“Success is so easy to achieve” In this special episode of The Disruptive Entrepreneur, Rob interviews  CEO of Social Chain, Award-Winning Entrepreneur, Speaker & Investor, Steve Bartlett. They discuss what it takes to be successful, what skills, knowledge and information you need to acquire to scale-up your business and why mentors, marketing and finding the perfect balance can lead to a happy work, welfare and world. KEY TAKEAWAYS Knowledge and education are one of the most crucial things that you can do for you to be successful in your life or business. You may drop out of school because you have maybe found a business opportunity, and you go and start that business and it makes you money for the first time, but then you realize that you need to improve your skills in running this business. For you to do this, you need to learn what you need to do to acquire better skills and run your business perfectly leading to scale-up in your business. With mentors, you get to be advised if the path you are taking is the right one, and with this, you get to make well-informed decisions. Mentors may also give you some great ideas on what to do to better your life or your business. When you make a product, you don't expect people to come right away and buy from you and they do not have any information about the product and what it can do for them, you have to advertise it. Let people know about your product. Hire a marketing professional if you have to because marketing is also a key factor in the success of your business. After this, you will now have the sales that you want because people are aware of what you are offering to them and they want to try it. Why you need to go public as a company. It's a really good way to keep control of the company while raising significant capital to achieve growth. When you're thinking about how to raise capital when you're at the stage where you've got several options, you can get private investment, VC investment, a lot of these come with a lot of restrictions and covenants and issues, going public presents you with a different set of issues, but a set of issues that is more conducive with you controlling the direction of the company and being able to achieve ambitious growth. Have a great team behind you that is always looking out for you and always wants what’s best for you. Having a great team will help you balance your personal life, your business life and even the growth of your business will be great. Do not exchange your purpose for money, that is, never sell that thing that makes you wake up every morning because if you sell it even for millions of money, what will you do with all that money now that you don’t have any purpose in your life? Most probably you will just waste all that money on irrelevant things. Life is an infinite game and the perfect balance for you is to be ambitious and to go after worthy causes while realizing that you don't need to achieve them. Work, welfare and world, this is what you should do in your personal life or business life for you to be happy. You need the funds to do the business and that’s why you need to work, you need to fly to Germany or take six months leave for vacation and still come back or pay a therapist, and that’s the welfare your business should give you, that is, being sustainable, and then the impact you make to the world, be it donations or whatever. Believe in yourself and you will see wonders. If you have a great idea and your instincts tell you it's a great idea, go for it even when people try to tell you not to do it. To be an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to take that risk for you to succeed in life and business. BEST MOMENTS “When organizations they go public after change a lot because the financial reporting changes drastically.” “As entrepreneurs, if there isn't a girlfriend or there aren’t kids or there isn't something else that's making you create time, then you'll just fill it with work.” “Balance is a bit of a myth for entrepreneurs because the business always feels like the priority.” “Buy nice things, but don’t buy them into the pretence that they're going to make you feel better about yourself.” “Do not exchange your purpose for money.” “You are already enough.” “Happiness is defined as progress towards a worthy goal.” “The best journeys are ones where you never arrive.” “It’s a misuse of energy and time to prove people wrong, you have so many people that already care for you.” “Those who think they can and those who think they can't are both usually right.”   ABOUT THE GUEST Steven is the 27-year-old CEO Founder of Social Chain which uses owned media, marketing and technology to build Social Brands. In the last few years, he has become an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and investor, and now leads a company of 700+ team members across 5 countries, who are quickly disrupting the ever-changing social world. Social Chain now operates through six locations: Manchester, London, Berlin, Munich, New York and Bangkok. Along the way, Steve has amassed a large following online (Almost 2 Million people across Instagram, Facebook, Snap chat, LinkedIn and his podcast), due to his informative and inspirational videos covering topics from entrepreneurship, business, social media and marketing. This has lead to several profiles in the world's leading publications where he has been dubbed "The most influential individual in Social Media Marketing", the "most influential individual in marketing in 2017/18" by 100 agency leaders and more recently he was inducted into Manchester's Hall of Fame by the Mayor of Greater Manchester. CONTACT METHOD +1 (212) 937-8878 https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-bartlett-56986834/ [Business, mindset, entrepreneur, disruptors] VALUABLE RESOURCES https://robmoore.com/ bit.ly/Robsupporter   https://robmoore.com/podbooks  rob.team ABOUT THE HOST Rob Moore is an author of 9 business books, 5 UK bestsellers, holds 3 world records for public speaking, entrepreneur, property investor, and property educator. Author of the global bestseller “Life Leverage” Host of UK’s No.1 business podcast “Disruptors” “If you don't risk anything, you risk everything” CONTACT METHOD Rob’s official website: https://robmoore.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robmooreprogressive/?ref=br_rs LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/robmoore1979 disruptive, disruptors, entreprenuer, business, social media, marketing, money, growth, scale, scale up, risk, property: http://www.robmoore.com