Blind Entrepreneurship With Johnathan Grzybowski

Morgan is the CEO of MilkCrate which is a mission driven tech company with unique products. One of their products in particular is MyMilkCrate, which is a tool to help people discover local, sustainable businesses in their neighborhoods. #Timestamp 00:30- Introduction 02:40- Parents Influence 04:45- What is MilkCrate? 08:30- Growth 10:00- Did Working at Apple Influence Your Culture? 12:00- Biggest Failure in Business is…a $2,000, badass bike! 15:35- Redefining Yourself 19:30- What Works For You!? 20:00- Be Coachable, Finding A Team, and Have Fun and Don’t Lose Yourself 23:15- BUTTERKRAK Be Coachable “One of the earliest compliments that I ever got was that I was coachable. And thats something that investors look for when they invest in companies. I heard it and continued to embrace it. As much as I would like to think that I know everything, it’s good to have someone tear you down and help build you back up. Find someone to share your idea with, and seek out the individuals that can help give you advice.” Fin

Episode 34: Angie Hilem, 32, President of Heighten Social #Timestamp 00:50- Cheeseburgers (Cheddar, BBQ Sauce, mushrooms, caramelized onions, fried egg, and arugula…you know, for health reasons) 02:15- Introduction 04:45- Where Did the Desire to Teach Come From? 06:20- Thoughts on Quitting School? 09:00- How Teaching Has Helped Her Business 11:40- Early Struggles of Business 13:25- 18:00 Biggest Failure Thus Far (One of The REALEST Moments on the Podcast to Date!) 17:30- How Mentorship Has Helped Angie Grow as a Person 20:00- Her Relationship With Philadelphia And What Inspired This Interview 23:00- Note Taking 24:00- Stay True To Yourself, Do What You Love, and Surround Yourself With Awesome People - Stay True To Yourself - Do What You Love - Surround yourself with people who are on the same level of either self growth or have been where you are, that are honest and willing to tell you what you need to adjust your stride or look for a situation differently. Angie Hilem Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/a

If you would like to know the real hardships of entrepreneurship and understand what it's like to obtain money from a VC you need to listen to the 21 minute mark. It's some of the best and most real advice you will hear directly from a young CEO. #Timestamp 00:30- Introduction 04:20- How Poker Started His Entrepreneurship Career 09:10- Bob’s Parents Were The Perfect Combo of Who Bob is Today 10:45- Nature Vs Nurture 12:00- Struggles in Business 16:30- Was There Ever Any Doubt? And The Escape Hatch 18:30- Mental State Before and After Considerable Growth 22:00- The Article That Inspired The Interview 29:08- Entrepreneurship Isn’t For Everybody, Force Those Awkward Conversations, Honesty and DTRT, and Have Fun! 35:50- Pork Tacos! Entrepreneurship Isn’t For Everybody “I took a more pragmatic approach before becoming an entrepreneur. For me, I needed two checkmarks before I went all in: 1. Did I feel like If I didn’t do this I would be wondering for the rest of my life? 2. Do I have an idea that I have legitimate

Elizabeth Convery, 32, From Washington Township, New Jersey currency rises in Philadelphia. Founder of VERY Real Estate, which is a boutique residential real estate brokerage firm focused on providing an experience around buying or selling a home in the core neighborhoods of Philadelphia. #Timestamp 01:00- Cookies and Cream from Franklin Fountain 02:10- Introduction and How She Started Very RE on a Dare! 07:50- How VeryRE is Different Than Most 08:45- The Passion Behind Hospitality 10:50- Struggles in VeryRE 13:10- Internal Struggle Of Self Doubt 14:35- Work/Life Balance 15:20- Biggest Failure 18:55- Leaving a Digital Footprint 20:45- Drink Coffee, Know What You Don’t Know, and Find a Mentor Drink Coffee Elizabeth built her business differently than most. Her business relies 100% on referrals. She doesn’t do advertising and doesn’t buy leads. Every client she has is from a different personal connection from her current clients. When Elizabeth moved back to Philly, she had to reestablish a network. She drink s

Mellisa Schipke, 28, CEO and Co-Founder of Tassl which is a company that is building technologies to connect universities networks by priding tools to create meaningful relationships with their alumni. #Timestamp 01:10- Introduction 03:15- How Her Alumni Helped Her Business 04:45- How She Contacted Her Alumni Network 06:10- How To Build A Network With Your School (AKA DOWNLOAD TASSL) 07:35- The Struggles of Getting Out of The Corporate World and Shifting To a Startup 10:10- How Melissa Created a Board 13:45- Life As An Entrepreneur 15:45- Work/Life Balance 18:10- Resources Used Daily 19:10- How Do You Envision a Better Work/Life Balance? 20:40- Networking Is Key, Being Self Aware, and It’s Not Easy 26:30- Penn State’s Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream! Networking Is Key and Being Self Aware “You have to network the right way. It’s not all about networking and asking: What can you do for me?… Building relationships is critical and important… Really understanding the space you want to get into is critical to findin

Ethan Buckman, 24, Cherry Hill, NJ The co-founder of Stickman Brews in Royersford, PA, Stickman Brews is an american farmhouse style brewery, that makes old Belgium and farmhouse styles of beer with new american flavor profile. It’s generally an enjoyable place to hang out with an awesome atmosphere and of course great beer. #Timestamp 00:30- Introduction 02:00- Selling Beer in his Dorm 06:30- Passion For The Industry 08:15- Struggles In Business 09:55- How Ethan Received The Capital To Open His Business 11:40- Importance of His Business Plan 14:30- Failure of Over Paying The Graphic Designer 15:30- Efficieny as a Brewer 16:45- Resources and Old School Whiteboards 19:30- Get Experience, Always Pay Yourself First, Start The Business With Partners And Stick To Your Roles 24:00- Mussles, Fries, and Boozy Belgium Triple Get Experience "Brewing is a tangible thing, just because you make good beer at home, doesn’t mean you are qualified to run a brewery yourself. Do it professionally and do it on a big scale f

ProveYourself.com is a professional network for visually organizing and showcasing your talent and achievements and beyond. #Timestamp 00:30: Introduction 05:30- Prove Yourself 12:00- Everything Aligned, But Something Was Missing 15:00 - 17:00- Great Analogies 20:00- It's Person Oriented Things, Intelligence and Being an Entrepreneur, and Take A Look At The Man In The Mirror It’s Person Oriented Things You have to be persistent, you have to be tenacious, disciplined, humble, and all of that stuff extends into your work ethic, types of people you’re choosing, your team, your culture and it all comes back to your product. He realized a while back that it doesn’t matter what he does, he’s going to be great at it. Intelligence and Being an Entrepreneur It’s God Given. You definitely meet people in life that are naturally great at things,; eliminating learning curves, picking up on things quick. But then there are late bloomers, but overall it comes from somewhere. It’s experiential. Your quickness to learn comes

There are unfortunately not enough characters to explain how brilliant this man is. Do yourself a favor and listen to this entire interview. Then after you listen, read my interpretation of the interview on TheBlindEntrepreneur.com #Timestamps 00:30: Introduction 05:50- Lightbulb Moment When He Knew Banking Wasn’t His Future 11:10- That Transition From Banking To Startup 18:30- How David Received Feedback From Customers 20:00- Have a Question That You Want To Ask, Use a Landing Page To Find Out! 23:25- David’s Biggest Failure As a Leader 29:00- How David Stays Mentally Fit (BTW The Answer Will Surprise You) 34:35- How David Became Curious 38:50- Chipotle and Everything on It David Chen Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haishachen Website: https://www.strikingly.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/Strikingly Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strikingly Personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaishaChen Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strikingly

Make an Important People List When Greg first moved to Delaware to do this full time. He created a list of important people in Delaware. People who were on that list were key individuals in the business community, individuals from non profits, schools, and more…He then took that list and connected with them on Linkedin. Out of those 25 people, 3 of them answered and that’s what it took to get the business rolling. From there, there was a cycle of positivity. Where one introduction led to another introduction, that led to a sale, that led to more positive outcomes. Greg states: “If I were just starting out, I’d introduce myself to people more successful and take the roll of mentorship. Say something like “I admire you from what you did and how you did it, can I learn from you?” From Greg’s experiences, most people are kind and gracious to teach you. Develop a Plan Greg Says” If you’re going to give yourself a chance to succeed. Develop a plan. Whether its saving money for 3-4 months or working a job that you d

You Have To Have a Core Network James has a family that is supportive of his ideas. If he didn’t have that, none of this would be impossible. "Whether its family or friends, you need to have that support network. Having someone push you to do better is always good..." Plan Properly "Plans never go exactly how you expect. If you don’t have a baseline plan to start with, success is much harder. You need a plan to communicate and say: Here is what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. Get used to writing it down and your plan not just being in your own head. Be Stubborn "Throughout this process you have so many people giving you ideas of what they think you should be doing. People throw out their ideas, some are good and some are bad, but knowing what you want to do and knowing your vision is important. Be stubborn enough to stick to the plan. Have that ability to know this is your baby and you’re the one driving it. Stick to the path. #Timestamps 00:30: Introduction 01:45: How Did James Start Coop

Shut Up and Do It "It's important to have a persons opinion about your ideas, concepts, business model, but people get caught up and end up not creating something because they are looking for perfection... Just make something! If its digital make a wireframe and get it up, if its a product, talk to a manufacture and make a prototype!" By the time you're in your senior year of college don't say, "crap its too late." Harness the Resources That Are Around You "We live in a very fortunate time. We have technology and instant access but we don’t harness it. Look around you and try to understand how to work with the people around you and make the most of it!" Don’t Be Afraid to Share Your Ideas "People are afraid that someone will take it, but they won’t be able to do it as well as you! Some people will steal your ideas, but that means something..." So make it better. #Timestamps 00:40: Introduction 03:50: The 11 Year Old Entrepreneur 07:15: Early Struggles in GlassU 11:20: H

Be Thankful In the very beginning of 2016 Steve found himself in a hospital bed. He had no idea if the cause was stress related or not, but he realized that from that moment on, balance is important. "How your mental state is is so important....Although you're making your business grow and helping other people with their business, you need to make a contribution outside of work. When Steve was in the US, he was working for businesses barely getting paid. During this moment of his journey, he still found time to give back. Steve's solution is setting up a detailed schedule. Tuesday and Thursdays are gym days, Wednesdays are piano lessons, and Sundays are tennis lessons. "You have to make sacrifices if you're running a business, if there is an event or meeting, you push your schedule around, but by providing that contribution to society its' critical to being successful. #Timestamps 00:40: Introduction 02:45: Passion 06:25: Struggles in career 09:45: Biggest Failure 13:10: Moment Floship was created 1

You Don’t Have To Have The Best Hardware There are tons of people that believe they need the best gaming headphones and the best system in order to be successful in gaming or streaming. That's just not true. Joe worked on a crappy laptop in the beginning of his streaming days, but he found a way that worked for him. Eventually when he became more popular and got the funds to develop his dream scenario, he did just that. But PuzzleBoss stressed that over time "you will get better." PuzzleBoss has a very unique style of introducing himself, when people ask Joe for advice, he never tells people his entire process. PuzzleBoss believes that if he told people, they would do the exact same thing and copy his style. So instead, Joe gives suggestions on ways that helped him and how he learned everything that he did. Video gaming is a very relationship oriented and when you find ways that resonates with your fans you do just that. The Future of Gaming PuzzleBoss believes that gaming will become more mainstrea

Believe In The Mission In What You’re Doing "That is so important, the startup market is very saturated. There is a new app or little tech gadgets, and they can be cool, but if it doesn’t grind your gears you may not be passionate about it to persevere. If you have a core belief, you will attach yourself from what the customers are saying and what you're hearing. You will take the positive/negative feedback and learn from it. By believe in the mission, it will help you get through your ups and downs in business." Be Persistent "Know what you’re doing and believe in what you’re doing! Keep working through things, but still be strong in your own mentality. Three pieces of advice out of the 100 you hear, may be valid, but be strong and confident. Lastly, be wiling to listen." Be a Team Player "You have your palm, but attached to your palm, you have your fingers. Each individual finger adds power. You’re the ceo, you’re the glue, you need experts in marketing, development, HR, PR, and onc

You Must Believe in Yourself, Persevering, and Never Give Up “Believe in the power of what you can do and what you can bring. Persevere! The world is going to come down on you and you gotta fight through it. The hardship will will pass but you can’t let it affect you. Server crashes, websites fail…there are a lot of mental fights in entrepreneurship.” Understand the Culture “If you want to be in the startup environment you have to understand the culture. How it works, etc… A lot of young startups that are trying to take off, don’t know the ins and outs. They may not know that they are going to wear twenty hats at a given time. You have to know how to convince people, you need to know marketing, law, accounting, and etc… It’s not essential to know everything, but you need to at least know a little bit about everything. Having that knowledge first hand is going to give you a lot of power to grow a bigger and better company faster.” #Timestamp 00:30: Introduction 01:45: Passion 03:00: Struggles in Business 05:45

Be Ready To Do It “If you’re going to do it, go all out. If you’re passionate about it, now is the time to act (when you’re young in age). Every day that you delay is a day that you’re delaying that future success.” Network and Ask For Help “If you don’t know how to do it, ask someone! If you have a question for Garrett, email him. Kel answer it and it might save them a ton of money in the process. Have a Product That Makes Sense, Keep it Simple “Some of the best products and services are things that are extremely simple. You don’t have to educate the customer and you reduce overhead by not having to teach!” Notable Quotes: “if you understand how digital advertising works and know how it works. you know the basics.” “No entrepreneur knows what they are doing!" #Timestamp 00:30: Introduction 01:45 - passion 03:10 How important are partners 07:45 Biggest Failure 10:40 How to Train employees 12:05 Resources 12:30 Life as an entrepreneur 17:00 Be Ready To Do It, Network and Ask For Help, Have a Product That

Don’t be Scared and Just Get Started “Failure cant be an option in your mind, failure will happen, but you cant think twice about the opportunity. if you think so much about that one idea, then there’s a chance that your fear could be worth it…” Google The Hell Out of Your Life “Philadelphia is never recognized as an entrepreneurial city, but it’s growing. Use your resources, follow the basic steps, and connect with people that can give you advice. Chambers of commerce, networking groups, and events are great places to start. Don’t forget, It’s ok to ask for help. Even if it’s a dumb question, don’t be afraid to just ask. Google will help you with all of the questions you may have in life…” Invest Your Time Wisely in Your Startup “There will be a lot of things you’re gonna do that may not be necessary, even when you think its necessary. That’s why having mentors are important. A lot of people think you need a website, before they have a product…” One of David’s failures was that he has a website but never had

Don’t Look at Competition Too Much "There is always going to be competition, there are always people doing than you, and its also easy to be jealous. Competition isn’t a bad thing. Just because your buddy is making millions, and you’re making only $30k, is ok. Trust your path." If Everyone is Doing the Same Thing, Do Something Different Tyson used to worked at a car dealership and it was custom to shake a customers hand and greet them at the door. So every sales person would constantly stay in the same spot, expecting the people to walk in. It would be at that point that they would hope to get the sale. Well, if the best sales person is doing that exact same thing, try and find a different strategy that they aren't doing. So stand in a different spot, maybe go to the back and work your way to the front. “Rookie” entrepreneurs look at the same industry and try to replicate it, Tyson realized that everyone was educating people about sports. So Tyson decided to go a different route. Have a Good Team Ar

Know What You Want "One thing that is very common, it’s not that people start a business and fail, but when that person becomes successful, the success may not be what they wanted. For example: Do you like to travel? Do you want a large office? Do you want a lot of money?..." Figure out what you want in business and go from there. You Have To Move All In "Everyone has that cross road, should I finish University or go all in on the business?" Ken decided to go all in on the business and hasn't looked back. "There are very few times in life where you have the opportunity to take a big risk and pull it off. The younger you are, the better. The older you are, the more bills and other stuff you'll have the responsibility to pay. When you’re young, you can make mistakes...." So go all in when and if you can! #Timestamp 00:30: Introduction 02:00: Passion 02:45: Struggles in Business 06:30: Failure 07:45: Habits 11:00: Resources 13:00: Life of an Entrepreneur 14:40: What does your proces

Everybody Has An Idea "It's great that you have an idea, go out and do something with it. Don't waste time in contemplating if t's worthy of building a company out of. Just go out and do it! Also, don't be afraid of sharing it. Most people aren't as malicious as you may think. Tell people about your idea, they care more about their own ideas, than yours?..." People Are Your Biggest Resource "It could be the person to your left or right, your classmate, your professor, the rich or even the poorest in the room, respect relationships and have these people hear out your ideas. Whether it's good or bad, ask for feedback. The decision at the end of the day is your own, but use your resources to help build your ideas to create something big!..." Be Self Critical, But Do Not Be Overly Self Critical "This is another trap for people, they are overly critical of their own decisions and own products, but people (entrepreneurs) don't realize they are losing all of this time. Entrepreneurs are look