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Once upon a time, my wife Jenna and I and our three children under ten moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, had another baby, and bought our first house together. Thiswe thought, is the perfect time to quit our jobs and start a business! [eyeroll]
The idea for our business, Be Courageous, was born while facilitating a client session when the team was at odds with each other while exploring the future of their business. This George Prince quote was on the wall: “Another word for creativity is courage.”
I realized that many of us get trapped in old thoughts and actions when we don’t have the conditions to be creative and courageous.
A question came to me: “What would a world look like with an abundance of courage? How can I help create it?”
Drawing on my background in marketing, strategy and facilitation, and Jenna’s in psychology, human resources and operations, we founded our business consulting firm, Be Courageous. Every year we have grown. Each year, our impact has grown. Every year we learned.
Here are some of our biggest learnings for those of you on your entrepreneurial journey.
Related: The 7 Business Lessons You Should Learn 30 Years From Now
9 lessons learned from five years of learning
As any reader here knows, starting and running a business is child’s play. Ha!
For real, here’s what we’ve learned, after growing our US business from two to a global organization with dozens of customers and over 35 channel partners while positively impacting nearly a million people in 82 countries.
1. Agility
One of our most requested programs by Fortune 500 companies this year was our Agile Leadership training. When you own your own business, the unexpected happens. A successful entrepreneur adapts to new challenges and situations and creates lemonade from lemons.
We have created programs we never imagined in response to what the world expects of us.
Have a solid plan, but be flexible.
Related: These are the building blocks needed to successfully pivot your business
2. Objective
Our goal is to activate courage in businesses around the world and align them with a future that benefits the planet. Yours could be to improve the mental health of mankind or reduce people’s stress by creating a product that is easier to use. Whatever your goal, make sure it excites you deeply and fuels your actions.
Use the strength of your aim for courage through challenges.
3. Superpowers (and kryptonite)
We have had more success when we have identified and focused on our greatest strengths. We aligned our strengths with our values and the services we wanted to offer our customers to solve a problem they were facing.
For example, my superpower guides businesses to realize their potential and their future. My kryptonite gets tripped up in the micro details of the spreadsheets. This is where Jenna comes in. She directs operations with his superpower to keep our business financially stable, growing and on the ground. I am the visionary, and she makes it possible.
Align your superpowers with your goals and company values. Find people who have superpowers that you miss.
Related: Find your flow through deep work and unlock your superpower
4. Curiosity
In an exponentially changing world, having an open mind is key to running a successful business. Be curious about skills you lack and new ways to solve problems. Challenges will arise, but if your curiosity remains at its peak, you will always arrive at the solution in a positive way. Ask, “What courage is needed in this situation?”
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it fuels business growth. (We’re a canine business, anyway, no offense to cats.)
5. Healthy corporate culture
Create a team that feels safe, strong, empowered, and able to share and receive ideas. When you foster personal relationships with your team and customers (yes, business is personal), you’ll thrive beyond competitors who are only in it for the money.
Build a positive company culture to unleash your team’s full potential.
Related: 4 Ways Leaders Can Create an Award-Winning Company Culture
6. Operational Foundation
While you don’t want to get bogged down in systems and processes, your business won’t be able to thrive without a solid operational foundation. Get an understanding of the legal, financial and team infrastructure.
Stay pragmatic and, as we like to say, “aggressively conservative”. We do jumps, but only with a net.
Develop systems to streamline your business, so you can focus on serving your customers.
7. Integrity
Many people make empty promises, which erodes trust over time. It is far better to stick to your word too much. Pay what you say you want, before you say it. We have established deep and trusting relationships with our clients. We foster community.
We get reminders five years after doing a program with a client because we don’t burn bridges; we build them.
Show up with your heart, don’t be a fool and honor your word.
Related: Understanding the Burden of Trust for Business Leaders
8. Optimism
Never doubt what you can achieve, but don’t be disappointed. Approach everyone you can as a holistic human being, putting aside biases. Assume a positive intention and look for positive solutions. Expect people to do their best until proven otherwise. And even then, be gracious to end any relationship.
Work and live from a place of plenty, not scarcity.
9. Conscious hiring
Pay attention to who you bring into your organization.
We are hiring a type of the person – not just for the exact level of expertise we need. We hire people who love our vision. A person who can adapt and learn with us. Who is willing to get to work for a common goal.
Engage the right puzzle piece for your vision, not just how it looks on paper.
Related: Why Kindness Should Be Part of Your Hiring Process
At the end of the line
Owning your own business is not for the faint of heart. It’s an ebb and flow of success and learning. But 20 years from now, if you look back, would you regret not doing something about your big, hot idea?
Fear will never go away, but when the desire to accomplish your goal outweighs the fear of the risks involved, that’s when you know you’re cut out to be an entrepreneur.