Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jason Eisner, COO of Aristotle Performance, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Aristotle Performance provides leadership training and organizational development to our clients with a big focus on psychological safety. We believe that if we can help leaders and organizations as a whole become more aware of psychological safety and how to increase, repair, and nurture it, the benefits are exponential. Better conversations, more innovative ideas, fewer mistakes, more learning, and greater retention are all possible with a foundation of high psych safety.
We work with organizations in Finance, Software, Marketing/Advertising, Healthcare, Government, and Education - there is really no industry or organization today that would not benefit from an improved learning culture.
Tell us about yourself
I left my job at an advertising agency in NY to start a business doing what I loved - coaching leaders. Initially, that meant executive coaching, but when I attended a training on Psychological Safety, it was like, "This is the thing!" and I haven't looked back.
I have been a part of several startups, and while my leadership style evolved (through many mistakes), I found the unique thing I brought to the table was the ability to maintain high levels of psychological safety across a group of people. Sometimes that meant providing difficult feedback or playing office therapist, and other times that meant genuinely caring about people and being curious about what their goals were.
For me, it is definitely a case of "your mess becomes your message," and I feel that because I have experienced cultures of both high and low psychological safety, I'm internally motivated to continue pushing this work forward.
The other thing I love about this business is that we are doing good. When I worked in marketing software or advertising businesses, I would always question whether this was actually making a positive impact on the world. In this business, I am sure of it, and it allows us to work with amazing clients who share a similar passion.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
From my perspective, the biggest accomplishment is that we have a lot of people who want to work with us and partner with us. It's a sign that we're actually practicing what we preach, and I think we're building something special at AP that other people can sense and want to be a part of.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The hardest thing for me initially was sales. I am not much of a self-promoter, and I also had some limiting beliefs about sales in general. The ways I worked around this were to partner with someone who loves sales and is good at it and to find tools and automation that can help me with the aspects of sales that I find most challenging (lead generation). As a business owner, you are constantly confronted with your weaknesses and need to decide when to upskill and learn how to get better or outsource it to someone else.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Keep pulling on the string.
The business I currently own is nothing like what I expected it would be when I started. I say keep pulling on the string because you have to start somewhere - with a passion or a good idea - and just keep going until you start to find product-market fit. There may also be many points along that path where you think you should give up, or it's just not working - keep going! - Find the right partner.
I always thought I had to do everything myself. While I am capable of most aspects of business, finding the right partner multiplied the amount we could accomplish and made the process much more enjoyable. If I were on my own in this business, it's possible I would have given up on it during a challenging first year. With a partner, whenever one of us is down, the other is there to pick them and the business up. - Figure out a way to sell.
In simple terms, the success of a business is revenue minus expenses. So you need revenue - you need sales. If that is not your strength, find a partner, a sales team, software...whatever it takes to bring in money.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
I've found that starting businesses begets starting businesses. While Aristotle Performance is the business I spend most of my time on, I've also started and continue to run several other businesses:
• EdgUp - a men's grooming tool that helps with the home haircutting process.
• Heritage Biltong (launching in 6 weeks) - healthy and nutritious meat snacks made with the South African method of curing, spicing, and air drying.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.aristotleperformance.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason_eisner/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoneisner9/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aristotleperformance/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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