Roland talks with Jeff Fenster in this episode of Business Lunch. Like most of our guests, Fenster is a serial entrepreneur whose main business principles are making friends and having fun! Jeff is the founder of the rapidly expanding, So Cal-based superfood brand (and now franchise), everbowl™.
Fenster is all about Startups with vertical integration and revenue-driving innovation. He and Roland talk today about his entrepreneurial journey, the takeaways that can help you in your own business, the power of Relationship Capital, personal branding, and Disruptive thinking.
“If you make friends with people, that’s all that matters. People like to buy from friends, and they’ll buy it because you’re providing a solution. And if you really understand and dig into their problem and what they need, and provide them a solution, they’re going to do it because you’ve built trust.” Jeff Fenster
Listen today For,
- How to become a Top Sales Person using Relationship Capital and ‘warm introductions.’
“My mentor, Dave Meltzer, stressed early on when I was a teenager RELATIONSHIP CAPITAL, Relationship capital, relationship capital. What does that mean? That means that you build relationships, and you make deposits consistently into those relationships.
So when the time is right, and you need something, you can make a withdrawal, and it’s not forced, it’s not fake. It’s real.” Jeff Fenster
- How to approach a new connection in a way that’s authentic and productive.
“That’s the first modality when you meet someone, is what can I do to help them? Not, what can they do for me today? It’s not all about me. What problems are you dealing with, and how can I help? And if I can, I will.” Jeff Fenster
- A Strategy for when you run out of Warm Introductions and Relationship Capital.
“So I started to strategically look at how I could move and sell once and get 50 sales rather than cold calling 500 to get 50 sales. It was just abstractly looking at the process, and leveraging relationship capital, making ‘deposits’ where I could and using my relationships to empower others, so then it would return back to me.” Jeff Fenster
Plus, You Will Also Hear About,
- Why 2008 wasn’t a bad time to start a business.
“Actually recessions are times of opportunity. Yes. You know, when everything’s going well, It’s less opportunity because everything’s going well. When nothing’s going well, people are looking for new, for different, and if you can disrupt - that’s the opportunity.” Jeff Fenster
- The value of having a Mentor.
“I’m going to use an analogy in sports. Tom Brady has a coach. LeBron James has a coach. I guarantee you; their coach can’t play football or basketball better than they can. That’s not what a coach or mentor is there for. They’re there because having someone who can provide insight for you, be a soundboard for you, and force you to articulate your problems, challenges, and issues sometimes solves the problem in itself… So, entrepreneurs who don’t have that, that’s a mistake.” Jeff Fenster
- Why you don’t need to have tons of experience to start a business.
“I think the most overrated prerequisite to starting a company is prior experience. Too many people wait. That’s a bad idea in my opinion because if you have too much experience, you’re going to do it like everyone else and you won’t stand out’. Jeff Fenster
- How to think in terms of Vertical Integration.
“What can I do to vertically integrate more little companies inside of what I’m doing here, which don’t need to necessarily make a lot of money. If it saves you money or speeds up your throughput, that’s value. It also makes you a little bit more dynamic as a company. Jeff Fenster
Plus, Two Things You Can Do That Jeff Wishes He Had Done! 1. Be more thoughtful on the amount of money you raise and in your deployment of those funds.
“A common mistake most entrepreneurs make is they think ‘we won’t need another round’ (of funding). You will need another round, whether it’s for strategic acquisitions or a whole new business model that comes up while you’re growing”. Jeff Fenster
- Always raise a little more than you think you need.
- Have a plan for when that money runs dry.
2. Protect Yourself Better!
“Occasionally, there are outliers to this comment, but investors bet on the jockey. They’re betting on the entrepreneur themselves. Right? No matter how friendly or how nice or how incredible the people you work with are, no one’s protecting you”. Jeff Fenster
Tune in to hear his suggestions on how he would do that now.
And So Much More!
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