00:02the question is how do you know when you're ready to be an entrepreneur and
00:05the answer is you're never ready to be an entrepreneur you're never ready
00:10nothing's ever gonna be a hundred percent you really just have to dive in
00:14and get going hi guys I'm Jacqueline Johnson the founder of create and
00:26cultivate and today I'm gonna teach you about what it takes to be an
00:29entrepreneur tell you about how I got my dream job and show you what a day in my
00:33work life looks like so come on in so you want to be an entrepreneur we'll take a
00:39seat I'm gonna tell you what it takes the definition of an entrepreneur is having
00:46an idea and then taking that idea through fruition whether that's starting a
00:50company building a company launching a company or even having a company fail I
00:54never thought I would be an entrepreneur I grew up in a family of small business
00:58owners so I was always around entrepreneurship but for me
01:01personally I thought I was gonna be working in corporate corner office life
01:04but things took a different course for me as a young female entrepreneur I wanted
01:09to create offline and online experiences for entrepreneurs to give them the tools
01:13tips and tricks they needed to go out and create and cultivate the business of
01:17their dreams so step one of being an entrepreneur is finding what you're
01:22passionate about also finding what the market is missing I like to say start by
01:27starting find that passion and then go from there it can be as simple as just
01:32talking about your idea in public and getting feedback around it starting to
01:36talk about it is the best way to get that momentum and movement towards your
01:40business idea I think sometimes people overthink what it takes to launch a
01:44business and they want every single thing to be perfect before they hit go but my
01:48advice is just get it up 80% it and get it out into the world and get all that
01:53feedback back and see what worked what didn't what sold what isn't selling and
01:57go from there and iterate your business along the way create and cultivate is a
02:01great example of that I started as a side project never thought it was a
02:05business until someone literally sat me down and said I think you need to take
02:08this seriously and I think this is a company and all the light bulbs clicked and I
02:12said oh my goodness it is I should be investing in myself in my own ideas and
02:16taking this way more seriously than I was taking your creativity seriously taking your
02:21what you might think is a small baby idea seriously is going to change the
02:25energy around your company and therefore will propel you into a space that you
02:29didn't even know existed a large part of being an entrepreneur is spending time
02:33with your team today I'm meeting with our director of content Andrea Sobieski so
02:38Andrea what's the latest well I wanted to give you an update of what we went over in
02:41our marketing meeting this morning building a team is so important when
02:45growing a business there's that saying you can go far alone but you can go
02:48further together and I think that's so so so true when building a team it's
02:53really important to think about what you like to do and what's missing from the
02:57company and who is going to come in and fill those holes so I always like to say
03:01staff against your weakness one of the questions I always ask during job
03:04interviews is tell me about a time there was a crazy fire at your old job and how
03:10did you fix it and I think that question is really important because it shows how
03:13people operate under pressure and it shows how they get creative in solutions it's
03:18really about presenting yourself in a unique and different light you really
03:21have to be willing to take risks to get yourself in for that job interview it is
03:26crucial as an entrepreneur or small business owner to know about your
03:31financials my mom who is an accountant always told me fall in love with the
03:36numbers and I think that's so true and while you might not be running the
03:39finances for your company forever it's important to know when the cash is
03:43coming in and when the cash is going out the number one question we get asked at
03:46create and cultivate is where do I get capital for my business it feels really
03:51intimidating but there are amazing ways to get cash for your business the first
03:55of which is investing in your own company that's what I did with create and
03:59cultivate I put my own money into the business to retain as much equity as
04:03possible in the company and then there's opportunities like friends and
04:06family you can go out to your network and get cash into your business that way
04:10there's also angel investing and the major difference between an angel investor
04:14and a venture capitalist is angel investors are investing out of the
04:18goodness of their heart while they expect a return they don't necessarily
04:21need one whereas venture capitalists expect a return on their investment so
04:26there are a ton of ways to bring capital into your business it just depends on
04:30the stage you're at how much money you need and what you plan on using that
04:33money for a lot of my day is spent meeting with small business owners usually
04:38over zoom to hear more about their businesses to see if I want to invest okay
04:42Alexa tell me about your business as an entrepreneur you are pitching non-stop so
04:47you have to get really good at your pitch which means being an expert in your
04:51field knowing everything there is to know about your own business but also
04:55your competitors the landscape and what's five miles down the road why are
04:59you the right person to start this company when I was first starting as an
05:03entrepreneur pitching was like a muscle I had to build up and get better at
05:06over time the five things you need to know on a pitch are everything about your
05:11company who you are what you do what you stand for everything about your
05:14product why it's amazing why it stands out and why they should want to buy it and
05:19thirdly your competition what are they doing why are they relevant and where
05:24you see you can make even better strides and they can and fourthly who are you
05:28talking to who are you pitching who are you giving this pitch to and what do you
05:32want to get out of it and fifthly is closing the deal so ending the pitch with
05:37what you want to get out of it whether it's money whether it's winning a
05:39client over always end with a next step of what you want to see from that pitch
05:45here's what I would advise you as a next step I would put together a deck with all
05:49this information I would secure at least two to three different clients then come
05:53back to me and ask how much money you need and we can kind of devise a plan
05:56together does that sound good so since the pandemic we've all been working from
06:01home our company has actually gone completely remote so I'm gonna show you guys my home
06:05office come with me especially these days it's so important to have a home
06:10office space that lets you set boundaries from your personal and work life
06:14whether that's a physical space or just time you spend in certain areas of your
06:18home so I'm gonna show you guys what a typical day in my work life looks like
06:22come on my day-to-day responsibilities change all the time but for the most part
06:27I'm working with create and cultivate on building out our next event securing our
06:31next keynote talent working on work party the podcast interviewing amazing
06:35women seeing pitches from small business owners on new money ventures securing
06:39pitches funding deals and thinking about the next you know big business that we
06:45maybe want to create as a fund for me personally you have to have a lot of
06:49energy to be an entrepreneur and you could be spending your day taking meetings
06:52and then that night going to one of our big networking events at create and
06:56cultivate time management is crucial when you have a lot of different jobs and
07:02hustles or whatever it is that you're working on I think for me personally I am
07:06a calendar ninja I have everything slotted up to 15 minutes I even slot my
07:12personal time whether that's to have lunch or walk the dogs the one trait
07:16entrepreneurs need to have is resiliency the reality is is business is hard
07:22being resilient is so crucial because every day ebbs and flows with things going
07:26really amazing and then really bad at the same time so for me the moment I
07:30learned I was resilient I had moved to Los Angeles for a high-powered job and was
07:34promptly let go which was devastating both personally and professionally but I
07:39really took that setback as a setup for my future life and use that really
07:44difficult time to build up my own resilience to then launch my first
07:48company so I like to think of my journey as an entrepreneur as accidental I
07:52started create and cultivate because I wanted to give women entrepreneurs and
07:56small business owners the tools tips and tricks they needed to create the
08:00business of their dreams I thought maybe there would be 20 or something women
08:03that would care about this turns out there was a lot of women and now cut to
08:07create and cultivate hosts around a million women a year through our
08:11different events sites and social I think the biggest challenge that a lot of
08:15female entrepreneurs or small business owners can relate to is being told no
08:18you're gonna be told no a thousand times throughout your career people are not
08:22going to believe in what you're building or your vision until you actually go out
08:26and do it so I think building that resiliency as you keep hearing those no's
08:30is so crucial and just know you're not alone in the no's everyone is getting
08:35them you get better over time at recognizing the no's as just feedback
08:39points to your next yes I think it's so important to be able to accept failure and
08:45then bounce back immediately from it
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