“If you want and need complete control, go solo... But if you’re looking for scale, and massive impact, I believe that partnership is the absolute best way to accomplish scale” Chris Plough

The idea of partnering with someone else to scale the business is a non-starter for a lot of entrepreneurs, myself included. But others absolutely swear by it. In this episode my friends Chris Plough (founding partner of MavenWire) and UJ Ramdas (co-founder of Intelligent Change) try to convince me of the many benefits partnerships can have if you’re looking to scale.

What you need to know about yourself and the person you’re thinking of partnering with, how to develop shared core values and a common vision to drive your business and your partnership forward, and the Pros and Cons of partnering to scale in this episode of Community Made.

People mentioned in this episode:

Alex Ikonn

Samuel Levin

Cameron Herold

Marshall Rosenberg

Philip Mckernan

James Wallace

Chris Hatfield 

Shaa Wasmund

Dan Martell,

James Altucher 

Select Links and References:

The 5 Minute Journal & The Productivity Planner"  

https://www.intelligentchange.com/

Marshall Rosenburg - Non Violent Communication: https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-Marshall-Rosenberg/dp/1892005034

Cameron Herold - Double Double: https://www.amazon.com/Double-Your-Revenue-Profit-Years/dp/1608320995

“To scale, it’s not what you start doing, it’s what you stop doing… the only way to scale is to give things up.” - Jim Estill

In this episode my good friend Saud Juman and I have the privilege of interviewing Jim Estill, one of Canada’s most eccentric and notorious entrepreneurs. This man has invested in over 150 businesses, boasts 99 consecutive quarters of profit, and successfully scaled his first business, which he started out of the trunk of his car, from zero to $2 Billion dollars.

In the last couple of years Jim became famous for giving 1.5 Million dollars of his own money to secretly launch a resettlement program that brought 58 Syrian families into Ontario and provided them with housing, language training, and employment. He coordinated the entire program and didn’t even tell his own wife until it was ready for launch.

In this episode the three of us talk about the struggle of giving up control in order to scale a business, what to look for when you’re considering investments, understanding your company’s niche, finding your micro competitive advantages, and why Jim does not give money to his kids.

People mentioned in this episode:

• Zig Ziglar
• Robert B. Cialdini
• Al Ries & Jack Trout
• Malcolm Gladwell
• Daniel Pink

Select Links and References:

https://torontolife.com/city/life/jim-estill-the-man-who-saved-200-syrian-refugees/

Time Leadership; Lessons from a CEO http://amzn.to/2z4UGp4  

Think and Grow Rich http://amzn.to/2a2PSmU 

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion http://amzn.to/2cxgptc 

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing http://amzn.to/2zBfz7I 

Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference http://amzn.to/2xklMny 

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us http://amzn.to/2laOp50 

The Five Minute Journal https://www.intelligentchange.com/products/the-five-minute-journal

“It takes the same amount of time and energy to solve a small problem as it does a big one, so why not go out and attack a big one?”  - Naveen Jain Click To Tweet

Naveen grew up in a small village in India so poor that he and his family rarely had enough food to eat. Today, he’s the billionaire CEO of two game-changing companies: Moon Express, the first company permitted to mine for minerals on the moon and Viome, the health tech startup whose mission is to create a world where sickness is optional.

In this MMT archive episode of Community Made, Naveen talks about why you have to find your moonshot and take it, setting audacious goals, thinking not just outside the box but in a different box, and how he builds teams capable of changing life as we know it.

Warning: This episode will make you feel like your dreams aren’t big enough and you can do anything…

“Culture is the DNA or soul of the organization. It’s how the company shows up.” - Tony Gareri 

When it comes to scale, culture is king. You can’t successfully scale a business without having established core values to help build your team, and great internal culture to keep them for the long term. Tony Gareri is the CEO of Roma Moulding (http://www.romamoulding.com/), widely considered the gold standard for incredible company culture. Matt Bertulli is right there with him, famously managing to keep 10 of the original 12 employees in his company Demac Media (https://www.demacmedia.com/). In this episode the three of us sit down and have a frank conversation about everything from seeing A-Players move on, action items for creating a great internal culture, working with family and spouses, and why they chose to scale their businesses.

Have your notebook handy because this one’s a gold mine…

“I’m the happiest person with cancer in the world. It’s made me really love my family, it’s really made me appreciate my kids...waking up every single day and seeing the sun, and seeing the mountains and just appreciating that has been phenomenal.” - Jordan Guernsey

This is one of my most treasured interviews. In this episode I talk with a dear friend Jordan Guernsey just weeks before he passed away. Jordan was an incredible person, father, and husband who was diagnosed with stage three melanoma cancer while in the midst of scaling his business.

In this conversation we talk about the dangers of being a tunnel-visioned entrepreneur, Jordan’s struggle to step away from the business in order to focus on his health, his perspective on life and death, his family, meditation, and his spiritual journey during that time.

To this day I am truly moved by the tenacity and hope with which Jordan dealt with his diagnosis, and the affirmation with which he chose to live out the limited time he had left.

Be prepared to question everything...

I really believe in tripling down on your strengths. I am not a big fan of working on your weaknesses… ~ Gary V.   

This episode comes straight from the MMT archives and features the most candid Q&A session Gary Vaynerchuk has ever done, in front of an audience of friends and peers. He goes deep, speaking frankly about his approach to running VaynerMedia and scaling it from 650 to 1,000 people in under a year, how emotional intelligence is his greatest strength, and what he sees as the next big retail boom: Starbucks for meditation.

This is what happens when Gary Vee goes deep...

“You don’t need to make a million dollars a year in order to live like a millionaire." - Jayson Gaignard

Entrepreneurs are the some of the only people in this world who really have the privilege of true freedom. When done right, entrepreneurship can afford you the freedom of time, the freedom of money, the freedom of relationships and the freedom of purpose. We can create a life to do what we want, when we want, with whoever we want. That is an incredible gift!

So why then do most of us live a life of packed calendars? The fact that being busy in today’s society is often celebrated truly baffles me… Always on planes… Marriage in shambles... Don’t see the kids... Sleep 4 hours a night… That’s chaos, not clarity.

It’s not something we should be proud of...

Selected Links & References:

https://sivers.org/relax

http://clayhebert.com/

https://lewishowes.com/

https://youtu.be/sr07uR75Qk0

https://www.cameronherold.com/

https://medium.com/@awilkinson/the-power-of-anti-goals-c38f5f46d23c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlTfbGemGcM

People mentioned in this episode:

Derek Sivers

Steven Dubner

Clay Hebert

Steve Jobs  

Charlie Munger

Warren Buffet

Cameron Herald

Kelly Kelley

Andrew Wilkinson

Ben Hunt Davis  

“There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.” - Peter Drucker

In today’s episode I’m going to challenge what I see as a religion in business... The religion of scale. Scaling has it’s benefits, but has it’s shortcomings as well. I call this a religion because entrepreneurs tend to have very strong attachments to this view point and get very defensive about it. 

So what is the Religion of Scale? It’s the belief that success is equal to, or measured solely by, your ability to scale your business by growing your team, doubling or tripling your revenue, going national or maybe even international, that bigger is always better.

Selected Links & References:

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries, Jack Trout : http://bit.ly/2h5arkm

The Fisherman’s Fable: http://bit.ly/2xC3phS

The Five Regrets of the Dying: http://bit.ly/1sxPDpR

People mentioned in this episode:

Ghandi

Philip Mckernan

Peter Drucker

Seth Godin

“The bad news is that time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.” - Michael Altshuler

We often don’t make change in our lives until we reach a point of crisis. I’ve been guilty of this as well. Intellectually we only really get it when we’re staring death in the face or we’re facing short term deep pain. But by then it’s too late... we need to get ahead of it. And everyday life is deceptive, it allows us to believe our time is limitless on some level, but obviously it’s not.

Selected Links & References:

Tim Urban; The Tail End https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html

Neil deGrasse Tyson: https://youtu.be/M3G9LOJZTmM

Steve Jobs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR6-elnwBmM

People mentioned in this episode:

Harvey Mackay

Tim Urban

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Steve Jobs

Michael Altshuler

Jayson Gaignard shares how his rock bottom became a solid foundation upon which he rebuilt his life.

CommunityMade is a mix of solo episodes, exclusive talks from the MMT library from folks like 4 time NYT Best-Selling Author Tim Ferriss, Social Media Maven Gary Vaynerchuk, and Supermensch himself, the Legendary Shep Gordon, along with intimate conversations with inspiring entrepreneurial friends of his where you could feel like you’re a part of the conversation.

Think of this podcast as an all access pass into the lessons, learnings, insights, and wisdom of some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. People who are not only winning in business, but winning in at life as well.

Welcome to your tribe.

www.communitymade.com