Moving Forward is also available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
Anthony E. Byrne is the founder and CEO of Product2Market, a leading European inside sales company. Today, Anthony will dispel the myth of the “perfect” time to move forward as an entrepreneur.
Successes at a glance:
Founder and CEO, Product2Market.
Voted Top 100 CEOs in Ireland.
Entrepreneur, author, speaker (see more at anthonyebyrne.com):
Featured in:
How Anthony gets inspired to conquer the day:
For Anthony, it starts w/ having a driver or what he calls “the fire that lights underneath you” to keep you motivated and inspired. Anthony admits that he was not the most successful student in school and had several doubting teachers. This instilled in Anthony the drive to not only be successful but to prove the naysayers wrong throughout his journey. Moreover, Anthony converts this into positive energy to keep moving forward. Moving Forward listeners, when you step outside of your comfort zone and attempt something new, something untried, something different, you will face doubters and naysayers. There will always be people who won’t understand the desire to move forward, to move beyond the cubicle walls to find a passion or as Anthony put it, “the fire that lights underneath you.” You have two choices: you can either let those doubts restrain you from pursuing a goal or ambition or convert that doubt into fuel to move forward.
Setback or failure that led to pivot and shift:
As Anthony shares, he launched Product2Market in 2010, which was when the economy was at one of its lowest points in recent history. The global recession had hit Ireland hard and launching a company at the time meant it was difficult to get access to capital. Facing a much steeper climb to gain traction meant that building scale was also extremely difficult. However, Anthony was raised in a family of entrepreneurs, from his father to his uncles. Anthony had an early education: an exposure to the resilience and tenacity that it takes to start a business and face difficult challenges. In particular, Anthony learned from his father how to get up in the morning and treat each day as a new one; facing whatever comes as part of the business process. Anthony also reminds us that if this were easy, everyone would be doing it! Anthony shares a quote from one of my favorite movie protagonists, Rocky Balboa, who once said, “it ain’t about how hard hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” Finally, Anthony reminds us that persevering thru the tough times requires a love and devotion for what you’re doing. That’s the whole point. Anthony loves what he does, he goes to bed at night thinking about being a marketer and ways he can grow his business and better serve his customers. Moving Forward listeners, being able to face setbacks and failures isn’t so much about how tough you are, it’s about how much you love what you do. That’s how you can stay on course and make those pivots when life throws you those curve balls.
Knowledge Bursts:
Resource or cultural experience that inspired Anthony to move forward:
The mantra: we all have a finite set of things that we’re good at. So Anthony’s advice is to figure out what you’re good at and surround yourself w/ people who can fill the gaps.
How Anthony stays organized and manages his time:
Anthony cites his amazing assistant, Gloria Shannon, who I must also give thanks to for coordinating and scheduling this interview! Calling back to knowledge burst 1, Anthony relies on an incredible team of people who help him manage his many responsibilities and tasks.
Anthony also shares that every evening before he turns off his phone to take a close look at what is happening the next day; asking himself the important question: is this [be it a call or meeting] really important, is this key to Product2Market’s strategic success? If not, who can I delegate this to so I can focus my time more appropriately?
Favorite app / website / resource or productivity hack:
Slack (IOS | Google Play): this has cut down email significantly, replacing it w/ what Anthony calls a “strategic set of message boards,” complete w/ analytics.
Support the Podcast:
The Corporate Cliches Adult Coloring Book: makes the perfect stocking stuffer or white elephant gift.
Try out Audible (affiliate link).
Try out Amazon Prime (affiliate link).
Anthony’s Advice for you to Move Forward:
When the entrepreneurial bug is biting at you and you’ve hit that sweet spot: that point at which you’re working for someone else but constantly thinking “this is not how I would do it” or “there’s a much better way we could be doing this,” then it time to pivot and move forward. Of course, you have to do the legwork: research your market, your potential product or service but the best advice Anthony shares is: go to people for advice; especially those who are in the space you wish to enter. Look at who’s successful and be bold: reach out to them. You may be surprised at the response. Finally, the biggest, most important piece of advice Anthony shares, which he got from someone he looked up to, is there is no such thing as the perfect time. You can always find a reason not to do something. You can always hide behind an excuse or look at the market and say, “this isn’t the right time,” “maybe next year,” “or maybe after the next quarter.” Understand that there is no perfect time. Anthony launched Product2Market during what many considered the worst possible time. As Anthony shares from his own journey, the pivot point was when he realized “if it could be done, it should be done.” Moving Forward listeners, as we near the end of 2016, many of you are thinking about making a pivot. Some of you may be feeling the entrepreneurial itch and you’ve hit that sweet spot: that point at which you’re good at your job, so much so, you’re almost on autopilot and yet, you know deep inside, there’s a better way. If so, now is the time to start asking yourself, what is the fire that lights underneath you, that inspires you? As we approach the holidays, my wish and the greatest gift that you can give yourself is the realization that it can be done, that you can pivot and move forward.
Comments