The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

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Episode #632: Nick Huber is an entrepreneur who owns stakes in 11 companies, including a real estate private equity firm and several agencies. His portfolio of companies employs over 325 people living all over the world. Nick lives with his wife and 3 children in Athens, Georgia. He’s the author of the book, The Sweaty Startup: How to get rich doing boring things.

Notes:

• Sales is the foundation of Every Business. From Nick’s mentor, Dan Cohen: “If you don’t like sales, I suggest you give up now and go get a regular job. You’re wasting your time.”
• “Life as an entrepreneur is sales.” To succeed in this world, you must have the cooperation of other people.
• The attributes of winners:
  • Abundance mindset
  • A sense of urgency
  • Not afraid to stand up and call you out. The story of his VP of Finance, Kevin. He called Nick out on deals he tried to make while Kevin was on vacation.
  • Make good decisions
  • Aren't afraid to get their hands dirty and do the work
• The Four Fundamental Truths of Life
  • 1. You can’t do it alone.
  • 2. You can’t make people do anything.
  • 3. Everyone in this world is selfish.
  • 4. It isn’t about you.
• So how do we use these four fundamental truths of life to get what we want? Sales. We sell ourselves and our ideas. We convince other people that their lives will be better if they trust us, work for us, buy from us, and more.
• Networking. Don’t go to events telling others to help you. Become someone worth knowing.
  • Do something of value that makes others want to come to you…
  • The story about the guy wrangling carts on a cold night at the Walmart in Ithaca, New York
• Nick credits a lot of his success to his parents, Tim and Susan, for raising him around a dinner table of positivity and curiosity. They made him feel as if he could accomplish anything and taught him to see the world through a lens of opportunity.
• Change your mind: Nick has a note taped to his mirror in the bathroom that says, “Change your mind on something today.”
• The most valuable trait of an entrepreneur: A sense of urgency. Most people walk slow, think slow, move slow, and make decisions slow. They lollygag around life. No energy. No excitement.
• Do uncomfortable things. Make the calls. Start a lawn care business if you're a kid.
• Decision making - You have to practice it. It’s a muscle
• Decathlon at Cornell - Brutally hard. 10 events. You never do your best in all of them. You take L’s. Have to respond and go to the next event. Struggle with grace.
• Ego - Need to balance belief with humility.
• There are two types of people in the world. Those who are humble. And those that are about to be humbled.
• “You’re interviewing for your next job every single day.”
• Hiring is like hunting. Always looking.
• Life/Career Advice: "Don’t be a doctor or a lawyer. What game are you playing? What does winning look like? Most people aren’t thoughtful enough about that."