Ben Hanten is an angel investor at Two Bridges Capital and the founder of Think 29. He co-founded Wire Me Awake, an entrepreneurial conference held at the University of South Dakota. Ben is a lifelong entrepreneur and is the owner of two bars: Ben’s and the Copper Room. He spends his extra time building the entrepreneurial ecosystem and mentoring startup founders. Ben lives in Yankton with his wife and two dogs. Follow him @benhanten.
Who is your hero?
My dad. He has owned a business for 35 years and he still goes to work at 72 because he built a business he loves. He was my first employer at age 6 and I worked with him for 12 years before jumping into my career after high school. He has the best self-discipline and work ethic I know.
What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?
A warm introduction is everything. It’s the only thing that always opens doors. In our angel fund, 100 percent of the investments we have made came via warm introductions, whether from a friend or a partner fund. The same is true for career advancement, where you need to rely on someone new in your network. You need to know the person who knows the person that has what you want.
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
My biggest mistake was waiting too long to delegate. When we’re in startup mode, we end up having to do a little bit of everything. Staying in that mode teaches your brain that you can do it faster and better than anyone else and it’s a hard process to rewire. Plus, it’s costly.
Obviously new businesses are not flush in cash and they can’t hire every position they want. But CEOs should be plotting out job descriptions early so they are ready to pull the trigger when the business is ready. The CEO also needs to stay in a CEO mindset rather than a manager one.
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
I know that you’re supposed to stay out of email and social media right away in the morning, but I can’t so I don’t fight it. I always check my local newspaper on my phone and I try to catch up on what I missed overnight.
What’s your best financial or cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?
You have to start. Whether you are in a startup with no hopes of money for a few years or you are working at an entry-level job looking to jump up, you have to start as soon as possible. When investors and employers find a period of time when you were treading water on your resume, they are bound to look elsewhere.
Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?
Pay a coach. I hired a business coach in 2013 and it changed my life. Friends and family don’t always give you the most honest advice and they might not even have the right advice. Conferences and books are helpful, but they are not tailored to you. Find a coach who holds you accountable and pushes you to do more than you are now.
What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?
Success is something I’m chasing. I don’t have it yet. I think that success looks like a person who has the ability to choose their schedule and the confidence to believe that they are enough. Right now, I’ve created too many pressures for myself and I feel like I’m always hustling.
Hustling isn’t success. Being enough is.
