The Entrepreneur Start-Up Series Week 11 -

“Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light” and these entrepreneurs found it.

Ep #51: True Influence with Tim David

Ep #52: Mobile Fundraising with Jason Grad

Ep #53: Part 1: Spencer Thompson, Founder and President of Sokanu

Ep #54: Part 1: Spencer Thompson, Founder and President of Sokanu

Ep #55: Live a Tax-Free Life, with Craig Cody

The Daily Grind Business Podcast interviews successful business owners and people in hopes to inspire the next great entrepreneur.

Welcome to Week 11 of The Daily Grind Business Podcast Weekly Summaries. Each week the interviewees impart their wisdom by sharing their experiences. Learn from them. To connect with them and to receive some free information please click on the links below.

There is a common thread with all successful entrepreneurs and that is the importance of investing in both your business and personal growth. So each week we also share with you titles of books that either these entrepreneurs have written or suggested that you read.

Week 11

1. Tim David is the author of the popular book Magic Words – The Science and Secrets Behind Seven Words that Motivate, Engage, and Influence.

Tim explored the important psychology behind how what we say affects those around us in business and in life His new book, TRUE Influence – The Magic of human connection, goes even deeper and takes aim at how influence works in the real world.

An ex-professional magician (8 years in the craft), Tim now teaches salespeople and leaders the dangers of influence “tricks” and the magic and science of prioritizing human connection at work and in life. Tim’s specialty is taking the latest scientific findings and translating them into practical, usable tips delivered with a dose of quirky humor. He writes for Huffington Post, Psychology Today, Harvard Business Review, and has been featured on thousands of stages and in hundreds of media outlets around the world.

2. Jason Grad is the founder and CEO of Bstow, the leading all-in-one mobile fundraising platform. An award-winning entrepreneur, he is a Techstars and Venture for America mentor and a former top salesperson at Yelp, where he also co-led the Yelp Foundation 501(c) (3).

Grad‘s company, Bstow, is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that builds mobile apps for fundraisers at a fraction of the cost of the competition or an in-house build. Backed by Techstars, 500 Start-ups and Barclays, Bstow also provides branded solutions. The company has been featured in O Magazine, Tech.co, TechCrunch, NP Tech for Good, Huffington Post, and Yahoo! Finance.

3. Part 1 – Spencer Thompson is the Founder and President of Sokanu. Sokanu is the world’s leading career discovery solution. Its consumer-facing, ML-based career test and vast database of career info are visited by over 10M people annually (~40% pre-college) and the test is completed by 1M people annually. The career database provides always updating information on over 800 careers and includes compensation, education/training, and satisfaction data at both national and state levels.

4. Part 2 – Spencer Thompson is the Founder and President of Sokanu. Sokanu is the world’s leading career discovery solution.

5. Craig Cody is a Certified Tax Coach, Certified Public Accountant, Business Owner and Former New York City Police Officer with 17 years’ experience on the Force. In addition to being a Certified Public Accountant for the past 15 years, he is also a Certified Tax Coach. As a Certified Tax Coach, Craig belongs to a select group of tax practitioners throughout the country who undergo extensive training and continued education on various tax planning techniques and strategies to become, as well as remain, certified. With this organization, Craig has co-authored an Amazon best seller book, Secrets of a Tax-Free Life.

These entrepreneurs did not come from wealthy families. They created businesses that get them up excited every morning. Along the way, they cultivated a habit and that was reading books.

There is a direct correlation in the amount of reading that you do and your long‑term success.

Somebody once asked Warren Buffett about his secret to success. Buffett pointed to a stack of books and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.”

“I wanted to do one thing and other people wanted me to do what was Realistic. I wasn’t making money being a magician, it wasn’t paying the bills. I was really struggling and Dad was right for a long time. So I ran into a mentor that told me Show Business is 2 words – Show and its Business. Have a business plan, have a marketing plan, become more influential as a salesperson, as a negotiator and as a leader.” by Tim David

“I read 52 books in 52 weeks. It was a stretch. After that year, I wrote a new book and more doors opened up for me. I do not see this as a coincidence. The best stuff in life is on the top shelf and you can only reach them by stepping on the books you read.” by Tim David

“The danger of influence is when you fall into this trap – I have to cheat to win; fake it until I make it; it’s a jungle out there. You become someone you are not and put on this mask as a fast sleaze talking salesperson that has to push push push, sell sell sell and at the end of the day you are exhausted. It is not easy to keep being inauthentic.” by Tim David

“Every day is day #1. You can do whatever you want tomorrow and the same applies to business. Look at where your business is versus where the market is and focus on the highest points of leverage to move your business forward. Focus on what is the lowest effort that gives you the highest impact going forward on a daily basis and go after it.” by Jason Grad

“Continue to re-evaluate your habits. Humans are creatures of habits. I want to make sure that the habits I have are the ones leading me towards my dreams and goals. I read a lot. ” by Jason Grad

“Getting funding in the early days was extremely difficult. It is a challenge for most entrepreneurs. Within the first 3 months I did run out of money so I started another company based around what I was good at – marketing. This business grew in only 3 months so I put that revenue back in Bstow. I then created a couple of partnerships with a couple of my clients. So I got as scrappy as possible. This is how I got the extra cash to get back into the business I really wanted to do – Bstow.” by Jason Grad

Honestly the first couple of years of SOKANU were a tremendous struggle. When I first started this business, I wanted to emulate what I thought was success – People who wear suits and carry blackberries. I had this idea and it was to help people find their perfect career because the career tests that they took in high school and college were really poor. People hated the experience. I thought the easy way to do this was to build a Website and raise a little money to get started. Well it took 2 years for me to find someone to build my Website.” by Spencer Thompson

“Entrepreneurs and CEOs either operate out of a place of fear or a place of strength and that is largely correlated by the amount of money that they have. If you empirically analyze the traits and backgrounds of people that run successful start-ups and successful companies almost all of them come from wealthy backgrounds and almost all of them went to Ivy League schools including Stanford. They come from a group that are largely male and largely white and elite.” by Spencer Thompson

“I have always had a 10-15 year plan. You must be in a position of strength and you must understand your goals. Every company has a governing philosophy. There is no wrong answer. As long as you know what you are and why you are doing it then your philosophy should not change. Your tactics and processes will change.” by Spencer Thompson

“Interpersonal ability and relationship building is so incredibly important in business. If you can make people believe that you care about what you are doing then it changes all of your relationships.” by Spencer Thompson

“The biggest failure people have is that they don’t have a plan. A lot of business planners have the wrong type of entity; for example, operating a corporation when they should be an LLC.” by Craig Cody

“The economy in 2007 hit us really hard. We had to revamp the business. The lesson I learned during that time was: do not be so tied to one industry and make sure you make it easy for your clients to pay you. It is all about cash flow.” by Craig Cody

“Be part of a mastermind group and work with a coach. You can cut your learning curve in half. You can ask like-minded people in your industry and you will get honest feedback from them. They push you forward. Why re-invent the wheel.” by Craig Cody