Habits and Hustle - Episode 278: Q&A on How to Become a Successful Entrepreneur

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

In this solo episode of the Habits and Hustle podcast, Shanni asks me questions from the deck of discussion which is 52 questions to spark, motivate, and ignite your passions. We discuss business dilemmas, from managing poor product reviews to handling controversial situations and resolving profit share disputes, this episode is packed with actionable tips for every business owner and entrepreneur. What we discuss: 00:33 - What to do if your product is selling well but getting bad reviews 03:41 - How to handle controversial situations 07:09 - What my Ted Talk would be 09:25 - Resolving Profit Share Disputes Without Contract 15:04 - Volume business vs. economic business Thank you to our sponsor: Ketone IQ (HVMN): You can save 30% off your first subscription order of Ketone-IQ at HVMN.com/JEN   Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Minimum-required term apply annualized interest rate subject to change. I guys is Tony Robbins you're listening to habits in hustle. Crescent. In today's solo episode, Shawnee's going to ask me questions from the deck of discussion. Never heard of this, but it's basically 52 questions to spark, motivate, and ignite your passions. So it's a deck of cards, and she's gonna ask me random questions. I have no idea what she's gonna ask me. I have no idea what this is.

She brought it to my house today, and we're gonna find out together. So let's go, Johnny, what do you have for me? Okay, this is interesting. So you have released your first product into market. It's selling quite well But it's getting bad reviews. Do you keep selling it to get rid of the stock or do you cut your losses and stop selling it to try and save your Appritation even though it'll put you in further debt?

That's a great question. What I would do is figure you so you're saying it's is the product bad or is it just does a product Just have a flaw that people keep on talking about in the reviews? Is it the same issue over and over again in the reviews? Like, I think that question has a lot of variables. Well, this is a good thing that you're the boss, asking the right questions. It's important. Well, I would say this. I would say if in the reviews,

it's the same problem over and over again. Maybe it's not the product, but maybe it's a problem or a flaw that needs to be fixed in the product that can help. So I wouldn't just give up on that. Number one, number two, depends on what it is in the sense that how much are you in debt? Is there a way around that?

Is there a different way you can be selling? Is there a way that can figure out? To me, it's a lot of it's like R&D, understanding who your customer is and then giving your customer what they want. So maybe the market isn't ready for your particular product in that way, but there's always, I think that there's no, everyone's always reinventing the mouse trap in a better way. It's basically taking a mouse trap and making it better. So do you have the new mouse trap?

Are you working on the better version of whatever that is? And maybe that's it. Like maybe it's just people don't want that particular product. And if that's what you're seeing in the reviews, then I would actually pivot to something that is much more viable for the consumer. But I'd first figure out if it's just a flaw

and I would make sure that it's not just a through line that you're seeing over and over again before you just give up. I like that. I think that that's a really good answer. It's thoughtful. It shows that, you know, just don't throw out the baby with a bath water just yet. Like, maybe there is a fix. And also then you can use that as a marketing opportunity, right? Like, you can show the reviews and be like, hey, we fixed all this. Like, a lot of times the first innovation of something didn't work, but then they re-innovated it, like, they re-did it, and it became very successful. I'm trying to think of something right off, like just off the top of my head that that happened with.

It's a good question, actually. I'm trying to think of something. There's a bunch of stuff. Oh, Lady Gaga's makeup line. She had a whole makeup line. They had to completely re-brand. It didn't work at all at the beginning. Right, so it's re-branding.

And they completely re-branded the whole thing, and then relaunched. I think they even improved some formulas. It was like a whole thing. I think people always redo formulas. They re-brand and it becomes successful. So it's some saying like a lot of times it can be just in the, it could be in the packaging, right?

The packaging is not appealing. The people don't like the color aesthetic. Things aren't, things aren't psychologically appealing. A lot of people don't buy something for what the product is. It's a, they buy, it's an emotion. They buy out of how it makes them feel more than anything else. A lot of times we buy things we don't need. We buy things because we actually want them because of the emotional part. So if you are not tugging on someone's emotional

or heartstrings in that way or they're not feeling a certain way by your product, it could be very well something that could be re-jigged in the overall look of something. Yeah, no, that's good. Okay, here's the next question. This is an interesting one. You run a small charity and your head of fundraising has just posted a compromising photo on their personal but public social media account. What do you do? I ignore it. Just ignore it. No pressure. I don't like to get caught up on the minutia of things, right? It's so easy to focus on shit that doesn't matter. And that is so much of what people do now. I mean, if you're a busy person, I don't know how people have the time.

It's just, I don't like to busy myself or put my brain in those spaces. It doesn't matter to me. Like, unless it's really affecting my bottom line in a really awful mean spirited way, I try to not put my attention and my energy in that direction. And I just keep it moving. It's a good motto.

It's a good motto. I mean, what if it was really comfortable? What if it was like a legal thing? What if it was something that was so comfortable? Well. It's a good motto. It's a good motto. I mean, what if it was really, what if it was like a legal thing? What if it was something that was so common? Well, it's different from something. Unless it's something that's really compromising like legally or hurtful. That's a whole other thing.

But everything, you see, that's the thing with these questions, right? It leaves, it's so ambiguous. Because there's so many different variables that play in like every situation is so different that it's really hard to give Overall generic answer to something without knowing all the different variables. Oh, you give it you give Answers to the various examples like you add in your variable So for example if it was really compromising is and illegal what would you do?

Yeah, I mean yeah, of course I would have to act upon it. And I would probably, I don't know who this person is, right, this, whoever this person is. What was illegal about it, right? Do I like this? Do I wear not? How do you reprimand someone? Do you let someone go? Do you fire them?

Do they take a leave of absence? Do you make a public apology? Oh, leave of absence. There's so many different ways you can handle something. So I used to work in media training many years ago in another former life of mine. And you know, a part of what we did was we would train top like level, sea level executives on something that happened within the company that they had to make a statement

on. Oh my god, how do I apologize? No, it's crisis management more or less, right? And this is all very nuanced, right? Because it depends on what the circumstances are. So I've been trained to, or I, I, I tend not to like to give overarching answers when I don't have all the facts. So it's so dependent on what it is. So maybe this game isn't so great for me. No, but what I'm trying to explain is you can just give yourself your own facts. Make your own scenarios. I can't find one. Okay.

But you answered a ton of different scenarios. I did answer it a lot. I really like the leave of absence. I actually think that's an interesting one because that's like, I feel like for maybe like a sex scandal where it's like just some guys weird kinks that like were revealed. You know what I mean? But like it's just uncomfortable for people, but it's not bad or wrong and like let them have their own little thing.

I like that. And then you're like a little, little yeah, I just always think that way. Again, right. Like to me, it's like someone else's kooky business, but I mean, the fact that, yes, it does affect the business. Like people are very offended by other people's other stuff. I'm not offended by anybody's stuff. Like it doesn't affect me at all.

Like that, but I get it. Like, other people are much more sensitive and highly sensitive to that. So it depends on what the charity is, what the person did, who is the person. You know, there's like so many variables. All right, I have a good one for you. That's when I actually was written just for you, really. If you were invited to give a TED talk, what would it be, and why? Really? I like it.

I would do a TED talk on how to get what you want in life or the secret to getting anything you want in life. You know, I could see that getting really big. Yeah, I could see that blowing up. You think that would blow up? That feels viral to me. I feel like a topic on how to be bold and how to chase what you want and how to be bold and learn how to be bold if you're not already bold.

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Now they are claiming they work harder than you and should get a higher profit share. How do you resolve that? Oh my God, that is such a good one. Okay, this is what I would say. The contract situation, to me, is very, very difficult, right? It comes down to how valuable that other person really is in your business, right? Contract or no contract? Because if you want to maintain the relationship

with that person so they continue working, right, it doesn't matter what the contract says, you're going to have to give in no matter what, right? Oh, that's interesting. So you would actually be inclined to compromise with that person and give them a bit more percentage if they were doing more work. Well, because otherwise my business would actually, if I thought, if I think my business would really genuinely suffer from the lack of them being there, then I would have, I'd be kind of like, I would be kind of caught

between a rock and a hard place and have to figure out a way to make that person happy. Now, I would, I will say something though, I think is very, very interesting. Most times when people do that, they end up regretting it. Because people tend to overestimate the value of the other person. And the truth, the matter is, everybody is replaceable. And a lot of times, when you actually replace that person, that other person is actually better than the person you had before.

But a lot of times, we like the devil we know versus the devil we don't know. And so, what we do is we acquiesce to whatever the demands are about employee, partner, whatever else because we don't want the change. We are fearful of the change, or we're scared of how that decision will affect our business. And like I said, the interesting part is a lot of times when we actually do that, the latter, then we end up regretting it. And we should have just like cut our losses and found somebody else. Because once that happens in a relationship, in a dynamic, it's really hard to go back

to how it was because there's always gonna be built in resentment. There's always gonna be someone who feels that they got the shorter end of the stick. And that is why the book, you know, the book by Chris Voss, like, yeah, oh Chris Voss isn't there. There's mentor. Yeah, I love him.

He wrote the book, never split the difference. Hard of home, yeah. Never split the difference. He was a guest on a couple times. And the truth of the matter is, because always one person will always feel like they got less. So I think you got to trust your gut with these things, but I'm just talking from experience.

You know, like if your intuition tells you, well, maybe it's like not the right thing and you have to just kind of figure it out without it. That's a big one though, because I see things happen on both sides, but in my experience, everybody is replaceable, but I will have this caveat. In today's time, there's nobody available. That's the other problem. There's so it's so hard to find great people in general. What's going on in the world right now, it's just

really hard. Reliable. Reliable. Really good. So if you have somebody who has that, depending again what your job is, sometimes it's better just to make it happy, it appease them and like come to a good place. But overall, depending on if it's a partnership, a lot of times it's good to just cut your losses and move on. Yeah, I like the answer. Trust me, your gut is,

can be so hard in this situation, especially if it's like a friend. What are your thoughts on not changing the percentage, but having them like get a bonus or something instead. So you keep the number the same, because feel like giving up ownership, you know, to mean instead. Giving up ownership is hard.

Because then you're not 50 anymore. But if they feel like they're working more hours, they want to be more cash. Well, that's the thing. It's about like a negotiation, and it's really about just figuring out what there's always a way to skin the thing, it's about a negotiation, and it's really about just figuring out what there's always a way to skin the cat. Giving up a percentage of a business is way more difficult than adding on a bonus for

good work. I have no problem by giving people bonuses and paying fees. I do have a problem with just giving up an ownership stake. That's a very big difference in the relationship. And I think that a lot of people would agree on that. So you can be creative in how the person gets paid, but I would almost never just go to the percentage of the business.

I would first work around the bonuses, ways to be incentivized. There's all sorts of different ways to do that. True, there are other incentives. I always love when people on Shark Tank, they negotiate back, or they rebutt, rebuttal, rebuttal, or rebuttal, or rebutt, or rebutt with advisory shares.

I love that, because I just think that a lot of times they're asking for such a ridiculous percentage, and so it's like to sort of compromise in the middle, I just feel like to me, or negotiate some form of like a loan form instead of... I had no idea a pillowcase could actually get me a better night's sleep until I started sleeping on Blissie's award-winning, 100% mulberry silk pillowcases. I mean, silk is honestly the best way to sleep, and blissy silk pillowcases are a temperature regulating and have naturally insulated properties.

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it out. Dailyharvest.com slash hustle. You'll thank me later. A lot of times it's also over time. So you're not getting your stock, you're talking about when you're getting, yeah, that happens, but also like when you're giving away a percentage of your company, you're not giving it away all at once. Right, they have to work there for you to have to be,

it's over time. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And like, I didn't know that by the way until like a few years ago, and I actually, because I was forming a company with someone, I thought that was so smart.

Like this idea where you actually have to work for like a certain amount of years and every year you've got a certain amount and like sort of work towards that. Most deals are like that. I've never had a deal where it's like, oh yeah, here's 20%. No, you just get that. Yeah, no. You have to like, it's over a period of time. And if you only work two years, you get 4%.

And then you know what I mean? Like it goes in time like that. Okay, I feel like this will be a good last one. So you own an airline. Customers want more legroom, but to make money, you need to put as many seats on the plane as possible. What do you do? We were talking about airlines, right? You know, you know, that's funny. You say that. I was, I wanted to do one on skip, skip, skip, skip, lag. Yeah. It depends on kind of airline you want to be.

Do you want to be a, do you want to be a spirit? Or do you want to be, what's that? Or an Emirates. It's even nicer. Emirates. Or Emirates. Oh, that's true. Okay, that's a nice one.

That's a really nice one. That's true. It depends what your business model is. If you want to be a volume business and be an economy kind of airline versus an elevated airline. So, I think you're making that decision right off the bat of what kind of brand you're going to be. But I would definitely say personally, I like JetBlue or something like that.

I love JetBlue. I can be an I say I could be elevated, but not totally cheap. Right. Like, my middle ground. Right. And what most people are now doing, aren't they just giving you a million options? It's like, God forbid you go and just get a regular economy seat. It's economy premium. Yes, plus.

Economy, plus plus plus. Economy were fundable. Economy with a bag. Economy with two bags. Exactly. Economy that allows you to take a carry on. Some that don't. I know.

It's like unbelievable. They're making it so complicated. I mean, literally, you need a math professor and a degree to go over it. But I think what there should be regulations and how airlines are even, right now I feel like it's all a cattle call. There's no room at all.

Like it's getting worse and worse. If they're, right, if, in my opinion, there's no leg room as it is. So at this point, if they make it, so there's even less leg room, I mean, you might as well, like, I don't know, like, you might as well just, I'd rather just dry at this point or take a train because there's nowhere to even put my ass.

There's nowhere to, there's not even a seat in the seat, right? Can I tell you, I legitimately looked into boats to Europe last year when I was going to Portugal? Because flights were so expensive. It wasn't insane. My aunt was like, take a cargo boat, people are doing it. And I looked up, I looked up cargo,

I was like, this is not bad. It was a seven-day journey, which I don't have that kind of time. But I mean, how'd I have the time? I would have done that. Oh my gosh. Super cheap, there's like a couple hundred bucks. Really? Yeah.

This is cool. The deck of discussion. This is not interesting. This is not a promo. This is not an ad. This is just something that, like I couple hundred bucks. Really? Yeah. This is cool. The deck of discussion. This is not interesting. This is not a promo. This is not an ad. This is just something that like I said, she just brought over here. I love this deck of cards.

I actually got it at an event that I went for Jen, like ages ago. And I just thought this was so interesting. I started reading through them. I usually hate these kind of cards because they're a little bit... Is it for me? You was the almost 30 thing. Oh yeah, really? Yeah.

I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I usually hate these because they're usually like very spiritual and really? Yeah. Oh, I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I usually hate these because they're usually like very spiritual and kind of annoying. Yeah. Like you know what I mean? And that's not that's true. And these are very busy. And we should do it.

I love them too. Would you bring it back? Yeah, bring it back. Let's do more. Thank you. Okay, guys. So we're going to do another one like that. Let's know if you like it.

It might be like boring. I don't know. So you tell me if you got any, if you've gleaned anything from it. And don't forget toiting Podcast, a number one entrepreneurship and self-improvement podcast where you can listen, learn, and profit. On Young & Profiting Podcast, I interview the brightest minds in the world and I turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your daily life. Each week we dive into a new topic like the art of side hustles, how to level up your

influence and persuasion and goal setting. I interview A-List guests on Young & Profiting. I've got the best guest. Like the world's number one negotiation expert, Chris Voss, Shark, Damon John, serial entrepreneurs, Alex and Leila Hermosi, and even movie stars like Matthew McConaughey. There's absolutely no fluff on my podcast, and that's on purpose. Every episode is jam-packed with advice that's gonna push your life forward. I do my research, I get straight to the point, and I take things really seriously,

which is why I'm known as the podcast Princess, and how I became one of the top podcasters in the world in less than five years. Young and profiting podcasts is for all ages. Don't let the name fool you. It's an advanced show. As long as you want to learn and level up, you will be forever young. So join podcast royalty and subscribe to Young and Profiting Podcast. Or yap, like it's often called by my app fam. On Apple Spotify, CastBox, or wherever you listen to your podcast. ever you listen to your podcasts.