Entrepreneur Interview: Christoph Merrill (Former Partner of Love Sac)
I had the wonderful opportunity of having lunch today with one of the best entrepreneurs I know. His name is Christoph Merrill. He was one of the partners at Love Sac and is a great role model for any entrepreneur learning the ropes. This guy has more entrepreneurial passion and drive than a densely populated American city. [quote] In the video below, Christoph shares the #1 skill you need to succeed as an entrepreneur. That skill is the ability to get up off your duff and act.[/quote] After talking with Christoph at dinner, it was no secret that this guy has a lot going on.
As a treat, he let me video tape some of our discussion for you guys. Let me preface by saying that we were in a restaurant so you may need to turn the audio up.
Here are the nuggets you should get from the video:
- To be a good entrepreneur, you need to act. Take your idea to market, talk to customers, build your prototype, or whatever it takes to execute. Stop talking and start doing. That is when you learn.
- When you're building your business, you need to staff it with "doers" and not buddies. Buddies will kill you.
- You don't have to come up with the next big idea. The "Snuggie" is just another entrepreneur's version of the "Slanket" (Look it up. It's a real thing). He made it better and now he is a millionaire. Well done.
So here is your homework assignment to Ignite your business for today. If you actually do these 5 steps, you will be that much closer to achieving your entrepreneurial dream. They are:
- Put down your to-do lists and your "hectic" schedule. It's not really that hectic. Trust us.
- Forget about the "fires" that you feel you need to put out.
- Take a deep breath. Seriously. It helps calm the nerves and get you focused. Once you're relaxed, decide that today you will add value to your company.
- Spend no longer than 5 minutes making a list of the three most valuable improvements you could make to your business. This is important. Don't take the entire day to sit at your desk and ponder. You only get 5 minutes.
- Get up off your duff and get to work!
Typically the most valuable thing you could do is the one you've been putting off. It usually deals with making sales calls, building a better process, or simply exiting your comfort bubble. If doing those things makes your skin crawl, go get a day job. Don't let this offend you. It's a fair statement. You shouldn't be running a business if you can't be an entrepreneur. However, if you are reading this blog, you're probably an entrepreneur so get after it.
I want to thank Christoph once again for spending some time with me today. This is a really interesting guy to follow. If you care about your network and the relationships in your life like we do, you'll want to follow him on Twitter and get to know him over time.