Joel Butterly grew up in Vermont and attended Dartmouth College and Yale Law School. Before he started his companies, he was a competitive boxer, powerlifter, and a certified personal trainer. He even wrote a book entitled “Dinner Has Been Cancelled” that will never see the light of day. All that has since fallen by the wayside and now he spends the bulk of his gym time hitting the elliptical. Follow him @JoelButterly.

Who is your hero? (In business, life, or both.)

My dad. I’ve met hordes of successful entrepreneurs and businessmen and women: CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, self-made billionaires, etc. Although they are all heroes in their own right, they are not my heroes. I do not model my life after theirs.

I have never met another man like my father. He may not be an entrepreneur or a businessman (he is a cardiologist and hospital administrator), but the lessons he has taught me are far and away the most valuable. He has a sharp, almost intimidating intelligence, but it is his incredible work ethic, conviction in his beliefs, and unrelenting integrity that I most admire. In business and in life, my father is the person I aspire to become.

What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?

On the first Christmas after I started InGenius, I was in bad shape. I hadn’t slept for days, I was completely overworked, and I couldn’t get myself to relax. We got to the end of the presents, and my dad handed me my final gift. Usually, the best is saved for last. It was a quote from Thomas Edison: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

This is the best advice I’ve ever received. Entrepreneurs are not defined by their ability to “think disruptively” or speak in Silicon Valley jargon. They are defined by their willingness and ability to face down the mountain of ugly, brutal, unsexy work that stands between them and their goals. I know a lot of people who think big and call themselves entrepreneurs, and I know a lot of people who are willing to slog through the interminable work to deserve the title. Obviously, I prefer the latter.

What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?

Hiring friends. I am not always opposed to hiring friends. In fact, my co-founder in both of my businesses is my best friend, David Mainiero. However, hiring someone because they are your friend is a serious error. Ultimately, you will struggle to speak to them directly. You will resent them for their failures, and you will resent yourself for being unwilling to fire them.

In a startup, hiring the wrong people (and subsequently having to fire and replace them) is the most disastrous mistake you can make. It squanders months of hard work spent training new hires and leaves a gaping hole in your organization.

If you’re going to hire friends, start by asking yourself whether you can fire them without it destroying your relationship. If you are not 100 percent positive that you can, it’s best to avoid hiring them altogether.

What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?

Every morning I wake up at around 4:45 a.m. and get into the office at 5:30 a.m. When I get to the office, I usually have two and a half to three hours totally to myself. I begin by reading a few chapters of a book (I believe it is crucial to continue my business education, however possible). Currently, I’m re-reading “Good to Great” by Jim Collins.

I finish up my first hour by clearing my inbox. It gives me a quick sense of accomplishment and gets my mind ready for my morning meetings. I hate feeling like there are unanswered emails or messages while I’m stuck in meetings.

What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?

Start with less than you have to. If you have the option of starting with $20,000, try starting with much less, say, $5,000. The reality is that when you start, you have no idea what things cost (I certainly didn’t know how to budget for graphic design or video editing when I started) and even less of an idea about how to spend the precious capital you have.

By starting with the absolute minimum, you force yourself not only to be incredibly fiscally disciplined, but also to better understand where you need to devote your resources in order to maximize return on your investment. You will either fail (in which case you can take the remaining capital and use it with the benefit of your newfound wisdom and experience) or you will succeed, and your success will be that much more impressive.

Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?

Stop calling yourself an entrepreneur. You run a business, and you are a businessman or woman. Self-proclaimed “entrepreneurs” are most often people who think big and accomplish little. Frequently, they are people who speak as though they’ve actually done something of their own — which the overwhelming majority haven’t. Don’t get lost in the startup zeitgeist. Succeeding in business is about gruelling, hard work. Get down to business.

What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?

Success for me means independence.

I started InGenius while I was still in my first year at Yale Law School. Most of my friends thought I was giving up a “ticket to the good life” by refocusing my career aspirations on a startup, rather than as an associate at a prestigious law firm. To me, the question was simple: Do I want to be an employee when I’m 30? 40? 50? The answer was a resounding no.

Initially, money mattered tremendously to me as a metric of success. However, as I’ve listened to my friends talk about their jobs in law or finance, I have begun to appreciate the incredible value of being independent. I never procrastinate because I love the work I am doing and I am the taskmaster. I wake up energized and excited every morning. My friends tell me that they shed a tear of frustration and exhaustion as they drag themselves out of bed.

Ultimately, my businesses may fail. There are no guarantees. I likely work double the hours that my friends work, and pay myself a fraction of their salaries. However, I am content at this moment, knowing that I created an independent life for myself. That is my success and it is my single greatest source of pride.