Steve Gentile is an entrepreneur who has a fierce passion for business, and excels in being an intricate part of the growth, vision and success of his own companies, as well as new and evolving client partnerships. Steve’s focus is in marketing, ideation, strategic planning, sales and business development. Steve co-founded the award-winning promotional marketing agency Pinpoint Promotions in 2007. He merged his original marketing company (founded in 2001) with the goal of expanding his line of services and products. Since its inception, Pinpoint Promotions has experienced consecutive back-to-back years of increased sales and overall business growth through his leadership and vision.
Who is your hero? (In business, life, or both.)
In life, it would have to be my parents. My mother came to the U.S. off the boat from Italy when she was just a teenager, and both her and my father grew up with very modest means. Despite starting with practically nothing, they both worked hard while they went to school, and balanced life and work to provide me and my siblings a great life growing up. They taught us manners, people skills, the value of money, why education is important, and so much more.
In business, it would have to be Darren Hardy and Jim Rohn, whom I would consider my professional development mentors.
What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?
Take action and just do it. Too many people have the “ready, aim, aim, aim” syndrome: they never pull the trigger and fire. The best way to learn and grow is to get your hands dirty and make mistakes. I think in a lot of cases in life, especially in business, it’s more valuable sometimes to know what not to do, than what to do. Everything moves so fast today, and change is occurring at such a rapid pace that if you don’t strike while the iron (or idea) is hot, then it most likely will not come to fruition and you’re just all talk. It’s all about ideas, action, testing and pivoting with a constant focus on improvement.
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
I’ve made a lot of big mistakes, but one that stands out is when my company, Pinpoint, along with an agency, was working on the American Express account for the annual Shop Small Business Saturday project.
At that time, USPS was a partner sponsor. We printed thousands of banners that had to be shipped to small businesses all across the country. I asked my contact at the agency how they would like these individually shipped to all of the businesses, and he replied via UPS. I found this odd considering USPS was a partner, and my gut had an uneasy feeling, but nevertheless my team shipped them out via UPS as directed.
Long story short, two days after everything left our facilities we found out all the banners were supposed to ship via USPS. It was so bad that some USPS facilities were actually refusing delivery of the packages from UPS. Turns out my contact was in the process of getting a new job and was less than diligent at that time, but this was still my fault because I should have followed my gut. After several combative conference calls, and literally having to write a personal apology letter to the actual Postmaster of the USPS, the project was a huge success.
Lesson learned: always follow your gut instincts.
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
I love getting in early, and I’m typically at the office by 7:00 – 7:30 a.m. when the office is quiet and I can really focus. The first thing I do is tackle my first MVP of the day (one of the three Most Valuable Priorities that I determine the night before to prepare for the next day). This can range from providing direction to my creative team for a sales presentation deck, to analyzing the progress of my company’s quarterly goals and determining specific steps to implement any necessary changes.
What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?
Your time is the most valuable asset you have. Time is one of the only things in life that you can’t buy or get more of, so make it a point to really focus on the things that matter most to your business (and life outside of business). Concentrate on your strengths and specialties, and avoid projects or people that will waste your time.
A good way to look at this is: let’s say you have an income goal of $200,000 this year, and there are about 2,080 work hours in a given year (probably many more for most entrepreneurs). This would equate to you roughly be getting paid $96 an hour for your time. Therefore, if you find yourself doing tasks that you would not pay someone else $96 an hour to do, delegate that work and focus on the tasks that will get you closer to your income goal.
Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?
Embrace a never-ending, burning desire for personal and professional development. Never stop learning, self-improving and growing. Do whatever it takes to bring your skillset to the next level: whether that’s listening to audiobooks, reading, attending seminars, filling out a journal, finding a mentor, networking etc. There is never an excuse for not growing.
What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?
Success to me is one word: happiness. All of the money, clients, equipment or toys won’t matter if you’re not happy. I’ve seen fellow entrepreneurs become jaded and lost spinning their wheels trying to follow in the footsteps of others (or competitors) for reasons other than their own. I believe if you focus on what you love and what makes you happy, the rest will follow.
