Richard Simmonds of NewBrandYOU

Name: Richard Simmonds                           

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa    

Company: NewBrandYOU

Favorite Tweeter: @AlphabetSuccess

1.    1. Please provide a 2 sentence biography for yourself and/or mission statement.

               

Strategic Communication Expert. My mission is to be and I am an Influential RuleBreaker & ChangeMaker, during the second half of 2013 I was listed amongst the top 10 social influencers in Africa.

2.   2. Describe your business and why you started it.  What is it that differentiates your business model from others?

I started my business so that I could help people solve their communication problems. I look for people with communications as a strength and not a qualification to work with me in my business. Our combined strengths help our clients become better communicators.

3.   3. What is one example of success you have experienced in your business and what characteristic helped you achieve it?

One of the biggest successes I have been involved in is the @N3Route project, they are the ‘Worlds Most Social Road’. The client gave me free reign to accomplish the goal of communicating with their users to the point that they were world class. I have trained the internal staff to think like we did and communicate to be social. Freeing up this time enables us to help other companies become better communicators.

4.    4. Which entrepreneur inspires you and why?  What industry do they work in and what accomplishment is unique to them?

Tim Fargo @AlphabetSuccess inspires me because I have not met a better nurturer of people in all my time. Tim is an entrepreneur and despite making his fortune already still nurtures people as if he was looking for business in a traditional sense, nut he is not and that’s what makes Tim unconventional.

5.    5. What is one development you foresee in your industry in the next 10 years?

We are yet to see what the power of true authentic influence can have on the world. This influence is one that is communicated and I will be there helping the top influencers in the world communicate more effectively.

6.   6. What trait is most important to succeeding in entrepreneurship?

The ability to solve peoples problems, you need to be able to identify and help people solve their problems. If you cannot solve problems, you are simply offering a service and no one will pay big money for a service.

      7. What is one piece of advice you would give to someone considering starting a business?

You need to be able to communicate and many people seem to think that is the ‘gift of the gab’ but in reality it is the ability to listen and listen beautifully to people. You will then find out what their problems are.

8.   8. What if your favorite book on entrepreneurship and one lesson you learned?

My favorite entrepreneurial book of all time is ‘Re-Imagine’ by Tom Peters. The book opens your mind to what was old and what is new. When you get the spirit of the book to always look what people did as to what they should be doing, you begin to align yourself to be able to solve people’s problems.

My lesson was “Don’t try convince clients they've got problems. Find clients who know they've got problems and solve those problems.”

Entrepreneur Profile - John Maddox of Serious Startups

Name: John Maddox
Company: Serious Startups, LLC
Location: Nashville TN
Favorite Tweeter: @dasjoshua

1.Please provide a 2 sentence biography for yourself and/or mission statement.

John is a serial entrepreneur, who has built and exited multiple companies, has a strong background in technology, digital marketing, business logic and strategy. He has worked with startups to publicly traded multi-national companies, and now as a tech startup investor, enjoys making a difference in the lives of entrepreneurs trying to make impact with their ideas. He and the Serious Startups team now take on mobile and web application startup ideas for equity positions instead of requiring the founders to have raised seed stage capital.

2.Describe your business and why you started it.  What is it that differentiates your business model from others?

Serious Startups as a business model sprang from being constantly bombarded with great startup ideas as the owner of a traditional interactive agency. After realizing the cost of design, development, marketing etc to launch their startup, most founders become either discouraged and give up, or try to gain seed stage investment and get turned down. Often not being able to get early stage investment comes from not having a working prototype of the idea. This led to many of them asking the idea to be taken on for equity.

Over time it became apparent that it was a smarter business model to look at taking on and growing great startup ideas for equity and long term ROI vs short term profit of the traditional client/vendor relationship.

Serious Startups now reviews startup ideas on a regular basis, and if a good relationship is formed and the team likes the concept, it is designed, developed, and launched for equity instead of upfront capital.

3.What is one example of success you have experienced in your business and what characteristic helped you achieve it?

I once closed a deal for nearly a million dollars in less than 24 hours. What made it possible is my ability to connect with people on a human level and also look at everything in business as part of the other person who is involved life.

4.Which entrepreneur inspires you and why?  What industry do they work in and what accomplishment is unique to them?

Cade Havard. He has built great wealth in multiple industries while starting from nothing. Oil, healthcare, publishing, technology; just to name a few.  One of his inspirational statements and business philosophies is what I call a  “Cadeism”. My favorite is “I don’t want to do what you do better, I want to do what you’ve never even thought about doing”.

5.What is one development you foresee in your industry in the next 10 years?

There will be a massive shift in the technology industry as more professionals realize that it is more profitable to take direct stakes in tech startups as partners not vendors, and will shorten the amount of time to get proof of concept and market viability.

6.What trait is most important to succeeding in entrepreneurship?

If you are an entrepreneur, you business is your life. You never turn you mind off and it consumes you. Just make sure you understand that unless you are able to share that same vision you have with your team, chances of making it through the hard times is very low. If you treat them right and they share your passion and vision, it’s amazing how they will rise to the occasion in your time of need.

7.What is one piece of advice you would give to someone considering starting a business?

Never let fear of failure stand in your way. So many people think they are “safe” in their traditional job. Reality is you are LESS safe than if you start you own company. If business goes down, you have no control of being laid off or keeping your job. As an entrepreneur, you can control your own destiny and its up to YOU if you succeed or fail.

8.What is your favorite book on entrepreneurship and one lesson you learned?

My favorite book Blink by Malcom Gladwell. While it is not directly on entrepreneurship but more on decision making, it truly opened my eyes to making quick but sound decisions as an entrepreneur which has helped me make significant pivots in business and achieve success.

Entrepreneur Profile 6 - Tim Fargo of Alphabet Success

Timothy E. Fargo
Company: Alphabet Success (www.alphabetsuccess.com)
Favorite Tweeter: @Tom_Peters
Link to Tim's Book: click here

1. Provide a 2 sentence biography of yourself and/or mission statement.

Define yourself lest others provide the definition for you. If a guy like me can do it, so can you.

2. Describe your business and why you started it.  What is it that differentiates your business model from others?

My business is sharing what I learned in building a 300+ person business in less than seven years.

That sharing might take the form of someone buying a copy of "Alphabet Success" or it might be a consulting arrangement with a company that wants assistance with growth issues.

My differentiators are: a) I'm providing actual experience having grown and sold a decent sized business b) believing that the most important elements of "success" are pretty elementary. Most people need to avoid unforced errors. And c) wanting to give people the tools they need and let them get on with it.

It need not be complex. Simple has always worked best, and in spite of innovation the core of every great business is a simple efficient model.

3. What is one challenge you’ve experienced with your business and how have you overcome it?

In the current business it would be a stretch to say I have overcome my biggest challenge, which is relative obscurity. We'll answer that one next time.

At my former company, Omega Insurance Services (an insurance investigation firm), a major challenge was the perception of investigators as “shady operators”. Through embarking on a mission of educating insurance companies through articles, speaking and seminars, we were able to overcome that challenge and position ourselves as a thought leader and a reputable firm.

4. Which entrepreneur inspires you and why?  What industry do they work in and what accomplishment is unique to them?

He's not often thought of as an “entrepreneur” but I'd say Warren Buffett. He took Benjamin Graham's investment ideas and turned them from a bottle rocket in a space ship. His temperament plays an important role as he isn't easily spooked by markets.  However, I think he embodies the idea of taking a few key measures and beating the heck out of it. Too many people are almost disappointed with the simplicity of business. It isn't extremely complex, but we sure work hard at making it that way.

5.    What is one development you foresee in your industry in the next 10 years? 

This is a funny topic for me. Obviously delivery devices and methods are in constant flux, but human nature is pretty steady state. As crazy as it might sound, I think the core of getting people focused on the actual goal versus other minutiae is likely to remain pretty unchanged. Certainly online learning continually grows, as do enhanced interactive teaching methods. That's the change area I suppose.

6.    What trait is most important to succeeding in entrepreneurship?e

 You need to be slightly, to perhaps seriously OCD. Sounds weird, but getting a start-up right is normally a consuming task. If you're not possessed of some serious drive the boot-up phase is going to grind you to dust. There are exceptions, but I'd say being extremely focused is usually essential.

7. What if one piece of advice you would give to someone considering starting a business?

Be extremely careful. The mantra of “You can do it” is likely true in some utopian sense. But in reality there are considerations like capital constraints, expertise blind spots, and the inevitable “reality check”. Sure, it is great being your own boss. But it can be daunting. In the end, you decide, and you live with that decision.

Bottom line? If you can live with the absolute worst case scenario, and have been honest with yourself in planning (including getting good honest feedback), then go for it. Going against long odds is romantic, until you're broke, at which point the romance fades.

8. What is your favorite book on entrepreneurship and one lesson you learned?

Jungle Rules: How to Be a Tiger in Business,  by John Imlay. It's the story of a turnaround in Atlanta. It lays bare much of the nuts and bolts it takes to make a business go. Perhaps my favourite element is its lack of romanticizing the process. There is certain amount of grit in most businesses which is often glossed over in biz books. John's pretty clear about reality.

Best lesson?: In the nasty event of needing to “downsize” don't slowly bleed the company. People get completely spooked by terminations, so if you have to cut back try to be as aggressive as is tolerable. Do it once, explain why, that it is NOT going to be ongoing and get everyone calmed down and back to work. Having had a staff of 300+ at Omega I can vouch for the merit of avoiding your staff wondering about their jobs daily.

The reality is that if you slowly eliminate the staff piecemeal, the first to leave are often the best, since they have the best “opportunities”. So you may end up with a smaller staff comprised of a less than optimal team. Plus it's really hard to work while you're looking for a new job.

Awesome book.