“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...