Nick Fehr is co-founder of The Bosco. Nick is mostly responsible for overseeing high-level internal operations, finance, strategy and big-picture vision. Follow him @nickfehr.
Who is your hero? (In business, life, or both.)
My parents, for hustling and giving me opportunities they never had.
What’s the single best piece of business advice (unorthodox tips welcome!) that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?
Learn how to delegate! Once you figure out how to let go and allow other people to help you, you unlock so much more valuable time to steer the ship, which is why you’re an entrepreneur in the first place. Delegating can be really hard for some people, but make an active effort to improve on it and you will find an increase in productivity.
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
Getting complacent, even for a minute. Complacency is the enemy of business/entrepreneurship. You can’t grow personally or professionally unless you’re challenged. Dialing your motivation back can have a lasting negative impact, and whenever I’ve found myself in phases of it, I’ve always looked back with regret.
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
I catch up on emails and check out for the first hour. Since I work primarily on the West Coast and have an East Coast company, my meetings start right away, so my day is often too full to craft meaningful responses later in the day.
What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?
Put yourself through a “For Dummies” crash course or similar. You need to know how to read basic financial statements and understand core simple accounting concepts (cash versus accrual basis). The rest falls into place once you have the vocabulary. Trusting your intuition combined with financial literacy can take you a long way in the beginning, but past a certain point, you want to employ professionals to figure out these details for you. At least you’ll be able to speak their language.
Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?
Financial literacy is very important. I really think that understanding the numbers is vital to being successful at business, and if you pair that with a solid, well-articulated and inspiring vision, you will be unstoppable.
What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?
When it can survive beyond me! Like I said, delegating is super important, but if I can create something that will exist and thrive even without my involvement, then that would be a successful business.
