Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Stephen Schmidt, Founder of Blue Basil Media, located in Melbourne, FL, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I operate a full-scale media/marketing company focusing on video-centric advertisements for residential contractors.
Tell us about yourself
Working in construction from the time I was 19 until 25, I built a massive respect for our Blue Collar Americans and the people who had the bravery to start their own companies and eat the shit sandwich for years to build their success. Formerly serving in the roofing business, I know how difficult the contracting process can be. I value getting the GOOD guys connected with GOOD customers.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment so far is our 100% retention rate with our clients. The only time a client leaves us is if we fire them for a misalignment in our vision, mission, & core values.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Not having any guarantee. I think the security and drug-like effect a salary or hourly wage has on someone gives them a false sense of security. Mostly because every day is predictable until they die, retire, or get fired. They know exactly where they will be on a Tuesday at 1 P.M. Exiting the job lifestyle and taking on full-time entrepreneurship or self-employment is a total mindfuck because you can't guarantee ANYTHING, including personal income. As a family man with three kids, that's one of the hardest things.
Waking up and doing the work, not even knowing if it will continue to pay off or not, and knowing you might have to go home and tell little Timmy that he can't go to private school anymore or that he can't play soccer for a few months. Of course, this is for the early-in-the-game folks, which I'd consider myself to be only having my company established the past three years. But every level has its own challenges.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be sure that you can't do anything else. If you CAN do anything else, go do it instead because it's not worth the pressure of owning your business if it isn't the only thing you can do. You have to be 100% all in, and it has to be your only option; otherwise, you're just playing the game for fun, and you can't compete if you're only there for fun.
- Make sure you're consuming information that personally pushes you forward in business, life, health, etc. Whether you read, listen to podcasts, or watch youtube videos, find people who HAVE what you want, and listen to them on how they got it. You can't keep listening to broke people and expect to get ahead.
- Get religious about shortening deadlines for important projects. If you know something is going to take you 3 days to do, and you have a week to get it done, give yourself a 2-day deadline to complete it. Yeah, you might be stressed as fuck, but you'll end up raising your capacity, in turn raising your ability and belief in what you can do, and it's always better to over-deliver & underpromise when it comes to a deadline.
Where can people find you and your business?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/honestlystephen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honestlystephen/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-schmidt-92ab80b7/
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.
Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.