[00:00:02] Speaker A: Ramping up your business.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: The time is near.
[00:00:05] Speaker A: You've given it heart, now get it in gear. It's Passage to Profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: I'm Richard Gearhart, founder of Gearhart Law, a full service intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks and copyrights.
[00:00:20] Speaker C: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart, not an attorney, but I do marketing for Gearhart Law and I have my own startups and podcasts.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Welcome to Passage to Profit the Road to Entrepreneurship, where we talk with entrepreneurs and celebrities who tell their stories about their business journey and also share helpful insights about the successes that they've had.
[00:00:39] Speaker C: Did you know that 2 in 5Americans want to start a new business or are business owners? Well, we have lots of information to.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Help them too, and we also talk a little about the intellectual property that helps them flourish.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: It's time for your new business Journey.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Two in five Americans want to start.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: A business or are already business owners. And we like to ask our guests on this show questions that can help our audience. So what besides passion is essential to entrepreneurial success? So, Julian, welcome to the show. What's your take on that question?
[00:01:12] Speaker D: What besides passion is important in my eyes are many things, like to be disciplined, you know, like a combination that you have passion and a sense of purpose towards what you do and then to take structured action and learn from your mistakes. I think the biggest thing, when people are starting out with their business, it's not always easy at the beginning. So you have to maintain like a strong mindset in my eye and be aware that you're going to hit those walls where you think, oh my God, this was it, it's over. And then to push through. Because if you take on that journey of business, it's in my eyes, something like a hero's journey of your soul. Also, if you want to say that that wants to grow and evolve and if you have that mindset, okay, I know that it's not going to be easy always, then you're able to push through and take on that challenge.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: That's great advice. I really appreciate that. And a lot of people talk about passion and its importance, but there's other skills that the entrepreneur needs to master. I think you covered a lot of them in your answer. Christie, tell us about your opinion on this question. What besides passion is essential to entrepreneurial success?
[00:02:33] Speaker E: I talk a lot about self awareness. I think that you need to be self aware of your own limits and aware of the fact that you don't know what you don't know. If you walk into it thinking you know everything, you're going to fall flat on your face pretty quickly. So even if you're really passionate, you need to make sure that you're willing to have many counselors to kind of double check yourself.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: I think that's a great solution is making sure that you get external input from people who maybe have more experience or different experience and they can kind of help point things out. I know that when Elizabeth and I started Gearhart Law, we had a lot of challenges and I came right from the corporate world and I thought I knew a lot, but that was different from being an entrepreneur for sure. So, Brandi, what do you have to say?
[00:03:19] Speaker F: I think the one thing for me has been grit. There's a lot of days that are really hard and if you don't have that grit to get back up tomorrow, I feel like a little bit of the entrepreneurship journey is about being that punching bag in as you're building it or as you're hitting your failures or as you're getting the feedback from others, or as you're having to take those personal licks or as you're having to motivate yourself every day, like Julian said. So just the grit to not quit, usually right before it's the hardest is when it's going to get better. So believing in yourself enough to keep facing each next day, that's great.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Would you be willing to share with us an example of where you needed to find that extra grit?
[00:04:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:02] Speaker F: Benefit Bay has, well, had a few instances where it nearly died. So in each of those instances, which early on we had a CEO transition in the founding part of Benefit Bay, I was a co founding team member at the time in the operation seat and our CEO was asked to step away and I was asked to step in. And so that took my first initial piece of grit, ended up having to take some personal licks as well of going without compensation and things like that. But throughout the journey, there have been various times where maybe your top customer is acquired and how do you move on from that or how do you navigate that new larger enterprise entity? And so there's just been countless examples throughout the journey that it feels like an emergency that day and it feels like the worst thing that's happening to the business. But ew, there'll be another thing later on and you're learning and adapting and learning all those and stretching all those new skills. And I think the self awareness piece like Christie mentioned is just knowing when you're feeling overwhelmed, ask for other people for mentorship. And I Think one thing none of us really talked about is having that support network that you can lean on and feel safe to ask all those questions, you know, when you nearly want to give up on yourself.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: I agree. It's funny, you know, as an entrepreneur, you're interfacing directly with the business world. There aren't like a lot of shields out there to kind of protect you. And so you got to roll with the punches. And it's challenging. It's an opportunity for personal growth, but it takes a lot. So I think Julian's reference to heroes is kind of apt because you have to have some part of you that that is willing to go through that and come out on top.
[00:05:44] Speaker C: I was going to get a little down deep in the weeds because I had this conversation with somebody recently. If you are going to start a new venture, and Richard and I have had this conversation very recently, you need to have preferably both of these things. But if you don't have both of them, you need to have one of them. One is time, the other is money. As Brandy said, she had to go without compensation. So how do you do that? For instance, I'm starting this podcast business and studio and I have money from the law firm to fund it, and I'm getting some loans for some things, but also I have money to pay the rent and eat and stuff because I have a spouse who has a successful business. If I were just on my own trying to start this, it'd be a lot tougher.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Well, we're in this together, hon, so I don't know if I deserve all the credit.
[00:06:30] Speaker C: And I putting in a ton of time, too. So we're working weekends. It feels like we work on it almost all the time. But I recently ran across somebody who wanted to start something and she didn't really have time. Maybe weekends, maybe evenings, and she didn't have any money to put into it.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: Severe bootstrapping, right?
[00:06:47] Speaker F: That's a really good point. If you can't survive those two things, it's not going to make it.
[00:06:53] Speaker E: It's going to take twice as long and cost twice as much.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: I guess for my comment, I've been kind of jumping in and out here, so you already know my opinions, but I'm going to go with the really boring things, like be organized, understand your financial stuff. Far too often I think entrepreneurs neglect the financial piece. Understanding things like a balance sheet, like even having a balance sheet, even having a profit and loss statement, and then understanding the cash flow of the business. These things are fundamental, and you may think you're doing great, but if you don't understand those pieces, you may not be making any money. You may be working for free. And so it's very important to get the input of a good accountant and make sure that you try to establish some regular habits for yourself or for your team, and that will help systematize things and make your business more efficient.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: What did Mario say at the event last night? Bring in more money than you spend.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: All right.
[00:07:50] Speaker E: And I just want to add, keep in mind that CPA just means somebody can pass a test. It doesn't necessarily mean they've got financial acumen.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: In my own experience, yeah, you're right. Keeping the books is different than understanding.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: That is so true.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Thank you very much, everybody. Very stimulating discussion.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Passage to Profit is a nationally syndicated radio show appearing in 38 markets across the United States. In addition, Passage to Profit has also been recently selected by Feedspot Podcasters Database as a top 10 entrepreneur interview podcast. Thank you to the P2P team, our producer, Noah Fleischman, and our program coordinator, Alicia Morrissey, and our studio assistant, Rishiket Busari. Look for our podcast tomorrow anywhere you get your podcasts. Our podcast is ranked in the top 3% globally. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram X and on our YouTube channel. And remember, while the information on this program is believed to be correct, never take a legal step without checking with your legal professional first. Gearhart Law is here for your patent.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: Trademark, and copyright needs.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: You can find
[email protected] and contact us.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: For a free consultation.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Take care, everybody. Thanks for listening and we'll be back next week.
