Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jo Ilfeld, Founder of Incite To Leadership, located in Berkeley, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Incite To Leadership works with executive leaders and executive leadership teams to help develop innovative leaders to lead high-impact organizations successfully. In today's world, there is so much going on. People are busy – really busy – so it's easy for leaders and leadership teams to slip into the tactical of crossing things off the to-do list without paying attention to their true mission and impact. I work with these leaders to create purpose-driven teams that pay attention to what matters and support their teams to create successful change in their organizations, the marketplace, and the world!

Tell us about yourself

As a successful entrepreneur myself, I realized how much time and energy we all spend at work and how for many of us, that time feels stressful, overwhelming, and not very satisfying. In fact, for some, it's truly bleak. I wanted to help leaders step out of that paradigm of miserable at work into feeling empowered to create change – for themselves, their teams, their organization, and even their own family. There can often be a sense of just getting through the day, only to wake up and do it all again. I believe that we owe it to ourselves and all the people we're in a relationship with, to create better possibilities that lead to energy and fulfillment at work and in our whole lives.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Honestly, one of the biggest accomplishments of being a successful business owner is that I can give some of my time back to the causes I most believe in. In addition to my executive coaching practice, I'm also a professor of leadership intelligence for an executive MBA program. I love working with my students and future up-and-coming leaders to make sure their journey is mindful and created around their unique needs and desires. I also run a program that provides volunteer coaches into progressive campaigns and organizations, and it's very fulfilling to me to help support the next generation of mission-oriented changemakers!

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

I used to joke that I work for myself and the boss is a bear. (Well, I might have used more colorful language, but you get the point!) When you are the business owner, it can feel like you can never turn off because the business depends on your dedication and attention. While that is true, I've worked to design my business so that I can go away for 2-3 weeks, and the business continues to thrive. I've realized that if the business doesn't work for me and my family's needs, then the business owns me and not the other way around.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Make sure you are self-motivated and driven. If you work better under deadlines from others and you need that structure around you, it might be hard those first few years when you're building from scratch, and most of the deadlines and goals come from within.
  2. Get really good at asking for help and then asking for more. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to build systems and then hand off those systems. If you're always doing everything yourself, you can never grow your business. Your time will often be taken up with low-value activities. Find amazing people to hire and outsource work to and reward them well for their expertise. It doesn't make sense for me to be building my website, creating my own graphics and PowerPoints, and doing my accounting. Finding amazing people to hire allows you to use your successful business to raise other business owners with different expertise.
  3. Know when to call it a day. . .and a week. Your business does not benefit from you working around the clock. Your mind needs times to turn off - in fact, that's often when the best insights come. So allow yourself to be at your best every day by sleeping well, exercising, and spending time with loved ones. If your business leaves you no time for anything else in your life, you might actually be running yourself and your business into the ground.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Relationships are complicated. And even with the best of intentions, they can be hard to navigate. The best leaders and the best teams understand that having an outside perspective can often pay huge dividends in effectiveness down the line. Leadership development isn't a one-and-done training; it's a process that DEVELOPS leaders over time so that they have more and more capacity to do the work and have the conversations that really matter. It's not a sign of failure to reach out for help from an executive coach to make yourself and your team more successful.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.incitetoleadership.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InciteToLeadership
Twitter: https://twitter.com/joilfeld
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3vopc92

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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