It’s that time of the month again where we get inspired by some brilliant business stories.
So grab yourself a cuppa, get comfy and prepare to be wowed.
Kathleen King
‘I was very, very naïve and I used to trust blindly. Now, I still trust everybody, but I trust with my eyes open.’
Kathleen King is a serial entrepreneur, having set up two successful baked goods companies, Kathleen’s Bake Shop and Tate’s Bake Shop. She sold the latter to snacks giant Mondelez International for a whopping $500 million.
In this inspiring episode of the How I Built This podcast, Kathleen discusses a disastrous partnership deal that led to a $600,000 debt and her being ousted from the business she spent 20 years creating. She goes on to explain what spurred her to set up a second venture to compete with the first.
Jeff Fenster
‘We learn more from losses than wins in life. People need to accept that you should actually focus on why you lost and relish it and pick yourself up and keep going because we all fail every day at so many things and failure is not a reason to not do things.’
Jeff Fenster is the CEO of Everbowl, an organic superfoods company which he founded in 2016. The business has grown rapidly and now has over 20 stores scattered across Southern California.
In this recent edition of The Playbook podcast, Jeff discusses his journey from super successful teenage sales rep making $60,000 a year to multi-million dollar entrepreneur with host (and Jeff’s longstanding mentor) David Meltzer.
Mellody Hobson
‘If I could do anything for other people, it's to help them to see my life as an example of what you can overcome.’
Mellody Hobson is the co-CEO and President of Ariel Investments, a $13 billion money management firm. In addition to this, she also serves on the boards of big name companies including Starbucks, Estee Lauder and JP Morgan.
In this inspiring Forbes interview, Mellody discusses how her fascination with how money works combined with her strong work ethic helped propel her up the ranks and catalyse her success.
One of her key pieces of advice is to work hard and pay your dues early in your career, as this will enable you to have greater freedom and control further down the line.
Caleb Guilliams
‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’
Caleb Guilliams is the founder and CEO of Better Wealth Solutions, a financial services company and author of The And Asset, who has committed his career to teaching people how to be more efficient with their money.
In this recent episode of the 5 Minute Success podcast, the 23 year old entrepreneur shares his tips for managing money and growing a business. One of his most valuable bits of advice is not to come across as needy or desperate when trying to secure a sale but equally not to appear too detached and uncaring.
Listen to Caleb’s discussion here.
We hope you’ve gained something useful from this month’s selection of business advice. Until next time, check out these fantastic related blogs: