This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Cavan Klinsky. Cavan is the co-founder of Healthie. Healthie is a practice and client management software for nutrition and wellness professionals. The platform gives providers the tools they need to succeed in coaching and care, allows them to build closer relationships with clients, and helps contribute to a society with better healthcare outcomes.
Here’s what I love about Cavan. He is a self-taught programmer who went to college, met his business partner, took action, and created a software and a company that now services thousands of health and wellness professionals in over 25 countries – and he’s still in college!
There’s a lot we can learn from this young entrepreneur who is wise beyond his years.
Cavan got interested in health and wellness when he was early in High School when he was running on a treadmill and started to have trouble. He felt tired, dizzy, and almost passed out. When he saw a doctor, they told him he was born with a congenital heart defect. He ended up having to have heart surgery, being the in ICU, and for several months was not allowed to do any real physical activity.
It was during this time that he got into coding and built his first webapp. He also began ti immerse himself in health studies and getting himself back to where could do sports and activity. He ended up wrestling during the rest of time at school and winning a NYC championship. He also started a freelance web development business at the same time. He then went to college at University of Pennsylvania that is where he met his co-founder and came up with the idea for Healthie.
They launched and got their first client in just a few weeks.
What has been the most important thing that you have learned so far about success on your journey?
Most important thing you’ve learned about yourself?
Is the trait of persistence natural or can it be learned?
What should people know about Millennials in business?
What has helped you the most in building Healthie?
What have you learned about how to build a successful company?
What have you learned about leadership and how have you grown as a leader?
Tip on creating a good hiring process?
At the 28 min mark, Cavan talks about productivity Hacks he has used to balance being a full time college student and building Healthie.
The future of medical care?
At the 37 min mark, Cavan talks about why wearables are so interesting to him and why they will change how we manage our lives.
Best Quote: “There are no shortcuts or silver bullets. Constantly improving in all areas of your business and life is the only way.”
Cavan's Misfit 3:
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Seth McKay. For those of you out there who may be have a job, but are building a business on the side – have you ever wondered how you will know when you are ready to make the leap? Or maybe more importantly when to make the leap? Seth went through that same experience.
Seth is the CEO and co-founder of SR Fit Bands, a physical products company that developed a new variation of the resistance band. Seth built the business while working his job and designed it to be infinitely scalable with selling 100% online.
But, the one thing that really caught my attention about how Seth and his co-founder, Ryan Lee, a former NFL player, is how they have grown the business exponentially using Instagram. It is their largest traffic source driving sales to their site besides organic Amazon traffic and I’ve asked Seth to share his system and the other unique things he’s learned in making the transition from employee to full time entrepreneur with you in this episode.
www.FatherhoodFitnessFinance.com
Seth grew up with a pretty traditional view of going to school, getting a good job, etc. as an engineer. He did just that. He came out of college and went to work. He worked at several companies as an engineer. He then decided to go get his MBA.
It was this time that he had his first child. Between traveling for work and study, he started to notice that he was just tired. He was tired at home. Not present in the way he should have been. And he started to realize that there was a difference between what he thought he wanted and what he really wanted.
What it came down to is that “if you don’t control your time, you don’t control your life.” That is when he started looking at creating his own business. It was foreign to him. But, after about 5 months, he started. He began small by selling a website. He then went through a couple of other things. But, he knew he needed something that had the ability to impact at a larger level and that was scalable. It was when he was working out with his friend, Ryan, a former NFL player that they came with the idea to improve on the fitness bands they were using. SR fit was born.
You primarily use Instagram to sell your product, can you talk about the unique process you’ve developed for how to sell using that platform?
At the 22 min mark, Seth talks about hacks you can do with Instagram stories using polls, links, and other features. Top Do’s and Don’ts for Instagram?
Do:
Don’ts
How did you know when it was time to make the leap from employee to full time entrepreneur?
What do people need to know about building a business online with Amazon and sourcing and fulfilling a product?
At the 48 min Mark, Seth tells us about how to get things done on Alibaba…
At the 51-minute mark, Seth talks about his podcast, Fatherhood Fitness Finance
Best Quote: “If you don’t control your time, you don’t control your life.”
Seth's Misfit 3:
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneurs are the king and queen of the wine business. Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey are the co-founders of Barefoot Spirits, the world’s largest wine brand. You no doubt have had some of their product before. In fact, my wife and I toasted in the New Year with some Barefoot Bubbly just this year.
As you can imagine, Michael and Bonnie have won just about every type of award and been featured on every major news outlet you can think of. But, they haven’t just created an amazing business, they have created a mission to help others do the same. After writing their #1 New York times best-seller, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle and Heart Built America’s #1 wine brand, they set out to teach entrepreneurs how they can create their own success using the principles they learned in starting Barefoot with no money, no knowledge of the wine industry, and a vision.
It’s these principles that I am most excited for them to share with you in this episode.
Mike and Bonnie were never really interested in getting into the wine business. But, they did like the wine country. After a year of being together, Bonnie came to mike with a crazy idea. They were both consultants in the area and an opportunity came up to help a client of Bonnie’s collect on some large outstanding payments from a winery. Mike went to help negotiate and found that the winery had just declared bankruptcy. In the absence of Money, Mike negotiated for bulk wine and bottling services.
Now, they had to figure out how to bottle and sell the wine. By the time they had everything together, the winemaker they had worked to get the deal for said he wasn’t interested in selling it. Bonnie and Mike cut a deal to take it over and sell the wine paying the client back in full for the payments that were owed. That is how they got into the wine industry.
At what point did success come and what did you learn that helped it to happen?
What is the Barefoot Spirit?
It is the spirit behind the Barefoot brand. From starting in a laundry room with no knowledge to the success they have had – it came to down to belief. Believing in yourself and your business through the challenges, the ups/downs, and working in a good relationship with everyone that touches your product. It’s about creating the win-win-win.
At the 14 min mark, we talk about why Bonnie and Mike’s book is dedicated to Randy Arnold, how he supercharged the growth of Barefoot, and what they learned from him.
“One of the best ways to grow a brand is to turn your customers into your advocates…”
How can people find ways to turn customers into advocates by being involved in the community?
What are the 4 stages of growth?
Startup
This is the phase where you have just begun, probably not making money, and learning lessons.
Buildup
You’ve got 1-2 big customers paying the bills and your company can exist.
Buildout
This is the stage where most businesses fail This is the stage where customer growth has to happen, but many grossly underestimate the cost of sales and servicing your clients You really have to understand all of the costs that go into growing the business at this stage.
Enterprise
Your company has expanded and is solid But now you have divisions of labor and isolation – this can beget a corporate mentality which can lose the entrepreneurial culture where everyone knew that they could still go out of business, so everyone sold the product and had “skin in the game.” The greatest challenge here is losing that entrepreneurial spirit.
What can companies do in each stage to be successful?
Startup
Don’t make the mistake that your product is so good or needed that it will sell itself. At this stage, you have to be more interested in making a sale and getting your product into the marketplace before improving the product. You have to get it out there to get feedback so you can give the market what it wants. Don’t fall in love with your product yet in this stage. Get it out there, learn, make adjustments, and dial it in. The little things matter here.
Buildup
You have to discover who your strategic allies are. Ask yourself, “who gets rich if you get rich?” Those are your allies. You are looking for that one or two “sugar daddy” clients. Mike and Bonnie use the example of connecting up with Trader Joes when they only had 3 stores and growing with them together.
Buildout
This is a tricky stage. You are growing your footprint and sales organization You will run into challenges in this stage – good challenges. Like a client wanting more than you can currently service – so you have to figure this out with your strategic partners and find the ways to deliver. You will feel growth pressure and cashflow issues You should have a cost-accountant for your business in this stage. Someone who gives you to cost of your product or service where you sell it. They will help you understand where you can afford to sell and create cashflow.
Enterprise
You must be aware of the disconnect that can happen in this stage between sales and sales support. They must function with the shared goal of growing sales and making the client happy. Each area needs to help the other understand how they can grow together and collaborate. Do not let your company get siloed or become victim to status management where just because you are a C-level or management level doesn’t mean that you are better or even understand what is happening in the business better than those on the ground.
At the 42 min mark Mike and Bonnie give a few points from their programs on skyrocketing sales and “shelf smarts.”
Why is entrepreneurship so important in today’s world?
Entrepreneurship is the growth engine and innovation engine of our economy. The big companies are acquiring the startups and small companies because they are the ones with the ideas and taking the risks. This is an amazing time to be an entrepreneur.
Best Quote: “One of the best ways to grow a brand is to turn your customers into your advocates…”
Michael and Bonnie's Misfit 3
1. Start small. Learn your lessons in a small place. Get your act together before you take it on the road.
2. Find a strategic ally. Ask “who gets rich if I get rich.”
3. Keep sales on top. Keep your communication lines open between all areas of your company. Make sure all areas have a healthy appreciation of what each other does.
Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!"
In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.
"Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.
This week’s Lesson for Hannah
Hannah, I want to talk to you about the importance of building great relationships. As you grow in life, you will have the chance to meet and develop relationships with amazing people. Cherish these opportunities. Great relationships are more valuable than money or any material thing because if everything was stripped away from you tomorrow, your relationships with your family, friends, and business partners. would be what you have left.
Relationships will also always give you the best return on your investment – meaning the time and energy that you put into building them and keeping them. I have seen this first hand and admittedly, it took me longer than it should have to figure this out in life. So, with that being said, I wanted to give you some tips on creating great relationships.
Great relationships are built on the following:
First, Mutual respect. You cannot create a great lasting relationship with someone if you don’t respect them or they don’t respect you. Look to create partnerships and relationships with those that you respect and that have proven to respect you.
Second, if you are creating a great relationship, it must be based on brutal honesty. You should be able to say what is true and on your mind and they should be able to receive it and work with you as needed. The same goes for you. Demand that your relationships be built on a bedrock of honesty.
Next, integrity. Simply put, this means doing what you say and following through, so make you are committed to it and that those you are in the relationship with are as well.
Fourth is Consistency. Commit to being consistent in your relationships. This means giving them the time they deserve and staying with them long term. And here’s a secret, the longer the relationship goes, the better it can grow and the better it gets.
Lastly, come with a genuine willingness to give. If you are willing to give of yourself and go above and beyond when needed, you will find that you will get it back multiple times in return. It is the universal law of reciprocity that has stood the test of time.
Hannah, if you make these 5 elements part of how you approach your relationships, you will have a very blessed life not matter what happens. Always remember, great relationships pay off more than any other investment throughout your life!
I love you, Daddy.
Best Quote: “Great relationships are more valuable than money or any material thing because if everything was stripped away from you tomorrow, your relationships with your family, friends, and business partners. would be what you have left."
Misfit 3
This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Lauren Clemett. Lauren is the founder of Ultimate Business Propeller, an award winning personal branding consultancy. The business has helped hundreds of professional service providers around the world to become well known, well paid, and wanted.
Lauren is a 5-time Amazon best-selling author, has won award after award throughout the Asia Pacific region for her business, including the Female Entrepreneur of the Year Stevie Award, and is highly sought after for her speaking. One of the first things that struck me about Lauren was her high energy and quick wit. She thinks incredibly well on the fly. I asked how this came about and she talked about how she has trained her mind for it and has created a process for training on Neurobranding to make sure she is always at her best for her and her brand. I knew I had to have her to teach it to you along with all her other wisdom.
UltimateBusinessPropellor.com
Lauren is from New Zealand. She was born into a tiny little town on a YMCA camp where she got to meet new people every week. She credits this with helping to be able to understand people and feel comfortable in a crowd. As a child, she had trouble reading and writing. She found out that she had dyslexia. She started coming up with unique ways to help spell and remember words. She used pictures or pictures of words to help her.
It was this skill that helped her to be so successful with branding as she could see the “picture” that the brand needed to tell in it’s words.
“It is the things that make me a bit of a misfit that have become my biggest advantage…”
What is a brand?
Most people think of a logo. But branding is a way of setting yourself apart as being different from other people or businesses. When it comes to personal branding, it is something that is instantly communicated to your prospect’s brain. It really is about forming respect. With the overload information, social media, etc. – it is critical to have a brand to stand out.
What does someone need to do and have to create a great brand?
At the 14-min mark, Lauren talks about what those that have multiple brands should do to make sure they focused and standing out in the right way to potential clients.
What is neurobranding and how does it play with the entrepreneurial mind?
At the 19 min mark, Lauren gives examples of brands that help instantly engage the human brain. She also gives a great example of how our minds automatically paint a picture using “bacon and eggs.”
What is the first step that people need to do to make sure they are neurobranding correctly?
Ask yourself “How do I want my brand to make people feel?” What is the #1 emotion you want to make people feel?
At the 27 min mark, Lauren goes through what may be one of the most important exercises you could ever do for your business, finding your “True North.” *Listen to this segment multiple times!
The compass points you in the right direction..
When you put it all together. What it is that you that you solve? The process that you use that is unique to you? The value you really deliver to people.? And the reason why you are doing it? That is your “True North.”
What is the formula for the perfect “Elevator Pitch?”
At the 42 min mark, Lauren talks about how to find focus and getting 10x more done in one week.
Best Quote: “What it is that you that you solve? The process that you use that is unique to you? The value you really deliver to people.? And the reason why you are doing it? That is your True North.”
Lauren's Misfit 3: