When it came to you doing the podcast of How to Founder,
tell me about your vision.
Well, so, How to Founder is with me and my friend,
my buddy, Chris Franks.
And Chris and I are pretty active
in the entrepreneurial community,
especially here in Colorado.
And we're always volunteering our time
and running meetups and events and in-person things.
And we want to help entrepreneurs,
whatever that means, we wanna serve entrepreneurs.
I believe entrepreneurship is the master key to prosperity.
And I wanna help those entrepreneurs along the journey.
And so we started How to Founder
because one of the things that is missing
with entrepreneurial content and books
is it's very inspirational and very little tactics.
So How to Founder is about the tactics
of being an entrepreneur.
What do you do when an employee is stealing from you?
How do you create a vision statement?
What does social media strategy look like?
Every episode is a deep dive into,
think of it as a founder reference manual
that we'll eventually one day write.
But that's what the podcast is.
It's the tactics, it's how to,
the practical advice on a specific topic.
I'm gonna ask you one more question.
How did you get started?
In the podcast or just as an entrepreneur?
Oh, I love it.
Give it to me.
I'm an entrepreneur
because I can't hold the job otherwise.
I'm a terrible employee.
So I started becoming an entrepreneur
by doing graphic design for a Mexican t-shirt company
as a contractor.
So I made t-shirt designs for a silk screening company
and just kind of fell in love with working on my own.
And then started building companies
and partnering, et cetera.
The podcast was just a result of Chris and I wanting to,
essentially I wanna work with founders
for the rest of my life.
It's selfish.
I just love working with entrepreneurs and founders.
And so this is our first step into maybe making a business
out of helping founders progress along their businesses.
Yeah, yeah, I get that.
And if I'm not mistaken,
you have had multiple businesses
with successful exit plans,
allowing you to continue to be a founder
and an entrepreneur, is that correct?
Yes, I've started seven companies, sold six of them.
Two, I sold the public companies.
And yeah, I love the launch.
I love the exit.
The middle part, not so much,
but the in-between stuff is the hard stuff,
but the launch and exit I absolutely love.
When you stated being a founder, being an entrepreneur,
there is a lot of costs to it.
So what I wanna talk about is the startup cost.
What are some hidden costs founders or entrepreneurs
should be prepared for when starting a business?
Well, so if you're talking like hard, like dollars,
you can start a business and not put any money upfront.
A lot of services businesses start with no risk.
And if you're just starting as an entrepreneur,
I highly recommend starting as a services business.
Go do car wash, create a car detailing service
or a window cleaning service, something that you can do.
If you're younger, something that you can do
without having to put any money upfront.
But there's personal costs
that I think what you're really talking about.
And the personal costs are,
I think the most common thing
that entrepreneurs don't recognize is the cost to your ego.
So you have to have no shame when you get into a startup.
You have to be willing to look foolish.
So there is a reputational cost,
especially when you're starting out
because you have to be willing to go
and talk to people and sell.
And you have to be willing to fail a lot.
Even if you're in it for 20 years,
you have that willingness to fail and look foolish.
I would say is the most under recognized cost
of being an entrepreneur is just being wrong a lot
is hard on your ego.
Yeah.
And you could say that I'm sitting here like,
ooh, tell it because.
Yes.
And it's definitely an ego thing.
I'm just gonna share, I hate being told no.
Hate being told no.
I don't know if I've ever not ever put myself
in the position of being told no when I was younger,
but right now I'm like,
oh, that's a word that I really don't like.
It could either make you or break you,
pushing you forward to understand why.
I think that you're onto something when it comes to saying,
don't do it, but then when you do, these are the tactics.
So what would you tell an entrepreneur first?
Like, hey, if this is something that you really wanna do
and you're okay with all these things, where do they start?
You start with trying to prove yourself your idea wrong.
So for you it'd be go look for that no
and find out why they're saying no and do that a lot.
So talk to people, before you start the business,
before you get a company logo, and by the way,
I make this mistake all the time.
The first thing I do when I have an idea
is I go and make a logo so I can have in my head an identity.
That's the wrong way to do it.
The best thing that you can do is go out
and talk to your customers, build a website,
go to, I use strikingly, but there's a bunch
they get a different, put up a really simple website
and that you can send people to
and see if you can get traction.
Before you spend any money, before you start the business,
go figure out where your idea is wrong.
It's best to do it in person, so go knock on doors,
go to a trade show and just start talking to the exhibitors
and the people there and try to figure out
where you are wrong and modify it
until you feel like you've got an idea you can sell.
That's when you start, is when you think,
okay, I can get money for the thing that I'm doing.
That's when you can actually start the business.
And you know that's interesting you say that
because as social media and everything
just blows up all these ideas,
I believe that there are entrepreneurs
that become entrepreneurs based off of what they see
and not really what they know.
When you, have you met anyone that's like,
you know what, I've seen somebody do this, I can do this.
And then how do you go about having that conversation?
Yeah, so you're dead on with that.
If you're going into it to make money,
chase the vision, not the money, right?
To your podcast, chase the vision, not the money.
The money will end up following you.
So you have to have a passion
for what you're doing to start a business.
If it's not something that you would do for free,
essentially, then you're not gonna have the grit,
the perseverance to work through the hard times
because it's not fun.
So if you're not doing something that you enjoy,
if you're doing it because somebody else
is making money at it, and that's the reason,
you're gonna fail.
It's that simple.
It's too hard to do it just for the money.
And I tell you, I think I see that a lot.
And not saying that I've had a guest on here
that is doing that.
It's just when you're on social media
and you're watching all these people
birth up these ideas that don't seem like their vision,
it just seems like an idea that someone else brought to them.
Could that be the reason why 90% of entrepreneurship
businesses fail?
Yeah, a great reason why companies fail
is because the founder loses steam.
It's just too hard.
And I wanna take a step back
because what I said just before
is not necessarily true for everybody.
If you wanna go out, so I first said,
go out and start a services business, right?
Go do window washing.
And that probably isn't your passion.
So the reason why I said that
is because entrepreneurship is a craft.
And if you're just starting out,
go fall in love with being an entrepreneur.
It doesn't have to be the business that you're in today
because you're gonna have 10 businesses
that you're gonna do.
So first, fall in love with the craft
and understanding of being an entrepreneur.
How do you run your books?
How do you sell to customers?
How do you actually provide service?
What do you do with employees?
All of those things,
the entrepreneurship itself can be a passion,
but when you wanna take that swing for the fences,
it's gotta be something that you're passionate about.
So I diverted off of the question you just asked.
I apologize, but I thought that was important to bring up.
No, no worries.
And that's okay because this is about vision, of course,
because we're Vision Pros Live
and everyone does have a vision,
but sometimes, well, majority of people have a vision
when it comes to starting a business.
But even if you don't, like you said,
I've never actually heard anyone say,
you can be passionate about being an entrepreneur,
which often sometimes makes serial entrepreneurs
very successful because they know how to start up,
go to the middle and exit,
and they can continue to do that.
And if I may ask, Anthony,
is that something of what you've done
is created this path that allows you to start businesses
and then have great exit strategies and continue on?
Yeah, my hobby is entrepreneurship.
I don't play golf, I don't go tennis,
I don't do wood carving.
Like I wish I did, it'd make me seem more balanced,
but truly my hobby and my passion
is entrepreneurship itself and helping other founders.
So it's a little bit,
and I think most serial entrepreneurs are like that.
They enjoy the game.
It is a game.
They enjoy the game of being a founder
and serving their employees and customers.
They just love it.
What's your why?
To help entrepreneurs.
It's that simple.
My way is really easy.
And you wake up excited about it every morning, right?
No.
No?
What are you doing?
No, no, no, no, no.
Life happens.
So there's oftentimes where, what am I doing?
That's normal.
Like that being in this and doing this,
it is a roller coaster.
And you have to just kind of set yourself up
to understand that and get,
and when you're in a dip,
know that there's gonna be,
when you're in a valley,
you know there's gonna be a peak as well.
So just kind of get used to the ride.
That is so funny.
What was your most significant learning experiences?
Oh gosh.
I think the most significant piece
of information I received was when I,
was when I read a really small book.
It's a really, I recommend this to everybody.
It's called Strengths Finder.
And essentially what I used to feel,
I used to feel like I needed to work on all of my weaknesses.
Like I, because I was not strong in one area,
I needed to go work and lean into that
and become better at the thing that I didn't like to do
or was not good at.
And what I did,
I've always, once you read this book,
there's kind of a little task
that tells you what you're strong in.
And it also says,
and so go find other people that are strong
where you're weak and partner up with them
and not be apologetic for where you're weak.
Say, the reason why I need you is because I'm weak here
and you're strong here.
And so attracting people and setting the people up
that you're working with,
that this is why I need you to be a partner with me
is because I'm weak here, you're strong here,
was incredibly liberating.
It allowed me to go do the things that I'm great at
and enable other people to do the things
that they're great at
and make really great teams
from those balancing acts of strengths and weaknesses.
Anthony, I really liked that you said that
because I believe, I was actually on social media
and I've seen this, of course, this reel
and this man had this ginormous hat on, right?
And he said, that's the hat that entrepreneurs wear.
And it's all hats.
I mean, it should cover everything.
And we- That's true.
We believe that that, becoming an entrepreneur
and having a vision is usually something we do alone,
but you saying to go out there and find someone
that is strong in the areas that you're weak,
meaning you don't have to wear the hat all by yourself.
So it's very interesting.
But when someone starts a business,
when is the time to say,
hey, I need to find somebody else?
That is a very, like the answer,
it's the same answer for anything entrepreneurial.
It depends.
Okay.
It depends.
So if you're entering, some founders
will look for a co-founder right away.
For example, if I'm really strong in sales
and I'm really weak in technology,
I'm gonna go find somebody that's strong in technology.
Really hard to do by the way,
but that's kind of what you would do when you're starting.
It's like, I can sell into this vertical.
I have a solution I need built.
I'm gonna go find a co-founder or vice versa.
If you're a strong CTO and you need somebody
that can market and sell, then go find a co-founder.
There's a lot of entrepreneurs that decide,
I'm gonna try and do it all upfront.
And even the things that I'm not great at,
I'm gonna learn how to do them
so I can cover all bases if I need to.
I think that's also a very practical way
of starting a business.
Not trying to find a co-founder,
but trying to get good at everything
so that you know who to hire or bring on
as you're going through the business.
Like this, I know that this is where I'm weak
and I know that I need somebody that can,
but you also have an understanding
of what it takes to be successful in that area
so it helps you bring on the right co-founder.
Yeah.
I think when you feel you can't get
to the next level by yourself,
and with just going out and having coffee with people
that are good at what you're weak at,
once you get to the point where it's like,
I need somebody to kind of lean into this full time,
that's a really good time to go find somebody
that can help balance you out.
Understand that that definitely helps me
and I'm sure the audience to understand that
that you don't necessarily have to do it alone,
but there are steps that you can take
when wanting to have help or find a co-founder.
I never even thought about the fact that,
yes, entrepreneurs are founders
and then you can immediately begin to have a co-founder
to actually build a business
and possibly become a lot stronger in both areas.
Yep, there's actually accelerators
that have that as a thesis that they don't invest in
or let anybody a part of their acceleration program
unless you have the thought that you need a co-founder.
They invest in teams of two or more,
not individual single lone wolves.
And I think that that makes all the sense in the world,
especially if you know that that's what you wanna do.
Before we head out, I do wanna ask,
what tips do you have for entrepreneurs and or founders?
So for founders, there's a difference for me.
So founders are people that are individuals
that are doing it, they're in a business now
and they're running it.
Entrepreneurs, I feel are a little bit more
before they jump into a business,
they're thinking about a business or in a startup
that it doesn't have revenue.
And that's just my classification.
That's probably not the dictionary definition of it.
So tips for entrepreneurs is just start.
Take the first step.
Well, first of all, don't do it, stay away from it, run,
go live a normal life.
The second one is now that you've ignored me,
just take the first step.
Over planning, your plan will fail.
Whatever you think is going to be your business
in six months, you are wrong.
So just be comfortable with being wrong
and take the first step and know that you're gonna have
to readjust constantly along the way.
For founders, look, I know it's lonely.
And go find other founders to talk to.
Be a part of a peer group, go to meetups,
go find other founders in person in your area.
There's something so enabling and so fulfilling
about being around other batshit crazy people like you
that are going through not the same problem,
but having the similar struggles that you do as a founder.
So it's inherently lonely.
So make it less so by finding other founders
that you can talk to.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is gonna get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show
and thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.