Michael Sico

Michael Sico grew up in North Jersey, specifically Wayne, New Jersey and now resides with his family in his dream town with a strong community – Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. Sico graduated from the University of Florida which is located in Gainesville, Florida with a Bachelors in Finance. After Michael Sico completed his MBA in Finance at St. John’s in Rome, Italy, and did his post MBA in Accounting at Rutgers Business School. Whenever Michael Sico is working his goal is to build a strong team and develop a strategy for stable financial planning and growth strategy.

In one of Michael Sico’s recent jobs he was responsible for financial planning strategies and company’s growth. One of his many successful recommendations was to acquire a historical building in Paterson, New Jersey. The project was a complete disaster and no one believed in a turn around. However, following Sico’s advise, within a year and a half after acquiring this site, it brought the company 200% return on investment moving the company on to a new level.

Michael J. Sico, who is the Chief Financial Officer, has been working on excellent investment strategies in order to develop and direct the company’s finances year after year. He is responsible for overseeing budgets across every single department of the organization, collaborating with other executives to determine the growth, cost and return of investments on projects. Michael Sico uses his management and leadership skills to direct the best and the most successful strategies for financial investments in order to ensure organization growth both long and short term. His perception for company strength has helped to increase the organization’s role in a business environment, attracted interest from different investors and increased Team’s productivity.

Where did the idea for Michael John’s Developers come from?

The idea for Michael John’s Developers, LLC came from a need to fill a void in the market. Prior to launching the business, myself and my father studied the market and realized that there was a need for the services we offered.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

First of all there is no “typical” day. Yes, I get up early in the morning and try to get to work before the “start time”. It is a key since there is always traffic in the NYC area. But since I am responsible for managing and overseeing my team’s progress on different types of projects, every single day is different. Sometimes it can be a typical office employee morning where you come in, review your calendar, clear your inbox, and stay in the office until you are done with what was planned. But there are days when you come in and get bombarded by your team with urgent questions/situations on projects. These are days when everything planned gets rescheduled, you hold the urgent meetings with the staff, keep in touch with stakeholders and make sure they are happy with the progress and performance.

My job is unpredictable; however, it always calls for efficiency. It doesn’t matter how my day goes, at the end of it, I try to shift my energies and mindset to my family as I feel you need balance in your life.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Having just an idea is simply not enough. Prior to any implementation you need to collect supporting data, do research that will help you to hold up your plan. I would strongly recommend that you invest more time in the first step, before you start investing any funds. The next key step is put the right team together and execute a well thought out plan. If you don’t have the right team you are doomed to fail before you start. Imagine, collect data, conduct your research, test it, then find the right people to help build it out.

What’s one trend that excites you?

There are lots of trends that excite me like eating healthy, exercising and so on. However the most exciting for me is a technology trend. We are living in an era that has a huge wave of innovation. Believe me, I am not excited about different types of social media or toolboxes filled with the most updated software.
What I am really excited about are technologies that meet human needs and how they become in charge of decisions in humans’ lives. 5g Data networks, autonomous driving, personalized medicine, blockchain technology, artificial brains for humans and companies that are what drives the future and excites me the most.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Every smart business mind understands that any investment in education will reward with benefits. Benefits might not come overnight, but will in the future. Besides having a strong educational background I believe in self education. It is one of those habits every person needs to develop and cultivate. It pushes your productivity and it drives you to new achievements.

What I love the most about self-education is, it saves you lots of money and time. Entrepreneurs know for a fact that if they stop learning and researching, self-educating themselves, someone else will “eat their lunch”. Bottom line: investing in self-education helps you to develop your skills, brain, and business strategies you can implement in the future.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Get all my schooling and certificates done before entering the workforce. As you build your career and start a family it only gets harder to go back to school for an advanced degree or get certificates for your area of expertise. When you are young you do not realize the things in life are harder than you think. So never give up, never quit. Just fight, though it is not easy.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

I believe that one of the major side effects of this pandemic is going to result in more opportunity for rural areas and real estate. I think that as we continue to work from home, we will see more individuals shift from living in the city to living in more rural areas. This will cause an increase in property value in these markets.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Think positive, you attract what you put out and if you can’t see an opportunity you won’t have one.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

The world of business is a race. Big businesses are running forward and squashing other companies and organizations. Have a strong plan, most of us didn’t roll out a bed and get handed a golden ticket. You need to be honest with yourself and access your skills, network and ability to raise funds. If you only have limited funds to work with don’t waste your time on investments in multimillion dollar projects, start small and grow into it. I was realistic and took baby steps, while always reaching for the stars. Believe that ideas and approaches are limitless. My recommendation is to keep trying and never be afraid of failing.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

First of all, failure is a great way to learn. As for me, the worst thing I did was go to partners with my first venture. All startups face limited funds, so the obvious way to increase capital is to partner. It can be the biggest mistake as you both have to be committed and have the same work ethic, otherwise it doesn’t work. Partnerships can set you back financially and take time away you never get back. The only two options are to quit or go out on your own. I choose to TAKE it as a learning lesson and go on my own.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I think that there is an opportunity for individuals with expertise in ergonomics to launch a business that helps people working from their home office set up their office in an ergonomic environment.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

The Verizon JetPack mobile hotspot. No matter if it is for personal or for professional use, everything is somehow connected to the internet. Being able to access the internet from anywhere just allows me to have a mobile office

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Cloud based accounting. Being able to access all your financials from your phone allows me to be mobile, yet as functional as if I am at the office. When you travel for work you need to be able to access and securely work on your files. Cloud based accounting software and a VPN connection makes all of this possible. While sitting on a train or at an airport you can utilize this time and finish work. Essentially you bring your office with you.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Good to Great, by James C. Collins. This book analyzes how to make failing or good companies the best. It analyzes what makes a great company and shows you how to build one.

What is your favorite quote?

Do your best today and better tomorrow.

Key Learnings:

• Have a vision
• Build the team
• Implement your dream