Shows
The Thriving EntrepreneurHow entrepreneurs avoid being bottlenecks in their own businessesEver wondered why some businesses hit roadblocks that slow down progress?In this episode, we're diving into how entrepreneurs can (unintentionally) become a bottleneck in their business.What you will discover:How do you differentiate between a bottleneck and just regular delays?Why do these roadblocks even pop up in the first place?Practical solutions to tackle these bottlenecks head-onA new episode is published every other Friday.Free resources and how we support entrepreneurs & founders:David Foster | www.davidafoster.com | www.linkedin.com/in/-davidfoster...2023-10-1322 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurAre entrepreneurs addicted to being busy?Do you catch yourself being addicted to being busy?As an entrepreneur, we definitely are juggling a lot of different aspects of business.But being addicted to being busy, is a whole other level. And because you are always (trying to be) busy, you might be missing out on some big opportunities, pivots or important decisions.In today’s episode, David & Rachelle explore:1. What are we calling “busy” here? What does that mean?2. Why our culture supports and encourages being busy3. Why is being busy seen a...2023-09-2926 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurEntrepreneurs: make a habit of discovering why you're wrong.Are you sometimes wrong about something? As an entrepreneur and leader, it is hard to have to admit we aren’t always right. What does that do to our authority? To our decision-making and business direction? Or even reputation in the market?Whilst it is tempting to always look right, it doesn’t serve us. In today’s episode we explore the difficulty of not always being right, and how to make a habit of discovering when you are wrong.You’ll discover:- Why...2023-09-1525 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurWhat happens when entrepreneurs take things too personally?Do you take things personally in business?We are all human, and it can be hard to stay objective when there is criticism or success coming our way. Or when our idea doesn’t get chosen. Or, when we are too invested in what we are building.Taking things too personally can hurt us - and the business itself.In this episode, David & Rachelle explore the dangers of personalizing business events and its impact on decision-making, relationships and results. What you will discover:- Why we take business things pe...2023-09-0121 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurThe entrepreneur's valuable balance between data and intuitionAre you struggling to strike the right balance between data-driven decision-making and relying on your intuition?What happens if you rely too heavily on either your business’ data or your personal intuition?In this episode, David & Rachelle explore the critical role of balancing data and intuition in decision making.You will discover:- Objectivity: The pros and cons of data-driven decisions and the dangers of relying solely on hard data.- Gut feeling: The pros and cons of intuition-based decisions - the power of intuition.- Real-life bu...2023-08-1822 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurWhy entrepreneurs need a real vacationAre you able to go on vacation without feeling guilty? Many entrepreneurs are not able to fully turn off their head and disconnect from their businesses while trying to relax with their loved ones.While our high level of feeling responsible is a sign of caring about our cause, it can start to be counterproductive when it comes to taking time off.If you are not fully present with your vacation, you aren’t really relaxing and not coming back recharged. Neither are you enjoying your time away - rather, you feel restless and want to...2023-08-0432 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurAn Entrepreneur's Ego: Friend or Foe?The ego has a bad rep. However, it is also helping us achieve much in our business. In this episode, David & Rachelle explore the delicate balance between self-assured confidence and the pitfalls of excessive ego in the entrepreneurial realm.What you will discover:- Ego as a Double-Edged Sword: why it’s good & why it’s bad- Why we need our ego & why is it holding us back too- Balancing Personal Identity and Business Success- Steps to take working with your egoA ne...2023-07-2131 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurThe power of entrepreneur's thinking timeDo you allocate enough ‘thinking time’?In this episode, we uncover the secret weapon of successful entrepreneurs: time to think. Whilst it often ends up on the bottom of our list, it should actually be prioritized.Thinking time unlocks the power of uninterrupted reflection, strategic planning, and problem-solving. Often, the headspace created allows us to make sharper decisions and get clearer on challenges or the future vision.If you’re doubting the importance of taking time out to think, be sure to listen to this episode....2023-06-2328 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurWhat happens when entrepreneurs are outside their zone of genius?At the beginning stages of business, you often work from your Zone of Genius: doing what you love and are great at. The value you add is your company’s gold or even its USP.The more mature your business becomes, the more you might find yourself moving away from it, or even delegating this Genius to others.As you transition towards leadership, you might find yourself doing things you aren’t so good at (yet).So do you still do things that you add massive value with? And how do you find a ne...2023-05-1240 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurWhat happens when an entrepreneur's employees don't get along?As an entrepreneur, you know that managing a team is never easy. One of the biggest challenges you might face is dealing with employee conflict. So how do you handle employee conflict? How do you make sure things don’t escalate and hurt your company’s productivity, reputation, or culture?On the other hand - when is employee conflict beneficial for your company? And how can you make best use of it?In our latest podcast episode, David & Rachelle be discussing how to harness the power of conflict and turn it into a forc...2023-05-0143 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurWhat happens when entrepreneurs identifies with their business?Is your business your baby? If yes, what does that say about your emotional attachment to your company? And is that a good thing?As entrepreneurs, we are wired to CARE. Care about our business, team, clients, and the outcomes. Unfortunately, many of us take it too far. Meaning we get emotionally attached to what happens in the business. Or worse, we try to control the outcomes in the business in order for it to be aligned with our emotions. We end up getting triggered - badly triggered. Causing us to be extra stressed, moody, mentally unavailable...2023-04-1437 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurThe benefits of an entrepreneur's negative attitude.When we think of successful entrepreneurs, we often envision someone who is relentlessly positive and optimistic. However, some argue that having a negative attitude can actually be beneficial for entrepreneurs.A negative attitude can provide motivation to improve and prevent complacency, among other benefits. By acknowledging weaknesses and potential threats, entrepreneurs may be better equipped to adapt and grow their businesses.In this episode, we explore the idea of a negative attitude in entrepreneurship and its potential benefits.What you will learn:The difference between a negative attitude vs...2023-03-0340 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow boundaries make entrepreneurs more effectiveAs entrepreneurs, it's easy to get caught up in the busyness of building a successful business, often at the expense of ourselves and our performance. We people-please and put clients before ourselves just to make it happen. But are we actually being effective?In this episode, we explore what is not having sufficient boundaries costing you - opportunity-wise and efficiency-wise. And what if you were to would put up stronger boundaries, what would that mean to your business’ success?In today’s episode, David & Rachelle will cover:What...2023-02-1728 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can an entrepreneur simplify their business?Have you complicated your business over the years?While a business starts with 1 great idea & simple processes, we scatter our business in many directions later on.We tend to overcomplicate our business with new strategies, tools, and long processes, and by (still) offering products & services that don’t perform.Most additions are often unimportant, irrelevant, or just making things messy. It becomes harder to operate without proper clarity on an overview of the business. Resulting in overwhelm, harder decision-making, and confused leadership. All in all, it’s a recipe for failure and burnout.2023-02-1035 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurWhy letting employees truly own their job is beneficial to entrepreneursHow often do you blame your team for not functioning at 100%?Do you feel too involved in the day-to-day?While it is easy to point fingers and try to control the operations, it is counterproductive.For your business and for you.Leading your team is a skill that needs to be mastered.If you want to spend most of your time working ON your business, enhancing it is paramount.The solution comes down to doing the following:Make sure employees can own their job.2023-02-0315 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow an entrepreneur can encourage criticism and alternative views?As the leader of your business, often people aren’t honest with you. Yes-nodding might be part of your everyday business life. Or, they are not completely open about how they feel.The people around you have their reasons for not speaking up. Their feedback on your leadership, or your ways of working, might be detrimental to their job.Yet, a business can only grow from learnings and new ways of thinking. The people on the job can sense things you cannot. And more views can lead to breakthroughs in processes, products, customer journeys, or si...2023-01-2715 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurWhy people pleasing as an entrepreneur is bad for business.Some entrepreneurs/founders see their people-pleasing behavior as a badge of honor. Giving the investors, team and other stakeholders what they think they need. Yes, sometimes sacrifices (against ourselves) need to be made for the sake of business success. But it shouldn’t be the normal behavior we leaders and entrepreneurs have. While being nice and staying on speaking terms is what we want to achieve by doing so, often it has a counter effect. And that is hurting your business.For instance:The hard conversation about a disagreement is not held between you and another fo...2023-01-1331 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can an entrepreneur practically avoid being overwhelmed?Are the problems in your business rooted in being overwhelmed? How can you tell?What do you have to decide or how do you make sure that you’re not becoming overwhelmed and justifying it?We know the benefits of being on top of our game: if you are not continually overwhelmed, the work you do, the unexpected challenges and bumps in the road will be less of a challenge. You’ll make better decisions, more quickly and make better progress.But how do you get there?Or, maybe better put, how...2023-01-1316 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can your 2023 goals survive an entrepreneur's life?Much of a founder’s direction can be characterized as “hope beyond reason” (with a nod to Bruce Springsteen for the phrase).But where is hope’s limit? At what point does reason rule, no matter how hard we hope?As founders, we create and develop something that many people would consider out of reach, too difficult, or not worthwhile. But we do it anyway, and with perseverance, guidance, support, and luck, we can be successful.But sometimes we fail.And a lot of times, the trap i...2022-12-2314 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow important is an entrepreneur's mission statement? (LinkedIn Live)How do you know where your business is headed?Does the day-to-day demand determine your path?How do you know where to head?Well, you have a mission statement. Right there on the website, with a bold headline and crafted prose.But really, what does a mission statement do? How important is it?Rachelle and David take on this very topic this Thursday (courtesy of Jack Bradley’s question).Last week we talked about how an entrepreneur can co...2022-12-1615 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can entrepreneurs communicate vision in everyday actions? (Live)Do you sometimes wonder whether the people you work with understand what you’ve laid out as a vision for the business you started?Does what you see and hear day to day reflect what your business is all about?Many founders and entrepreneurs have similar concerns and questions. People are working, but sometimes the direction of that work isn’t heading in the same direction.Fair questions to ask:Why would the people who work with you understand the vision you have for the business you started?2022-12-0916 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can entrepreneurs inspire employees?In order for your business to succeed, every employee must be inspired to work to the best of their ability.Right?We are often asked in a variety of ways how to inspire and motivate employees. How do we get them to understand the importance of what we want and what we are trying to do?It’s true that founders and entrepreneurs often have to clearly communicate their dream and mission to those around them - customers, investors, and employees.But *how* we communicate thi...2022-12-0215 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can entrepreneurs be thankful - and why?In this Thanksgiving episode, Rachelle and David discuss the reasons how a founder can be thankful - and why.Everything in the universe is a combination of dark and light, and being able to see both is a superpower when it comes to running the business you started.A new episode is published every Friday.We also go live on LinkedIn every Thursday 10:30 EST / 16:30 CETMore about us and how we support entrepreneurs & founders:David Foster | www.davidafoster.com | www.linkedin.com/in/-davidfosterRachelle Leerling | www...2022-11-2517 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can entrepreneurs recognize their own limitations in business? (LinkedIn Live)As a founder and entrepreneur, how do you decide what hat not to put on at work?If you don’t have a structure for figuring out your limits and ways to deal with them, you could be flirting with a lot of problems.We are responsible for so much of the business when we start it - sometimes all of it in the first days.But we are not all equally skilled at different specialities. Some of us are better and more efficient at different areas, we have accumulated di...2022-11-1816 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can entrepreneurs work on their business instead of for it?As a founder or entrepreneur, how do you know you are working on the right thing?Running a business is a difficult task, but working on the right thing is often more important than just working hard in general.Being able to distinguish and then consciously decide between the urgent and the important is a critical skill for a founder. Sorting that takes:Effective delegationIdentifying inefficiencyWorking on the biggest obstaclesGetting honest feedback from teammates and mentorsThis is what Rachelle and David discuss: how entrepreneurs can work on their businesses instead of...2022-11-0414 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can entrepreneurs truly rest?How can entrepreneurs and founders truly rest without feeling guilty?There is no way to make good decisions, day after day, if you are exhausted, overly stressed and unable to focus.The answer is to rest - to spend time away from work, your computer and the associated demands, and to fully engage in something other than work. But it’s not always easy for an entrepreneur or founder who is building a business that demands attention.But if we don’t spend regular time away from work, everything suffers - your mental heal...2022-10-2814 minThe Thriving EntrepreneurHow can an entrepreneur stay happy during tough times? "How can entrepreneurs stay happy during tough times?"This topic isn't easy to tackle...We all know that business isn't all fun and games.But we should be very aware of the mental states it causes.Are you present with your partner?Are you able to detach from business stress?Becoming emotionally resilient to whatever happens in business is key to thriving entrepreneurship.A new episode is published every Friday.We also go live on LinkedIn every Thursday 10:30 EST / 16:30 CET2022-10-1415 min