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From Rock Bottom to 30 Under 30
Re-Inventing a $1M+ “Regular” Business for Greater Meaning with Evolved Enterpreneur Raj Jana
Do you have an existing business that is doing okay financially but leaves you unfulfilled or aware that you’re not playing your biggest game?
If yes, keep reading….
Raj Jana started JavaPresse Coffee Company in his spare time and built it into a 100k per month business that sells coffee preparation equipment (coffee grinders, French presses, etc.).
While he was initially thrilled with hitting his financial targets (while still working at his day job!), he quickly found that each new financial success had a diminishing sense of “buzz” and accomplishment.
In short, he knew there had to be more to business than simply turning a profit. The problem was, he had no idea where to start.
Around this time, Raj stumbled on Evolved Enterprise and immediately knew he was onto something….
Raj purchased the Evolved Business Blueprint and CO|altion membership, delegated as much of his workload as possible to his colleagues, and literally shut himself away in a back room for three whole weeks to submerge himself in the content, hoping to emerge with the answers he was looking for to reinvent his business….
Raj was quickly immersed in the content, and by following the lesson plans in sequential order, he found himself on a deep internal journey as he dug through his own personal background and studied the life stories, strengths, and shortcomings of his greatest idols before gradually connecting the dots between how this all related back to his own core values and his big vision for his business.
Raj’s process was to write, research, reflect, and write some more until he at last emerged from his three-week retreat. When he did, he had a clear definition of core values, glowing insight into his “big why,” and an engaging examination of his own personal backstory ready to connect with his draft 2020 vision for his business.
Last week, Raj stepped up and participated in a live business model brainstorming “CO|create” call with Chris Hay, Evolved Enterprise Community Chief and Yanik Silver to discuss his research and to get real-time feedback on his creative work in front of a live audience of several dozen other aspiring Evolved Entrepreneurs.
Speaking to Raj after the call, he says that the CO|create process (a feature of our CO|alition membership) gave him increased clarity around how the various parts he’s been working on fit together and, perhaps more than anything else, the simple reassurance to entrust his own instincts in discovering the essence of what his business is to become.
Raj’s story is a work in progress and, as such, demonstrates a fantastic real-world example of someone stepping into the deep work of investigating and investing in himself (evolving you) in order to uncover a genuine cause alignment before letting this purpose permeate every inch of his business.
Watch this space as Raj keeps us posted about where he takes things from here…and in the meantime if you love great coffee and want only the best gear to grind, store, and prepare your brew, visit www.javapresse.com today, and help Raj on his journey to becoming a truly Evolved Entrepreneur.
Key Takeaways from Raj:
- It’s an iterative process, so stay consistent. I journaled and immersed myself in the process every single day, and I am glad I did. When creating my vision, I found myself pulling bits and pieces from different journal entries to put together a complete story. It isn’t something you can do in one sitting.
- Set a deadline. “Figuring yourself out” is a lifelong journey, and it will remain that way if you try to make things perfect. Give yourself a goal to have your vision 90% done by a certain date; then start getting feedback. This allows you to 80/20 the process with laser focus and infuses a sense of urgency that I feel aids personal creativity.
- Trust and listen to yourself. I found certain parts of the Evolved Business Blueprint to be more powerful for myself (studying idols in particular), so I spent additional time doing those parts. If it feels right, dig deeper.
The Simple Secret to Creating (Seemingly) More Than 24 Hours In Your Day
Are you an entrepreneur who’s working on building your dream business while trying to have a life? If so, chances are you always feel like there’s not enough time in the day. Like you’re always playing catch-up. You wake up wired, with a million-and-one things on your mind you know you have to get done.
Maybe it’s gotten to the point where you have started losing focus in meetings, putting important relationships on the back burner and not showing up in the way your family, team and customers need you to. It feels like time is beating you to pieces.
It’s time you realized that you’ve been playing the game all wrong.
Everyone is given the same hours, but there are people out there who seem to wield time in their favor to experience extraordinary fulfillment. From the outside looking in, their productivity and consistent level of activity seem superhuman. Something that they’re born with.
You can make yourself superhuman, too.
This isn’t your conventional time management article. This isn’t about the hustle and bustle of doing more. It’s about setting intentional reasons for why you want to get things done, and then implementing practical strategies to maximize moments so that you’re always staying in flow and working toward milestones that light you up.
Related: Impatience is Why Time Management Techniques Fail So Often
Bending time in your favor.
The secret to accomplishing more is bending time. When you can extend every minute of your day beyond the conventional rules of time, you give yourself an enormous advantage over the masses. It all boils down to mindset.
First step — forget everything you know about time management and throw out conventional ways of thinking.
The concept of “bending time” looks beyond 24 hours in a day by challenging the relationship you have toward the things you do and the people you interact with so that you can reframe your mindset to feel happier, more excited and more productive with the time you’re given.
It’s about intentionally designing a lifestyle that allows you to dramatically increase the value of your time. When you believe your time is worth more, you’re motivated to expand how you use every moment to live life to the fullest.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create this reality for yourself.
Related: 20 Quick Tips for Better Time Management
1. Start with why.
What do you want to achieve in each part of your life? When you’re clear about how you want to show up at work, in your relationships, physically, mentally, spiritually and beyond, you have goals to work backward from. You’ll have the clarity to align your daily actions with where you want to go and replace failing habits with winning ones that are working together to maximize the speed with which you achieve said goals.
If you haven’t identified what fuels you in different parts of life, sit back and think about what makes you happy. Here are some categories to consider: health, wealth, family, friendships, career and business, learning, hobbies, you love life and your bucket list.
Defining success in what each of these areas means to youwill be one of the most important activities you’ll ever complete. It will allow you to think about how and where you are spending your time and will create an opportunity to realign your daily actions to your improved definitions of success.
Related: Taking Charge Of Your Career Success: Start By Defining What Being Successful Means To You
2. Implement proven strategies to maximize time.
Once you are more intentional about what you want and why, it’s time to focus on how you’re going to get there. There are practical things you can do to manage time better, but those tricks only work if you’re clear about where you’re headed. Having clarity on your why allows you to intentionally plan your day in your favor.
Here are two strategies you can implement immediately to free up your time and the energy spent managing it.
1. Manage your focus. You might think an hour in the gym is mandatory. But when you remove having friendly chats, checking Facebook or taking long breaks, you quickly realize you don’t need more than 20 minutes to kill yourself in the gym. The same goes for everything else in your life. Instead of managing your time, stop multitasking and focus on being effective. Design rituals you can engage to kickstart your focus and repeat them every day. Train your mind to be fully present in the task at hand. This is an invaluable skill that will serve you forever — and it’s something you can start building immediately.
2. Own your calendar. A mentor of mine, Bryan Miles from Belay Solutions, once told me, “If you don’t own your calendar, your calendar will own you.” If you want to be a better partner, set aside time for date nights. If you want to be a better parent, put time on your calendar to play with your kids. If you want to get in shape, schedule time for a workout.
Owning your calendar empowers you to be infinitely more sensitive to wasted time while removing the energy spent remembering what you need to focus on. The more you learn to own your calendar, the more you will work to fill in unused slots with productive and meaningful activities.
Related: Multitasking Doesn’t Work. Use This 100-Year-Old Method to Get Stuff Done.
3. Live in the moment.
Once you know your why and have implemented strategies to maximize time, there’s only one step left: Be present.
Time is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. It doesn’t exist and is actually just a concept we have created to make sense of something that isn’t meant to be understood. The only thing that matters is the present moment because that’s the only thing that’s guaranteed.
The minute you realize that time doesn’t really exist, you can bend the “rules” of time in your favor. You begin seeing time as a string of present moments, each fueled by the intention to live the ideals you value. When you make presence the goal, you turn time into your ally instead of something that stresses you out. It is the fundamental fabric that fuels your ability to make more from less, allowing you to live a more abundant life.
Related: Don’t Forget the Importance of Living in the Now
Make time your friend.
Making plans for the future is a tool only when you’ve learned to take complete control of the present.
Infusing meaning into every minute is a conscious decision. Everyone is born with the same 24 hours in a day, but you can supercharge those hours with the right mindset. It isn’t about the time you’re given; it’s about what you do with the time you’ve got that makes all the difference.
Like Randy Pausch, well known for the inspirational speech he delivered after receiving a terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis, said, “We don’t beat the reaper by living longer; we beat the reaper by living well…”
Every moment is precious, and more important, every moment is in your control. Once you realize that time management is a function of intentional thinking, you begin to feel harmony and balance in everything you work on, which ultimately energizes you to create more, give more and get more out of everyday life.
How 5 Companies Found the Perfect Company Culture Within Their Business
A lot of companies talk about culture. However, not many truly define what it means to have an environment that makes work feel less like, well, work. Instead, that environment should be something that adds satisfaction, happiness and motivation to each workday. It should provide purpose and direction.
Developing a great company culture is easier when you know what ingredients to put together, and in what measure. It’s kind of like brewing the perfect cup of coffee. You make the brew and take that first sip; and the satisfaction you experience is hard to put in words. You just know it’s good.
Here are some companies that exhibit the ingredients of that perfect brew, and why:
Prezi
Prezi is a presentation-software company, based in Budapest and San Francisco, which recognizes that cultures don’t always have to be about the extroverts in their ranks. In the past, numerous organizations have seemed to only praise and move outgoing people up the career ladder. Since these people may also be loud and pushy, they’re seen as the ideal; they must know what they’re doing, right? In reality, however, the quieter types may actually be the key to a company’s success.
Consider Prezi, which takes looking inward to a new level, due to its CEO and co-founder, Peter Arvai. Arvai refers to himself as an introvert; he’s even talked about this characteristic in interviews like this one in Fortune magazine. Arvai has said that at his company, introverts are encouraged to work on their own as well as be active team members.
That doesn’t mean that the company overall is quiet and antisocial. This CEO just believes that introverts can add more to a company in terms of their creativity and imagination.
“While partying and extroversion are the norm in some startups,” Arvai told Fortune, “most companies need a variety of roles within the company and different personalities that fit those roles. Some [who are extroverts] need to be around others to thrive, while others [the introverts] need to be alone, so they can focus and get their work done.
“Some startups consist of drinking and high-fiving,” Arvai continued. “Others, like Prezi, have quiet rooms and meditation rooms — small areas to provide brain space — and even more have a mix of both.”
JavaPresse
JavaPresse Coffee Company, a ground-coffee seller headquartered in Cheyenne, Wy., has leveraged its strengths, including product functionality. According to the company’s website, its culture springs from its pride in its patent-pending burr grinder and its emphasis on the customer experience, which prompted the founding of JavaPresse’s specialty coffee club.
The organization is internally unified by a common mission to help customers experience consistent happiness. As company founder Raj Jana noted in an interview with Inc. magazine:“I think, more than anything, our mission statement has united our team to deliver messages, products and designs with an air of consistency. Our core values are built around a desire to help customers stay grounded; and the energy we put out to achieve our mission returns itself tenfold, with the right customers, who are passionate and excited to be a part of our family.”
Squarespace
SquareSpace, a website-development platform, was named by Crain’s New York Business as one of the best places to work in New York City.Behind the scenes, it’s Squarespace’s company culture that accounts for that “best place to work” award. And that culture? Its base elements include free movement and communication between staff and executives, features also described in a feature story by Entrepreneur.
While this openness tends to be a standard feature of startups, something happens when those companies grow; the openness often is lost. However, Squarespace has worked to continue this freedom as part of its culture, by purposely not adding layers of management, and ensuring that all employees have a say.
In the Entrepreneur interview, the company’s CEO, Anthony Casalena, noted that the challenge was to get all 500 employees on the same page in terms of thinking and believing. That’s why the culture focuses so heavily on communication, he said. According to Casalena: “You have to do a lot of work to communicate what we’re going for, what ‘good’ looks like, what ‘bad’ looks like, what the values look like.”
According to the Crain’s article, the result is confidence, motivation and ownership, all of which define the Squarespace culture.
LEGO
LEGO, the imaginative play-and-build platform company headquartered in Denmark, with offices and locations worldwide, has a fun company culture evidenced by what it makes — and the new products its employees dream up. At LEGO, a continuous focus on wonder and imaginative play help make up company’s culture, according to an interview with Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, LEGO CEO, available on YouTube.
In order to have creative, happy and satisfied employees, the CEO said, he knew that the company had to build a work environment around the same values it was building into its products for the children and parents that are its customers. This has included setting up what is more like a studio and play space than your typical office format. WIthin this space, children often visit and interact with the team during tours and product testing.
Interestingly, there are no manuals or rule books at LEGO to frame what employees do; and the attitude behind that encourages a freer-thinking environment than that of traditional stuffy cultures. Such stuffiness might stifle the innovation LEGO wants.
REI
Headquartered in Kent, Wash., REI is an outdoor lifestyle company, which, like the other companies described here, combines its brand and cultural values.
REI’s culture is about social consciousness and the need to take care of the environment. The company models this characteristic by caring for its customers and employees, equipping them with what they require while making it easy for them to be environmentally sensitive in their jobs.
This ownership goes well beyond just words on a page. In fact, REI is a retail cooperative whose employees own the company. As Jerry Stritzke, the CEO since 2013, explained in an article for The Atlantic. “There’s a real sense of community that’s phenomenally important. I would say it’s a compelling competitive advantage; and, as we look to the future, I think that the idea of having a community organized around a shared passion — in this case a love of a life lived outside — is really important.”
In this context, employees are rewarded for outdoor-adventure product ideas. An example is the idea someone suggested, of sending out people to repair recently purchased REI gear so the gear can still be used — rather than have the company encourage customers to buy brand new merchandise.
In this spirit, given REI’s “shared passion” culture, the company holds town hall meetings to get employees comfortable with the idea that they have a say in everything, that their ideas drive change. Theirs is a culture of immersion — whatever belongs to the company also belongs to the employees.
The recipe for an exceptional culture
The perfect company culture is not about ping pong tables, extra days off and the freedom to telecommute. Instead,it’s one where on-site and off-site employees enjoy the same benefits. Other attributes might include an emphasis on workplace equality and fairness, ownership and trust, openness and appreciation.
The perfect culture looks and sounds great on paper, but it also looms large in employees’ real-life experience because it emphasizes admirable core values. Finally, the perfect culture is one where leadership leads by example and where employees emulate that lead. In short, “culture” permeates everything.
My Company Grew 800 Percent in a Year After I Made This Mindset Shift Grow
When it comes to rapid growth, there are lots of strategies you can implement. But what if I told you that the strategy responsible for growing my business 800 percent in the last year was free? Not only that, but it was a strategy that gave us an insane edge by elevating the competitiveness of our new products, authenticity of our marketing and strength of our team.
The strategy is gratitude –the practice of being intentional and authentic in your appreciation toward your customers, your team and your life.
Now, if someone had told me this time last year that practicing gratitude would be so important, I’d have laughed! But looking back, I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.
So if you’re curious about the hidden power of gratitude and how to implement this practice in your business, keep reading. As well as thefive pillars of gratitude, I’ll also share some simple techniques inspired by these pillars to apply so you can reach massive growth in your own business.
1. Gratitude fuels an abundance mindset.
Gratitude is a practice that helps you feel good about who you are, what you have and what you’re doing. It helps you connect more deeply with yourself and others while empowering a heightened sense of purpose. Combining this concept with strategic goal-setting transforms it into a business game changer.
When you feel abundant, you consistently push the boundaries because shooting for the moon feels safe. In this way, a sense of gratitude inspires you to think bigger, take risks, push through fear and follow through on the actions needed to hit stretch goals.
When you make appreciation and gratitude a daily practice, you feel as if you can do more and give more. When you appreciate what you have, you feel obligated to give back — fueling your goals with impact.
Finally, when there’s greater impact at play, you’re motivated to achieve big, unattainable goals because you’re aware of the meaningful difference your company can make. This attitude opens the doors to the right connections and opportunities and helps convert growth goals into reality — because abundance attracts abundance.
2. Gratitude makes for happier employees.
According to Nataly Kogan, author of Happier Now: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Embrace Everyday Moments, “There are more than 11,000 different studies that have shown that if there is one habit that we can all adopt to improve our physical and emotional well-being, it’s the practice of gratitude.”
So as well as boosting your own output, gratitude fosters happiness, which empowers your team to perform at a higher level too.
Gratitude is the ultimate connector. It breaks down barriers and allows everyone to find common ground — regardless of their position in the business. For example, starting off team meetings with a gratitude roundtable not only transforms the atmosphere but builds stronger bonds too.
Developing a culture of appreciation and care can also result in a step change in effort and work quality. When people feel valued and important, they connect deeper with their work and your mission. This inspires fresh ideas, experimentation and innovation, which fuels growth. It’s a benefit that’s easy to foster too. Compliments and written acknowledgments take minimal time and cost you nothing, but go a long, long way.
3. Gratitude makes you more empathetic toward customers.
When you’re grateful for customers, you see individuals and not dollar signs. In turn, you feel inspired to show your appreciation, and this puts more emphasis on delivering an impeccable customer experience.
Sales grow as a result of this shift because when customers feel valued they become your biggest fans. Along with buying more of your products, they’ll refer you to their friends, post positive messages about you on social media and give great testimonials. This level of connectedness can make or break your company.
So by actively implementing appreciation towards your customers, you begin caring more about the way your product makes your customers feel. This attitude of stepping into your customers’ shoes is fueled by gratitude and a mindset that motivates you to put more emphasis on retention, engagement and lifetime value.
One way to put this into practice is to write a thank you letter to your favorite customer. This simple activity sparks all kinds of ideas that can help you build profitable relationships instead of constantly hustling for the next sale.
4. Gratitude injects authenticity into your marketing.
When you genuinely care about your customers and the way your product makes them feel, your marketing transforms.
Instead of focusing on product features, you turn to storytelling. You switch off the BS, stop being faceless, and focus on building meaningful connections with your target audience.
At JavaPresse, we took on the responsibility to tell our farmers’ stories because we were grateful for the hard work they do. We challenge the narrative around coffee because we are grateful for the joy it brings us in our own lives — and we want others to experience it the same way.
When you feel proud and grateful for the way you market and sell your services, it shows. Customers feel it, investors sense “something different” about your pitch, and you craft your own sub-culture in your market.
5. Gratitude fuels you like a boss — so you can handle more.
As the boss, gratitude energizes you to deal with the challenges and stress that running a business can bring. When you’re at the helm, it all falls on you. If you want to succeed, you have to nurture your mindset and resilience so you can keep going regardless.
A lot of success comes down to mindset — and whether you believe you can do it.
Gratitude keeps you in a positive frame of mind by training you to focus on what you DO have and what you CAN do. Practice gratitude and you’ll always have access to a tool that can shift your perspective and help you unlock the resources needed to overcome roadblocks and get back on track.
Gratitude also keeps you feeling positive. This boosts your confidence and self-belief because, in your eyes, the glass is always half full. In this way, gratitude becomes your cheat code to success. A practice that keeps your own well full — even during those times when nothing seems to work and it’s all falling apart. In fact, gratitude is especially powerful during those times.
A new approach to growth.
We can all implement hacks and growth strategies, but without the right mindset, the foundations become weak — putting your rapidly growing business at risk of falling apart. Gratitude is the super glue that holds it all together.
It’s a free practice that gives you a competitive edge, which can transform the trajectory of your business. That’s certainly been the case for my company, and I believe it can be the same for you as well.
