From Sleeping in My Car to Retiring at Age 30

What this episode covers

Everybody knows that the first twelve months of a new venture are always the hardest. Make it through that year and the chances of making it through the next year begin to look a little better. There’s so much on the line, from financial wellbeing to physical health. Nobody will look more tired than a small business owner in their first year of business. But, the rewards of making it through that first year are potentially massive and that’s why we all take the plunge and become small business owners. Being your own boss, making all of the strategic decisions and providing a better life for your family are just a few of the reasons that we get started. As well as long hours of hard work, what else do we need to make it through some of the more challenging days during the first year? And what are some of the pitfalls that we should try and avoid? With us on this episode of your favourite small business podcast is the founder of Renters Warehouse, Brenton Hayden. Brenton is going to help us answer some of these questions and more. Brenton set up his business after seeing an opportunity that wasn’t being exploited by anyone in his area. He dropped the plans he had for his first business and focussed all his energy on his new idea. His business made it through that tricky first year and has gone from strength to strength picking up many industry awards along the way. Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast: How can I get through my first year in business? About Brenton: Brenton Hayden is the founder, chairman of the board and former CEO of Renters Warehouse. The company provides property management services to those wishing to rent their property. Since beginning in Minnesota in 2007, the company has become one of the fastest-growing companies in America, with offices and franchises all over the USA. He set himself a target for retirement, and he has achieved it – at the ripe old age of 30! Brenton was, at one point, sleeping in his car and worrying about the next step to take for his future. How did he started with his business and make it through the first year? He’s here with us on this episode of Excellence Expected to share his experiences as well as three actionable tips that will help any small business owner who is currently dealing with this particularly challenging period. Actionable Tips: * Start with passion, a plan and power before you start a business. If you have passion and a plan and you feel like you can’t stopped then you have the ingredients to achieve your goal. If you don’t have them, then you need to keep looking for the right thing for you. * Ask questions, listen until it hurts and then be decisive. A true leader is a collaborative leader. They listen to those who agree, disagree and those who remain neutral. Information is power. * If you find the opportunity to do something awesome, you should do it yourself first and then hire someone to do it later. You need to become a passionate expert about your business. You need to learn every aspect of your business.   Top Quotes: * “Inspiration is a here thing, it’s a now thing, it goes away really fast, so when you’re inspire or depressed, you gotta use it because there’s usually a lot of passion hiding in both of those emotions.” * “You can have a really good plan, but you can’t think of everything.” * “I wrote down a plan, like a roadmap. A map can take you many different places, but at least you have a map. It’s going to make getting to your dreams or goals that much easier. The plan isn’t the endgame. The plan just makes it easier to get to the end of the road.” * “The number one obstacle in most peoples’ lives is that they don’t have a perfect plan. It’s the critical flaw and the reason most people don’t...