move, it’s months later, and they’ve lost a lot of the powerful energy that business owners need to succeed and move forward. Here’s the thing: we can almost always recover from a bad decision. We can usually recognize that it’s not going to work, then take a different path that will work. If we sit paralyzed in indecision, nothing’s going to happen. And nothing happening will tank your business faster than anything.
So keep it simple: Consider the options, ask feedback, trust your gut, then make a decision and move forward.
Giving Thanks
On this day of gratitude, I want to share my *top thanks* list this year. I could go on for a while, but I’ll keep it brief so you all can get back to turkey and football and naps or whatever it is you choose to do to celebrate in your own thankful way.
So, in no particular order:
- My anxiety is finally being treated. I’m grateful to the medical team, my healthcare providers, and the medications that are successfully helping me sleep at night and show up as my best self during the day.
- My family. My grandparents: their love and gifts are with me every single day. My wife Regan: together we walk this life’s journey and all its ups and downs as a team. My daughter, a beautiful young woman who everyday tells me she loves me and knows she is loved by me. My mom, my dad, my brothers and sisters and cousins, and the many, many friends who give my life meaning and purpose.
- Lemon Squad, its owners at Wrench, and the incredible company it has become and is evolving into. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
- Moving to Duluth this year, and all that this new place has brought us: hiking every day on the North Shore, a new community, new opportunities.
- Simple living. This may sound crazy to anybody who knows me, but I have done some serious downsizing this year (much thanks to Regan), and today I can honestly say how decluttering my life and my belongings has given me a lot of space and peace in my daily life. The minimalistic approach is a real thing, and I’m glad to be living it today.
And I’m grateful for all of you – my community. I’d love to know what you’re grateful for, too.
decision-making. my gut was often right, i usually knew what to do. i knew the option. it wasn’t like i had a whole bunch of options. i knew what i needed to do righ toff the bat. this – i didn’t see te other options. people spin out with too many optpoins – i don’t always think of everything. we’re doing business now i wouldn’t have thought of doing… when i thought of things, i usually went the right way.that is part of making decisions. you have to make a decision and go. i was really good at that part.
if there were options, i was good at figuring out what option. i didn’t sit around for weeks or months considering … can’t run a business …
i had to learn how to trust my gut instinct, and it was usually right. i knew right from wrong. things that needed to be done. i also knew to listen to other people – take in what they had to stay and get something out of it for something i needed to accomplish.
soaking up info – either using it like i got it, tweak it to my needs.
from a scarcity mindset to now having – probably makes me purchase more than i should. never had – through my 30s – all of a sudden, i could have, i’ve gotten better with that – at first, I wanted everything – now i can get all this stuff.
i’ve downsized. before I sold it again – within a year of starting it – could buy a motorcycle – now i coil dgo and get something really cool and pay cash for it. computers, gadgets, etc. nintendo switch, analog pocket, ipad, apple studio monitor, 3- 4K monitor, two macbook airs – 15’ 13’ – a steam deck right there. more minimalistic now.
long time, i have geen getting rid of stuff while getting stuff.
Got a business idea?
Consider these top three things first
top 3 things –
most important thing is the idea. gotta have an idea that will succeed. you don’t know it’s going to work – there are people who start with bad idea and no way it
ll work. then there’s good dieas but not the work ethic. then there are ideas that are good but don’t take – maybe it’s the consumer, or they’re not being put out there in a way they need to.
2- chances… i was really good at building a business with no money. how to utilize google and google places and different things with very little money. learn about how internet works to focus and funnel customers over to your product, your service.
3 – follow through – whatever it is you’re trying to do. you can have idea and people to buy it, but you need to follow through and produce in a way that they are satisfied with service you’re going