Three Things To Help Run Your Business Smoothly
- Magazine Jukebox
- November 7, 2022
In Episode 7 of Biztainment Weekly, a podcast presented by Magazine Jukebox, CEO of Magazine Jukebox host Scott T. Janney chats with CEO and founder of What’s Your Revolution Consulting. Dr. Charles S. Corprew III. Dr. Corprew was also an employee of Camelback Ventures, which he talks about during the show.
His work with entrepreneurs means that he has much experience when it comes to supporting and coaching companies in their journey to success. “After two years, we realized, because of the pandemic, that many of our ventures were going out into the world and still needed fuel,” said Charles. His definition of fuel was coaching, capital, and community, which were all major topics of the discussion.
As listeners of the podcast have heard Scott say often, raising capital is not an easy job because it requires the investors to truly believe in the product and put some skin in the game. It also requires the entrepreneur to put themselves in the investor’s shoes for a bit. The investment, however, isn’t always in the form of money. Having a good relationship with your investors can result in priceless advice, which has probably been hard won on their part. You could very well learn from their successes (and failures).
That was not the only important thing to consider about running a business, though. The capital which the investors provide is important, make no mistake, but it’s not always the end-all-be-all. As Charles asked, have you created something (business or product) that would be worthwhile and/or benefit from the acceleration of venture capital? If you’re already generating revenue, do you really need to bring in additional capital? Capital will not always solve all of the issues that a company may have, which is why the fuel that entrepreneurs need isn’t just capital…it’s coaching and community which works in conjunction with capital.
Lastly, passion is essential. When investors are looking into a company, they want to see that the CEO, especially, is passionate and committed to making the company run as well as it can. If you were looking to put money into something, would you want to do so if the person running it hated their job and the product that they’re selling? Of course not! You would want someone who cares about their business and is willing to surround themselves with people who will support them and work alongside them to make the company succeed. Build relationships with investors, employees, and customers, because those relationships result in more than just monetary capital; those relationships build connections that could be invaluable to your company later on. In the end, there are three things that will fuel you in your goal of success: coaching, capital, and community. While capital often gets all the attention, the other two elements are just as vital and can make or break a company/entrepreneur.