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Edith Moricz, Founder of FastTrack2YrDreamJob 🚀💼coaching program~LinkedIn’s #1 Career Coach 2017 (Boston, MA)

by Wayne Johnson, Sr. Virtual Project Manager & Intercultural Specialist

https://www.linkedin.com/in/waynekjohnson/

Wayne Johnson is Sr. Virtual Project Manager, Intercultural Specialist, and Curriculum Design Expert with Advanced Automation Corporation based in Barrington, Rhode Island.

He lived, conducted research and worked in Asia for 14 years

He studied and conducted research in Western Europe, in addition to working and conducting research in Eastern Europe before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

While Springtime is usually a time for hope, renewal, and strength, the Spring of 2020 has put those qualities to an extreme test as record numbers of Americans are losing their jobs. Today, we talk to Edith Moricz, an expert job coach, who shares her strategies for job searching in the Covid-19 landscape.

 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

WJ: When we met ten years ago, you were Director of Development and Marketing at a non-profit organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Since then, you have launched a successful career coaching company. With so many people struggling to manage the challenges brought on by this crisis, what are the top things you recommend to professionals to quickly adapt and thrive in this environment, and even land their dream job?

EM:

Successful job searching has a few core components, even more so in these recent weeks: branding, narrative, job search schedule, and positioning. I work with clients daily on these components.

Based on my career path, my ability to quickly redefine my schedule and focus on targeting core online and offline activities led to my own success story.

I share each of these immediately actionable strategies and customize them with every client, step-by-step, and they achieve tangible results. All of my strategies are designed to be implemented online first, in the interest of immediacy, so they can genuinely and positively leverage the silver linings in social distancing.

 

WJ: As a private career coach, you launched Fasttrack2YrDreamJob almost five years ago, providing coaching support to individuals, remotely, by phone and video. You were named #1 Career Coach in 2017 by LinkedIn.

How is Fasttrack2YrDreamJob assisting professionals with their job search within the current climate?

EM:

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, I’ve offered complimentary 15-minute phone coaching consultations with three actionable strategies that can be implemented immediately toward landing a dream job. My comprehensive coaching program is usually five weeks; however, I now offer an abbreviated coaching program for three weeks. This program entails a one-day, executive-level coaching session that provides supplementary coaching calls over the following three-week period. I offer flexible payment plans and special rates to accommodate the diverse needs of professionals in transition during these changing times.

 

WJ: What should professionals who are looking for new employment, be doing while in isolation?

EM:

I think professionals in job transition need to focus on three things:

  • Maximizing their online branding;
  • Designing their efficient, effective job search schedule, and;
  • Highlighting their impact on organizations.

 

WJ: How can your clients best work on their branding in these times?

EM:

LinkedIn needs to be a significant part of their branding and success story. My program addresses core beliefs and problem-solving skills in detail, along with immediate strategies for seeing results as quickly as is possible. It is essential for professionals in a job transition period to use this time to do two key activities proactively:

  1. Re-evaluate your core beliefs about your life and career path, as well as your most significant skill sets
  2. Focus on 3-5 ways that you see gaps and resolve problems, both as an organization and as an individual.

 

WJ: As many of us are transitioning from brick and mortar to working remotely from our homes, our performance is now the only aspect of work that is important. What questions should professionals be asking of themselves in this transition process when looking for a new job? 

EM:

First, I think of these essential three questions:

  • What productivity goals are we setting for ourselves daily?
  • Using SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely), are we maximizing our value added based on our skills and experience?
  • Are we balancing our creative thinking with our strategic planning?

My own approach is to equate my productivity to 3-5 deadline-driven deliverables per day. There is a big difference between task-oriented work and work that adds substantially toward a more significant—deadline-driven—l goal. Most professionals have deadlines for deliverables for an external or internal client. There are also deadlines for increasing or modifying efficiencies in our workflow. There is also a new benchmark, content creation, which is mostly online and can be almost entirely leveraged through LinkedIn—in addition to other social media sites, such as Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.

The final component, and an essential one, is how we are maximizing our creative talent each day. I firmly believe that it feeds our productivity. In any given week, productivity is measured by how significantly quantitatively and qualitatively we are moving toward adding value as professionals to our organization and our community.

As an example, I define productivity as both working on my coaching program as well as in my program. On it means updating my processes, creating more efficiencies and enhancements to improve the work I do. It means providing support for my clients across the board. Essentially, each client is at a different stage of the program, so there are distinct deliverables each week. My basic rule of thumb, with few exceptions, is to divide my day and week into parts—morning and evening are a combination of physical, mental wellness, and creativity. These pieces help me maximize my value-added.

My productivity is measured by the quality of the deliverable that I provide each client each week. I then switch to either content creation /branding or industry research. Among my industry experts or tools for insightful knowledge are the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LinkedIn, Entrepreneur magazine, and Forbes, in addition to research that I follow on the critical topics of interest to me within the investment industry, philanthropy and coaching industries.

Second, how are we creating efficiencies and or opportunity, that, perhaps, didn’t exist before?

Brainstorming and creative thinking are more essential now than ever before. 

Sharing ideas, knowledge, and bouncing around ideas are among the many ways to consider what’s not working with existing processes or products or services and how improvements can be made by leveraging skills, talents that come naturally to our team members or us. In other words, what are a few skills or areas of expertise that can be applied to the existing problems, or problems that your clients or the community will be facing and how can you initially test your ideas/solutions out while being efficient in the process? It may start initially with a list of customer problems that you focus on or bottlenecks in the existing process. When we put our heads together and combine our passions, inspiration to do good, and skills that come quickly to us, making a difference AND an impact flow freely. It also taps into our creativity.

I used this same thinking process when I launched RocketYourNonProfit.co fundraising coaching program. I did the same with BeyondSuccessOnlinebyEdith.com blog that I created in 2009.

Third, how are we each sharing and highlighting our impact on our organization’s goals or our impact on our talents, skills, passion, and expertise?

LinkedIn is the critical online professional platform for showing the big picture. LinkedIn shows our 30k foot summary. In other words, if you summarize your expertise, experiences, it expresses the top 3-5 problems you have solved, over your career, for organizations or individuals. When concisely described, your LinkedIn profile should showcase your skills, expertise in a way that entices professionals to keep reading about your accomplishments.

For my LinkedIn profile, I highlight my recognition from LinkedIn, my career coaching brand, and distinct credentials that support my work. In the body of my LinkedIn summary, the About section, I focus on my relationship management/leadership experiences in the financial services, fundraising, and academic industries.

 

WJ: Switching gears in the current pandemic and following up more on the evolution from working in corporate locations to working out of an office environment, what do people need to learn about working remotely?

EM:

Remote working is a cultural shift in everyone’s mindset. In its purest form it is called a Results‐Only Work Environment (ROWE) culture, gorowe.com. In a ROWE, both employers and employees need to realize that work is a VERB, not a noun. Work is what you do, and success is based on your results. Again, this is a paradigm shift about what is “work” and what is “success”. For many, it is a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions. The gossip in the office should never evaluate successful work within any organization with statements like “what time did Siena come in today” and “how long did she stay at the office”. Work is evaluated by results—period. This pandemic has shown many of us that irrefutable positive results are achieved while not actually in the office. These times have displayed that the old notion of you need to be in your office, to be working, are long gone. 

In a ROWE, if organizations and staff set up clear goals, timelines, and metrics, they can work wherever they want, whenever they want, if the work is getting done! ROWE results-based organizations give employees greater ownership, and in these situations, productivity increases—a lot! Again, ROWE is a cultural shift, and one of the only good things that has come out of the pandemic.

 

WJ: What has career coaching been like given social distancing, and given the remote nature of the process you’ve designed?

EM:

Basically, I zero in on how to position each individual’s talents, skills, passions, and career paths using only remote access technology. This has been an integral part of my custom program since day one in 2015. For that reason, how I coach each client through Fasttrack2YrDreamJob is to seamlessly dovetail the client’s job transition in light of the current environment. With my five years of invaluable experience in remote coaching processes, after success as a leader in other fields, I have been able to continue to leverage the platform of remote accessibility to continue maximizing the opportunities for clients that match their aspirations and talents.

 

WJ: Edith, you began your career as a financial advisor, then a fundraiser, then a turn in academia, followed by leading as Director of Development and Marketing at a non-profit organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts. How did this path prepare you to transition to Fasttrack2YrDreamJob and using your tools and techniques to aid others?

EM:

My 25-year career path—in several organizations and, now, privately—includes financial advising, charitable fundraising, academia, and coaching. My fundraising workshops led to my partnering with several non-profits in Massachusetts, leading workforce development workshops with diverse audiences throughout the year. Most notably, I’ve been partnering with the Professional Development Collaborative, Inc. pdcboston.org, where I have been leading fundraising workshops for seven consecutive years.

 

WJ: Great! You were named #1 Career Coach in 2017 by LinkedIn. How do you feel about your current situation?

EM:

I am immensely “inspired” by each of my clients’ life stories, and I am passionate about being a part of their journeys to achieve career and personal success and impact the community and organizations that value their talent and expertise. I’m very excited and humbled that my mission to help talented, motivated professionals has supported so many professionals nationwide and helped them land their dream job.

My primary goal is to ensure that those in job transition can avoid the enormous frustrations, disappointments, and stresses that I went through historically, in my own career searches. My greatest joy is receiving that phone call from my clients, and hearing:

“I accepted the job offer for my dream job—I’m ecstatic.“

 

WJ: Through our collaborations, you have consistently focused on believing in the full potential of each individual. Can you tell us about that and the influence it has had on your customized coaching programs?

EM:

Thank you for recognizing that, Wayne. My coaching program’s success is based heavily on the value each person puts on their individual work and life experiences. My clients need to accurately convey their belief in this value, verbally and in writing, before, during, and after interviews. I emphasize this philosophy throughout the program.

The most notable lesson I learned from my job transitions has been the critical ways that talented, motivated professionals impact organizations and the community as a whole. In fact, I can’t emphasize this concept enough with my clients. This is a central theme in my coaching program.

 

WJ: How can interested professionals contact you?

EM:

LinkedIn.com/in/edithmoriczmba or 617-755-1772 or info@rocketyournonprofit.co

 

Category:

Business Services, Consulting, Digital marketing, Entrepreneur, Non-Profit, personal branding, Social media management

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Liz Zamagni, Lead Age Group Coach for Austin Aquatics & Sports Academy (Austin, TX)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

 

Elizabeth Zamagni (Liz) grew up in Boston, Massachusetts where she swam for Simmons College while receiving her Dual Masters Degree in Elementary and Special Education.

She was a NCAA qualifier and all scholastic collegiate athlete for all four years. She went on to coach for 8 different swim teams ranging from age group, masters and triathlon swimming within the Greater Boston Area. Liz was instrumental in saving her local YMCA’s Swimming Team from being cut from their programming. She grew the team from single digits, led them to win 3 championship titles and established a team merger with 2 other local YMCA’s to create a USA Team within the southern area of Boston Massachusetts. Liz then became an Aquatics Director leading her aquatics facility to acceded revenue goals, participation and creating new programming for those communities.

To continue her knowledge of athletics, Liz became a certified Personal Trainer/Nutrition Coach with ISSA, pursued certifications in Pre & Post Natal, Viper Training, Stick & Acumobility Trainings and became a Certified Water Aerobics Instructor with ASFA. She is a dedicated athlete within her own fitness program where she enjoys Yoga, Bare, Pilates, Strength and TRX training. Liz is a Boston girl at heart and so loves to cheer on her local sports teams. She believes with dedication, determination and commitment, anything is possible!

 

BSO: Tell us about your job. What is your title ? What are your key responsibilities?

LZ:

I am a Lead Swim Coach for 2 age groups within a 350+ swim team. I lead 2 of the younger ages (6-9 & 9-10). I also assist one of my co-coaches with 2 of their groups (11-12 & 15+). I am fully responsible in creating the groups workouts each day. The individual workouts have to come together and look at the season as a whole to include the children’s individual goals, my and the team’s goals such as winning the championship meet at the end of the season. I send weekly emails to parents about what to expect each week along with monthly emails about each child’s progress. I have 57 children in total I am fully responsible for. I also keep track of each child’s attendance, attitude and overall health and wellbeing. I then assist my co-coaches with the same goals and daily practices when I am the assistant for their groups. My company also offers a Masters Swim Team for adults which I coach twice a week, working with the other coaches to create a smooth and cohesive plan for each month with their goals in mind. I lead a homeschool workout for children twice a week to fulfill their gym requirement. Lastly, I teach private lessons for adults and children, working with them on their goals such as improving on their next triathlon or learning to swim so they can join their middle school swim team (Swimming is a huge sport in Texas).

All in all, my greatest responsibility is listening to others and helping to direct and guide them from what they shared with me to reach their goals.

 

BSO: There is no typical day in the life of talented, ambitious professionals. Share with us your a.m. to p.m.

LZ:

My schedule is different every day as we have limited pool space and each group does not swim every day. I am coaching a total of 32 hours on deck. My younger group swims three times a week while my older kids swim 4 times a week. When I assist I am helping out with five other practices a week. The young kids swim for 1 hour, then 1.5 and lastly 2 hours for the oldest groups. All of my groups swim after school so my day really goes from 4-8:30pm. I am coaching the homeschoolers and masters around lunchtime and complete about 2 hours of administration during the mornings. If we have a swim meet, I am working the weekends from 7am-2pm Saturday and Sunday. If we have no swim meet, then just Saturday practices/swim lessons from 8-1pm leaving Sunday as an off day. I have always been a morning person so I get up around 5-6am and am in bed by 9-10pm.

 

BSO: What are your ‘can’t live without’ software applications?

LZ:

I love my apple watch for personal use. I spend my time coaching on the pool deck so my watch is great for quick emails and texts if an athlete will be out. I love all google products and use the calendar for my scheduling. I use the sheets to create my workouts, log athletes goals and other data. In the swimming world, all statistics are run through a software called Teamunify so I could not live without that as that keeps my swimmers times, meets, attendance and can run all my reports.

 

BSO: What was the best advice you received when you began your career ?

LZ:

I would say that the best advice I was given was from 2 different role models at 2 different parts of my life. In college, my coach said never act as if you know anything and always ask why someone did something. This has allowed me to take so much away from other great coaches. My most recent manager said that if you want to reach the top level of competition in any sport, you have to follow and not lead. This has helped me to make friendships with other top level coaches and not be seen as a threat but as a person looking to help and learn from them.

 

BSO: What are your proudest achievements, professional & personal?

LZ:

Attending and graduating from Simmons College in Boston. This was the hardest for me as I have a learning disability called Dyslexia. I was told my freshman year of highschool that I would be lucky to attend a community college and, after that, not to expect much.

Getting into a private school like Simmons was my way of showing everyone who said I was unteachable that they were wrong. Then choosing to attend Simmons College where I swam all 4 years and spent an extra year and a half to get a dual masters in teaching has opened so many doors for me. I found my love for coaching and education there in my sport of swimming. I proved to myself that my limitations are nothing more than self doubt and I am capable of anything.

 

BSO: What are you currently reading?

LZ:

I am currently reading “High Performance Habits” How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendon Burchard; #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author.

 

BSO: What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?

LZ:

Working for the YMCA of Greater Boston.

I came in to a swim team that was going to shut down because they did not have the funding or numbers to keep it. I worked with people within that community, local business and the Thomas M. Menino Family to re-create their swim team. We offer a 100% financial aid system for families in need. This included the yearly team cost and fees, a Swimsuit, Team shirt, Water bottle, covering all their meet entry fees and anything else they needed such as swim caps and goggles.

 

BSO: Who has influenced your career the most?

LZ:

My Two Swim Coaches. My Boys and Girls club coach Sherrel Farrell for showing me that the sport of swimming can and should be accessible to everyone, no matter your age, ability, background or finances. Then, my college coach Melinda Williams for making me a true athlete with a love for the sport but also giving me my first lead coaching job and teaching me what it means to be a coach, leader and role model  in someone’s life.

 

BSO: What is your advice for young professionals?

LZ:

My advice is that life’s meant to test you, to push you down and make you fall or fail. We all have our problems and challenges. Our responsibility is to push back each and everyday. To show up better than you were yesterday. To rise in that testing moment for you never know that impact you could have on someone else through your experiences and challenges.

Category:

Consulting, Non-Profit

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Istvan Barath |Videographer |Freelancer|Networker (London, England)

 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

BSO: Tell us about your passion for personal branding.

IB:

I’m very business oriented. I would say, since my childhood, I had this inside me.  I was selling my old clothes and toys on a market. I visited many carboot sales hunting for deals, although I was about to start a lot of different types of businesses, but none of them worked out as working model.

Currently, I’m in the process of launching a video production company, also involved with a software development company, plus building my personal brand which is about giving value. Needless to say, the latter doesn’t make any money. I also have a full time job as a Bar Manager in central London. So my mind is quite busy !

BSO: There is no typical day in the life of an entrepreneur. Share with us your a.m. to p.m.

IB:

I wake up and take my little one to the nursery.  After,  I go to work from the morning till late night 3 times a week. The rest of the days,  I’m making videos, building relationships on mostly Linkedin, and also,  if I can,  I attend some meetups. I’m always searching for potential business opportunities and trends. It’s one of my biggest passions.

BSO: What are your ‘can’t live without’ software applications?

IB:

Obviously, it’s Linkedin ! Otherwise,  I’m also a crazy fan of Workapp but I like to make notes about my thoughts so any sort of application allowing me to do that I’m a fan of !

BSO: What was the best advice you received when you started your business?

IB:

Have some money on the side, never be on the edge, and always be prepared.

BSO: What has been your strategy for building awareness of your business?

IB:

Buiding awareness is not easy although if you engage with the right people, its certainly possible, so my advice is to be loyal to your community and engage. Building relationships is what matters in the long term. Always see the bigger picture.

 

BSO: What are your proudest achievements, professional & personal?

IB:

My daughter definitely.

Professionally , I have always been trying to be the best on anything I was doing. I received employee of the month award and, another time, a trip to Holland with all the expenses paid as a nomination for my hard work. Also,  I built a community on Linkedin nearly 8000 people in a matter of months, influencing quite a lot of people as I share my story of how to move to a new country and all the struggles I went through. I became a storyteller suddenly. I’m quite proud of my mindset change. My video creation skills have improved considerably. 3months ago, I didn’t even know what acmirrorless camera is !

BSO: What are you currently reading?

IB:

There are some ebooks I’m reading normally. Currently, I’m listening to podcasts instead.  I like Jay Shetty and Gary Vaynerchuk

BSO: What are your most rewarding charitable involvements?

IB:

I haven’t had a chance to get involved in any big charity yet, but my aim is to help the homeless people and families in Hungary.

BSO: Who has influenced your career the most? 

IB:

I found Shane Wallace, founder of Workapp, really influential, as well, as Cory Warfield,  the founder of Shedwool.

BSO: What is your advice for starting a business?

IB:

Find the right people with the right mindset.

Have enough cash to start.

Execute, test, test and improve.

Most importantly, have a plan and stick to it. Never lose focus and you will be successful.

Thank you very much!

Category:

Business Services, Consulting, personal branding, Videography

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Sanjay Shah, Managing Director of Visionary Digital Studios Pty Ltd

Sanjay Shah’s Bio

 

 

I’m an adventurer at heart. Both in my personal life and professional life. This has had me performing a diverse range of leadership roles in various capacities throughout my career, from managing technical teams at Top 4 corporate consultancies, to leading tours of 20-somethings all over Europe. At the peak of my IT career, at Deloitte, I was running a 24 x 7 Australia-wide technical delivery team servicing large government organizations and multi-national corporations.

In between, I’ve traveled all over the world, both in professional capacities as well as solo adventures, cultivating my interest in people and cultures – slowly developing the hunger to harness the digital era and work with people all over the world.

This experience has led me to my current passion, running Visionary Digital Studios.

We are an Australian company, with our team working in different cities across Australia’s East Coast. But we currently have a small network of partnerships and suppliers from India, London, Philippines and the US. We’re a young company, and have a long way to go – but I am loving every minute of it. The stress is so rewarding, and the triumphs are amazing.

Lots of hard work to come for me! But life is good ..

In the Spotlight Interview

1. You are the Managing Director at Visionary Digital Studios Ppy Limited in Brisbane Australia. Please share with us your path to this role.

Sanjay Shah : My career over the last 10 years has had me managing senior technical teams all over Australia, in both small IT companies and large household consulting companies like Deloitte and Capgemini.  In all honesty, I loved the corporate environment! But during the last few years I felt that I wanted to use my skills to build my own business – I wanted to implement a culture, and a brand, that represented more inspiring values. This is often very difficult to achieve in corporate environments which are driven by sales targets, outdated mindsets and status quo. I was able to use my sales, copywriting, project management and leadership experience to build the right team required to produce premium Animated Explainer Videos.

Of course – I’ve been lucky with some amazing mentors all the way – in person, online and formal education (I’m a graduate of timothymarc.com entrepreneurship training) – who’ve taught me how to build a business, how to lead and how to enjoy the process as it unfolds. We are now over a year into starting up, and really enjoying the roller coaster. Our core product is still custom Animated Explainer Videos. But we’ve also branched out into eLearning modules, and formed alliances with some exciting partners who share our vision. Looking forward to seeing where the path takes us!

 

2. Take us through a typical day, start to finish.

Sanjay Shah : I like to keep my schedule as fresh as possible. I’ve found that having a rigid, set routine makes me feel bored and gradually erodes inspiration from my thinking. So I switch it up often – but currently my typical Monday involves:

Morning (6am – 8:30am): Early start with a meditation session, and then a Spirulana green shake on the balcony (which overlooks the Pacific Ocean!). From there, I’ll either go to the gym or have a quick swim at the beach. Before I work, I read through a “manifesto” I’ve written for myself called a “Life Gyroscope”– this details a set of objectives and mindsets I have for both my personal vision and my vision for our company. It helps me to keep perspective on the bigger picture while going through the chaos of the day.

Business Day (9am – 5:30pm): Focus on project production activities, sales and team management tasks during the day, when I’m more likely to be able to easily communicate with our team/customers/potential customers. I’ll either work from my balcony at home, or at my co-working space, which has a super-inspiring group of people all working towards inspiring things.

Evening (5:30pm – 9:30pm): Focus on marketing and business improvement tasks after hours as this is often work I can complete on my own. I make sure I play at least 30 mins of Guitar a day (keeping my dream of playing lead guitar
in world-touring band alive!). During the week, I have dinner in front of a laptop, following content from my favourite online mentors (currently Timothy Marc, Gary Vaynerchuk, Simon Sinek).

Night: Half an hour or so of “Pleasure reading” which I’ve found gets me nicely tired. These days I’m loving Eastern Philosophy, but always have time for some intense fiction!

 

3. What was the best advice you received when you created Visionary Digital Studios?

Sanjay Shah : I was taught about the concept of “Resistance” – the emotion of fear that stops you from taking on massive endeavors, and blocks your productivity when you need it. Business is SO CHALLENGING – being able to recognize the resistance, that comes every step of the way helps me to embrace it and move through it, rather than succumbing.

 

4. What are your strategies for building awareness of your company, short and long term?

Sanjay Shah : We are building a brand of “helping innovative people get exciting ideas into the world” around EVERYTHING we do. This means that we want to work with customers who have innovative ideas and see themselves as unique beyond their industry-norm. But we want to take this mindset a step further and ensure that the staff, suppliers and business partners we choose also have a vision beyond the mundane. Designing our marketing, processes and communications around this concept ensures that our company resonates with the exact type of people we’d like to have in our network, allowing us to work with people we love – both internally and externally. We’re still a young company, so infusing this mindset into everything we do is a continuing challenge, but one that guides our decision making processes every step of the way.

 

5. What is your proudest achievement?

Sanjay Shah : 5 years ago now I had a job as a Tour Manager, taking groups of 50 people all over Europe. That first tour, as I was pulling away from home-base in London, was probably the scariest experience I’ve ever been through! I was in charge of this group of people I’d just met, taking them through countries where I didn’t speak the language, and had barely even been to! Every day of that first tour around Europe was an absolute ordeal. But I miraculously got through it, and everything was fine. From that moment, I was addicted to the euphoria of leaning into my fear and living intense experiences (like running a business!).

 

6. What are your top 3 book recommendations?

Sanjay Shah : As I learn and grow, my favourite books change often. At the moment, my current list, in no particular order:

“Start With Why”, Simon Sinek – So many entrepreneurs are building businesses just to “get rich”, or even worse, to be “financially free”. Unfortunately, this generally means their current decisions are made through the lenses of “I don’t have enough” or “I’m financially-tied”. I’d like to see more business owners have a clear vision of WHY they do what they do – this book (and all of Sinek’s talks) showed me the value of this.

The War of Art, Steven Pressfield – not the easiest one to get through. But a great book to show you how to get through the difficult, boring and stressful times in business.

Anything written by Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferriss, Osho – 3 very different authors, who write about very different things. But I find that whenever I’m reading their works I get amazing insights and tangible breakthroughs in
running Visionary Digital Studios.

 

7. What other charitable causes are most meaningful to you & why?

Sanjay Shah : Currently I have a mandatory monthly “giving” fund – an amount of money I have to give away to charitable causes each month. To be honest, it’s no massive amount, but will continue to grow with the company. This allows me to keep my mindset on always looking for ways I can give money away (to use up the fund), rather than my old perspective of “how can I give the least and still get away with it!”

Longer term, I’m looking to connect to my heritage (Indian) and work my way into some humanitarian causes over there. I’ve grown up very Australian (like my accent!), but over the last few years have felt an increasing yearning to understand India and be involved in its evolution.

 

8. Who has been most influential toward your accomplishments, professional & personal?

Sanjay Shah : I have been so lucky to have a handful of AMAZING mentors – both in life, and from books/content. None that I’ve ever formally asked for – but people who have been in my life and provided me with IMMENSE value, just because that’s the type of people they are. I’m a firm believer that “when the student is ready, the master appears” – and this has happened consistently for me over the last 10 years.

 

9. What is your advice for entrepreneurs who are 1-3 months away from launching a digital marketing business?

Sanjay Shah : For me, the business journey so far has been simply AWESOME, while consistently pushing my limitations.  I have found the cost of all glory in life is a balancing amount of sweat and tears. So be mentally prepared for INTENSE challenges and remember to love every second of it, regardless of where you’re at.

Category:

Business Services, Consulting, Technology

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