Deciding to launch a business as your second career can be an intimidating prospect. But sometimes, that pull can’t be ignored. That’s exactly what happened to Chris Lalomia, this week’s guest on Creating Your Encore Career.
Chris had a successful corporate career, and life was fine. However, he’d always had the urge to become an entrepreneur, and at 37 years old, he decided it was time to jump the corporate ship. In the middle of the 2008 recession, Chris started his company, The Trusted Toolbox. Today, The Trusted Toolbox is still going strong, and his leap of faith into the unknown proved to be the right move.
In the early days of founding his company, Chris struggled with having more time than money. As the business became more and more successful, the situation flipped, and he now has more money than time. He’s learned to prioritize how he spends his time. He attends an accountability group with other business owners once a month, and they help push him to do things like start his podcast, try new business ventures, and allow his team to run more of his operations.
One of the big things Chris attributes his success to is creating and sticking to a business plan. When he first started The Trusted Toolbox, he spent six months crafting a plan before going into entrepreneurship full-time. It’s given him a roadmap as the business grows and changes with time.
Chris has also learned to appreciate that when people come to his business, they aren’t buying the product. The product is available in other places. What they’re really buying is him. People buy things or services because of who is selling the product--not just the product itself. He trains his employees to recognize this point, which makes his business stand out.
There are three things a business owner needs to be successful, according to Chris.
Tenacity and a willingness to solve problems. A business owner has to pivot regularly, and if you can’t persevere through that, your business won’t succeed.
Optimism. Chris’s optimism has kept his chin up through some hard times. He’s been willing to rise to his challenges while maintaining a positive attitude that he’ll make it through to the other side.
Listen. Listening to others--your employees and customers--is a huge part of communication. Learn from the criticism and the accolades. Providing your employees with the training they need at the very beginning can help avoid problems from the outset.
Tune in to this episode of the podcast as Chris shares more of his advice on how to win at business.
