hey everyone welcome to another google
hangout I’m really excited to have Susan
Sullivan with me she has an amazing
podcast to help entrepreneurs and asked
me to be on her podcast with her and I
said sure why not but let’s do it as a
google hangout so those of you watching
could also learn about what she’s up to
and share in the knowledge so Susan
welcome aboard thanks for having me and
uh let’s get into it hey thanks Gavin
and what a cool idea this was just
really great to work it this way but I’m
so excited because I get to turn the
tables and interview you so I know
you’re always the one asking questions
so now I’m gonna put you on the spot so
of course introduced you I’m sure
everyone knows that you are all about
entrepreneurship unbelievably you
started a company at 19 a biotech
software company and you sold it huge
and you’ve been a VC raising money you
still raise money for Kiva and your
salsa dancer I mean you’re like a
renaissance kind of guy I just try to be
things I’m passionate about that’s
wonderful well and just tell me what got
you started with entrepreneurship uh
that’s a great question when I started
you know I didn’t have any influences in
my life that were entrepreneur oriented
my parents weren’t entrepreneurs and
when you look at my high school your
book when you ask you what you’re gonna
be when you kind of grow up where do you
see yourself in 10 years I said VP at a
bank oh my gosh really that doesn’t
archers from that and then I went to
university and I met up with two people
who had started the software company and
they asked me to join as an owner i
knows i was intrigued i was interested
in and I didn’t have any science
background or computer background but I
thought just give you a cool opportunity
and so I joined them and at the start we
weren’t making any money and we’re
struggling I’m pulling up three hundred
dollars a month I guess I kind of just I
flipped into it I fell into it but I had
opportunities later when I graduated
University to work at mckinsey & Merrill
Lynch which at the time would have been
my dream job like here’s what I wanted
to do
and paying 80 to 100 starting salary a
flat I’d around the world and closed a
big deals you know kind of what I always
saw for myself and I don’t know
something with me felt like I need to
give my company a try even though i was
making nothing and bands surviving I
just I didn’t want to live with the
regret of not knowing if it would work I
and so I said you know what some of my
friend you taking a year off and they’re
traveling and exploring the world I’m
gonna take a year and just try to make
my business work and if it doesn’t work
at least you know I cannot know how that
certainty and I can go back and get a
job and it worked out and the rats go
get a job so that’s one or and you know
though that is such an interesting story
because you know the statistics that
most startups you know fail so what
advice would you give a start-up right
now that to say hey go on out there and
do it even with the knowledge that they
know that hey this thing might not work
out yeah I think the first thing that
advice I always given in basically shave
but you have to be something that you
really excited you have to do something
that you’re passionate about I think too
many entrepreneurs start a business just
trying to make money you’re just looking
for an opportunity and running the
business is so hard nobody tells you how
hard it is right the success stories and
people making millions but nobody talks
about how they thought about quitting
and just really how hard it is how
brutally hard it is it’s going to be one
of the hardest things you ever do in
your life it is and so the only thing
that keeps you going through all the
crap is your love for what you’re doing
where if you look at any massillon
successful entrepreneur they kept doing
what they were doing because they
genuinely loved it and i think that’s
that’s the first secret that’s the first
key I don’t just look for opportunity
look for something that you love
passionately and how you can then use
those that love that passion those
skills you have to have an impact to
help other people so you know Evan let
me jump in here because I’m sure you
hear this too I get some people who come
to you I want to go into my business for
myself but I have no idea what I want to
do
um how do they make up into that and
find that passion yeah if you don’t know
what your passion is and the best thing
you can do is explore say yes the whole
bunch of opportunities until you find
the thing that makes you a lot for
me in helping entrepreneurs I was asked
to speak at a YMCA event whereas
speaking to 32 to their local
entrepreneurs who’s helping them out and
it was a free event and only three
people showed up and you know logically
you could look like well only people
showed up to a free event how are you
ever going to turn this into a pain
business I can support yourself right
and it almost didn’t matter because I
love it so much I love helping those
three people out that I knew I had to
find a way to keep going even if it
meant taking on other projects to make
money I knew I had to keep doing this
because it filled me up but it filled my
soul and if you find those things then
you have to keep doing it is eventually
you’ll figure out a way to make money
with it well and it’s at the end of the
day you got to make money right and I
you know though I find a lot of people
though that they say they’re passionate
about their business and a lot of
experts will just say hey if you’re
passionate about it you can’t help it
succeed but you know you’re saying a lot
of things here that hit the nail right
on the head you may have to go without
money you know are barely eking out just
a little bit it’s such hard work so
you’ve got to have a lot of good
business fundamentals to along with that
passionate wouldn’t you agree with that
yeah I think it’s understanding what
you’re really good at and when you’re
interested in learning more about if you
don’t have the business knowledge and
that’s not something that you really
want to get better at then forcing
yourself to be a business person
probably isn’t the best thing you’re not
going to you can’t do great things if
you’re not doing things that you are
passionate about and so if it’s not a
business isn’t your strong suit and you
don’t want to learn it then it’d be
going out and maybe partner with
somebody who is that business minded
person and you could focus on the
technology or the art of the creation or
whatever is it you really love you well
you know that’s for me I’m not a good
person with detail and you know
financials things like that so usually
the first person I hire is someone who
can take
over that part of it because if you’re
not really good at it you’re not going
to have fun doing it right it’s going to
get pushed to the back burner so that’s
great advice but why do you think then
so many entrepreneurs fail because the
statistics are just really high yeah I
think so number one is again people
aren’t doing something they’re
passionate about you’re just looking for
an opportunity and as a result as soon
as it gets hard to quit because you
don’t love it enough to hang through all
the garbage you have to go through to
get there I think the second thing is
people don’t give it enough time people
feel like you know you’ve been
successful I we think you’ve done before
so of course you’re gonna have success
in business and yeah three months I’ll
have this up and running and i’ll be
making less money and no problem and the
cash will just be coming in the door
right the cash will just be coming in
and and people don’t realize how long it
takes and I think you know we failed
people to a certain degree in not
educating them enough to understand that
this is no joke this is something that
takes a lot of time a lot of effort and
doesn’t just happen overnight and a lot
of people you know they say I’m tired of
this job I’m not going to work here
anymore until they quit and they
launched from business and then they
might have the money in three months in
their back kind of begging for the whole
job again right and so their business
fails where if you gave that business
more time to succeed if you kept your
job and did your business part-time and
kept building it up and every day worked
at least half an hour an hour every
single day no excuses to regularly God
you’ll start eventually getting some
momentum start making some money and
quit your job when you have enough money
to support yourself not not by a
Lamborghini you know but just pay the
keep the lights on paid your red or your
mortgage um and I think people just they
give up too soon to give up just before
their momentum starts to hit yeah that
that’s very true i think that’s right um
and i think you know i was in the
corporate world for a while and i
remember when I left I was an executive
with a fortune 100 company and I left
and I started a business and I remember
thinking I need to send a fedex I
thought how do I do that because I was
used to blogging on giving it to my
assistant you know and and then it was
always taken care of so there’s that
real culture shock but you know you’ve
got to have a little nest egg set aside
to pay your bills if you’re going to
jump ship like that and obviously got to
have a lot of support around you and I
want to ask you about that because I
know you love being married you have a
son so is it is your son going to follow
in your footsteps um I don’t know what I
don’t really care I think the biggest
thing is just making sure that he’s
doing something he’s excited and
passionate about to my parent’s credit
one of the things I appreciate most
about them is they always believed in me
I made me feel like I do whatever I want
and even though they were not
entrepreneurs and don’t understand thing
they didn’t tell me that I couldn’t be
an entrepreneur they’ve always been very
supportive and being a rock for me and
it’s helpful to have that because it’s
it’s rough being an entrepreneur so my
son is six years old and you know he’s
somewhat involved in some of the things
I do he’s been in some of my videos on
my youtube channel um you know I don’t
know whatever he wants to do I’m going
to be there to support oh well that’s
great i love that that’s and you know
you’ve got to have family support and
everything you do you know whether
you’re in a traditional career running
your own business so how do you though
like you’ve got this believe you’re all
about believing and you’ve taken this
one word and your marketing that how do
you get the word out there how do you
market to and to build your business I
think you’ve got to find something that
means something deeply to you so believe
for me is it defines Who I am and you
have to understand the core value
because I think what a lot of people do
when the first when they first start
selling you’re selling the features of
your product or service you’re selling
you know here are the 10 things that it
can do and nobody cares about that and
somewhere along the lines you learned
about benefits selling where you got it
you’re not selling the drill you’re
selling a whole you’re selling the
experience that they’re going to get
from it where I think more and more now
people care about what you stand for
they want to know that you’re trying to
have a positive impact somewhere in the
world they want to know that you have
shared values with them and and I call
that value-based selling and I think
that the more you can get to that the
faster you can get there I don’t think
we teach that enough now
yeah I went to all those same mistakes I
started selling you know mysterious than
the benefits for years and now to this
value based kind of course selling where
you want to get to the poem people don’t
even care so much about the product that
you’re selling they’re going to buy some
you by default so if you look at for
example the honest company oh if you
know the honest company yes yeah
absolutely great company uh you know
billion-dollar-plus valuation they’re
all about honesty so they’re one word is
honesty and everything that they make
from baby products to beauty products
the bath products is made with honesty
in that their ingredients have no
chemicals in it Christ now it’s up to
the point where anything that comes from
the oddest company you know is made in a
chemical-free way and so you don’t have
to do the research anymore right right
right right if you walk into a whole
foods you just assume that all the food
there is has been screaming and doesn’t
contain a lot of nasty chemicals in
there and pesticides and all the things
I’m worried about and so that’s what I
love for entrepreneurs to think about
what is it that you stand for and how
can you build that brand up and start
spreading awareness around it around the
positive change it should be made in the
world so that people will be attracted
to your brand and buy your products
without you having to do a lot of the
selling net so this will do XYZ for you
right right yeah you almost have to have
a psychology degree because you got to
get inside their head right but I loved
it that you said you you’re not selling
a drill you’re selling a hole or you’re
buying a whole I use that analogy all
the time it’s so perfect you know the
guy doesn’t really care what I kind of
the gorillaz got he just needs the hole
right so so let me ask you just a little
bit more about this purposeful because
one of the things I talk about a lot is
you need to have that really core
purpose and what you’re doing and
without it an organization just doesn’t
have any heart so we’ve talked about
your believe we talked about the honest
company how do you define that though
how do how do you get to it a lot of
people say to me I don’t know how to
find it yeah I think for me uh you need
to start off as an individual and this
this becomes like believe is that the
lens through which I see the entire
world
make decisions and so what you want to
do is think about what’s your favorite
movie what are your favorite songs what
was the thing that you love most about
your favorite teacher or your favorite
boss if you look at all the things that
are grading your life and all of these
you enjoyed the most is a common thread
that connects them you know my favorite
movie was Seabiscuit I don’t you know
see ya yeah I watched like over 20 times
it’s about this like race horse that was
down on this lock and an older I’m a
trainer they were all down there lock
and they came together and create this
come-from-behind amazing story that’s
all about bleep and now that I’ve kind
of had that self-awareness understand
what it is I same for that makes it
easier to make decisions so as an
example if you’re hiring somebody to
come on board and join your team
everybody needs to grow their business
if you want to do something big you
can’t do it alone I lead with the lead
because yes i need a programmer who can
design a website but the skills aren’t
enough I don’t want somebody who loves
the mission and what we’re trying to do
and is passionately advocating for and
when you lead with that when you lead
with your your mission you’re gonna have
some people look at and say that’s
that’s ridiculous that’s stupid really
aaliyah yeah or whatever that’s that’s
just ridiculous and that’s great because
you don’t want that person a sore close
to your company yeah not a good fit
definitely they self eliminate yeah and
then you have the people who will see
this wow that’s amazing I can’t wait to
join that team or I can’t wait to go buy
from that I can’t wait to cover them in
my article I immediately sets you apart
from everybody else you use because most
people are just selling what everybody
else is telling there’s no way to
differentiate and so we just come down
to who has the cheapest price we’re now
if you give me a different way you let
me understand what you staying for what
kind of company trying to build that I’m
much more likely to want to buy from you
look with you cover you in the media
invest in your business and say well and
you know what that’s people are willing
to pay a premium for that too so you
look at the honest company look at Whole
Foods those are not cheap places to shop
it people will pay that extra for that
sense that that they believe in so I
want to switch gears just a little bit
because I know you’re big into social
media you help
periscope my speech and at the folks
summit earlier this year oh yeah that
was fun i got into periscoping so now
you got me a google hangouts I tell you
you know but cool media is really like a
boom for small business but I’m amazed a
lot of small businesses still aren’t
embracing it so what advice would you
give them yeah I think I think it’s um
it’s hard and it’s scary to do social
media I think entrepreneur scene is
another thing that they have the master
in order to get their business to be
successful where they think you know I
just want to teach saucer I just want to
do my coaching or I just want to make
chairs what I have to worry about all
this other stuff and increasingly social
media is becoming more and more
important and I think what I encourage
entrepreneurs to do is take baby steps
before jumping all end because what a
lot of entrepreneurs will do is they’ll
jump all in on YouTube and say I’m going
to go and create YouTube videos and they
spend all this time and effort and
energy making videos for like two weeks
and then they don’t see me d results and
then they quit yeah and what you need to
do is first figure out what is the
platform because there’s so many
different options what is a platform
that best fits your company in terms of
where your customers are and then what
platform best fits your own style right
so are you do you like being on camera
do you prefer to write refer to do
interviews and just be audio only right
and so when I first look at Twitter I
thought it was stupid I think they’re
their lunch and their cats like I’m a
busy entrepreneur I don’t have time for
this right under they did a search for
my name and people were talking about me
thankfully in a good way but I wasn’t a
part of the conversation Wow at least to
say thank you right yeah right and so
like step number one is just just go
ahead and get all the names like protect
your brand you don’t want somebody else
taking you know soothing sol a bit on
any of the new social media platforms
that come out so now your business is go
and protect your name at the very least
and then and then you’re just listening
then you’ve seen our people mentioning
your name or people mentioning your
website and and just responding with a
thank you right it doesn’t mean you have
to be super engaged but if somebody says
oh Susan was great i watch your speech I
love that thank you so much yeah just
recognizing that person and saying thank
you so much appreciate the feedback
that’s great is that that’s a champion
out there who’s going to go out and
spread more of your message right and so
that’s the next step is just listening
are people talking about your business
people talk about your brain in a
positive or negative way and can you
just join the conversation yeah and if
you’re seeing that then you can start
looking at creating content and before
you go and create content every single
day and go crazy right you won’t have
time to run your business right yeah
exactly and look you got to prove
yourself every step of the way that this
is worth the investment of your time
right and for those people who may be
listening who are part of a you know
organization they have me maybe up to
convince their boss but I said honor you
need to convince yourself that it’s
worth your time right then you start
slowly adding some content and the
content most people make the mistake of
just doing promos like pay the sales on
now or come by my stuff and nobody cares
about that nobody’s going to show you
wants to be pitched yeah he wants us to
be pitch it’s a great way to say yeah
and I think the message is that you want
to put out should be tired to your core
belief should be tied to what you
staying for the positive impact you’re
trying to make in the world that’s what
things that’s what those are things that
people resonate with and so it still
comes back to understanding what that
impact is and if it’s one word or
something longer I that is the length
through which you should make all your
important decisions right that’s great
advice yeah i just i’m amazed at how
engaged people have gotten with me just
from my twitter account I mean I’ve I
feel like I know them and I’ve never met
them just from those conversations so I
have one final question for you and that
is you have a goal a personal mission of
helping 1,000,000,000 entrepreneurs is
that really a reasonable goal uh it is
and I think I think it’s a stretch from
what I’m doing now and I think what it
does help me think bigger I think a lot
of times we set goals that are too
too small and too short term and then I
made this mistake and when I sold my
first company great i achieved my goal
and it was depressed it’s like well what
do i do not know and I think that
happens a lot when you when you achieve
a goal you then become the press and
that you don’t know what to do next it
it’s a good problem to have I’m not
complaining like oh woe is me I know
yeah but but you know it was a low point
and I like having something big that
challenges me that motivates me that
wants me to you to do more to go bigger
and to help more people and so that one
being entrepreneurial is something that
excites me and drives me and get me
going every morning well that’s great
well I appreciate it I tell you you’re
doing good great work and give me some
great advice for all my listeners so I
appreciate you letting me turn the
tables and interview you oh thank you
for I’m thanks do we want to take some
questions sure yeah so for those you
guys watching you can leave a question
on the side if you want to ask me or
Susan um somebody wants to know what
your big goal is souza oh my big goal is
to help two billion our ears no I’m
going to I’m gonna outdo you Evan no
actually my big goal is my new
initiative is called the one percent
club and what I’m trying to do is to
help small businesses to stop struggling
and start thriving and to shoot to
become that a member of that elite 1% of
small businesses that really cut through
the competition clutter and soar to
success so multi-million dollar revenue
kinds of companies you know you as you
said Evan earlier you working so hard in
so many hours you deserve to build
wealth and you need to have the tools
the resources than the inspiration to
get to that level so that’s my goal yeah
next one is who are your mentors oh I’ve
had lots of mentors in my life you know
some of them were actual mentor so they
were aware that i would come to them
with questions sometimes I’ve just a
looked at people that I admired and
watched and learned from what they did
so I think that that’s important but
I’ve had two really great mentors in
what I do now which is a professional
speaker and that’s larry winget he’s
known as the pit bull of personal
development you may have seen him like
right in your face all the time and
wears an earring he’s ball headed his
books are like stop whining and get a
life you know but he probably was one of
the original personality brands at least
in the speaking field so he’s been a
good friend in mentor and when I need
advice or guidance he’s been great and
the other ones joke Holloway who wrote a
book called make your best better and
and be and becoming a category of one so
it really about how do you differentiate
yourself you know what you were just
saying the value what is it that you’re
bringing to the market place that makes
you special and unique yeah that’s
awesome um I haven’t heard of the second
guys off the check him out oh yeah do
and in fact II and can give him a little
picture he’s got a new book coming out
in November called magnetic the art of
attracting customers very cool very cool
yeah for me I’d also encouraged I mean
I’ve been fortunate a lot of people to
help me in my life um I think though I
wouldn’t overlook the importance of what
I call aspirational mentors yeah the
first people who gave me kind of
business advice for people that I’d
never met Bill Gates AP Giannini you
know Donald Trump powered show people
who’ve inspired you through their
stories and I take a little bit of every
person and I don’t feel like anyone
entrepreneurs the perfect person I want
to be like right Oh like I like how
Steve Jobs does this and I like how
weird right that’s this and all of these
things help make me the best version of
myself sure i’m a bit believe in both
pass doing the traditional kind of
mentorship rude and trying to connect
with people who can teach you who’ve
gone through and and can shortcut your
path right is the aspirational mentors
of people who you’ve never met but you
can still learn a lot from so if you
feel like you know you don’t have
connections you don’t know anybody don’t
know
who to look up to then just start with
those aspirational mental people who
like to the bigger they are the easier
it is to find their stories youtube
videos biographies books articles you
can find I and you I always learn
something from every famous entrepreneur
that I look up to yeah I’ve always been
a big reader so for me I got a lot of my
my guidance when I was building
companies from books just learning you
know reading everything I could get it
just like a sponge you want to learn
everything you can oh yeah what are your
favorite marketing strategies well we
were talking about social media right
yeah i think you know i do a newsletter
every week so that certainly helps you
just have to keep your name out there
you want to keep your name top of mind’
top of mind awareness so once again back
to what you said evan in your interview
about you know making sure that you’re
out there that people are aware of you
being out there you can’t just start
something and then you know quit it
three days later you have to build you
have to build that platform and that
following and commit to it and you’ve
got to pick the right place where your
audience is so knowing who your customer
is your ideal customer and then
identifying where are they getting their
information and where are they
congregating and that’s where you want
to be if for me I’m all in on youtube I
love you damn that’s why I’m spending a
huge chunk of my time you know when
Susan asked me he can be my podcast I
look like a YouTube video too there you
go and I think what’s important is
finding finding the strategy that works
for you I think there there’s a million
ways to grow business there’s so many
different ways that you can use to build
it but just because it works when
somebody else that may not work for you
and you not find the avenue that works
best for you for me I like me in front
of the camera I’ve gotten better at it
over the years i like i like it being
online where I don’t have to go
somewhere yeah that’s nice i love the
comments like you guys are the ones that
make me keep doing this I wake up every
morning I look at your comments and just
makes me feel like I’m doing something
important and so there’s a lot of ways
to do it but it’s fine in the way that
really work
for you that’s that psychic income that
you just can’t replace any other way you
know you when you feel like you’ve
touched somebody and helped it’s just a
wonderful reward I agree I agreement
alone eat you I mean I love making money
don’t get me wrong but that’s it that’s
a nice it’s nice when you can have both
right absolutely um how do I become a
public speaker well that’s you know that
depends on how much experience you’ve
had so you need want to start small take
baby steps if you haven’t done a lot of
public speaking you might consider
joining an organization like a
Toastmasters or taking a course at a
community college something like that
even an improv class can be good to help
you on stage and then you know just
you’re going to have to pay your dues so
you’re going to take some engagements
where you’re not going to get paid and
get your name out there get some
testimonials and once again you’ve got
to like you haven’t said you’ve got your
one word you’ve got to pick a lane and
stay in it so you can’t be a speaker on
every topic in the world so you’ve got
to choose what am I going to be what’s
my message what’s my voice and and then
build from there yeah and just add on to
that I would say just keep practicing
it’s like a it’s like you will start at
the start right you know you fell off
the bike when you first get on it you
struggle through French when you first
trying to learn it yeah public speaking
is no different and I know a lot of
people are scared of it it’s like one of
them top of years and people have this
public speaking um so just start I
remember when I first date youtube
videos I used to have to have somebody
on my team or my sister come in and
focus the camera and then leave the room
because I didn’t want to speak with them
there oh is that right oh how funny and
just look the more I did it the market
comfortable with it um you know now I
can go outside and film and people are
watching it doesn’t bother me I just
keep doing my thing at me happens
practice I mean some people I guess are
better at it than others I had you two
thousand videos to get to where I am now
and I still have you know I can still
improve a lot in my speaking skills so
just start like I would look for
community events
might be able to speak out I would
definitely start YouTube channel because
it’s a visual medium and helps you
practice and prepare and look at ways to
continually do it if you don’t have a
speaking gig coming up then just make
more videos and make more good most of
my speaking ings that I get come from my
youtube channel really that’s
interesting well and you know another
thing is if you don’t want to start out
cold and just doing it solo getting on a
panel you know at an organization and
doing a panel and sharing your expertise
is another way but I used to gosh you
know you’re talking about how you get
better at it I used to like write out
every word of every speech I ever gave
and sort of memorized it you know now
heck I was speaking at the Harvard I was
emceeing an event at the Harvard club
and the keynote speaker was flying in
from Dubai and something happened and
she couldn’t get there so they said to
me can you do a keynote I’m like sure so
you know off the top of my head built 45
minutes for a keynote and that was it
it’s so it just gets to be that easy
because you know what you want to say
you know your message and you’re just
really having a conversation yeah my
first ones were all tiny events were all
not paid we’re all usually government
stuff or entrepreneur programs yeah you
know five people in a room 10 people in
a room and and I mean I sucked that they
start to but I had I had some good
content just my delivery wasn’t great
yeah yeah I just keep going but you
start I think most people just don’t
know where to start and so they don’t
start yeah starting to just start like
get a YouTube channel find out places
where you might be able to speak a
spontaneous speaker for the build up
your name and experience and credibility
and do something every single day to
make that grow it’s like with blogging
‘he’s a lot of people say to me all i
want to start a blog and then they you
know i have all these excuses why
they’re not doing it you gotta start you
know you got to get going you got to get
out the gate you’re never going to win
the race if you don’t get out the gate I
agree I agree um next one what are your
favorite books favorite books oh well of
course it’s your biz which is my book
but um gosh you know I have so many I’m
always have like four or five books that
I’m reading but you know what i did just
recently I went back and reread the
Great Gatsby and
oh yeah I loved the writing style I had
forgotten how well-written it really is
it’s a wonderful book but you know I
just I I pop around I mean honestly I
mentioned Joe Callaway earlier but his
book becoming a category of one is
excellent if you’re really defining
trying to define your value in your
business it is a great book to read
absolutely I think the biggest book I
had an impact I’ll share too what is the
Far workweek love that from tim ferriss
and I’ve never had a golden work for
hours but it kind of reshaped my
thinking around productivity and
outsourcing and delegating automating
yeah really helped my time management
skills a lot i know that’s a super
popular book that I it’s still I think
is on the New York Times bestseller list
yeah um the other one is out of print
it’s radicals and visionaries that was
put up by entrepreneur press and I don’t
know if you guys can pick up a copy of
it or not somebody said was on ebay four
thousand dollars or something laughs but
what it is basically clutching of famous
entrepreneur stories that are each each
entrepreneur is like three or four pages
and so I used to read those every
morning just as a inspirational boost
one-handed deals of what I could do and
also just like the motivation to keep
going I found that really helped me so
if you can find a copy of that radicals
and visionaries I recommend it that’s
great okay I’m gonna look for that one I
haven’t seen that one ah the next one
kind of car lights that have you written
books so you have you have the 100 you
have more I have four books well what
are yet my first one was called the
girls guide to power and success and I
did that because I was I broke the glass
ceiling in the corporate world and
became one of the first female
executives in this fortune 100 company
the first the first one in my division
and so and then I also practice law for
a while and I had seen a lot of
inequities that go on for women in
business both traditional career and as
an entrepreneur and so I really wanted
to help women understand some of the
things that we do to sabotage our own
success so that’s what that book is
about and then I wrote one in 2003
called reinvent your career
and that was one of the first big times
we saw downsizing hit you know in the
corporate world and here my friends were
they’d had you know 15 20 year careers
and that was their whole identity and
they lost their job and they didn’t they
were lost and I they had so many skills
and talents and you know wonderful
things they could do that I just wanted
to help people understand how to make
that transformation the third one was
called the girls guide to building a
million-dollar business and that was
when I took my internet company over the
million dollar threshold and raise
venture capital I’m like okay if I can
do this anybody’s going to be able to do
this so I wanted to inspire women to to
really ramp it up because I is so so few
women ever cross over the million dollar
threshold and then finally the last one
was called it’s your biz the complete
guide to becoming your own boss and then
un coming out is going to be called the
one percent club so Susan is a writing
machine hmm I’m in the process of
writing my first book well that’s
exciting it’ll be I have to have an aim
by mid-october and I think of it the
next fall okay yeah I will let you guys
know why that’s yes let me know we’ll do
another podcast and promote the book
podcast and google hangout right uh okay
next one how do I find a business
partner you know I’m not a big proponent
of business partners because as an
attorney I have seen too many businesses
fail because the partners who were crazy
about each other when they started the
business got into a feud and everything
went to hell in a handbasket if i can
say that on your google and yet but so
but here’s here’s what I suggest if you
do want to get a partner and I I would
say look at what you’re really good at
and what you’re not good at and look for
someone who augments your skill sets so
someone who brings something to the
party that you don’t have and maybe
that’s context maybe it’s money maybe it
is skill sets you don’t want to go into
business with someone who thinks and
works and looks exactly like you because
you’re just going to be doing the same
things and you’re not going to have and
still going to have those weaknesses so
and you might even look around for
people that you know you’ve known in
business and you respect it and reach
out to them and it you know it doesn’t
mean you’ve got an actually even know
the person really if you think that
person is a good fit for your business
doesn’t hurt to ask all they can do is
say no I think to add to what Susan
saying I think it’s really important
that your business partner hasn’t seen
values as you do well that’s true it’s
like getting married I mean you’ll spend
more time with you this is part of than
you will with your spouse and when
you’re getting married to somebody you
want to marry some loot has those same
shared values with you because when
times get tough that’s when true colors
really come out and I have some tough
times you know in your marriage and your
right all right that’s turn and so I
would definitely be looking for
everything Susan said you want people
have complementary skills so they can
cover your weaknesses but also people
who have the same they love what you’re
doing you love your mission but have the
same kind of shared values you know they
walk the same line that you do because
that’ll definitely help you in your
decision making and you’re really the
stick together and work together I think
I’ll jump in too soon they jump in too
quickly and they CEO of course is going
to work out is great and we love each
other it’s amazing yes and then you know
it doesn’t work out and I would prefer
I’ve done partnerships and I’ve done
solo and every time I try to work with
somebody’s always on a small scale first
like let’s try this one small project
together before we jump in the bed you
get married you know sorry dating before
you get married right so let’s start
dating let’s literary yeah let’s try to
smallpox together see if we work well
together and then and then go from there
and as a lawyer I would say always get
it in writing and have a buy-sell
agreement so it’s your prenup right yeah
cuz I tell you people have very short
memories when it comes to business ok
next one is a bit longer so Rob wrote in
to say I’m a freelance web designer and
I’m doing well but I’m stuck somewhere I
want to expand my work and have my own
business any suggestions well I think
what you were talking about earlier Evan
about starting part time on the side you
know
you don’t want to take the same types of
clients that where you’re working now
already has because that could be a real
conflict of interest but starting
something on the side and testing the
water see how you like it the one
cautionary note i have about that owes
even though you’re doing this part-time
your customers are going to expect
full-time service so you know you’ve got
like right now I’m working with a
technology person and he has a full-time
job and luckily I’m not really pressed
to get this development done but
sometimes he gets really swamped and you
just can’t do any work on it I went into
it with my eyes wide open but a lot of
times people don’t they expect you to be
attentive and get things done on a
timely basis but that’s how I would do
it I when I left my first corporate job
in started my own advertising agency I
started doing some stuff on the side and
had some clients lined up before I ever
actually walked out the door yeah I mean
I completely agree i love this starting
part-time advice to add to that i would
say one help me understand how you’re
different back to that core values thing
i’m a freelance web designer well i know
a thousand freelance web designers right
like what’s act like but how you versus
all the other guys when I mean that’s
different how are you a different person
what goals you trying to accomplish that
are different just something that you
know even now right if you told me how
you’re different Susan I are listening
maybe we have a connection that can help
you maybe somebody else in a check and
help you right but by general it’s easy
to be forget it so or be forgotten yeah
so make it clear you know who you are
what you stay for the and how you’re
different than all the other web
designers I the other thing I would say
is I would look at uh who can you
partner with not necessarily is like an
equity partner in business but who can
give you who’s a good referral partner
for you who has to sell them to your
target audience that is not a web
developer that has complimentary
services and can you form some kind of
Alliance where they’re introducing you
to their clients you can help introduce
them to your clients you create these
relationships with you know
photographers and videographers and
designers all these people were selling
to the same art to the same audiences
you see if this is some way you might be
able to form some kind of Alliance
together yeah yeah kinda but once and
yeah um favorite YouTube channels to
watch oh you’re zemin of course go on um
but i also like Larry wincott’s channel
he does something called ask Larry and
it’s just a riot I mean if you have not
watched him he is funny he says
everything that’s on his mind you might
be offended by the language every once
in a while but it’s and but it’s good
stuff I mean you know it’s stuff we all
know but we need to be reminded of so I
like his of course I have a youtube
channel to so but I’m not as active as
you are but you were inspired me now
Evan to get back on there hey easy as
doing a google hangout yeah that’s right
there you go um my favorite youtube
channel i like gary vaynerchuk stuff um
yeah that’s good based on in New York he
can rub people the wrong way he’s uh
he’s very direct very blunt swears a lot
if you can get past that um people think
he’s got a huge ego and so like you can
rub people the wrong way on first few
but again if you can get past that
message just like your God he’s got he’s
yeah friends about the start to UM
there’s a lot of great content that he
has and he’s one of the only channels
that I will watch pretty much every
video that comes out Layla’s um ji
material i like i like the tentative
dude on youtube i think they learn a lot
yeah i’ll let the TED Talks I found
riesling that their quality seems to be
going down I think I don’t know if you
experience that I felt like I used to
watch a lot more and I subscribe to them
and I’ve actually unsubscribed because I
found that the stuff just wasn’t as good
anymore so I know it’s good to see that
but you know you still like it and um I
don’t know I had issues with it I wasn’t
value I won’t have to say some of the
things have gotten a little far out
there in my opinion but I guess it’s
good to be exposed to all sorts of
things but I guess all the TEDx
the quality is not good uh anyway yeah
except the TEDx that I spoke at which
was wonderful nice yeah okay what was
your biggest challenge at the start of
your business oh I tell you I am man
that’s it that’s a really good question
I’ve had so many businesses over time I
see that let me let me say the ad agency
i mentioned earlier i was in my late
twenties when i started their agency and
even though i had a few clients to start
i was single you know i had a house
payment i had car payments all those
kinds of things and I started losing my
focus so just make ends meet I would I
worry for catering company I was doing
the meeting playing I think I was doing
anything in any help no no I suddenly
realized that that was really hurting
the direction of a business that I
wanted to build so i had to stop that
and I i think that like with anybody
when you start a business you get
panicked about money and it’s so you do
take on things that then distract you
from your core business and i think
that’s one of the hardest challenge is
keeping your focus entrepreneurs we are
so creative right I see a business
opportunity practically every day around
the corner you know what happen I could
do that you know so you gotta pick a
lane and stay in it I think for me uh
the first company that I join as a no
nor I was in charge of biz dev and
selling again customers in and I was
selling to people who were sometimes
three times my age who has hd’s who were
you know way smarter than me and I felt
it was just a limiting belief that I
felt like I was too young I didn’t have
enough background in science to be able
to sell these professors when I software
and I tried to avoid any kind of phone
contact as possible just do everything
by email and it wasn’t until later that
I realized that uh they don’t care how
old I am or you know what my background
was as long as I could help them sure at
the end of the day that’s what they
cared about most
and what I was selling help them in what
they were doing and what I had the
confidence to know that the answer was
yes like I couldn’t help them then that
started changing everything for us then
I started closing a lot more sales you
know a lot more deals coming yeah those
those internal beliefs are really bad I
I think I may have told you this and
once before I was in seventh grade I was
labeled as a child with learning
disabilities and I was put in a class
for students that had learning
disabilities and so I just gave up and
quit trying because all of my friends
were in the accelerated class as well
they just quit hanging out with me right
because that was in that other class and
it was until I was a sophomore in high
school that a high school counselor
really got to me and said look you
shouldn’t be flunking and getting these
kind of grades you should be at the top
of your class and for some reason even
though my parents had been saying it for
years I finally heard it and started
applying myself again but I tell you
it’s still you know a lot of times that
girl using the learning disabilities
class what’s this again and remind me
whoops you know you’re really not
qualified you’re that man behind the
curtain you know so that’s tough that’s
an awesome they blink again lately is so
wrong I’m just so against yeah it’s
great that that that guidance counselor
stood up for you that’s cool yeah yeah
that Egypt the interest yeah cool i know
we’re kind of bumping up against a clock
Susan thank you so much for the time
today and for people who want to learn
about your podcasts or find other
interviews that you’re doing where can
they go well they can no one itunes
actually it’s called the one percent
club podcast or google search for my
name seasons all of it and you’ll find
me there alright well thank you susan
thank you everybody for watching and
we’ll see you soon all right great
thanks have a good day
hangout I’m really excited to have Susan
Sullivan with me she has an amazing
podcast to help entrepreneurs and asked
me to be on her podcast with her and I
said sure why not but let’s do it as a
google hangout so those of you watching
could also learn about what she’s up to
and share in the knowledge so Susan
welcome aboard thanks for having me and
uh let’s get into it hey thanks Gavin
and what a cool idea this was just
really great to work it this way but I’m
so excited because I get to turn the
tables and interview you so I know
you’re always the one asking questions
so now I’m gonna put you on the spot so
of course introduced you I’m sure
everyone knows that you are all about
entrepreneurship unbelievably you
started a company at 19 a biotech
software company and you sold it huge
and you’ve been a VC raising money you
still raise money for Kiva and your
salsa dancer I mean you’re like a
renaissance kind of guy I just try to be
things I’m passionate about that’s
wonderful well and just tell me what got
you started with entrepreneurship uh
that’s a great question when I started
you know I didn’t have any influences in
my life that were entrepreneur oriented
my parents weren’t entrepreneurs and
when you look at my high school your
book when you ask you what you’re gonna
be when you kind of grow up where do you
see yourself in 10 years I said VP at a
bank oh my gosh really that doesn’t
archers from that and then I went to
university and I met up with two people
who had started the software company and
they asked me to join as an owner i
knows i was intrigued i was interested
in and I didn’t have any science
background or computer background but I
thought just give you a cool opportunity
and so I joined them and at the start we
weren’t making any money and we’re
struggling I’m pulling up three hundred
dollars a month I guess I kind of just I
flipped into it I fell into it but I had
opportunities later when I graduated
University to work at mckinsey & Merrill
Lynch which at the time would have been
my dream job like here’s what I wanted
to do
and paying 80 to 100 starting salary a
flat I’d around the world and closed a
big deals you know kind of what I always
saw for myself and I don’t know
something with me felt like I need to
give my company a try even though i was
making nothing and bands surviving I
just I didn’t want to live with the
regret of not knowing if it would work I
and so I said you know what some of my
friend you taking a year off and they’re
traveling and exploring the world I’m
gonna take a year and just try to make
my business work and if it doesn’t work
at least you know I cannot know how that
certainty and I can go back and get a
job and it worked out and the rats go
get a job so that’s one or and you know
though that is such an interesting story
because you know the statistics that
most startups you know fail so what
advice would you give a start-up right
now that to say hey go on out there and
do it even with the knowledge that they
know that hey this thing might not work
out yeah I think the first thing that
advice I always given in basically shave
but you have to be something that you
really excited you have to do something
that you’re passionate about I think too
many entrepreneurs start a business just
trying to make money you’re just looking
for an opportunity and running the
business is so hard nobody tells you how
hard it is right the success stories and
people making millions but nobody talks
about how they thought about quitting
and just really how hard it is how
brutally hard it is it’s going to be one
of the hardest things you ever do in
your life it is and so the only thing
that keeps you going through all the
crap is your love for what you’re doing
where if you look at any massillon
successful entrepreneur they kept doing
what they were doing because they
genuinely loved it and i think that’s
that’s the first secret that’s the first
key I don’t just look for opportunity
look for something that you love
passionately and how you can then use
those that love that passion those
skills you have to have an impact to
help other people so you know Evan let
me jump in here because I’m sure you
hear this too I get some people who come
to you I want to go into my business for
myself but I have no idea what I want to
do
um how do they make up into that and
find that passion yeah if you don’t know
what your passion is and the best thing
you can do is explore say yes the whole
bunch of opportunities until you find
the thing that makes you a lot for
me in helping entrepreneurs I was asked
to speak at a YMCA event whereas
speaking to 32 to their local
entrepreneurs who’s helping them out and
it was a free event and only three
people showed up and you know logically
you could look like well only people
showed up to a free event how are you
ever going to turn this into a pain
business I can support yourself right
and it almost didn’t matter because I
love it so much I love helping those
three people out that I knew I had to
find a way to keep going even if it
meant taking on other projects to make
money I knew I had to keep doing this
because it filled me up but it filled my
soul and if you find those things then
you have to keep doing it is eventually
you’ll figure out a way to make money
with it well and it’s at the end of the
day you got to make money right and I
you know though I find a lot of people
though that they say they’re passionate
about their business and a lot of
experts will just say hey if you’re
passionate about it you can’t help it
succeed but you know you’re saying a lot
of things here that hit the nail right
on the head you may have to go without
money you know are barely eking out just
a little bit it’s such hard work so
you’ve got to have a lot of good
business fundamentals to along with that
passionate wouldn’t you agree with that
yeah I think it’s understanding what
you’re really good at and when you’re
interested in learning more about if you
don’t have the business knowledge and
that’s not something that you really
want to get better at then forcing
yourself to be a business person
probably isn’t the best thing you’re not
going to you can’t do great things if
you’re not doing things that you are
passionate about and so if it’s not a
business isn’t your strong suit and you
don’t want to learn it then it’d be
going out and maybe partner with
somebody who is that business minded
person and you could focus on the
technology or the art of the creation or
whatever is it you really love you well
you know that’s for me I’m not a good
person with detail and you know
financials things like that so usually
the first person I hire is someone who
can take
over that part of it because if you’re
not really good at it you’re not going
to have fun doing it right it’s going to
get pushed to the back burner so that’s
great advice but why do you think then
so many entrepreneurs fail because the
statistics are just really high yeah I
think so number one is again people
aren’t doing something they’re
passionate about you’re just looking for
an opportunity and as a result as soon
as it gets hard to quit because you
don’t love it enough to hang through all
the garbage you have to go through to
get there I think the second thing is
people don’t give it enough time people
feel like you know you’ve been
successful I we think you’ve done before
so of course you’re gonna have success
in business and yeah three months I’ll
have this up and running and i’ll be
making less money and no problem and the
cash will just be coming in the door
right the cash will just be coming in
and and people don’t realize how long it
takes and I think you know we failed
people to a certain degree in not
educating them enough to understand that
this is no joke this is something that
takes a lot of time a lot of effort and
doesn’t just happen overnight and a lot
of people you know they say I’m tired of
this job I’m not going to work here
anymore until they quit and they
launched from business and then they
might have the money in three months in
their back kind of begging for the whole
job again right and so their business
fails where if you gave that business
more time to succeed if you kept your
job and did your business part-time and
kept building it up and every day worked
at least half an hour an hour every
single day no excuses to regularly God
you’ll start eventually getting some
momentum start making some money and
quit your job when you have enough money
to support yourself not not by a
Lamborghini you know but just pay the
keep the lights on paid your red or your
mortgage um and I think people just they
give up too soon to give up just before
their momentum starts to hit yeah that
that’s very true i think that’s right um
and i think you know i was in the
corporate world for a while and i
remember when I left I was an executive
with a fortune 100 company and I left
and I started a business and I remember
thinking I need to send a fedex I
thought how do I do that because I was
used to blogging on giving it to my
assistant you know and and then it was
always taken care of so there’s that
real culture shock but you know you’ve
got to have a little nest egg set aside
to pay your bills if you’re going to
jump ship like that and obviously got to
have a lot of support around you and I
want to ask you about that because I
know you love being married you have a
son so is it is your son going to follow
in your footsteps um I don’t know what I
don’t really care I think the biggest
thing is just making sure that he’s
doing something he’s excited and
passionate about to my parent’s credit
one of the things I appreciate most
about them is they always believed in me
I made me feel like I do whatever I want
and even though they were not
entrepreneurs and don’t understand thing
they didn’t tell me that I couldn’t be
an entrepreneur they’ve always been very
supportive and being a rock for me and
it’s helpful to have that because it’s
it’s rough being an entrepreneur so my
son is six years old and you know he’s
somewhat involved in some of the things
I do he’s been in some of my videos on
my youtube channel um you know I don’t
know whatever he wants to do I’m going
to be there to support oh well that’s
great i love that that’s and you know
you’ve got to have family support and
everything you do you know whether
you’re in a traditional career running
your own business so how do you though
like you’ve got this believe you’re all
about believing and you’ve taken this
one word and your marketing that how do
you get the word out there how do you
market to and to build your business I
think you’ve got to find something that
means something deeply to you so believe
for me is it defines Who I am and you
have to understand the core value
because I think what a lot of people do
when the first when they first start
selling you’re selling the features of
your product or service you’re selling
you know here are the 10 things that it
can do and nobody cares about that and
somewhere along the lines you learned
about benefits selling where you got it
you’re not selling the drill you’re
selling a whole you’re selling the
experience that they’re going to get
from it where I think more and more now
people care about what you stand for
they want to know that you’re trying to
have a positive impact somewhere in the
world they want to know that you have
shared values with them and and I call
that value-based selling and I think
that the more you can get to that the
faster you can get there I don’t think
we teach that enough now
yeah I went to all those same mistakes I
started selling you know mysterious than
the benefits for years and now to this
value based kind of course selling where
you want to get to the poem people don’t
even care so much about the product that
you’re selling they’re going to buy some
you by default so if you look at for
example the honest company oh if you
know the honest company yes yeah
absolutely great company uh you know
billion-dollar-plus valuation they’re
all about honesty so they’re one word is
honesty and everything that they make
from baby products to beauty products
the bath products is made with honesty
in that their ingredients have no
chemicals in it Christ now it’s up to
the point where anything that comes from
the oddest company you know is made in a
chemical-free way and so you don’t have
to do the research anymore right right
right right if you walk into a whole
foods you just assume that all the food
there is has been screaming and doesn’t
contain a lot of nasty chemicals in
there and pesticides and all the things
I’m worried about and so that’s what I
love for entrepreneurs to think about
what is it that you stand for and how
can you build that brand up and start
spreading awareness around it around the
positive change it should be made in the
world so that people will be attracted
to your brand and buy your products
without you having to do a lot of the
selling net so this will do XYZ for you
right right yeah you almost have to have
a psychology degree because you got to
get inside their head right but I loved
it that you said you you’re not selling
a drill you’re selling a hole or you’re
buying a whole I use that analogy all
the time it’s so perfect you know the
guy doesn’t really care what I kind of
the gorillaz got he just needs the hole
right so so let me ask you just a little
bit more about this purposeful because
one of the things I talk about a lot is
you need to have that really core
purpose and what you’re doing and
without it an organization just doesn’t
have any heart so we’ve talked about
your believe we talked about the honest
company how do you define that though
how do how do you get to it a lot of
people say to me I don’t know how to
find it yeah I think for me uh you need
to start off as an individual and this
this becomes like believe is that the
lens through which I see the entire
world
make decisions and so what you want to
do is think about what’s your favorite
movie what are your favorite songs what
was the thing that you love most about
your favorite teacher or your favorite
boss if you look at all the things that
are grading your life and all of these
you enjoyed the most is a common thread
that connects them you know my favorite
movie was Seabiscuit I don’t you know
see ya yeah I watched like over 20 times
it’s about this like race horse that was
down on this lock and an older I’m a
trainer they were all down there lock
and they came together and create this
come-from-behind amazing story that’s
all about bleep and now that I’ve kind
of had that self-awareness understand
what it is I same for that makes it
easier to make decisions so as an
example if you’re hiring somebody to
come on board and join your team
everybody needs to grow their business
if you want to do something big you
can’t do it alone I lead with the lead
because yes i need a programmer who can
design a website but the skills aren’t
enough I don’t want somebody who loves
the mission and what we’re trying to do
and is passionately advocating for and
when you lead with that when you lead
with your your mission you’re gonna have
some people look at and say that’s
that’s ridiculous that’s stupid really
aaliyah yeah or whatever that’s that’s
just ridiculous and that’s great because
you don’t want that person a sore close
to your company yeah not a good fit
definitely they self eliminate yeah and
then you have the people who will see
this wow that’s amazing I can’t wait to
join that team or I can’t wait to go buy
from that I can’t wait to cover them in
my article I immediately sets you apart
from everybody else you use because most
people are just selling what everybody
else is telling there’s no way to
differentiate and so we just come down
to who has the cheapest price we’re now
if you give me a different way you let
me understand what you staying for what
kind of company trying to build that I’m
much more likely to want to buy from you
look with you cover you in the media
invest in your business and say well and
you know what that’s people are willing
to pay a premium for that too so you
look at the honest company look at Whole
Foods those are not cheap places to shop
it people will pay that extra for that
sense that that they believe in so I
want to switch gears just a little bit
because I know you’re big into social
media you help
periscope my speech and at the folks
summit earlier this year oh yeah that
was fun i got into periscoping so now
you got me a google hangouts I tell you
you know but cool media is really like a
boom for small business but I’m amazed a
lot of small businesses still aren’t
embracing it so what advice would you
give them yeah I think I think it’s um
it’s hard and it’s scary to do social
media I think entrepreneur scene is
another thing that they have the master
in order to get their business to be
successful where they think you know I
just want to teach saucer I just want to
do my coaching or I just want to make
chairs what I have to worry about all
this other stuff and increasingly social
media is becoming more and more
important and I think what I encourage
entrepreneurs to do is take baby steps
before jumping all end because what a
lot of entrepreneurs will do is they’ll
jump all in on YouTube and say I’m going
to go and create YouTube videos and they
spend all this time and effort and
energy making videos for like two weeks
and then they don’t see me d results and
then they quit yeah and what you need to
do is first figure out what is the
platform because there’s so many
different options what is a platform
that best fits your company in terms of
where your customers are and then what
platform best fits your own style right
so are you do you like being on camera
do you prefer to write refer to do
interviews and just be audio only right
and so when I first look at Twitter I
thought it was stupid I think they’re
their lunch and their cats like I’m a
busy entrepreneur I don’t have time for
this right under they did a search for
my name and people were talking about me
thankfully in a good way but I wasn’t a
part of the conversation Wow at least to
say thank you right yeah right and so
like step number one is just just go
ahead and get all the names like protect
your brand you don’t want somebody else
taking you know soothing sol a bit on
any of the new social media platforms
that come out so now your business is go
and protect your name at the very least
and then and then you’re just listening
then you’ve seen our people mentioning
your name or people mentioning your
website and and just responding with a
thank you right it doesn’t mean you have
to be super engaged but if somebody says
oh Susan was great i watch your speech I
love that thank you so much yeah just
recognizing that person and saying thank
you so much appreciate the feedback
that’s great is that that’s a champion
out there who’s going to go out and
spread more of your message right and so
that’s the next step is just listening
are people talking about your business
people talk about your brain in a
positive or negative way and can you
just join the conversation yeah and if
you’re seeing that then you can start
looking at creating content and before
you go and create content every single
day and go crazy right you won’t have
time to run your business right yeah
exactly and look you got to prove
yourself every step of the way that this
is worth the investment of your time
right and for those people who may be
listening who are part of a you know
organization they have me maybe up to
convince their boss but I said honor you
need to convince yourself that it’s
worth your time right then you start
slowly adding some content and the
content most people make the mistake of
just doing promos like pay the sales on
now or come by my stuff and nobody cares
about that nobody’s going to show you
wants to be pitched yeah he wants us to
be pitch it’s a great way to say yeah
and I think the message is that you want
to put out should be tired to your core
belief should be tied to what you
staying for the positive impact you’re
trying to make in the world that’s what
things that’s what those are things that
people resonate with and so it still
comes back to understanding what that
impact is and if it’s one word or
something longer I that is the length
through which you should make all your
important decisions right that’s great
advice yeah i just i’m amazed at how
engaged people have gotten with me just
from my twitter account I mean I’ve I
feel like I know them and I’ve never met
them just from those conversations so I
have one final question for you and that
is you have a goal a personal mission of
helping 1,000,000,000 entrepreneurs is
that really a reasonable goal uh it is
and I think I think it’s a stretch from
what I’m doing now and I think what it
does help me think bigger I think a lot
of times we set goals that are too
too small and too short term and then I
made this mistake and when I sold my
first company great i achieved my goal
and it was depressed it’s like well what
do i do not know and I think that
happens a lot when you when you achieve
a goal you then become the press and
that you don’t know what to do next it
it’s a good problem to have I’m not
complaining like oh woe is me I know
yeah but but you know it was a low point
and I like having something big that
challenges me that motivates me that
wants me to you to do more to go bigger
and to help more people and so that one
being entrepreneurial is something that
excites me and drives me and get me
going every morning well that’s great
well I appreciate it I tell you you’re
doing good great work and give me some
great advice for all my listeners so I
appreciate you letting me turn the
tables and interview you oh thank you
for I’m thanks do we want to take some
questions sure yeah so for those you
guys watching you can leave a question
on the side if you want to ask me or
Susan um somebody wants to know what
your big goal is souza oh my big goal is
to help two billion our ears no I’m
going to I’m gonna outdo you Evan no
actually my big goal is my new
initiative is called the one percent
club and what I’m trying to do is to
help small businesses to stop struggling
and start thriving and to shoot to
become that a member of that elite 1% of
small businesses that really cut through
the competition clutter and soar to
success so multi-million dollar revenue
kinds of companies you know you as you
said Evan earlier you working so hard in
so many hours you deserve to build
wealth and you need to have the tools
the resources than the inspiration to
get to that level so that’s my goal yeah
next one is who are your mentors oh I’ve
had lots of mentors in my life you know
some of them were actual mentor so they
were aware that i would come to them
with questions sometimes I’ve just a
looked at people that I admired and
watched and learned from what they did
so I think that that’s important but
I’ve had two really great mentors in
what I do now which is a professional
speaker and that’s larry winget he’s
known as the pit bull of personal
development you may have seen him like
right in your face all the time and
wears an earring he’s ball headed his
books are like stop whining and get a
life you know but he probably was one of
the original personality brands at least
in the speaking field so he’s been a
good friend in mentor and when I need
advice or guidance he’s been great and
the other ones joke Holloway who wrote a
book called make your best better and
and be and becoming a category of one so
it really about how do you differentiate
yourself you know what you were just
saying the value what is it that you’re
bringing to the market place that makes
you special and unique yeah that’s
awesome um I haven’t heard of the second
guys off the check him out oh yeah do
and in fact II and can give him a little
picture he’s got a new book coming out
in November called magnetic the art of
attracting customers very cool very cool
yeah for me I’d also encouraged I mean
I’ve been fortunate a lot of people to
help me in my life um I think though I
wouldn’t overlook the importance of what
I call aspirational mentors yeah the
first people who gave me kind of
business advice for people that I’d
never met Bill Gates AP Giannini you
know Donald Trump powered show people
who’ve inspired you through their
stories and I take a little bit of every
person and I don’t feel like anyone
entrepreneurs the perfect person I want
to be like right Oh like I like how
Steve Jobs does this and I like how
weird right that’s this and all of these
things help make me the best version of
myself sure i’m a bit believe in both
pass doing the traditional kind of
mentorship rude and trying to connect
with people who can teach you who’ve
gone through and and can shortcut your
path right is the aspirational mentors
of people who you’ve never met but you
can still learn a lot from so if you
feel like you know you don’t have
connections you don’t know anybody don’t
know
who to look up to then just start with
those aspirational mental people who
like to the bigger they are the easier
it is to find their stories youtube
videos biographies books articles you
can find I and you I always learn
something from every famous entrepreneur
that I look up to yeah I’ve always been
a big reader so for me I got a lot of my
my guidance when I was building
companies from books just learning you
know reading everything I could get it
just like a sponge you want to learn
everything you can oh yeah what are your
favorite marketing strategies well we
were talking about social media right
yeah i think you know i do a newsletter
every week so that certainly helps you
just have to keep your name out there
you want to keep your name top of mind’
top of mind awareness so once again back
to what you said evan in your interview
about you know making sure that you’re
out there that people are aware of you
being out there you can’t just start
something and then you know quit it
three days later you have to build you
have to build that platform and that
following and commit to it and you’ve
got to pick the right place where your
audience is so knowing who your customer
is your ideal customer and then
identifying where are they getting their
information and where are they
congregating and that’s where you want
to be if for me I’m all in on youtube I
love you damn that’s why I’m spending a
huge chunk of my time you know when
Susan asked me he can be my podcast I
look like a YouTube video too there you
go and I think what’s important is
finding finding the strategy that works
for you I think there there’s a million
ways to grow business there’s so many
different ways that you can use to build
it but just because it works when
somebody else that may not work for you
and you not find the avenue that works
best for you for me I like me in front
of the camera I’ve gotten better at it
over the years i like i like it being
online where I don’t have to go
somewhere yeah that’s nice i love the
comments like you guys are the ones that
make me keep doing this I wake up every
morning I look at your comments and just
makes me feel like I’m doing something
important and so there’s a lot of ways
to do it but it’s fine in the way that
really work
for you that’s that psychic income that
you just can’t replace any other way you
know you when you feel like you’ve
touched somebody and helped it’s just a
wonderful reward I agree I agreement
alone eat you I mean I love making money
don’t get me wrong but that’s it that’s
a nice it’s nice when you can have both
right absolutely um how do I become a
public speaker well that’s you know that
depends on how much experience you’ve
had so you need want to start small take
baby steps if you haven’t done a lot of
public speaking you might consider
joining an organization like a
Toastmasters or taking a course at a
community college something like that
even an improv class can be good to help
you on stage and then you know just
you’re going to have to pay your dues so
you’re going to take some engagements
where you’re not going to get paid and
get your name out there get some
testimonials and once again you’ve got
to like you haven’t said you’ve got your
one word you’ve got to pick a lane and
stay in it so you can’t be a speaker on
every topic in the world so you’ve got
to choose what am I going to be what’s
my message what’s my voice and and then
build from there yeah and just add on to
that I would say just keep practicing
it’s like a it’s like you will start at
the start right you know you fell off
the bike when you first get on it you
struggle through French when you first
trying to learn it yeah public speaking
is no different and I know a lot of
people are scared of it it’s like one of
them top of years and people have this
public speaking um so just start I
remember when I first date youtube
videos I used to have to have somebody
on my team or my sister come in and
focus the camera and then leave the room
because I didn’t want to speak with them
there oh is that right oh how funny and
just look the more I did it the market
comfortable with it um you know now I
can go outside and film and people are
watching it doesn’t bother me I just
keep doing my thing at me happens
practice I mean some people I guess are
better at it than others I had you two
thousand videos to get to where I am now
and I still have you know I can still
improve a lot in my speaking skills so
just start like I would look for
community events
might be able to speak out I would
definitely start YouTube channel because
it’s a visual medium and helps you
practice and prepare and look at ways to
continually do it if you don’t have a
speaking gig coming up then just make
more videos and make more good most of
my speaking ings that I get come from my
youtube channel really that’s
interesting well and you know another
thing is if you don’t want to start out
cold and just doing it solo getting on a
panel you know at an organization and
doing a panel and sharing your expertise
is another way but I used to gosh you
know you’re talking about how you get
better at it I used to like write out
every word of every speech I ever gave
and sort of memorized it you know now
heck I was speaking at the Harvard I was
emceeing an event at the Harvard club
and the keynote speaker was flying in
from Dubai and something happened and
she couldn’t get there so they said to
me can you do a keynote I’m like sure so
you know off the top of my head built 45
minutes for a keynote and that was it
it’s so it just gets to be that easy
because you know what you want to say
you know your message and you’re just
really having a conversation yeah my
first ones were all tiny events were all
not paid we’re all usually government
stuff or entrepreneur programs yeah you
know five people in a room 10 people in
a room and and I mean I sucked that they
start to but I had I had some good
content just my delivery wasn’t great
yeah yeah I just keep going but you
start I think most people just don’t
know where to start and so they don’t
start yeah starting to just start like
get a YouTube channel find out places
where you might be able to speak a
spontaneous speaker for the build up
your name and experience and credibility
and do something every single day to
make that grow it’s like with blogging
‘he’s a lot of people say to me all i
want to start a blog and then they you
know i have all these excuses why
they’re not doing it you gotta start you
know you got to get going you got to get
out the gate you’re never going to win
the race if you don’t get out the gate I
agree I agree um next one what are your
favorite books favorite books oh well of
course it’s your biz which is my book
but um gosh you know I have so many I’m
always have like four or five books that
I’m reading but you know what i did just
recently I went back and reread the
Great Gatsby and
oh yeah I loved the writing style I had
forgotten how well-written it really is
it’s a wonderful book but you know I
just I I pop around I mean honestly I
mentioned Joe Callaway earlier but his
book becoming a category of one is
excellent if you’re really defining
trying to define your value in your
business it is a great book to read
absolutely I think the biggest book I
had an impact I’ll share too what is the
Far workweek love that from tim ferriss
and I’ve never had a golden work for
hours but it kind of reshaped my
thinking around productivity and
outsourcing and delegating automating
yeah really helped my time management
skills a lot i know that’s a super
popular book that I it’s still I think
is on the New York Times bestseller list
yeah um the other one is out of print
it’s radicals and visionaries that was
put up by entrepreneur press and I don’t
know if you guys can pick up a copy of
it or not somebody said was on ebay four
thousand dollars or something laughs but
what it is basically clutching of famous
entrepreneur stories that are each each
entrepreneur is like three or four pages
and so I used to read those every
morning just as a inspirational boost
one-handed deals of what I could do and
also just like the motivation to keep
going I found that really helped me so
if you can find a copy of that radicals
and visionaries I recommend it that’s
great okay I’m gonna look for that one I
haven’t seen that one ah the next one
kind of car lights that have you written
books so you have you have the 100 you
have more I have four books well what
are yet my first one was called the
girls guide to power and success and I
did that because I was I broke the glass
ceiling in the corporate world and
became one of the first female
executives in this fortune 100 company
the first the first one in my division
and so and then I also practice law for
a while and I had seen a lot of
inequities that go on for women in
business both traditional career and as
an entrepreneur and so I really wanted
to help women understand some of the
things that we do to sabotage our own
success so that’s what that book is
about and then I wrote one in 2003
called reinvent your career
and that was one of the first big times
we saw downsizing hit you know in the
corporate world and here my friends were
they’d had you know 15 20 year careers
and that was their whole identity and
they lost their job and they didn’t they
were lost and I they had so many skills
and talents and you know wonderful
things they could do that I just wanted
to help people understand how to make
that transformation the third one was
called the girls guide to building a
million-dollar business and that was
when I took my internet company over the
million dollar threshold and raise
venture capital I’m like okay if I can
do this anybody’s going to be able to do
this so I wanted to inspire women to to
really ramp it up because I is so so few
women ever cross over the million dollar
threshold and then finally the last one
was called it’s your biz the complete
guide to becoming your own boss and then
un coming out is going to be called the
one percent club so Susan is a writing
machine hmm I’m in the process of
writing my first book well that’s
exciting it’ll be I have to have an aim
by mid-october and I think of it the
next fall okay yeah I will let you guys
know why that’s yes let me know we’ll do
another podcast and promote the book
podcast and google hangout right uh okay
next one how do I find a business
partner you know I’m not a big proponent
of business partners because as an
attorney I have seen too many businesses
fail because the partners who were crazy
about each other when they started the
business got into a feud and everything
went to hell in a handbasket if i can
say that on your google and yet but so
but here’s here’s what I suggest if you
do want to get a partner and I I would
say look at what you’re really good at
and what you’re not good at and look for
someone who augments your skill sets so
someone who brings something to the
party that you don’t have and maybe
that’s context maybe it’s money maybe it
is skill sets you don’t want to go into
business with someone who thinks and
works and looks exactly like you because
you’re just going to be doing the same
things and you’re not going to have and
still going to have those weaknesses so
and you might even look around for
people that you know you’ve known in
business and you respect it and reach
out to them and it you know it doesn’t
mean you’ve got an actually even know
the person really if you think that
person is a good fit for your business
doesn’t hurt to ask all they can do is
say no I think to add to what Susan
saying I think it’s really important
that your business partner hasn’t seen
values as you do well that’s true it’s
like getting married I mean you’ll spend
more time with you this is part of than
you will with your spouse and when
you’re getting married to somebody you
want to marry some loot has those same
shared values with you because when
times get tough that’s when true colors
really come out and I have some tough
times you know in your marriage and your
right all right that’s turn and so I
would definitely be looking for
everything Susan said you want people
have complementary skills so they can
cover your weaknesses but also people
who have the same they love what you’re
doing you love your mission but have the
same kind of shared values you know they
walk the same line that you do because
that’ll definitely help you in your
decision making and you’re really the
stick together and work together I think
I’ll jump in too soon they jump in too
quickly and they CEO of course is going
to work out is great and we love each
other it’s amazing yes and then you know
it doesn’t work out and I would prefer
I’ve done partnerships and I’ve done
solo and every time I try to work with
somebody’s always on a small scale first
like let’s try this one small project
together before we jump in the bed you
get married you know sorry dating before
you get married right so let’s start
dating let’s literary yeah let’s try to
smallpox together see if we work well
together and then and then go from there
and as a lawyer I would say always get
it in writing and have a buy-sell
agreement so it’s your prenup right yeah
cuz I tell you people have very short
memories when it comes to business ok
next one is a bit longer so Rob wrote in
to say I’m a freelance web designer and
I’m doing well but I’m stuck somewhere I
want to expand my work and have my own
business any suggestions well I think
what you were talking about earlier Evan
about starting part time on the side you
know
you don’t want to take the same types of
clients that where you’re working now
already has because that could be a real
conflict of interest but starting
something on the side and testing the
water see how you like it the one
cautionary note i have about that owes
even though you’re doing this part-time
your customers are going to expect
full-time service so you know you’ve got
like right now I’m working with a
technology person and he has a full-time
job and luckily I’m not really pressed
to get this development done but
sometimes he gets really swamped and you
just can’t do any work on it I went into
it with my eyes wide open but a lot of
times people don’t they expect you to be
attentive and get things done on a
timely basis but that’s how I would do
it I when I left my first corporate job
in started my own advertising agency I
started doing some stuff on the side and
had some clients lined up before I ever
actually walked out the door yeah I mean
I completely agree i love this starting
part-time advice to add to that i would
say one help me understand how you’re
different back to that core values thing
i’m a freelance web designer well i know
a thousand freelance web designers right
like what’s act like but how you versus
all the other guys when I mean that’s
different how are you a different person
what goals you trying to accomplish that
are different just something that you
know even now right if you told me how
you’re different Susan I are listening
maybe we have a connection that can help
you maybe somebody else in a check and
help you right but by general it’s easy
to be forget it so or be forgotten yeah
so make it clear you know who you are
what you stay for the and how you’re
different than all the other web
designers I the other thing I would say
is I would look at uh who can you
partner with not necessarily is like an
equity partner in business but who can
give you who’s a good referral partner
for you who has to sell them to your
target audience that is not a web
developer that has complimentary
services and can you form some kind of
Alliance where they’re introducing you
to their clients you can help introduce
them to your clients you create these
relationships with you know
photographers and videographers and
designers all these people were selling
to the same art to the same audiences
you see if this is some way you might be
able to form some kind of Alliance
together yeah yeah kinda but once and
yeah um favorite YouTube channels to
watch oh you’re zemin of course go on um
but i also like Larry wincott’s channel
he does something called ask Larry and
it’s just a riot I mean if you have not
watched him he is funny he says
everything that’s on his mind you might
be offended by the language every once
in a while but it’s and but it’s good
stuff I mean you know it’s stuff we all
know but we need to be reminded of so I
like his of course I have a youtube
channel to so but I’m not as active as
you are but you were inspired me now
Evan to get back on there hey easy as
doing a google hangout yeah that’s right
there you go um my favorite youtube
channel i like gary vaynerchuk stuff um
yeah that’s good based on in New York he
can rub people the wrong way he’s uh
he’s very direct very blunt swears a lot
if you can get past that um people think
he’s got a huge ego and so like you can
rub people the wrong way on first few
but again if you can get past that
message just like your God he’s got he’s
yeah friends about the start to UM
there’s a lot of great content that he
has and he’s one of the only channels
that I will watch pretty much every
video that comes out Layla’s um ji
material i like i like the tentative
dude on youtube i think they learn a lot
yeah i’ll let the TED Talks I found
riesling that their quality seems to be
going down I think I don’t know if you
experience that I felt like I used to
watch a lot more and I subscribe to them
and I’ve actually unsubscribed because I
found that the stuff just wasn’t as good
anymore so I know it’s good to see that
but you know you still like it and um I
don’t know I had issues with it I wasn’t
value I won’t have to say some of the
things have gotten a little far out
there in my opinion but I guess it’s
good to be exposed to all sorts of
things but I guess all the TEDx
the quality is not good uh anyway yeah
except the TEDx that I spoke at which
was wonderful nice yeah okay what was
your biggest challenge at the start of
your business oh I tell you I am man
that’s it that’s a really good question
I’ve had so many businesses over time I
see that let me let me say the ad agency
i mentioned earlier i was in my late
twenties when i started their agency and
even though i had a few clients to start
i was single you know i had a house
payment i had car payments all those
kinds of things and I started losing my
focus so just make ends meet I would I
worry for catering company I was doing
the meeting playing I think I was doing
anything in any help no no I suddenly
realized that that was really hurting
the direction of a business that I
wanted to build so i had to stop that
and I i think that like with anybody
when you start a business you get
panicked about money and it’s so you do
take on things that then distract you
from your core business and i think
that’s one of the hardest challenge is
keeping your focus entrepreneurs we are
so creative right I see a business
opportunity practically every day around
the corner you know what happen I could
do that you know so you gotta pick a
lane and stay in it I think for me uh
the first company that I join as a no
nor I was in charge of biz dev and
selling again customers in and I was
selling to people who were sometimes
three times my age who has hd’s who were
you know way smarter than me and I felt
it was just a limiting belief that I
felt like I was too young I didn’t have
enough background in science to be able
to sell these professors when I software
and I tried to avoid any kind of phone
contact as possible just do everything
by email and it wasn’t until later that
I realized that uh they don’t care how
old I am or you know what my background
was as long as I could help them sure at
the end of the day that’s what they
cared about most
and what I was selling help them in what
they were doing and what I had the
confidence to know that the answer was
yes like I couldn’t help them then that
started changing everything for us then
I started closing a lot more sales you
know a lot more deals coming yeah those
those internal beliefs are really bad I
I think I may have told you this and
once before I was in seventh grade I was
labeled as a child with learning
disabilities and I was put in a class
for students that had learning
disabilities and so I just gave up and
quit trying because all of my friends
were in the accelerated class as well
they just quit hanging out with me right
because that was in that other class and
it was until I was a sophomore in high
school that a high school counselor
really got to me and said look you
shouldn’t be flunking and getting these
kind of grades you should be at the top
of your class and for some reason even
though my parents had been saying it for
years I finally heard it and started
applying myself again but I tell you
it’s still you know a lot of times that
girl using the learning disabilities
class what’s this again and remind me
whoops you know you’re really not
qualified you’re that man behind the
curtain you know so that’s tough that’s
an awesome they blink again lately is so
wrong I’m just so against yeah it’s
great that that that guidance counselor
stood up for you that’s cool yeah yeah
that Egypt the interest yeah cool i know
we’re kind of bumping up against a clock
Susan thank you so much for the time
today and for people who want to learn
about your podcasts or find other
interviews that you’re doing where can
they go well they can no one itunes
actually it’s called the one percent
club podcast or google search for my
name seasons all of it and you’ll find
me there alright well thank you susan
thank you everybody for watching and
we’ll see you soon all right great
thanks have a good day
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