Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal and business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kirk Dando, CEO and President of Dando Advisors, located in Fort Collins, CO, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Dando offers coaching services for CEOs and executives of high-growth companies. Our clientele typically consists of CEOs who are leading companies who are moving from start-up to scale-up and are venture capital or private equity backed. The Dando coaching model is designed to help these CEOs become the leaders they aspire to be while also developing the skills and abilities necessary to effectively navigate the challenges that arise from their company's growth and success.
Tell us about yourself
Thirty years ago, I was a young and inexperienced COO and CFO of a company that grew to over $1 billion in annual revenue (not just a $1B valuation). I thought I had all the help needed to be successful - the best consultants, advisors, executive groups, and more. But I found myself feeling like leading and growing a business was way more difficult than it truly needed to be. I had countless sleepless nights and daily sanity checks, asking myself, "Should this be this hard? Does anyone else struggle with the same things? Or is it just me?" I was determined to find a way to unlock what I felt was just beneath the surface in front of us.
After we sold the company, which was still a great outcome, I began to contemplate what had transpired. When I was helping grow the business, I had no problem finding coaches or consultants with a product or service to help me. However, I couldn't find a single person who had grown a $1B company and was willing to spend time with me so that I didn't have to learn everything the hard way.
From that point on, I decided to start dedicating my life to helping other business leaders in similar situations. I quickly discovered that the problems and patterns of growth and success were eerily similar across different businesses, sectors, and teams. And even now, I share these same frameworks and mindsets to help leaders predict and prepare for the problems caused by growth and success. It's my aim to be a trusted guide and support for CEOs and their teams as they navigate the challenges of leadership.
As a result, I've spent countless hours with CEOs and their leadership teams. Every day, I don't take my experience for granted. When I was growing our company, I dreamed of having someone who experienced the same feelings I was having. Someone who would come alongside me. Someone I could trust for their guidance when I didn't know who to turn to.
Today, I try to be that someone for CEOs and their leadership teams. And I get the privilege of working alongside them. I understand that it's lonely at the top, and I know what that feels like first-hand. That's what drives me to want to be the first phone call for the leader who's experiencing loneliness at the top and the inherent problems that come with growth and success.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of working with numerous leaders and their teams as they've grown their businesses from start-ups to multi-billion dollar exits. In an unregulated coaching industry that frankly can be messy and filled with empty promises, my greatest accomplishment as a business owner (at Dando) has been receiving 100% of my business through word-of-mouth referrals from those I've worked with, learned from, and helped over the years. Achieving this level of trust and loyalty requires active listening while providing measurable value to those who have placed their trust in me.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The hardest thing that comes with being a business owner is the confidence required to just get started and see if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur. You have to find your niche that will sustainably add value to others. You have to be able to quiet the "inner critic" and focus on others vs. focusing on yourself.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
First tip, figure out what your passion is and how you can add value to others through your product or service. To paraphrase an idea started by John Maxwell, Passion does four critical things for anyone, but especially for someone looking to start a business:
- Passion is the first step in achievement. Your desire and what you want ultimately determine your destiny–it gets and keeps you focused. The bigger the fire, the bigger the desire.
- Passion increases your willpower. There is no substitute for passion. It is the fuel for your will. If you want something bad enough, you will find the willpower to achieve it.
- Passion changes you. If you follow your passions instead of others' perceptions of what you should be doing, you can't help but become a more dedicated and productive person. In the end, your passion will have more influence than your personality.
- Passion makes the impossible possible. We, as humans, are wired up such that when there is a fire in our soul, impossibilities vanish. A fire in your heart lifts everything in your life. A leader with great passion and a few skills will always outperform leaders with great skills and no passion.
Second tip, find someone (or some people) that have been where you want to go and is willing to spend the time to help you, so you do not have to spend your IQ points solving problems that have already been solved in other businesses like yours. Instead, you can spend your IQ points innovating and thinking of ways to grow. Focus on building the kind of relationship with that person (or people) that can handle the weight of the truth, so they will help you predict the problems before they show up in the results.
The third tip, nothing impacts the health, wealth, and happiness of others more than a leader. Learn to be the kind of leader that builds conditions of trust that will take you and your team beyond the point that the science of management says is possible. Nobody will remember where you led them, but they will always remember how you led them.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://dandoadvisors.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DandoAdvisors/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kirkdando
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dando-advisors/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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