What is the worst scenario for starting a business of your own? How can you reframe crises as opportunities?
Today’s guest is the serial entrepreneur with a passion for small business, Ramon Ray. In the United States, small businesses account for 99.7% of all businesses. With four companies under his belt, Ramon is a best-selling author, speaker, and a person on a mission to inspire and educate a million small business owners by 2025 – a mission we have no doubt Ramon will surely achieve.
In our conversation, we explore the mindset that has helped Ramon create multiple successful companies and overcome his own insecurities. Moreover, Ramon shares tons of practical insights for those interested in starting their own business and great reminders for seasoned entrepreneurs. And of course, we talk about how business is all about relationships and how crucial trust is to any business looking to thrive.
Listen and enjoy this energetic, informative, and fun conversation with Ramon.
Overview of Episode 22: Building Trusted Small Businesses with Ramon Ray
Talking Points
- Ramon’s mysterious love of burnt breakfast
- How Ramon sees his role and his unique take as an advocate for small businesses
- How Ramon’s comfort with uncomfortableness has led him to entrepreneurship
- The trust and attention game, and why it’s so crucial for any business to build trust
- Why it’s important to focus on the metrics that really matter
- Ramon’s practical advice to budding entrepreneurs
- Four different types of trust Ramon believes every entrepreneur needs to have
- The difference between self confidence and believing in oneself
- Turning pain and adversity into one’s greatest strength
- How Ramon looks at the world even when it’s been upended
- The opportunities that lie in crisis and how to capitalize (ethically) on them
- The projects Ramon is looking to bring to life in 2021
Quotables
“Whatever the medium, does it inspire them and does it educate them?” – Ramon Ray
“The way I see small business is not that it’s not known, but it’s not crafted.” – Ramon Ray
“That’s what I love about small business is that the journey is uncharted, the journey isn’t known.” – Ramon Ray
“If I can’t earn someone’s trust, if someone doesn’t think I’m credible, I would think, ‘game over.’” – Ramon Ray
“You can grow a following, but at some point you have to consistently earn that trust or overnight it can go away.” – Ramon Ray
“Why Amazon has succeeded so much – they made it easy to work with them and people trust them” – Ramon Ray
“This is one key to business that many people don’t think of: ‘I already have trust somewhere – how can I maximize it? How can I build it?’” – Ramon Ray
“Belief in ourselves: that’s what stops many people. If you’re not able to wake up and say ‘Let’s just sell it. I know it’s not perfect but let’s see what happens,’ that’s a problem.” – Ramon Ray
“I think being comfortable with being uncomfortable is an asset for small business owners and can give them strength to go on.” – Ramon Ray
“The slate is clean. There’s nothing on the table, so this is the time to pitch fresh ideas.” – Ramon Ray
Show Notes
- RamonRay.com
- Smarthustle.com
- SCORE
- Shackleton’s infamous (and maybe fabricated) ad for explorers
- Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich
- Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans theory
- Quickbooks by Intuit
- David Goggins – retired Navy SEAL and world-record holder
- SXSW (South by Southwest)
- Akimbo.com
- Small Business Essentials
This episode sponsored by:
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