Some people never find their calling, while others simply choose not to follow theirs. But why? Sometimes the answer is as simple as money. When money’s on the line and you have a family to care for, the lines between what you want and what you have get blurred.

So maybe you have a nice job and a steady income, your children are well cared for, and you have a great house with a big yard for your dogs to run in. Great. But is it enough?

If your answer’s no, you need to open your eyes to your next opportunity. It might be at a school of entrepreneurship or in an art museum, but wherever it is, it won’t come from some menu—your life isn’t a simple impulse purchase. The step you’re preparing to make should combine your most extraordinary gifts with your deepest desires. But first, you need to know what those gifts and desires are, and that requires some exploration—not aimless wandering.

So where’s the answer? How deep does the rabbit hole go?

Start Here

Here are some steps to help you on your journey. You may not need to do all of these, but do consider how each could influence your next move.

Exploration. What’s out there? The exploration phase is a scavenger hunt. You’ll collect clues and pieces that will lead you to potential opportunities. Go out and meet with new people who have interests that maybe you share. Ask questions. If you find a person or company that inspires you, orient yourself around the circles and interests that resonate with your passions, gifts, and experiences.

Narrowing and Declaring. Through your exploration with people and various companies, you’ve found some that just aren’t a fit. As you leave those behind, you’ll begin gravitating towards the ones that spark something inside of you. Now is the time to dive deep into a few promising leads and see where they take you.

Discovering Needs and Getting In. You’ve focused on you. Now it’s time to focus on the targets you’ve identified. At this point, it’s about them. What do they need most? What expertise or knowledge will meet that need? How can you show the right people that you can meet those needs?

Presentation and Defense. Get in touch with the person or company that you’ve uncovered. See if you can give a presentation or complete an interview with them. Talk about how you’ve uncovered a path that aligns your calling with their needs.

Some Misconceptions You’ll Run into Along the Way

There’s no such thing as a perfect job or company. 

It doesn’t exist. A job or company can’t guarantee success, happiness, satisfaction, or fulfillment—neither will making lots of money. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make thoughtful choices. It just means, with any great opportunity, there could be an ogre under a bridge waiting to make you lunch.

Nothing is guaranteed, but the only serious mistake you can make is to avoid setting priorities and making tradeoffs for so long that you become desperate enough to take the next job that comes along whether it’s right for you or not.

So remember, you may need to “try on” several possibilities before you find the one that fits. A lot of you reading this might be interested in an MBA in entrepreneurship. Others might just want advice on figuring out their personal calling—business oriented or other. Dig deep, try on several pairs of shoes, and see which fits like a glove.

Focusing on a prestigious job with a high starting salary is a foolish strategy. 

The right question isn’t whether you make $50,000 or $100,000 a year. It’s not about how others deem the job prestigious or not. The question is whether or not you’ve chosen a place where you can gather experience, skills, and contacts that will take you to the next step in your journey.

Your next step is not your “calling” and will not determine the success or failure of your business career.

A “calling” is not a steppingstone job. It’s a journey of self-discovery to find out who you are and how you can serve others to lead a satisfying and meaningful life. Overtime, you will learn and grow towards your calling as new possibilities and exciting opportunities appear around you.

In contrast, your next step is just a steppingstone journey. It’s a place to hone your skills, knowledge, and judgment to prepare for an even more rewarding adventure down the road.

You are unlikely to starve. 

Being rich means spending less than you make, so you can choose how to spend your time and talent. That means controlling your spending is a much more dependable path to wealth than maximizing your current income.

This next step may not have a huge monetary gain—that’s okay. Just be careful about how you spend your money. Remember, this is a time for learning—that job with higher wages could be on the horizon, but only if you have the skills and value to get it.

Whether you’re getting an entrepreneurial education or dreaming of changing the lives of children in third world countries, find people, companies, and organizations that can help show you whether the path you think you want is truly the path that will bring you the greatest fulfillment. Don’t be afraid to take small steps towards your goals.

After all, it’s the small steps that create the big opportunities.

The Realization

You’ve been feeling really good about a particular business or personal decision for awhile now. It incorporated best practices, reflected your best insights, and promised best results. Or so you thought … until now. You’re gobsmacked.

You’ve made a huge mistake.

Perhaps you made a critical assumption that proved false or you left a careless error unchecked. Maybe ego, vanity, or naïveté got in the way. Or it’s possible that you did everything correctly, but an unexpected black swan event derailed your best-laid plans.

Regardless, the error is clear and it’s yours. How you go about resolving it, and the lessons you take away from the experience, are ultimately what show your true measure.

The Opportunity

First the critical question: Has anyone been put in harm’s way–either physical or mental? If so, ensuring their security is the first order of business, even if it means an expensive product recall or an uncomfortable–and un-delayed–announcement to your boss, your stakeholders, or even the media.

However, many critical professional mistakes are much less dire. Without people’s lives or safety at risk, even the most expensive mistake is less severe.

Few actions labeled “huge mistakes” can be easily undone. But all leaders have made them. The difference between a successful leader and entrepreneur and an unsuccessful one and is how they make amends after a mistake and what they take away from the experience.

Questions to Dig Deeper

Every situation, and every mistake, is unique. But asking yourself tough questions and offering honest answers, can help determine the root of your error. Pay attention and you can prevent repeating it again in the future.

• Has anyone been hurt or put in harm’s way, be it physical, mental, or emotional? If so, this question takes precedence over all others. Has the risk been addressed? Does a threat to the lives, safety, or well-being of others still exist? What can be done to correct this right away?
• Has anyone been wronged by the mistake? If so, are they people you know directly such as your team or are they further removed such as distant customers or vendors? How might you make them whole? Do they require financial support or human acknowledgement?
• Do you know where the error occurred? Was it a mistake in research, analysis, planning, or strategy? What have you learned from the mistake? How will you avoid it in the future?
• Are there systems you can put in place that would prevent someone else in your organization from making the same error? Would they concern operations, sales, people, or another aspect of your organization?

The Acton Difference

Mistakes are unavoidable in business and in life, but at Acton we believe in using intense, in-depth case discussions to tease out some of the most common mistakes in business in our classroom. Although the situations and case discussions may be real, the risk to real people and property is not. Instead of rolling the dice on a big idea, our entrepreneur teachers also encourage students to first conduct small and inexpensive experiments to test new business hypotheses.

While it can be incredibly entertaining to see the eccentric personalities of Arrested Development living up to their reputations, and making the same ill-formed decisions again and again, it’s a decidedly unsatisfying site in the real world. Being honest enough to admit your mistakes to yourself and to others, having the gravitas to address them, and the humility to learn from them is what makes for truly great leaders and entrepreneurs.

It also helps you avoid “light treason.”

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about building on past mistakes to build sustainable businesses and opportunities, take our free entrepreneurial assessment quiz. You’ll receive a free report on your levels of operational proficiency, as well as industry expertise and the ability to raise money.

Have other questions about how earning an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Acton could help you learn from mistakes of the past? Contact us. We’d love to hear from you!

Learn to walk in your customers' shoes

During the political seasons, the term “job creator” becomes an often-cited and much-politicized phrase. But with national political campaigning at a less frenzied pace, we wanted to go back to this term and unpack what it means to us at Acton.

Done correctly, job creation is one of the noblest results of entrepreneurship. Creating new jobs can provide purpose and satisfaction to individuals; enable them to better care for and support families; and increase the economic health of communities, cities, and countries.

Of course, not all jobs are created equal. And a newly minted job is only a shadow of its potential if that job doesn’t add real value. Because if a job contribute to a growing, sustainable business, then its days are numbered.

So How Do I Become a Job Creator?

Policies, incentives, and loopholes are not responsible for creating the jobs that offer the most value. Customers are.

A small business or company creates a new job because it requires a specific skill set, service, or talent in order to better serve its customers. Jobs that serve customers also serve the business’ interests as well. When an entrepreneur offers a product, service, or experience that other people want to buy, she typically will require help to deliver it–especially when that demand grows by leaps and bounds.

The first step to becoming a job creator is stepping into the shoes of the customer you’re trying to help. When you truly can perceive and appreciate your customer’s genuine concerns, reservations, complications, and aspirations, then you can start to answer them. You begin to tailor your product, service, messaging, sales strategies, pricing, and other elements to match your customers’ needs and address their reservations.

Essentially, you become a job creator by building a business that can sustain itself and grows. That means finding a way to sell something of value, again and again. As demand grows, you improve your delivery and your market, and you hire for others to help you meet that growth. These jobs add real value, because your business requires them to meet the needs of your customers.

The Acton Difference

At Acton, our entrepreneur teachers have built companies, created jobs, and hired employees. They know that putting in the long, hard hours in order to understand your market and opportunity, and then continuing to adjust it as you grow, is the path to creating a sustainable business.

The neatest invention in the world isn’t marketable if it doesn’t solve a real problem or address strong desire in the marketplace. In our classroom, students step into the customers’ shoes; wrestle with real life business cases experiencing the successes and failures of real entrepreneurs and job creators; and dissect hundred of opportunities, growth strategies, and hiring practices.

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about creating a sustainable business that can grow and build value in your community, take our free entrepreneurial assessment quiz. You’ll receive a free report on your levels of operational proficiency, as well as industry expertise and the ability to raise money.

Have other questions about how earning your MBA in Entrepreneurship at Acton might help you become a job creator? Contact us. We’d love to hear from you!

Identify and Question Assumptions

Chris Weaver ('08)

“Know thy customer!” It’s a mantra freshly minted Acton grads chant as diplomas are placed in hands. Without doubt, it’s the song of our people.  However, there exists a related but less-pithy lesson that’s just as important: Identify and question assumptions.

If industry experts are proxies for your customers, it’s important to ask for case facts or other relevant data. Otherwise, any revelations that result from the insight they provide might be based on outdated information, misrepresentations, or worse, guesses. Bad data about customers is worse than no data because false confidence can lead to confusing outcomes and substantial losses.

Recently, I worked with a mature, well-respected firm in an industry that requires deep knowledge and specific training. My customer proxies–my industry experts–had worked in the industry for a long time and had developed deeply-layered assumptions about customer needs and behaviors. I, the outsider, accepted their insights at face value and built sophisticated models and strategic plans using what I was told. However, despite best intentions and hard work, the customers did not behave as expected. Something was wrong.

Painfully, over several months, I began to peel back the layers of assumptions, ambiguity, and guesses, all of which were undermining my best-designed models. Making the process even more difficult, my industry old-timers were not receptive to either my questions or my sleuthing and instead, found it disrespectful and distracting. Instead of gaining the credibility I needed to encourage positive change, I was losing time and costing money.

Finally, I started calling customers directly. It was risky: I didn’t have the industry experience or training, but I’m good at asking questions. Immediately I discovered data that did not mesh with what I had been told. In disbelief, my team now wanted to actively participate in my research to interpret for themselves the answers I was getting from customers.

After weeks of digging, the light bulbs of enlightenment over my head, and my team’s, slowly started to glow. It became very clear the widely accepted assumptions were a combination of unspecific data, misinterpretations, and guesses. These key assumptions had never been questioned before.

If I had insisted from the beginning that all assumptions be identified and questioned, much heartache, time, and money could have been saved. It’s been a painful lesson learned.

They tell us that Acton’s fast and demanding pace, high intensity, competitiveness, and focus on understanding what the customer really needs serves them well once they graduate from our classroom.

We recently caught up with three alumni in influential and leadership roles at technology firms, ranging from software startups to a Fortune 100 company. They shared some of their own Acton experiences, their motivations for choosing the program, and offered advice for others interested in pursuing a career in technology.

The Alumni

Ben Allen ('07)

Ben Allen (’07) is Director of Business Transformation at AMD and previously served on the company as Director of Global Business Development, where he negotiated the use of AMD chips in Sony’s recently announced PlayStation4 game console. In 2009, Ben was awarded a Gaming Tech Innovation Award from the Austin Business Journal for leading the development of entrepreneurial simulation games in his role as Director of Acton Publishing. He also completed Acton’s teacher training program and has taught in the Acton classroom. He also holds a Bachelor of Life Sciences with an emphasis in Construction Engineering from Iowa State University.

Bharath Sundararaman ('09)

Bharath Sundararaman (’09) is Program Director at E2Open in Dallas, Texas, where he leads teams selling supply chain services and delivering implementations at large enterprise customers that earn more than $100 million annually. He’s also developing his personal assessment expertise and is certified in administering the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, the most widely used personality instrument in the world. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from B.A.T. University in Maharashtra, India and a Master of Science in Industrial Technology from the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Nelson Chau ('10)

Nelson Chau (‘10) is Chief Operations Officer at Allogy Interactive, a software company offering a software creation tool that lets teachers and students create and distribute their own mobile apps for both the Android and iOS platforms. At Allogy, Nelson manages a team of software developers, creative directors, and editors in the development of products targeting both education and health. Before he attended Acton, Nelson earned a Bachelor of Computer Engineering as well as a Master in Engineering Management from the University of Texas at Austin.

On enrolling at Acton …

Nelson

I dreamed of starting my very own technology company someday. I quickly realized that if I were to run an actual business, I wanted to learn practical business skills and life experiences from real entrepreneurs. After discovering that Acton’s teachers were comprised of successful serial entrepreneurs who all had an obsession for teaching and making a difference in people, I was hooked. Visiting the school and sitting in on a class discussion sealed the deal in the end. I literally could not write fast enough to capture all the lessons learned.

Bharath

I was in Dallas and not feeling challenged enough with my job at a big technology company. Our family had also started a technical recruiting business on the side and we found that, despite our desires and efforts, it was a real struggle. All this set me on a path of wanting to take greater control of my own life. I thought an MBA might be the solution to my problems and stumbled across Acton by serendipity. It was the only program I applied to. I think I ended up choosing it for three main reasons: 1) it offered experiential learning about business combined with a focus on identifying a life of meaning; 2) it was taught by teachers who run their own businesses and are held accountable for their performance in class; and 3) I wanted to find out if I could survive the program’s intense 100-hour-plus weeks successfully. During the program, I was not very sure about my path after Acton and career in technology was definitely not the top priority.

Ben

The compressed time-to-degree was key, as was the Socratic teaching method. I’m a big believer in using case studies to learn from real-life situations, and Acton delivered that.

On their greatest challenge in the Acton classroom …

Bharath

My greatest challenge was managing my own time and energy. I tend to have both perfectionism and procrastination–not a recommended combination for this program. Some alumni, classmates, mentors, and teachers served as inspirations and supported me through the program. However in the end, it was I who had to put in the efforts and live through the outcomes.

Ben

The greatest challenge at Acton is simply keeping up. Doing the work, day in and day out. The cognitive load is immense.

Nelson

I thought that I could breeze through the classes with my analytical skills. I was wrong. What I didn’t realize was how difficult the assignments would be, especially when we had to consider what the numbers on our spreadsheets meant in terms of real implications to real people. Doing the analysis to cut costs on a spreadsheet to make company valuations look more attractive was relatively easy. What was incredibly difficult was being randomly selected to role play exactly what the numbers in my spreadsheet suggested. I’ll never forget having to look somebody in the eye and explaining why I had decided to cut costs in their department.

On their most valuable experience at Acton …

Ben

My most valuable experience came in learning to interact at the speed and level that Acton teaches. Being smart isn’t enough. Working hard isn’t enough. You still need to listen actively to others and fully engage in the present issue–much like life.

Bharath

The most valuable experience at Acton was that, by exploring so many case studies, I learned how extremely hard it can be to lead an entrepreneur’s life and there are no assurances that one will come out successful at the end. Also, the interviews with people I respect that I did as part of the Life of Meaning course were valuable. I periodically listen to some of those interviews even now.

On how Acton has shaped their careers since graduation …

Ben

I like to think that a lot of success is about picking your competition, and after competing at the level that Acton operates at I find most work situations to be very manageable. In terms of technology, I find that the ever-changing business models and landscape are well served by the 300 cases I studied at Acton.

The pattern recognition is vital to anything that is risky and forward-looking–which describes most of tech.

Nelson

Like many engineers, I’ve always been praised for my ability to think and analyze and then think some more. While analytical thinking is very useful for solving problems, I found that my analytical skills actually became a hindrance during an Acton challenge where we were expected to cold call real CEOs and sell them real products. Having to deal with rejection over and over and over again was probably one of the best things that could happen to me because it taught me that sales is less about telling people the answers, but more about listening and asking the right questions.

Bharath

Acton is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. While it was not easy, I am glad I took on this challenge. I made many mistakes and learned a lot about myself, both positive and negative. I feel confident that, having survived Acton, I can handle other difficult challenges.

On a more tactical level, the Acton education has taught me to periodically ask questions about the business and industry my job is in and what I am learning from it. The resulting clarity led to the difficult decision to depart from a company I had been working at for 2.5 years, in which I had invested significant time, effort, and opportunity cost in return for equity.

I returned to the world of technology after Acton, mainly for practical reasons. My wife was pregnant and our daughter was born a month after my graduation. Technology (enterprise software) was an industry I knew well and I thought it would allow me to have both financial and career stability while figuring out my next move towards something more appealing and engaging.

On advice they’d offer students interested in technology careers or start-ups …

Bharath

First, pick a fast growing industry and carefully look at the track record of the management team as to whether they have been successful in the past at sales and operations and managing growth and exits. There will be much greater opportunities for professional growth if these things are present.

Second, engage with an experienced professional coach to accelerate the rate of your career and personal growth. Some of the biggest breakthroughs on the toughest problems I’ve had occurred when I paid good money to hire excellent coaches whom I met with on a regular basis to act as my sounding board and advisors.

Finally, There are many routes to becoming an entrepreneur, all of which require patience and perseverance. Depending on one’s life circumstances and personality, a job that provides ‘just a paycheck’ may provide the financial foundation to gain some breathing room while identifying better opportunities to pursue.

Nelson

Grow in your ability to listen and ask the right questions. If your experience is like mine, you’ve probably been rewarded and praised for coming up with the right answer. But most of the best leaders worry less about gaining glory for giving the right answer. Instead, they concentrate on inviting people along for the ride and solving the problem together.

Ben

Tech rewards two distinct career paths: engineering and sales. Don’t discount either. You have to understand what it takes to build great products, and you have to understand what it takes to get others excited about great products. And oh yeah, if you don’t understand what free cash flow is and how to calculate it, your business career is in serious trouble–that’s a constant in any industry.

More Questions? Let Us Know!

Do you have any other questions about applying to Acton, starting a business, or pursuing a technology career or start-up with an MBA in entrepreneurship? Sign up to visit a class or feel free to contact us with your questions directly!

And learn about other alumni experiences at Acton—based upon their own backgrounds, professional interests, and experiences.

The message in Gary’s new book, which he co-wrote with Jay Papasan, resonates with everyone at Acton. It reminds us of the synthesis of many leading entrepreneurial ideas and concepts taught at Acton, relating to identifying key success factors, exploiting the bottleneck, and playing to your personal strengths. Clear and concise, the book provides clear evidence to support Gary’s singular advice, and offers constructive techniques and insights to help the reader execute it.

Gary co-founded and still serves as chairman of Keller Williams Realty, the largest real estate company in the United States. We recently caught up with him about his newest book, and discussed why it’s critical reading for any entrepreneur, leader, or individual looking to make a larger impact more efficiently.

The ONE Thing

In a few sentences, can you tell us exactly what The ONE Thing is about and why it’s particularly relevant for entrepreneurs?

Gary Keller

Gary: The ONE Thing outlines simple strategies to do less and achieve more. We’re living in an age of unprecedented abundance and we’re all feeling the pain. We’re overburdened by email. We’re overextended by to-do lists. We’re overcommitted on our calendars. In the end, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Entrepreneurs are particularly susceptible to this dilemma. By definition, you wear multiple hats. You may function as the CEO one moment and the janitor the next. You have to find a way to cut through the clutter and focus on what’s most important.

The book introduces the “focusing question,” designed to help one weed out the noise and find his or her one thing to strive for (which changes over time). Can you tell us how you used this same question to conceive, write, and publish the book?

Gary: At some point during every big project you have to ask, “Is this ready? Are we providing the consumer or end-user with what he or she needs?” Jay and I spent almost five years researching this book. We loved every word–and then we cut the book by 40 percent. It was difficult, but we kept asking ourselves: “What’s the ONE Thing the reader needs to know to apply this to their life?” By asking this focusing question, we trimmed the book down to the essentials. It’s our guess that busy students and entrepreneurs will appreciate that the book is 160 pages shorter.

A key point of The ONE Thing is that one should establish a single “Big Picture”–the one grand thing to strive towards–and then name a “Small Focus”–the one thing that can be done now to make the biggest impact. And, of course, after each “Small Focus” success, it’s time to identify the next one. So how does this show up in the real world of business?

Gary: Any grand vision begins with the idea of the destination. The challenge is to build momentum toward that goal. Most people–including many business leaders–are all over the map. Successful companies have great clarity of purpose. Southwest Airlines is the low-cost carrier. Nordstrom’s big focus is service. These companies make great decisions because they’re clear about what they’re delivering and every employee knows it. Perhaps our most unexpected discovery was that once you start looking for the ONE Thing you see it everywhere and start thinking of companies differently. Wal-Mart’s really a grocery store. And Google’s not a search company but an advertising company. If you know what your company’s ONE Thing is, you can always find solutions that support it.

You talk about the “thieves” that can hold you up and rob you of your productivity. Which are the most destructive? 

Gary: For most business leaders, figuring out their ONE Thing is the easy part. The hard part is sticking to it. And the biggest culprits are the inability to say no and fear of chaos. If we’re people-oriented, we take on too many commitments. If we’re task-oriented, we’re afraid to leave little things undone. The ONE Thing provides proven strategies for saying no and protecting your time so you can focus on what’s most important.

The ONE Thing philosophy really seems to complement many of the lessons that our students learn here at Acton. Based on your own experience with Acton grads, what traits, approaches, or elements of the ONE Thing have you seen them exhibit?

Gary: We are fortunate to have three outstanding Acton MBAs–Mitch Johnson, who serves as CEO of Keller Capital; Bryon Ellington, the COO of Keller Williams Worldwide; and Cory Older, the Director of KW Ventures. Each has a great entrepreneurial mind that was enhanced by his experiences in the Acton program. I’ve talked with each of them extensively about what they learned at Acton, and I see many commonalities with The ONE Thing. Acton seminars zero in on the key success factors for a particular product or enterprise. The ONE Thing is essentially a further concentration of that focus. What, for example, is the most leveraged activity that your business can do to drive sales next quarter? I’ve also been impressed with the Acton emphasis on research. The ONE Thing is not a haphazard collection of my thoughts or experiences–it’s a careful analysis of the most compelling research that’s out there.

Is there anything about The ONE Thing that we didn’t discuss that is critical to your message and you’d like to share?

Gary: The question we hear most frequently is, “How do I get started?” Start tomorrow by asking yourself, “What’s the ONE Thing I can do today for my business?” when you arrive at work. When you find the answer, do that first. Over a few months, it will become a habit and you will progress to next steps.

Learn More About The ONE Thing & Gary Keller

You learn more about The ONE Thing by grabbing your own copy of the book or by attending a special half-day seminar that Gary is hosting in Austin on May 30, 2013.

Gary Keller is co-founder and chairman of Keller Williams Realty, the largest real estate company in the United States. He is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, which recently hit the top of the Wall Street Journal bestseller list.

A recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and finalist for Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Keller is widely recognized as a business leader. Inman News named him one of the 100 most influential leaders in the real estate industry. He was voted one of the five “most admired people” in a survey by REAL Trends. Keller founded and serves as senior partner in Keller Capital, a venture capital firm. He teaches seminars across North America and coaches small-business owners and entrepreneurs. On May 30, 2013, he’ll host a half day seminar about The ONE Thing at Austin’s Renaissance Hotel.

Rob Larkin ('07) in front of Daily Juice

While they’re enrolled at Acton, students practice making tough decisions and analyzing complex and confusing data day in and day out. They step into the shoes of entrepreneurs in hundreds of real life business cases, including many focused on growing companies and financing that growth. With our “Acton in the Wild” series, we check in every so often with our alumni. We find out how lessons learned at Acton come into play after they’ve left the classroom and see what results they produce in the real world.

We just caught up with Rob Larkin (’07), Co-Founder and COO at Daily Juice Group, a fresh organic juice and smoothie maker based in Austin, Texas. He shared his company’s current national expansion plan with us, told us how they’ve prepared the concept and business to grow quickly through the franchising model, and explained how his time at Acton and the frameworks he learned there have proven critical to the success of both himself and the company.

Dossier

Company: Daily Juice Group

Acton Alumni: Rob Larkin (’07), Co-Founder and COO

Founded: Daily Juice in 2003; Daily Juice Group in 2011

Headquarters: Austin, TX

Employees: 14

About: Daily Juice has been providing the freshest and purest juices, smoothies, and organic products in Austin, Texas since 2003. In 2011, the Daily Juice Group was formed to perfect the operation and expand it nationally, bringing Daily Juice’s popular and nutritious flavors to a larger audience.

Opportunity

After working closely with the Daily Juice product and concept, Rob’s team recognized a larger opportunity for the store and the niche it was in.

“In the juice business, we saw it was dominated by all these mom and pop stores–operators with one, two, or three juice bars. It’s true here in Austin, but also in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Arizona, and other markets. There are a lot of them, but they’re all very focused on this very niche crowd, a small percentage of the population,” explained Rob. “And that customer is typically already educated, probably makes their own juice at home, is very particular, and has an intense knowledge about the product.”

Through constant media coverage of healthy eating, and the popularization of natural foods in grocery stores, more and more Americans are seeking healthy and tasty meals and meal replacement options.

“A mainstream audience is starting to want to tap into this niche, but it doesn’t have access to the products,” said Rob.

While there are other smoothie brands in the U.S., they are not focused on delivering truly nutritious, purely organic, fresh products.

“At existing national chains, you’ll find the smoothies are loaded with refined sugar and that juices are an afterthought,” explained Rob.

“At Daily Juice, you get something that’s not going to make you fat and will deliver nutritious food. Plus you’re going to enjoy the experience. You’re not going to feel scared, like you’re walking into a place where a bunch of hippies hang out. You feel comfortable. It’s clean. It’s a friendly environment. There’s upbeat energy and hopefully you leave with more energy than you came in with.

“We’re taking our product to huge pocket of customers who are looking for it, but don’t know where to find it.”  

Growth

Daily Juice set the aggressive goal to open 100 stores by 2016, with the first expansion stores happening in Dallas and Houston this year and followed by a move outside of Texas in 2014. To grow rapidly, they chose a franchise model.

“Franchising is a tried and true way to fund and grow your business,” said Rob. “We recognized that our growth must happen quickly and this allows us to do it without raising $100 million or more from equity investors.”

Perfecting the guest experience and bringing it in line with the quality of the company’s product was the first order of business. For Daily Juice to expand rapidly, the operational model, store design, and message had to be refined.

“We looked at what Daily Juice had been since 2003. We had a broken operational model,” explained Rob. “Many of customers were having to wait 10, 15, and 20 minutes to get their juices. So a lot of people would just turn away and they only came to Daily Juice when they had plenty of time. And that automatically eliminated most of the professional population.”

“People also didn’t know what was going on while they were waiting. They didn’t see what was happening with their juices. Customers like seeing these colorful fruits and vegetables and they like seeing someone making their drink. It’s an interesting process to watch.”

With the opening of their store in Downtown Austin in Fall 2012, Daily Juice debuted their new retail concept, bringing the brightly colored fresh produce and the preparation of the smoothies and juices to the forefront. Warm greens and bright earth tones both soothe the senses, while providing a visual lift.

“We integrated the classic assembly line and brought our kitchen up front, nothing’s hidden,” said Rob. “We’ve got these beautiful fruits and vegetables right on display for the folks.”

Rob’s team also worked closely with local designers on the look and feel of the new store, which is notably different from the quirkier, from-the-hip layout of previous locations.”

“The experience wasn’t just about the juice. Daily Juice has been making delicious juices and smoothies for 10 years now, but it really had an environment that was only friendly to a niche group of consumers. Since we’ve reworked our design we’ve been very happy. We’ve seen professionals and other folks that you wouldn’t have really seen walking into our original locations.”

Rob also reported that the new layout allowed them to build in improved merchandising opportunities, resulting in a 40 percent increase in the average purchase price.

“When you look at the unit economics, we’re doing much better than we before we introduced the new layout,” said Rob.

Daily Juice is opening its next store with the new concept in Austin’s Westlake community in early June, and Rob says that location will have several improvements over Downtown Austin store.

“We’re about 90 percent happy with everything we have downtown,” said Rob. “For our Westlake location we’ve changed about 10 percent of the store, based on things we’ve learned about customer flow and equipment.”

Rob shared that a general rule of thumb in franchising quick service restaurants is that by the fourth or fifth store, one starts feeling pretty good about the design and operation. By the tenth store, it’s locked in.

“Based on the feedback we’ve received from other people in the industry, it seems we’re already more in line with the companies that have opened four or five stores,” said Rob. “We put about a year and a half into the thought and design of this concept. And we had the advantage of eight years of operational experience in a different environment.”

Beyond additional locations in Austin, Daily Juice is working on the next stores for the Houston and Dallas markets to open later this year. And Rob’s team is continuing conversations with prospective franchisees to take it into cities outside of Texas.

The Acton Difference

Rob said that his time and experience at Acton has played a critical role in his success.

“Acton is the equivalent of adding a couple of processers into your CPU,” said Rob. “I’m really not any smarter, but I’m able to come to better conclusions much faster than I would have been able to without Acton. And that’s entirely do to the frameworks that get ingrained in your head day after day at Acton.

“I’m also much more confident in my decision making, because I know the process I went through to get to my ultimate decision on any given thing. They make such an impact on the speed at which I’m able to think.

“I’ve actually learned to temper my pace, so other people can be included in the decision-making process and we arrive at the conclusion together,” said Rob. “Because without these frameworks, you just cannot make as educated a decision as quickly. Sometimes others may think I’m making a flippant decision, and shooting from the hip, when in reality I’ve just gone through a thought process that I’ve been honing for the six years since I graduated from Acton.”

“Acton is such a powerful experience. I can see why entrepreneurs struggle so much in general. I don’t know how I would have gotten these tools except maybe gradually by trial and error,” he said. “Acton is just an unbelievable steppingstone if you want to be an entrepreneur. I don’t know anywhere else you can get this tool kit. I’m light years ahead of where I would have been.”

You’ve never been the shyest person. In fact, most of your peers would say your interpersonal skills are uncanny, and you’re a great conversationalist. You’ve prepared for the interview, identified your personal brand, and you’re ready to sell it.

You walk into the interviewer’s office, and greet him with a hardy handshake. But, you notice your interviewer flinches slightly. You brush it off and take a seat. The interviewer begins shuffling through papers, sweat forms on his eyebrow, and you notice his hands shaking slightly.

Without looking up, he asks you, “What interests you in this position?” You wait a few seconds, thinking he’ll look up and make eye contact with you—he doesn’t.

So you put on your most jovial tone and start talking about how the position fits a lot of your skills and also provides you room to grow. You go into a long-winded speech about how the company’s culture is so appealing, and you’re ready to work with a group of dynamic people.

After you’re done, you stare at the interviewer who has now become—your victim. The interviewer seems more nervous than ever, the next question he asks and every question following, comes out in a hardly audible whisper. But you just shrug it off and continue to be loud and outgoing.

The interview ends. You leave. You never hear back from that company.

What Went Wrong?

First of all, you failed to meet the needs of your interviewer. Think about it, they seemed shy, nervous, and slightly introverted. You, on the other hand, were loud, exciting, and overpowering. Instead of catering to what they needed from you, you decided to take charge and dominate the interview which made your interviewer even more uncomfortable.

It’s Time to Adopt the Art of Conversational Rhythm

Conversational rhythm is all about establishing rapport between the person you’re speaking with (in this case, your interviewer). It’s about connecting with them. When conversational rhythm goes well, the person you’re speaking with deems you trustworthy because, subconsciously, they find similarities that connect you both.

How do I perform conversational rhythm?

Conversational rhythm is the practice of adopting another person’s behaviors, mannerisms, and ways of speaking. When performed well, it’s as if you become a mirror image of the other person. Here’s why it’s important:

• Like we said, people trust those who are similar to themselves. It puts them at ease and makes the conversation run more smoothly
• When done right, you put yourself in the customer’s shoes (who in this case is your interviewer). When you do this, you force yourself to see the world from their perspective—which can be a gratifying experience for both you and them.

Had the job candidate in the above example lowered his tone and acted less aggressive, the interviewer would likely have felt more at ease and the conversation would probably have been more fluid.

There are three rules to successful conversational rhythm:

1. Conversational Rhythm is NOT mimicking. It’s subtle. The interviewer (or whomever your speaking to) should never know you’re copying them. So for example, if he rubs his nose or puts his hand on his chin, you should wait about 30 to 50 seconds and then touch your face in a similar way. Note: You don’t need to do exactly what the other person is doing; you just need to do something similar. Another example is listening to the language they use. If they say “pop” instead of “coke,” you should do the same. Listen to their phrasing, language, and sentence structure and try to recreate it in your own language patterns.

2. Only reflect positive speech and body language. If the interviewer seems angry or annoyed, that’s a behavior you don’t want to take on yourself. In cases like this, try to be positive and friendly, and you may help them open up.

3. Don’t get distracted. You want to notice and reflect back your interviewer’s mannerisms, but don’t pay so much attention to what they’re doing that you stop hearing what they’re actually saying.

Go Out and Try It

Conversational Rhythm is a skill, and in order to get good at it, you need to practice. Don’t let the first time you do it be with an interviewer for a job. Go home, call up some friends, and practice over the phone. Ask a colleague to go get coffee, and see if you can implement some of the above skills. When done right, Conversational Rhythm can help you bond and connect with your prospect by forcing you to pay close attention. It could mean the difference between getting the job and not getting the job, so don’t take this skill for granted.

If you’re ambivalent about your work, chances are neither you nor the company you work for are producing the value necessary to satisfy each other. Sure, you may produce good work, and the company might pay well, but is that all you want? The bare minimum?

Probably not.

Listen to Your Inner Thoughts

Have you ever been driving down the highway to your office, when you suddenly noticed the expanse of road in front of you. For a brief moment, you toyed with the idea of skipping your exit and just driving on towards some great, new adventure.

If you have moments like these, you might need to dig deeper. Did you know those periods of zoning out are some of the most creative moments of your life? Daydreams allow you to tap into buried knowledge and memories that are typically unavailable to you while your brain is consciously focusing on a task. Moreover, this uncensored condition allows you to envision wild opportunities and invent new options.

In other words, if harnessed correctly, daydreaming can be a powerful key to unlocking your deepest desires for what you want out of life, as well as providing you with the creativity to get there.

Don’t ignore these moments; instead, use them to fuel your next move.

Moving On

You probably took the right exit and made it to work on time.

Maybe you wish you’d taken a leap of fate? But remember this,  just because you didn’t take action  right away, doesn’t mean there’s not a growing change happening within you. The best change usually occurs—not on a whim—but through careful thought processes.

Figuring out the next step can  be tumultuous. Sometimes it’s difficult to rationalize our deepest desires all on our own—especially when those desires mean abandoning a stable career for the unknown. A tip? Get together with a group of your peers and hold a meeting. Send each a message about the career change you want to make and discuss the industries, job functions, and locations that you see yourself pursing. Be sure to outline your specific financial needs and any other requirements you might have for a future career.

Lastly, within the message, offer them two powerful, critical, and difficult-to-answer questions that you’d like to make progress on. To do this, consider what your priorities are, figure out what preferences you have, and deeply ponder the trade-offs you’ll have to make if you move forward with this change. The questions you come up with should be thought provoking, and you should not be able to answer them on your own. As an example, if you’re thinking about going back to school for your degree in entrepreneurship, decide the pros and cons, ask why, and consider the tradeoffs you’ll have to make to do it. If it’s a new career you want to pursue, follow the same tactics.

Once you’ve figured out what questions to ask, get ready to conduct your peer meeting.

Conduct the Meeting with Your Peers

Format your meeting. Prepare questions/statements, ask Socratic Questions,  and have a Lightning Round section(s).

Here’s a game plan to help you model your meeting:

• The meeting should last at least 15 minutes, but don’t limit yourself. Give yourself more time if you need it.
• Socratic Questions (at least 10 minutes) —Your peers will ask you questions to help you uncover answers to the two question you sent them. During this section of the meeting, your peers can’t offer any advice or make any statements. They can only listen and ask questions.
• Lighting Round (3 minutes)—In  this stage, you’ll be tested in rapid-fire succession. Your peers will present you with choices between two realities, based on what they’ve read or heard from you.  When they ask you these questions, it’s your job to answer them by saying the FIRST answer that comes to mind. By doing this, you’ll be able to tap into your gut intuition.
• Challenges (2 minutes) — Again, as quickly as possible, your peers will challenge you to make bold choices, overcome barriers, and finally, make a change. They can either come with these questions, or prepare them based on what you’ve said during the meeting.

In a final step, process the experience. Write down what you’ve learned. Sit and reflect on everything you heard, felt, and thought. And be sure to thank your peers for their time.

Where to Now?

It all started when your mind drifted away.  You considered not taking the exit that would keep your life going in the same direction. Change was straight ahead, and you briefly toyed with the idea of taking hold of it.

But you didn’t jump in. You waited. You thought, felt, and reflected on your deepest desires, fears, and goals. A group of trusted peers put you to the test, asked you challenging questions, and made you confront the path ahead.

After all this, what have you decided? Are you ready to go after that new career? Are you going to take time off to write that fantasy novel you outlined years ago? Or , perhaps, you’ve always dreamed of starting your own business, and now you’re looking for a program in entrepreneurship?

Whatever the case, pursue these changes aggressively. Pursue them actively. And most importantly, pursue them wholeheartedly. After all, you’re life is entirely what you make it. So go on—make it.

You’ve worked hard for a long time and have finally made yourself independent. You have customers and clients, but no bosses.

You’re happy with your income level and you see the potential to grow it. Your customers are happy too. In fact, many of your first time and casual customers return and bring you recurring revenue. Business is good. So why don’t you have any time?

That’s when you realize it. Yes, you are your own boss, but you’re also your own staff.

When something needs to get done, it goes on your list. You answer the phone, fill out the invoices, respond to customer questions, pack goods for shipping, go to the bank … Basically, you complete all of the work.

If you don’t do it, it doesn’t get done.

The Opportunity

It’s time to enlist some help. But whom should you hire? What’s the right type of employment structure? How should you motivate them? How will you delegate the work that needs to be done? What impact will one or more employees have on your bottom line? Are you prepared to re-engineer your business operations so that it can grow?

Questions to Dig Deeper

When you’re treading water it might seem you don’t have time to step back and reflect. But asking yourself tough questions early on, and answering them honestly, can help you ensure that your investment flourishes instead of flounders.

• What are your business’ key success factors–the two or three aspects of your operation, product, or service that drive all of your successes? How might they influence your decision to hire or outsource? Do they impact how you might recruit talent?
• How will you retain direct oversight for those critical aspects of your business? Are those key success factors something that only you can perform or can you hire or train others to do them as well?
• Will you hire experienced employees, recruit and train novice employees, outsource work to freelancers, or enlist a specialized firm or group to help you?
• Do you have a clear picture and description of what you’re seeking someone to do? Do you have a clear set of requirements and expectations for them? What could new help do during the first week on the job that would make a positive impact on you and your business? Is that a realistic expectation? How will you convey that to them and motivate them?
• Can you ensure that bringing in new people will actually lighten your load and not add to it?
• What additional costs will be associated with any new hires or assistance? Will you need to also invest in new technology or equipment? Will you be offering any benefits beyond compensation?
• How will the added help allow you to grow your business, and pay for the cost of that help? How can you make sure that added staff also will lead to added profits for you and your business?
• Do you know how to be an inspirational leader to your new hires and team, rather than the type of boss that you longed to escape? How will you do it?

The Acton Difference

At Acton, we’re very familiar with the growing pains that come with a successful business. And we know there are many opportunities–and many traps–as you move from a one-person wunderkind to a company leader. Investing the time to make the right people decisions early in the process, before you’ve committed to employees or third parties, can make the difference between costly mistakes and profitable growth.

Acton’s curriculum takes students through hundreds of real life cases, including many dealing with similar growth and people issues. In our classroom, students step into the shoes of real entrepreneurs, wrestling with the same tough decisions they faced and debating strategies in daily case discussions. After they graduate, they’re able to apply this experience to launching, building, adjusting, and growing new and existing businesses.

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about growing your team and building a business that can scale, take our free entrepreneurial assessment quiz. You’ll receive a free report on your levels of operational proficiency, as well as industry expertise and the ability to raise money.

Have other questions about how you could take time off from your business to earn your MBA in Entrepreneurship at Acton? Contact us. We’d love to hear from you!