What's your secret sauce for building a great team?
The number one thing that ensures a great team is trust. But this isn't trust with just your manager, it's trust at every single level: your colleagues, your vendors, your clients, everything. When you launch a business, you're creating an ecosystem of values. If your vendors of clients don't align with your values, they will clash with you or your team, which will translate into headaches down the road. The best way to avoid this is to protect your business ecosystem and make sure your values don't get compromised. This all begins with trust.
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
I launched my business nearly 8 years ago. When I first started, I was in full survival mode because I needed to bring in money for my little business to survive. So everything was about me, me, me. Well, fast forward 8 years and now, I realize that the key to success is not focusing on myself, but empowering my team to succeed. If you treat your employees well, they'll do great work and they'll treat your customers the way you want to be treated. As a leader, the energy you portray to your team trickles down to every single part of your business, including how your employees treat your customers. So, empower your team by setting a great example for them.
What helped you accelerate your growth as a leader / entrepreneur?
Honestly, the best accelerants for my entrepreneurial growth has been challenges stemming from unexpected changes. How you adapt and react to change will determine your future success. For example, COVID hit us hard. We were forced out of our office in February 2020 and while everybody was scared, we were lucky to sign a favorable lease because we looked for a warehouse during the pandemic lockdown. We had a record revenue year in 2020 thanks to the pandemic. Unexpected changes are a natural part of the journey and if you treat them right, they'll help you grow in ways you never expected.
What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
In my opinion, the primary job of a leaders is to always develop more leaders. Of course, at the start, you might just be mentoring new employees. But, as they grow within your organization, you should put them into roles and assign responsibilities that will help them grow as a leader. It will not only challenge them (which will help retain your best employees), but it'll help you grow the company so you don't become the bottleneck for decision-making.
What book do you recommend the most?
I love everything Jim Collins has written including Good to Great, Great by Choice, Flywheel Effect, Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, everything.
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What's the biggest insight you learned in recent years?
It’s always a good idea to be connected to your product – even if you have to deal with high-level topics, always remember the things you offer.
What personal habit helped you accelerate your personal growth?
In one of the hardest times of my life so far, I started journaling for 1-2h on Sundays. Not digital, but with paper and pen. Always answering the same questions related to self, social life and work. This brutally honest and regular reflection once a week helped me identify problems early and iterate fast.
When times are tough, who or what is an anchor for you?
My co-founders are my anchor in work-related topics. Having an environment where failure is welcomed with a helping hand and where weakness is valued as openness, once you are down those people will drag you up.
What's a mistake that you're happy you've made?
When I was 16 (way before the internet) I founded a travel-partner agency to connect people from different backgrounds seeking travel companions. After a year, I had to close the agency due to a lack of customers and the confusion some callers had regarding the nature of the “service.” Despite this setback, I gained invaluable insights into sales, communication and people’s needs, solidifying my desire to run a business that helps people.