Being able to identify market trends is very important, but the main thing is to create products and services that fill a need in the marketplace.
As a veteran entrepreneur with vast experience in the tech industry, Jody Rookstool has founded several companies that have enjoyed exceptional success. At just 27 years of age, Mr. Rookstool founded a software company that was ultimately sold for $7 million, and he has been involved in a wide range of entrepreneurial endeavors ever since. That first company was Serus, a software company that was developed from the ground up by Mr. Rookstool and drew the attention of several large corporations, and it was ultimately sold to Netopia for a significant profit.
In the years since his first wildly successful foray into the tech industry, Jody Rookstool has founded a variety of companies that have enjoyed similar success. Mr. Rookstool has recently founded several different startups, including Bizaga, FastReviews, and ProfitCast. While each company serves a different purpose within the industry, Mr. Rookstool has adopted an overarching business philosophy that he believes will help to ensure that each company is ultimately successful.
Having been in the industry for so many years, Mr. Rookstool is one of the few in the industry today who has experienced the volatility of the technology sector firsthand. Mr. Rookstool was a part of the industry during the dotcom bust, and he was fortunate to be able to learn a great deal from this difficult time in the industry. He has applied those lessons and has developed a number of strategies that he believes will secure the long-term health of all of his varied business interests.
Where did the ideas for Bizaga, FastReviews and ProfitCast come from?
Each company serves a very different purpose within the industry, but the general idea behind each one is that it either fills a vacancy in the marketplace or improves upon an existing service that is currently available. Essentially, these companies will provide a diverse array of benefits to technology consumers.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I always feel like I am being tugged in several different directions all at once, but I maintain a fairly strict yet flexible schedule to ensure that I meet all of my responsibilities for each individual company. That means I am meeting with team members, discussing our progress and considering how our processes can be improved while also ensuring that we are working as efficiently as possible.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Sometimes it is difficult to explain my ideas to others, so I always provide a summary and a sketch so that my vision is clear to everyone involved. Once my team understands how I envision an idea, we are able to begin the process of improving upon it and then bringing it to life.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
There seems to be a greater influx of business professionals coming into the tech sector, and that is likely the result of the overwhelming success so many tech companies have experienced lately. We are seeing more and more companies that are run in more of a traditional business sense, as opposed to the groups of coders and software developers who are not as well-versed in business as they should be. That is only going to improve the industry as a whole, and that is an exciting development.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I always maintain a schedule and I always make sure that the schedule remains flexible. Rigidity in business is not always ideal, and that starts with how I organize each day, week and month.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every job that I have ever held and I have learned a great deal from each and every one. I am even able to apply lessons to my business today that I learned while doing chores on my family’s farm growing up.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
I made a lot of mistakes along the way, and some of them I believe were simply unavoidable. I would not, however, change anything at all. I just learned so much from each and every mistake that I have made in my professional career.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I spend time relaxing every day. As an entrepreneur, there is great danger in becoming so overly obsessed with a project that it becomes a source of stress. I make sure that I have time every day to just relax and unwind so that I feel refreshed for the next day’s work.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
Being able to identify market trends is very important, but the main thing is to create products and services that fill a need in the marketplace.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
There were a lot of difficulties that came to bear during the dotcom bust, but there were also a lot of lessons to be learned. I am actually quite grateful for the experience, as it helped a great deal in developing the strategies and metrics I use in my businesses today.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I have far too many in mind that I still wish to pursue, so I could not in good conscience just give one away. I will note that there is no substitute for hard work and due diligence.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I took my family on a long trail ride by horseback, and I probably spent $100 just on the fuel needed to get the horse trailer to the trailhead and back.
What software and web services do you use? What do you love about them?
We develop our own software in-house, and we love that we have access to software that is specifically designed to meet our unique business needs.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“Zero to One” was simply incredible. It was written by Peter Thiel and it is specifically geared toward startup companies. The book discusses the importance of creating something new rather than simply improving on an existing idea. We have done both, and I can say that creating something unique is so much more satisfying.
What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others?
Jeff Bezos is such a visionary and always has the most incredible insights. He has been a significant source of inspiration for me throughout my professional career.
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.