As an entrepreneur and business owner, you have to prioritize things that align with your vision and goals. As a result of this, if something doesn’t directly impact my goals and vision, I have learned to say no.
Jeet Banerjee is a 25 year old serial entrepreneur, digital marketing consultant, TEDx speaker and best-selling author. Jeet began his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 17 and since then has launched 10+ companies. In addition to that, he has sold 2 companies for a profit and helped thousands of entrepreneurs launch their businesses.
Where did the idea for TheIncomeIncubator.com come from?
My latest company that I have launched is TheIncomeIncubator.com. The idea from this came to me a few years ago because I’ve always been super passionate about helping others launch their own businesses. I am not necessarily against college or the education system, but I think that it isn’t the only educational source to learn things. For those who are looking to start their own online business, I decided to put together this full scale academy with 7 online businesses that I teach them.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
My typical day begins with me at starting work around 8 am. I am usually spending the first two hours of my day coordinating with my employees and making sure everyone is on pace to have a productive day. From there, I usually spend the next two hours of my day on sales calls and managing our internal marketing campaigns. After that, I usually grab lunch and clear out my email box before hitting the gym. After that, I wrap up my work day usually spending time learning new things and planning how I’ll take my businesses to the next level.
I make my day productive by working smarter, not harder. I delegate the tasks that really don’t need my attention to other employees and I focus on doing the things that I’m really good. I have partners and other really strong members of my team that focus on my weaknesses while I focus on my strengths.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I’m super impatient, which is actually a blessing when it comes to bringing an idea to life. My first step is just to take massive action without thinking too much about it. I focus on finding the fastest way of whether or not my business idea is viable or not. I build a minimum viable product, survey ‘potential customers’ and do everything on a small scale until I get validation. If you’re going to fail, you might as well fail fast.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I’m extremely intrigued just from a fan side of things about the potential of AI technology. I think artificial intelligence is the next big thing and I’m really curious to see how it gets integrated in society more and more. So far it’s really been behind the curtains being used rather privately, but I think consumer application will be taking place very soon.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I think one of the best habits that I have learned over the years that I struggled with initially was saying no. As an entrepreneur and business owner, you have to prioritize things that align with your vision and goals. As a result of this, if something doesn’t directly impact my goals and vision, I have learned to say no. That has allowed me to avoid burning out and stay super productive on what’s important.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Humble yourself. I think as I sold my first company and started achieving a little bit of success, I let the success get to my head a bit. It wasn’t anything crazy, but I began being a little cocky when it coming to launch companies. I launched a company that failed massively just because I felt like any idea I had was the best ever. Even though I knew the process I had to validate a business idea, I ignored it and launched a company in the music industry (an industry I knew nothing about). I lost around $50,000 and failed epically but it definitely humbled myself and I’ve learned to always stay humble through all the failures and successes.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Competitors are the greatest thing. I love my competitors for a couple of reasons. One, it validates my business ideas and concepts. Two, everything that they have done before me paves the way for me. I get to learn from their mistakes, successes and strategies to see how I can do things better. Lastly, you can actually generate positive relationships with your competitors and find a way to mutually influence a community or industry together.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I constantly stay learning. The scariest thing as an entrepreneur is to become stagnant. I cannot tell people how important is to constantly keep learning because things are changing really fast. Charles Darwin said it best when he said it isn’t the strongest or the smartest that survive, but rather those willing to adapt.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
One strategy that has helped my business grow a lot is being as cheap as I possibly can. If you get $1 million to spend on your business, you’re going to be a little more careless with your spending. However because of the way I was raised, I am very strict in terms of how we make financial decisions within our business. Having that hungry mentality not only enables us to make the most of our finances, but it allows us to think outside the box to grow and scale our business.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
One of my earliest failures that I had was getting rejected and lost in the shuffle because I was so young. It almost stopped my entrepreneurial journey as a whole because I really felt like I was too young and unprepared to be a business owner. However, I learned to turn something that I thought was a negative into a positive. I knew I was young and so did everyone else, I just had to own it and make it an asset instead of a liability. That’s exactly what I did and I showed potential clients how my youth was an advantage that the competitors didn’t have.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Start a social media agency. There is so much money to be made right now with social media marketing services and too many businesses have no clue what they’re doing. Not only that, but even the ones that know what they’re doing don’t have the time to set up campaigns in-house.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The best $100 I spent recently was on a nice headset and controller for my Xbox One setup to play Fortnite. It’s a great way to keep my mind fresh and to take a short break throughout my busy days!
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
One of my favorite web services is called Basecamp. It’s a project management system and it allows me to keep track of my employees, communicate better and keep things extremely organized.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“Millionaire Fastlane” by MJ Demarco. This was the one book that opened my eyes up to the entire discussion of job versus entrepreneurship and it really motivated me to take action with starting my own business.
What is your favorite quote?
It’s by Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Key Learnings:
- How to test the validity of a business concept fast by launching a minimum viable product and getting feedback fast.
- How to look at competition in a new light than most generally do.
- How to deal with failure and look at negatives differently.
- What the most important thing for being successful as a business owner or entrepreneur is.
- Read “Millonaire Fastlane” By MJ Demarco to get inspiration for becoming an entrepreneur and learning about the key metrics that separate employees and business owners.
Connect:
Jeet Banerjee on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thejeetbanerjee
Jeet Banerjee on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeetbanerjeeconsulting
Jeet Banerjee on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thejeetbanerjee
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.