Entrepreneur As Investor

Behind every entrepreneur is a hidden, and most important, role.

Beginning a business, we often feel compelled to make a difference. Whether it’s in our own personal life, career trajectory, etc. We are confident we can do something better. We see a different way to solve a problem. We want to lead, to be challenged, to be creative, to be free. Whatever the case may be, we find a place to start and we begin our entrepreneurial journey.

As growth occurs, new challenges arise—hiring, systems, purchasing, marketing, technology, customer service, supply chain, legal, finding capital—and we get sucked in. We get sucked into every bit of it. We often learn on the fly. And more often than not, if this is our first rodeo, we learn the hard way. We begin to work so deeply in the business, that we begin to lose sight of how to work on the business. We forget. We started this thing. This is our investment. WE ARE AN INVESTOR IN OUR OWN BUSINESS. 

A few weeks back, Mike and I interviewed Sir Steven Wilkinson of Good & Prosper. Steven (as he prefers to be called) recently piloted a course in Germany called “How to Calculate Your Stock Price” and from leading a very well-received 10-week virtual course, he realized how few entrepreneurs clearly see themselves as an investor in their business.

It’s as if this important role lurks in the shadows, creeping around a corner and threatening us. We ignore this creeper and go about our day. We may glance at the balance sheet and track our profits, and we may even report to outside investors, bankers, and venture capitalists. But, what about that entrepreneurial alter ego? The investor. Why is he or she so intimidating? Steven puts our minds at ease, assuring me that it’s simply a lack of understanding this one critical number—our stock price. 

Eventually, the creeper investor finds solace and confidence, tip toeing out of the shadows. Sitting behind his desk, takes a deep breath, rolls his shoulders, outstretches his arms, clasping his hands to crack knuckles, and gets to work. Religiously, the investor sets aside 4 hours or a day or a week per quarter to dive into the metrics and not only read, but interpret financial and operational reports. An investor is in the know. An investor requires accountability from his or her team. Most importantly, for the sustainability of the business and the health and well-being of the entrepreneur, the investor has a responsibility to pay attention. The investor is the change agent.

I’m excited to bring Steven into the fold of Tap the Potential as a valued strategic partner because he and his partner & COO, Rochelle Rizzi, are deeply engaged in the Tap the Potential lingo. They get the Profit First and Pumpkin Planning methodologies and are actively using it to build their business. Lots to come from these two! Both are serial entrepreneurs. Rochelle and Steven met through an entrepreneurial group called Small Giants, a community focused on being great rather than being big. AND…Sir Steven will be presenting our VIP day for our retreat.

(Rochelle, also CEO of Le Vrai Nord, is now our marketing coordinator at Tap the Potential! We're thrilled to be adding her to the team and bringing on these exciting strategic partners to help bring us for you, to the next level!)

How close are you to having a highly profitable, great place to work?
Could you to take a 4 Week Vacation™?

Take our 10 minute assessment to discover which foundational pieces you have firmly in place, and what to work on next to transform your business into a highly profitable, great place to work that allows to take a 4 Week Vacation™.

Dr. Sabrina Starling, The Business Psychologist™ and author of the How to Hire the Best series is the founder of Tap the Potential.

At Tap the Potential we specialize in transforming small businesses into highly profitable, great places to work and sending business owners on 4 Week Vacations to celebrate that achievement.

Never one to accept the status quo or back down from a challenge, Dr. Sabrina’s How to Hire the Best series grew from her desire to solve the toughest hiring challenges interfering with her clients’ growth and profitability. What sprang from her experience working with entrepreneurs in rural areas catapulted her into becoming the world’s leading expert in attracting top talent in small businesses — no matter what hiring challenges those businesses are facing — and earned Tap the Potential’s reputation as the go-to resource for entrepreneurs committed to creating Great Places to Work with thriving coaching cultures and highly engaged team members working from their strengths.

With her background in psychology, and years of driving profit in small business, Dr. Starling knows what it takes to find, keep and get exceptional performance out of your biggest investment — your team members.

Access Dr. Sabrina Starling’s How to Hire the Best Masterclass and team building tools at www.TapThePotential.com

About The Author

Dr. Sabrina Starling, The Business Psychologist and international best-selling author of the How to Hire the Best series and The 4 Week Vacation™, is the founder of Tap the Potential and host of the Profit by Design podcast. At Tap the Potential, we work to free business owners from the constant demands of a growing business.

We believe work supports life, not the other way around. Clients in our Better Business, Better Life coaching program have more time for what matters most and more money in their bank account than they’ve ever had. Next, we send them off on a 4 Week Vacation™ to celebrate their hard-earned journey to take their life back!

Dr. Sabrina and her team at Tap the Potential are on a mission to change the story of entrepreneurship from one of long hours, grinding it out, to one of sustainably profitable businesses that support and enhance life. The Tap the Potential Solution™ and our Tap the Potential Family of Business Owners are disrupting small business as usual. We are on our way to making the Tap the Potential Solution™ the mainstream model for growing business.

By 2023, 150 Tap the Potential clients will have taken 4 Week Vacations. These are the trailblazers, role modeling what’s possible for entrepreneurs. In many entrepreneurial circles, it is becoming more and more common for one entrepreneur to ask another, “Have you taken a 4 Week Vacation™?” (as opposed to asking “How many employees do you have?” or “What is your annual revenue?”). Taking a fully unplugged 4 Week Vacation is rapidly becoming the recognized symbol of entrepreneurial success.

Never one to accept the status quo or back down from a challenge, Dr. Sabrina’s How to Hire the Best series grew from her desire to solve the toughest hiring challenges interfering with her clients’ growth and profitability. What sprang from her experience working with entrepreneurs in rural areas catapulted her into becoming the world’s leading expert in attracting top talent in small businesses—no matter what hiring challenges those businesses are facing—and earned Tap the Potential’s reputation as the go-to resource for entrepreneurs committed to creating Great Places to Work with thriving coaching cultures and highly engaged team members working from strengths.

As The Business Psychologist, and with her years of driving profit in small businesses, Dr. Sabrina knows what it takes to find, keep, and motivate exceptional performance out of your biggest investment—team members.