BONUS: special 'uncut' episode.

'Entrepreneur Mindset' is a key input into the success of any business or start-up. In this episode, three top entrepreneurs share their secrets for channeling the creativity that is at the heart of all problem solving.

Guest Bios:

Fred Schebesta (https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredschebesta/)is co-founder of $250 million comparison site Finder (Finder.com.au) He is listed #22 on AFR’s young rich list.

Victoria Coster (https://www.linkedin.com/in/creditfixsolutionscreditrepair/) is a Telstra Business Person of the Year finalist 2019, & founder of Credit Fix Solutions (https://creditfixsolutions.com.au)

Pic Picot (https://twitter.com/pics_uk) is the founder international food brand, Pic’s Peanut Butter (https://www.picspeanutbutter.com/)

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Hi listeners and welcome to the Nerds of Business podcast. My name is Darren Moffatt. I'm a director of Web buzz, the Growth Marketing Agency. And I'm your host. It's great to have you with us for another one of our special uncut episodes. As I mentioned previously, season one on branding has concluded and we're currently in production for season two of Nerds of Business, which will be on the theme of product development. To tide us over for a few weeks until season two begins, we'll be airing a mix of uncut interviews and amazing bonus content from season one that no one has heard yet. Today's uncut session provides a unique insight into the mindset of top entrepreneurs. Now let me explain what I mean throughout the branding series, I interviewed seven or eight top entrepreneurs from companies where the combined $2.5 billion. So, I was very fortunate to speak to some seriously impressive people who know what it takes to build a successful business.

These are the voices you've been hearing over the last nine episodes or so, and regular listeners will know that together with our two marketing experts. These are entrepreneurs that helped us solve the branding challenges that all entrepreneurs must overcome one problem at a time, but what you haven't heard yet are their answers to a special secret question. I put to each entrepreneur guest at the end of the interview recordings, I asked them a deceptively simple question, what habit or mental process do they use to channel their creativity? Now, while the answers I got were all different, there are some fascinating common threads that I think provide a rare insight into how top entrepreneurs really think. If you're interested in learning how to improve your own mindset from some of the best in the business and stick around for part one of this mindset, special will return in two weeks with part two. But right now, I hope you enjoy this special episode of Nerds of business. Uncut.

I love data. You need to have systems need to have structure. You're going to get chopped to pieces. Susie is unstoppable. We kind of hit a point where we were like, we need a middle ground yourself with people who are smarter than you and Richard and you.

This is nerds of business. The first entrepreneur in today's mindset special is Fred Schebesta. Now Fred was amazing to talk to he's the co-founder and CEO of Finder.com.au. Those listeners in Australia will be very familiar with finder. They're $250 million internet business, and they're a leader in the field of financial and product comparison. Fred is also listed at number 22 on the AFR young rich list as well. Have a listen to what Fred says about how he gets into peak creative flow. I find that most top entrepreneurs and businesspeople are deep thinkers and often with a restless mind, whether it's meditation or a nice bottle of red wine. Do you have a mental habit or process that you've used over the years to channel your creativity?

You know, I think in the beginning, I, uh, I was not as intentional, and I didn't know how to get myself into peak flow. I think that's what you were talking about. Um, and I think it's taken me a long time, but I subbed to study that. And I said, when do I get those moments? And for me, um, I think it's, I, I, I put a pair of shoes on, and I just go for a run. Yeah. I don't listen to any music, and I don't go with other people, and I am not trying to talk to anyone. And I'm just trying to go to a certain distance. Then I'm going to come back and then I go the same route. You know, I'm not there. That's not what I purpose. My purpose is to calm the mind. You know, some will have the shower, the shower is their place for me, showers too intense, all this stuff going on, I am flying at me. I'm like, whoa, I just, I don't that that's not my place. Yup.

I think the, for me, and this is just me personally. So, for me, energy and movement is a big thing. You know, I'm quite a, like you say, a restless person and I need to gain energy and to put out energy. And so, I need movement. It's just, I think I have that restlessness that would have been probably termed something in the past as a child. Um, but then when do you lean into that for me personally? Um, that's when throughout that process there will be. And the way I approach this is I ask myself one question and I don't know the answer, and I just let my sub-conscious dwell. And, and I just keep asking myself the question, how am I going to do this? What is going to lead to this? What is going to lead to this? What is going to lead to this?

And I just let my subconscious mind process that. And I just focused on getting from a to B and I'm not like a marathon runner, or I'm not the greatest runner. I'm probably the bumbliest runner, but I get there, and I'm focused on that. And I let my subconscious take over. And from the run, I think when you get your ideas, I try and just nail one or two. Cause it gets so many. And I just take one or two. I said, these are the one or two things. I hope they get from this. And I write them down afterwards and I sit with them. And then this is important part I think is I just let them simmer. Um, because you know, normally you get an idea and the worst thing entrepreneurs tend to do this. You come in, you burst into this company.

This is what we need to do. Oh my God, I don't know why you're doing this. Then you go to everyone context, switching, everyone's focused on something else. You've told them yesterday or an hour ago. And now you're like telling them something new. That's not great. So, the next thing I had to master was timing. And when do you deliver that? And I think if you can create the spaces of like strategy sessions, um, people presenting, um, meetings, review sessions, those are the times when you can start to seeding your ideas. And, and, and this is so if you're, I love being in a small company, cause I can just bring that idea in and suddenly we can pivot right. And change. And so, I did, I work in Finder ventures, which is a separate company, and we build, you know, the app and we built a credit, a cryptocurrency brokerage, and we invested in start-ups, you know, but I think there's the other side, Finder is a much bigger 'Queen Mary'.

You know, we want to change. It's a big move to change the whole ship. Right? So, you've got to find the spaces and moments to deliver those ideas, which you've sat with, thought about, got the data, um, asked a customer you've, you've socialized, you've tested. And then after all those iterations, you then can bring that, that idea. And there'll be, the moment will come. It's okay. It will come. There'll be a moment. And I have a little black book and I write my ideas down and they repeat on themselves. I think people get worried. I'm going to forget my idea. If you write it down, then I'll do it. You don't have any ideas in the first place. I believe the universe already has all the ideas out there. And you just latch onto them as a, as a, as a person. But if you write it down, then idea and the timing will come up or it's like, what should we do to go and affect this? And you've thought about this on your moment in time. And that's the time when you need to be the entrepreneur and the leader.

Yeah. About wow. That is a great answer. And again, it goes back. One comment I would make is that I studied English literature at university. And there's a real thing amongst writers that you write your first draft, you stick it in the bottom drawer for three months and you forget about it. And then you come back, and you read it with fresh eyes, and you'll see all the flaws that you didn't see initially. So, I, what I took from that, there's so many great takeout’s one is don't disrupt the people, but two, I would imagine it gives you that time to come back and look at it with fresh eyes and assess. Is this genuinely a good idea or was I a little bit off base that day? Would that be right?

Very fair. Yeah. Let it simmer, let it sit, test it. Yep. Cook it and then find the right time. Yup.

Fantastic. Our next entrepreneur is Victoria Coster. Victoria is the founder and CEO of Credit Fix solutions. Now they're a leader in credit repair in Australia. She was a top six finalist in the 2019 Telstra business awards. And she's built a wonderful business with both B to B and B to C divisions all from the ground up. She's also a published author and has just released a book called from Zero to CEO, which chart her journey and the lessons she's learned along the way. It's really a fabulous read. So be sure to check that out. Here's Victoria with quite a different approach to creative mindset. Okay, Victoria. So, we're coming up to a, another famous segment here, called Nerds Superpower.

Okay.

This is the way we go to our guests and say, look as a businessperson as an entrepreneur. Um, what is your superpower? What's that one key sort of skill or attribute that you think gives you an advantage in everything that you do?

Um, I'm a control freak maybe, and I have super OCD control freak is, and you sit over here, I'm going to get a, uh, you know, Cape and everything. Um, yeah, I'm just, I'm just very, I love routine. Um, I, you know, spent years going through a divorce and things like that. So, I had to drag myself up off the floor and I had to start again, and I started that with working on myself and then I could apply that to my business. So, myself personally, I'm not, you know, Tony Robbins, I gotta like, I like chocolate and wine way too much, but you know, it's, it's about structure and I'm very, very good at that. And I'm also very great at waking up at 3:00 AM, randomly once every couple of months with a really great idea. I don't know why that happens.

And it's always at 3:00 AM in the morning.

Isn't it? Yeah. I didn't. Does it happen to you?

Um, I tend to get them, um, I, I, I get a lot of my ideas in the shower. Yeah.

I see. Everyone's different, right? Yeah. Mine is, I'll have an early night and just randomly, yeah, three, four in the morning, wake up and I mean, like really awake and then I just have to go and write stuff down. So yeah. I mean, if that happens, whether it's in the shower, I've never heard that one before or three in the morning. It's important to write that stuff down.

And do you have a particular aside from those kind of random creativity, early morning attacks, do you have a process or a habit that you do to stimulate that creativity life? You know, do you, whether it might be sort of walking?

Yeah. Yeah. It's walking for me. It's exercise like every day, if you're not doing exercise, um, I find that that creativity that, that, that, you know, that little switch doesn't, doesn't come on. Um, yeah, yeah. Exercise every day, you know, I always, I'm trying to tell people, um, you know, it's stressful running a small business. It's really stressful and there's lots of growing pains and, you know, I've spent years now working all hours, God sends and, and so getting yourself to sleep at a decent time and getting in some exercise, even just a walk, a bit of sunlight and you, you will, you'll, you'll suddenly like all these ideas will come to you, you know? Yeah. But you can't just sit around and expect it to just happen.

You can't, I mean, the thing it's really, I think it's really good that these days people are talking more openly in the media and so on about burnout and depression. And that is a real risk for business owners. Do you know, because it's all on their shoulders and often, you know, the solution to a problem or declining sales or whatever is just to work harder and harder and harder. And you know, that only ends up in a bag

And, and that's not, that's not how we should see it. Right. Um, I read a great book, which I think everyone should read by. Um, what's her name, Arianna Huffington post. And that helped me immensely because she actually worked herself to a point where she collapsed and smacked her head on the side of a desk and woke up with like blood everywhere because she was doing 17-hour days. And I think at that point I was probably in year three going into year four and I was doing all the travel and all the events. I had six months where I was sick. So, I was on antibiotics. I was having flus all the time. I think just all the travels just gross, you know, too many people. Um, I was taking vitamin C. I was still sleeping. Well, I was still going for walks, but, you know, and I found myself bragging, you know, messaging, friends going, oh, I can't meet up on too busy.

Um, and that is not why, you know, you should be doing this, or you shouldn't think that that's OK. Um, you know, it's, you need to have systems, you need to have structure. You need to think, what can you delegate out? Can you even get just like a part time VA? Um, I've I had a part time VA and I just, this huge weight lifted off my shoulders and she only costed me like 10, $15 an hour. And she's still with me now full time. And she's pretty much getting the same as someone does in Australia. Right. So, so you build these things up, but yeah, delegating outs really important. Um, yeah. And even if you sleep in well, don't, don't go around bragging. You've done 17 hours, maybe at first you will be, but you shouldn't down the track.

Yeah. Couldn't agree. More. And our final entrepreneur in the first instalment of the mindset special is Pic Picot, the founder of international food brand Pic's peanut butter Pic's is a $30 million business run out of Nelson in New Zealand. And Pic himself is a seasoned entrepreneur who's owned and run a diverse array of ventures spending a 40-year career in business. Interestingly, when it comes to mindset and channelling creativity Pic takes a rather contrarian view. This is more of an entrepreneurial mindset. Now in my little bit theory for what it's worth is that most top entrepreneurs are actually deep thinkers. They've got a very restless mind usually. Um, and I'm interested whether it's meditation or an occasional bottle of nice red, you know, do you have a mental habit or a process that you've used to channel your creativity over the years?

Oh, well, you know, I mean, I, I get a lot of people, you know, coming to see me with great ideas, asking what I think about their great ideas. I don't, I think thinking about stuff is of limited value. You know, everybody has great ideas, but I think the difference between, um, people who have great ideas and entrepreneurs is doing something, you know, if you just have your idea and, you know, keep thinking about it forever, I think actually getting an undoing something as is an that's what I think people need to be, get off your bum, do something, you know, just try it out. You know, and scalability, I think is one of the greatest things you can have in any business, if your business is scalable, you know, you've got real opportunity. Finding that market, I think is, is a really important know

Market opportunity that that is scalable. Yeah,

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And, and, and stop making something and, and then think, okay, you know, I can make this bigger. It doesn't matter if it costs you a fortune to find out whether the markets there. Well, it does, you know, you don't want to spend a million dollars. You really want to spend a few bucks and then, and then you can find it, the markets there. And then you start building your capacity.