In January, I posted a call for Female Founders on our LinkedIn company page with hopes of being introduced to more female founders to feature on The Startup Story. Today’s guest was mentioned more times than any other person. After spending some time with her, I am fairly confident I know why she was thought of by so many other people…because she is someone that is always looking to help others. This week I am joined by Ilana Zivkovich, the founder of WERQ; a strategic leadership advisory firm. WERQ helps teams look at their strategy, process, and people to ensure all of these pillars will best support their business.
Listen Now
Play and Subscribe
In January, I posted a call for Female Founders on our LinkedIn company page with hopes of being introduced to more female founders to feature on The Startup Story. Today’s guest was mentioned more times than any other person. After spending some time with her, I am fairly confident I know why she was thought of by so many other people…because she is someone that is always looking to help others.
This week I am joined by Ilana Zivkovich, the founder of WERQ; a strategic leadership advisory firm. WERQ helps teams look at their strategy, process, and people to ensure all of these pillars will best support their business.
Like many of our featured entrepreneurs, their upbringing had a profound impact on their journey. Most of the founder stories featured on this podcast so far did not include parents that were entrepreneurs. Ilana is our first, and the perspective she was able to attain at a young age about the challenges and perks of being an entrepreneur is pretty inspiring.
In this episode, you will hear a few tactics Ilana uses to combat the internal critic. Plus, we’ll talk about the power of accepting encouragement from others. If there is anything that you take away from Ilana’s story I hope it is about the power of curiosity and passion. Then take that knowledge and let it fuel your momentum forward to execute against your passions. This is Ilana Zivkovich’s startup story.
Our Sponsor, MovoCash: https://www.thestartupstory.co/MovoCash
Connect with Ilana Zivkovich on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilana-zivkovich-07a77529
WERQ: https://werqpeople.com
The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory
The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help.
First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you!
Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don’t underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us.
With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you!
Special Guest: Ilana Zivkovich.
Sponsored By:
The Startup Story - Ilana Zivkovich
Ilana Zivkovich: Hi. My name is Ilana Zivkovich. I am the founder of WERQ, and this is MY startup story.
James McKinney: Every wildfire began with a spark. Every superhero has an origin story. And every single startup has a moment that they point to as their beginning. And every founder has a purpose that drove them in the midst of all obstacles. THAT is The Startup Story.
Sponsor Ad: The Startup Story would not be possible if it wasn't for the support of our sponsor MovoCash. Move money like a miracle with MovoCash, the free money app that kicks cash. Download MovoCash app on iTunes or Google Play today, and you'll get your slick new MOVO card in the mail.
You are no longer dependent upon digital currency alone, but you'll have a card that allows you to purchase at POS stations, restaurants, buy online, anywhere that you want to use your money.
No Credit Check or Credit Impact, Quick Direct Deposit FDIC Insured and Free To Register and Activate.
Support our sponsor MovoCash. Visit movo.cash or the startupstory.co/movocash.
[01:07]
James McKinney: Before we jump into our episode this week, I want to share a
review that was written on iTunes by mikewittensein, the founder of Story
Miners out of Atlanta, Georgia, gave The Startup Story a five star rating and
wrote: "The Startup Story is easy to listen to, professionally produced, and
offers high quality content. For me, it's a good balance of context and
depth." Thank you so much, Mike, for the kind words and for taking the time to
write a review. Quality and substance are critical for us, and we have our
sponsor MovoCash to thank for our exceptional quality. Thank you for being a
fan and I hope you will share The Startup Story with your friends and LinkedIn
network. In fact, as a token of my appreciation for you taking the time to
write this review, I hope our listeners will visit StoryMiners.com to check
out what Mike is working on. If you found any value in any of The Startup
Story episodes, please leave a review. I'll continue to read one each week so
plug your brand in the review as well. Giving your business a plug is the
least I can do if you take the time out of your day to write a review.
Now, let's jump into this week's episode. In January of this year, I posted a call for female founders on The Startup Story LinkedIn company page, with hopes of being introduced to more female founders to explore their startup story. Well, that post produced some great leads. In fact, today's guest was mentioned more times than any other person in that post. After having spent some time with her, I'm fairly confident I know why she was thought of by so many other people. Because she is someone that is always looking to help others. Our guest this week is Ilana Zivkovich, the founder of WERQ. Now, that's not W-O-R-K, that's WERQ. WERQ is a strategic leadership advisory firm. While that sounds fancy, the core of what they provide is executive coaching and team alignment with executive teams. So to break that down to a functional level, they help teams look at their strategy, process, and people to ensure all pillars will best support their business.
In this episode, you will hear a few tactics Ilana uses to combat the internal critic. You will hear how powerful curiosity and passion can be for any endeavor, and you will discover the power of accepting encouragement from others. Like many of our featured entrepreneurs, our upbringing has a profound impact on our entrepreneurial journey. That said, most of our entrepreneurs did not have parents that were entrepreneurs. Ilana's our first. What is interesting about that is the perspective she was able to attain at a young age about the challenges and perks of being an entrepreneur. So let's jump into Ilana's startup story.
[03:38]
Ilana Zivkovich: Raised by mom and dad, who both technically are
entrepreneurs. Both were self employed. Both have private practices as
therapists, so PhD's in home office. So I grew up with this conception of
entrepreneur as oh I guess you don't get sick time, and no one covers your
maternity leave, and no benefits. That seems rough. Now, I also grew up
thinking that it was a really admirable and desirable lifestyle, but sort of
no big company to support them. Not staff, not a marketing team, nothing like
that which would make it seem glitzy. Sort of the reality of what it is to be
self employed. I definitely grew up seeing that side of it.
[04:15]
James McKinney: So when you were growing up, did you think that you wanted to
be an entrepreneur?
[04:22]
Ilana Zivkovich: I don't know what I thought growing up. I thought I wanted to
be happy. I've always been ambitious. I loved school as a kid. I was that
nerdy fourth grader that wanted more take home work.
[04:33]
James McKinney: Oh, you're that kid, got it.
[04:35]
Ilana Zivkovich: I'm that kid. Yeah, sorry. That was me. I'm just a big nerd
at heart. So I really liked school. I liked learning. But I really liked
people. I liked teams. Again, the picture of entrepreneurship or self
employment that I saw was in some ways very fulfilling, but in other ways
relatively isolated. As I entered school and as I entered the workforce, I
liked being with people. I don't know if I could say that I wanted to be an
entrepreneur. I will say that I was raised in Berkley, California by a couple
tried and true hippies down the line. I was definitely raised to think you
could never be as happy working for the "man" or working for someone else as
you can be for yourself. When you can set the rules, when it's on your
shoulders, the good and the bad is worth it. So I was raised to believe that.
[05:19]
James McKinney: And so did you think that upbringing and the way that your
parents raised you, do you think that had an influence on you as you're
getting to that latter part of high school, and you're looking at those career
days and what it is you want to do, and you're jumping into college. Do you
think that had an influence on what you wanted to become?
[05:37]
Ilana Zivkovich: It certainly did, and I guess the piece of my parents story
that I didn't share, my father when I was about 10 give or take, maybe 15,
somewhere in there, started his own real estate business. Commercial real
estate. That business started performing in a different way than a private
practice as a therapist could perform. As a therapist, as someone with a
private practice, just a service based business, you want more money you sit
in your chair for more hours.
But my father then went and started this second business using a totally different set of skills, and I recall very vividly we're on a father daughter backpacking trip. I'm probably 18 or 19 years old. I'm on a break from college or whatever. I'm on some break, so I'm a kid, we don't have responsibility as a kid. We're sitting there at this beautiful lake on the side of a mountain and it's a Thursday. I kind of realize it's a Thursday and here we are. I knew that he'd been off for a full week. We'd been on this long road trip and all this. I'm thinking, "Well this is good, because as he's sitting her on this hill, he has his money is making money because he has this business behind him." Definitely at that point, wait that makes sense to me. Let's let our money make money.
But I will say, fast forward to actual entrepreneurship, it's not as easy as it would sound to just let your money make money.
[06:50]
James McKinney: Yeah, yeah. No kidding. What an interesting perspective you
had from seeing the service side that's based on billable hours to commercial
real estate, which has a completely different monetization opportunity. I
don't know if he was investing in commercial real estate or if he was just
selling commercial real estate, but there's definitely two perspectives. So
now, having those two perspectives, you jump into college. What was your
thought as you were entering college on what your future held?
[07:16]
Ilana Zivkovich: My thought was I was very determined. I'm an explorer by
nature, for better or for worse. It's one of my super powers and also one of
my great weaknesses. I'm extremely curious. I like to experience things and I
like to take adventures and explore. So when I entered college, I was one of
those that was like I'm not going to declare a major. I'm going to try as many
things as I can, talk to people, get experiences. I'm not even going to
declare. Then, I stumbled on social work. That became my major. That also
became my master's degree. Social work was really where I thought that I would
essentially end. Start, middle, and end. When I realized that there was a
whole career out there where your entire focus was on figuring out how to talk
to people and how to interact with them, and how to help them achieve bigger
goals in their lives, how to be more well or more happy or more stable or more
fulfilled, whatever the case may be of the clients you're working with. When I
found out there was a whole career focused on that, I thought, "Oh, I'm in."
So I took my first job during, and the straight out of college. It was $28,000
a year as a social worker.
[08:23]
James McKinney: That's awesome.
[08:24]
Ilana Zivkovich: with my clients in my groove, and I thought at first that
would be where it would stay.
[08:28]
James McKinney: Now, let's frame social work for people. Even for myself, when
I hear social work, I think of the public sector, like government employee
social workers. Can you shed a little bit of light on social work in the
private sector? Because that's obviously what you saw in college, just so that
we can kind of poke around your college journey as we understand what you saw
in social work.
[08:50]
Ilana Zivkovich: And it's common for people to think about social workers as
CPS coming in when someone's got a complaint against them or that kind of
thing. That is the angle. That is a career path. That is something that social
workers do. But social work as a discipline is really about identifying a
person in their context and figuring out what is going to best serve in
helping that person overcome whatever obstacles are going on with them from
both a micro, macro, and mezzo perspective. Those are fancy words, but all it
means is micro is me inside of me. Maybe I'm depressed. Maybe I have an
addition. Maybe I have anxiety. Maybe whatever. Me inside of me. Macro would
be me with my family and my community, so getting out to that next level.
Social workers look out what interventions can we provide that can help this
macro level merge, and then mezzo is like me within my culture, within this
space and time in my country and this world, really.
All those different levels about how can we help? How can we provide sustainable solutions? This may be happening with an individual, maybe you're working in a community health center or in a private practice in a clinical capacity. But it also happens a lot in policy and social workers make amazing executives. Because think about what I just said and then translate that into well what does that mean for serving customers in a business? What does that mean for developing leaders if you're an executive? So there's a lot of tie ins for social work in different areas, but that overarching perspective which is we look at the person or the issue in the full context, and look to provide interventions at every level in a cohesive way is what really drew me to it as a problem solving framework almost.
[10:26]
James McKinney: That's awesome. So in college, did you see that discipline as
something that you thought of starting your own business around, or did you
see it as plugging into your parents hippy term, a system run by the man? How
did you perceive social work in your college years?
[10:44]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah. I think in those years, I really I had this big old
heart. My heart just wanted to do good in the world. Still does. I saw social
work as a means to that end. If you had asked me at age 20 what do you think
your career will be, I would have said, "Well, I'll have a part time private
practice just like mom and dad. I've seen it, I know what it is, it makes
better money than working in an agency. Then I'll work part time in an agency,
some nonprofit addiction center o mental health center. Something where I can
really give back and serve people that might not be able to access private
practice. If I could have guessed, I would have been splitting my time doing
those two things.
[11:20]
James McKinney: What did your parents think of that discipline? I hear it and
it sounds like you were kind of following in their footsteps, right? They had
their own private practice. What did they think of your journey?
[11:30]
Ilana Zivkovich: Funny that you say that, because at the time I was just like…
I had all these independent ideals, and I told myself, "Well, I don't know
what I'm going to do in this world. Could be anything, but I'm definitely not
just going to do exactly what my parents did," a lot of young people probably
tell themselves. Social work is very similar to psychology. There's a lot of
overlap. And my parents were always proud of me as long as I was doing things
that were healthy and fulfilling for myself, and in some way, shape, or form
contributing in a positive way. They were very proud at that stage, yeah.
[12:00]
James McKinney: So you wrap up college. You have your $28,000 a year job,
which was doing what?
[12:07]
Ilana Zivkovich: At that point, by the time I wrapped up I think I had booted
that to $38K by the time I wrapped up. I had really… I had gotten my big girl
pants on and negotiated a bit. But that job was an entry level role at an
addiction treatment center. In my history, I spent the first about 10 years of
my career in that industry, in behavioral health, specifically in addiction.
But what happened for me, which was one of these looking back on it, one of
these fortuitous doors that opens up, and if you're in the right place at the
right time, and you feel brave enough and have the right resources to be able
to walk through it, other things happen.
I'm covering for someone's who's working at the front desk, and the nonprofit that I was working at, entry level role, had just gotten a new CEO. He came from the private sector and he really understood business. He had walked in. he's literally been there for a week at the time this was all happening, and he said, "We need a new position. We need someone who is clinical, who understands what it is that we're doing with the clients, but who can also do outreach and represent us in the market and help us develop our programs from that outside looking in perspective." My name got thrown in that hat by a lot of people.
I remember the exact day. I remember what I was wearing when he walked past the desk and said, "Hey, I've heard your name. Come here, I want to interview you." I kind of said, "Ah, okay." Unplanned, went in, and that job led to a slight shift in my career where I was still involved in the clinical work, but I was immediately and exponentially exposed to the business side of things as well, and became a leader in the business as well as a trusted advisor for this CEO who's still a dear friend and mentor of mine. I'm good friend with every boss I've ever had, so be careful if you ever become my boss. It exposed me to a lot and really helped me leap frog because it was a smaller 150, maybe 200 person organization. I was able to gain a lot of skills and exposure really quickly, and that helped me leapfrog into a whole different career than what I originally anticipated.
[14:07]
James McKinney: So how old were you when the CEO said hey, I've heard your
name, let's chat?
[14:13]
Ilana Zivkovich: I want to say 21.
[14:15]
James McKinney: So far out of college were you?
[14:18]
Ilana Zivkovich: A few weeks.
[14:20]
James McKinney: Oh my goodness, okay, a few weeks. So obviously that name you
built for yourself was while you were in college as well, because you said you
wrapped up the latter part of-
[14:31]
Ilana Zivkovich: Correct. So I had interned at this adventure. When you're
interning as a social worker, you feel like an employee almost so I'd been
with them for about a year.
[14:37]
James McKinney: What do you think you were doing at age 20, within that
framework. You're going to college, you're making a name for yourself at this
facility. What do you think you were doing differently that your name stood
out when it came to talk about how do we find someone who's clinically minded
and business minded? What were you doing differently than the others?
[14:58]
Ilana Zivkovich: That's a really good q. I think I'd have to lean back on what
I said a few minutes ago. I think one of my super powers is I'm a really
curious person, and I'm also very passionate. When you mix those two things,
I'm curious, I'm willing to ask questions, I know enough to know that I don't
know most of it. So I'm constantly asking for help and constantly seeking
guidance and seeking mentorship. But I'm also really passionate and so once I
get that help and I get that guidance, I want to go and I want to try it out,
and I want to then circle back with the person and ask more questions and see
how it went. When I get myself in those cycles, which I'm still in my career
with the mentors I work with today, it ends up I think, from what they tell
me, being more fulfilling to work with someone like that because they can see
that their mentorship is doing something. The person is acting on it and
they're excited, and they're taking it and running, and then coming back and
saying, "Thank you so much, that was amazing. Help me understand this next
piece." So those personality traits, as well as again just the benefit of some
great mentors, I think would be what got me recognized at that time.
[16:03]
James McKinney: So I want to poke a little bit at the curiosity, because I
think it is an incredibly powerful trait. Especially when you refine it into a
skill, it can take a person so far, and definitely when you don't have any
fear attached to curiosity, it's limitless. You really can do so much within
that curiosity. But you're 21, right? Up to that point, had you had any
failures attached to your curiosity?
[16:32]
Ilana Zivkovich: I wish we knew each other a little better and I could tell
you a lot. I had a very colorful adolescence, exploration gone awry, and I
learned some of those lessons definitely the hard way exploring too hard. The
benefit of it is I got to know myself a lot better than I think a lot of
people do at a young age, and had to make some pretty tough and significant
life choices at a young age because I'd been so curious and I explored so
much.
I had to really take a look at my life at 16 years old, still in high school, and think, "Okay, is this the type of life that I want to be living or not? And if not, how the heck do I get on a different path?" So yes, curiosity has gone awry for me, in smaller ways too. You have to be careful sometimes. I'm so comfortable being curious, I can forget that for other people that can feel quite invasive.
My husband these days will laugh. We take our daughter to the park and I'm standing with someone for two minutes, and I come back and I'm like, "Well, that's their first child and they've been doing fertility treatments for two years and it's been really tough on them," and blah, blah, blah. He's like, "How do you act?" I can catch people off guard or make them uncomfortable if I'm not a little aware of that.
[17:41]
James McKinney: One of the reasons I ask that question is not to get you to
divulge anything personal, but one of the reasons I ask it is I wish I could
remember the CEO and the founder who this story is attributed to. It's a
female founder that, when asked a similar question, every night at dinner the
dad's question to her was not, "So what did you succeed at today or what did
you do great today?" it was always, "What failure did you have today?"
[18:11]
Ilana Zivkovich: It was Spanx. I know exactly which one.
[18:13]
James McKinney: That's who I thought it was, Sarah Blakely, perfect.
[18:15]
Ilana Zivkovich: What did you fail at today, I love that.
[18:16]
James McKinney: Yeah, and I think there's so much power in that question
because it opens up the freedom to explore, and the freedom to have those
failure moments. Also too, it gives you as the adventurer, the explorer, the
with the risk of failure, it gives you the ability and the safety to know, "I
can fail in this environment and I'm still going to be supported and cared for
by my family." There's so much that happens. I guess what I was asking, was
your upbringing similar to such that you could have that exploration and that
risk of failure with the safety of knowing family was still going to take care
of you?
[18:56]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah. I love that you brought that story back to my mind.
What it brought up for me, so I was the big athlete growing up. My parents
were both very supportive and very involved. My dad and I used to go outside
and play catch all the time, going to the batting cages, soccer, whatever the
sport was. But I remember in softball specifically, which is the big thing for
us growing up together, and if ever I would throw the ball, square my
shoulders the right way you're supposed to, have my feet planted just where
they're supposed to be, step just how you're supposed to sep, cock my elbow
right where it's supposed to be, all that. And then the ball would go awry. I
even broke my neighbors window at one point.
He was always proud of me and made a point to point that out when my form was right. He was always one that said, "If your form is right, that's what's important. The results, that's not even really your business. You keep your form right and it's going to support you in the long run." That same mentality in sports that he had definitely applied to how they taught me to approach life. It's like do the next best thing, try your hardest, don't cheat, don't lie, don't steal, all the sort of obvious Ten Commandments type of things. But outside of that, give it a shot and you'll be okay. And when you fall, because you will, that's okay too. That's part of the process. How great, you got to learn something today. So that was definitely a big part of how they raised me.
[20:14]
James McKinney: What a powerful learning for our listeners as well. Focus on
getting the form right, and the outcome and results are outside of your
control. I love that.
[20:24]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah. I took that and ran. Even that first job that we're
talking about now, I was promoted to a director maybe six months in or so.
Really arguably based on resume and years of experience, and years on the
planet really no business being a director. But I always have this attitude,
thank you for helping me see how much that is attributed to my parents and the
way I was brought up, but also the experience I had, the mentors I had, the
friends. But I had this attitude of, "I'm going to try. I'm going to do my
very best, an different my best isn't good enough, the results will speak for
themselves and I will no longer be asked to do these things. But in the
meantime, I might as well get out there and give it a shot and we'll let the
chips fall where they may." You know what? Typically they fell pretty well.
I'm glad I let myself give it a shot.
[21:09]
James McKinney: That's awesome. So obviously, you are not a director with that
agency anymore, so let's talk about what you learned in that position, and
were kind of the next steps to get you to where you are now? So you meet with
the CEO. You become a director. What were some of the learnings and challenges
that came with that role, and how did it set you up for the future?
[21:33]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah, gosh there was so many. I guess the biggest thing that
I walked away with was a shift in my own perspective of myself and of what I
even wanted in my professional life. You asked me before did I always know I
wanted to be an entrepreneur, and I was like, "No, I wanted to make $28,000
and help people feel happy," you know? I think I walked away from that first
experience having my eyes opened much more to what was out there, and with a
renewed sense of ambition, and a feeling that being ambitious in business was
almost, and this is a weird thing to say, but not something to be ashamed of.
I don't know if any of our female listeners or anyone might connect with that, but there was almost this idea that being ambitious, maybe part of being a social worker, part of being a woman, I don't know but being ambitious was almost like a dirty word. I don't mean that literally. It's not something anyone ever said to me, but like this internal sneaking suspicion that like, "Oh, you shouldn't be too greedy," or, "You shouldn't want to much." I think that first young experience, that taste of leadership and taste of being able to make a contribution in that bigger way, and have more influence, I think that allowed me to start to give myself permission to really dream for the next big thing. Not just the next promotion on someone else's terms, but the next big thing.
[22:52]
James McKinney: That's awesome. So what happened? What was your next step
after that facility?
[22:57]
Ilana Zivkovich: So without boring you with the details, because they can get
boring, but went from the nonprofit sector to the private sector. Made a
somewhat lateral move, and then relatively quickly got promoted. For a couple
of years, ran my own facility within a sort of larger network that was a
national provider of behavioral health. So ran my own facility and from there
jumped over technically as a consultant, but working at the C level within yet
another national facility, so working as a chief clinical officer over there.
[23:25]
James McKinney: But each time, as an employee in that journey correct?
[23:29]
Ilana Zivkovich: As an employee until the last one, and that one's kind of
interesting. I had worked myself into a place on one step along this journey
where I was living a life that I no longer recognized.
[23:42]
James McKinney: Explain that. Let's unpack that a bit.
[23:45]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah, let's unpack that. Gosh, take me back down trauma lane
here for myself. I do just want to say I own this completely. This was, if we
talk about exploration going awry earlier, this was ambition gone awry a bit
and me not knowing yet, not having a lesson of how to set boundaries, and
thinking that the only way to get more was to work harder and do more myself.
And not just get more for myself even, but produce better on behalf of all the
people who were depending on me.
I worked myself into a place where I was putting 10 to 14 hour days. I was on call 24/7, 365. I was in my car about two and a half hours a day, which is a lot of commute time on a daily basis. And I was so burnt out, so drained, so stressed I would come home after a long, long day and kind of lay my head heavy in my hand, and hardly be able to lift the fork to my mouth and just feel on the verge of tears. So it was a graceful period for me. It was one of these experiences where life showed me that I couldn't keep doing that. It just got to be too unbearable, the way that I was choosing to live my own life. So I sort of, with a heavy heart, there was a lot that I loved about that role and that company, but I gave my resignation. I literally couldn't keep doing it. Some people can. Some people can work 80 and 100 hour workweeks and do that. I can't. I'm not that person.
[25:11]
James McKinney: Was that hard for you to accept and realize that you weren't
able to keep up with a lifestyle or persona that you established? Was that
hard for you to come to grips with? That's got to be a humbling experience for
you.
[25:27]
Ilana Zivkovich: Hard for me to come to grips with and it was also really
scary. I tendered that resignation. At that point I'm 26, 27 somewhere in that
range, and I am working a job that people work their entire careers to earn.
It's kind of like golden handcuffs almost at the time. I tendered that
resignation sort of as waving my white flag, like admitting defeat, with
nothing lined up. I hadn't put any thought or energy. I had no time to line up
the next thing. I just knew I couldn't keep living the way that I was living,
and so it was very scary. It was humbling, it was scary, it was stress
provoking. I questioned it a lot. But at the end of the day, the intuition and
just the reality of how unlivable it was just won out in the end.
[26:13]
James McKinney: Was there any impact of that period and that season and that
decision that rippled and carried over into your next step? Any processing
that just had an impact on the next movement?
[26:25]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yes, and has impacted ever since then. I made myself a
promise, a guarantee, when I left that role. I said to myself, "There is
another way, there is a better way. You don't have to work yourself this hard
ever again." Not even this hard. I'm no stranger to hard work. I've got a
really solid work ethic as could attest to, so it's not not working hard, but
I don't know how to say it. It's like betraying myself in pursuit of helping
someone else achieve their goals, and helping some company do better, whatever
codependent story I had about how vital I was to the staff or what will they
do without me. All those things that we tell ourselves like oh, but if I don't
go in on a Sunday then who's going to do the thing that must be done right
now? It's like no, I'm not that important. I'm not that big.
And quite honest, I promised myself I'm not going to do that to myself again. That's not the type of life that I'm willing to set up for myself. I will say every career move since then, including starting my own business, I have honored that promise. Not every single day. There are days and weeks that it gets real heavy, but in terms of a lifestyle, a sustained lifestyle, I don't do that to myself anymore. I know that if I did, I wouldn't be able to run my own company. I wouldn't be able to serve the clients that we serve and serve my staff. I took myself out when I did that.
[27:46]
James McKinney: It sounds like that period of life and that mindset, I call it
a savior complex. You had to be the person and that's a ton of weight, because
we are nobody's savior. What an incredible opportunity for you to learn that
at a young age, at 26, early on in your career because there are people in
their thirties, forties, fifties, and sometimes even later that learn it and
it is really draining on a human being, because it is a load we were not
intended to carry. It has impact on our family life, impact on every aspect of
our life when we carry too much than we're supposed to. That's awesome you
learned that at 26 and have maintained that in all your other opportunities.
So as you realized that, and you make a promise to yourself that it's no longer going to be that case, what was that next step?
[28:43]
Ilana Zivkovich: So the next step, the universe kind of opens up for me at
that moment. I'm thinking okay, I'm going to… I remember my husband and I sat
down and we did a budget. We were like, "Okay, let's imagine that in the next
year Ilana makes $0. Can we pay our mortgage? Are we on the street?" I was
like, "Okay, well I really like coffee. I'll go apply at Starbucks." I'm like,
I don't know maybe I'll be a barista, like that sounds fabulous. I'm happy and
I love caffeine. It sounds great.
So we did this budget, thinking Ilana makes $0. I pull the plug, I leave, and in the time between tendering my resignation and my actual last paycheck, I had more opportunities come in the door than I honestly really knew what to do with. It was such a gift and I feel like I have sort of a spiritual belief that when you're living to your calling, when you're doing the next thing that's intended to go in your path, it's not that things that are challenging won't come up. Trust me, they continue to every day. But things tend to flow easier and opportunities come, and doors open. You don't have to push quite so hard. I didn't have to push very hard and things started presenting themselves.
I was lucky enough to talk with a few different people and have a few different opportunities come up that allowed me to embark on the next chapter of my career, technically as an independent contractor. So technically, I've been my own boss since that day, at least to the IRS. I say technically because my goal at that time really was to start something like the company that I now own and run, but I didn't have the vision, the clarity, the strength, the courage, the resources. I wasn't ready to start anything.
So rather than really busting out and starting a company, I started taking on consulting gigs. One of those consulting gigs became really it felt more like a full time job. Like I said, I was a C level employee for them. I was an integrated member of the team and of the facility. I loved those people. I loved that role very much, but it certainly didn't feel like I was running a company. It felt like I was, again, working for someone else which has its benefits for sure.
[30:45]
James McKinney: So you said that season, you didn't have the vision that it
would take to run an enterprise that you had as a goal and an objective. What
did you learn during that season when you were just a consultant, a
solopreneur? When you were a solopreneur, what did you learn that set you up
for where you are right now with work?
[31:08]
Ilana Zivkovich: I would say during that solopreneur time, as well as honestly
the years prior to that, I knew that I wanted to do something in this area of
executive alignment, and leadership development, and work with executive
teams. I knew I wanted to work in businesses. I just didn't know what would
that look like, do people pay for that, is it really effective. So what I did
during that time was in every consulting gig that I was involved in, including
this C level employee feeling type of engagement, but also even if I go back
in them the other company, I started carving out more and more opportunities
for myself to do that. To provide trainings, to do leadership development,
organize workshops, to facilitate, to speak on the national field about
culture and leadership, and strategic planning and efficacy at that level.
So I started carving out more and more of those things. I started really, really, really listening and paying attention, things that I was doing where people responding favorably to? What things felt like they were really sticky? What things did it feel like the market was calling for, I would say? I guess utilize that knowledge to help me eventually fund my business. Now, that's on a logistical level.
On a personal level, for me it was like a continued evolution of coming into my own and of recognizing that like whatever those stories are that we tell ourselves, it would prevent us from taking that leap. You're a full timer and it's comfortable and it's safe. But I wouldn't have benefits or what if it doesn't work? What if no one wants to hire me? Who do I think I am to do that anyways? Or, or, or. All those stories, I've said all of them to myself and I think over the years, I started to look for more evidence and build up my won reservoir of reasons why those stories didn't need to be listened to, why they weren't serving me and they honestly weren't true, and really sort of emotionally without even realizing it. It wasn't intentional, but sort of emotionally prepare myself to eventually start the business.
[33:11]
James McKinney: That is so powerful what you just said there about the
narrative and trying to find those points of evidence to give you the
knowledge in knowing that those narratives weren't true, and there was no
basis for them. Especially a narrative for us to steer our life by without
truth. One of my own tactics is I go what is the absolute worst thing that can
happen, and then what is the likelihood of that thing happening? Once I get
those two answers, it's like okay, there's no reason I'm not moving forward on
this. Because it's never going to be the worst. My imagination can get super
dark when it comes to the worst situation, and I know it's never going to be
that.
Also too, part of for my own journey, I have hit rock bottom. One of these startup stories, I'm going to share my story but I have actually hit everything and lost it all. So there is a level of that that has given me that ability to move fearlessly. But at the same time, there's so much… do you think that's a skill set that someone has to learn in order to have these narratives and unwind them? Do you think it's a journey? Is it just a mental switch they can make? What are your thoughts on a person, the listeners right now that have all these fears and these "what ifs" on how they move forward on their dreams? Do you think it's something they have to learn or how does someone get to the space you're in right now?
[34:30]
Ilana Zivkovich: Everything you said I would say yes, it's all of those
things. It's a skill set. It's a journey. It's a mindset. It's a process. I
think that there's a lot of things that I've done and that people can do. I
love your little example of what you tell yourself, what's the worst possible
thing and how likely is that honestly, so screw it, let's not pay attention to
that. There's lots of great books that folks can read. There's a whole
framework called growth mindset, this idea of having a growth mindset versus a
fixed mindset that is amazing and extremely helpful. And there are things that
we can do. Lots of interventions in the field of positive psychology.
Ultimately, for me I think one of the most effective things I mentioned earlier a little bit vaguely I suppose, some challenges that I faced in my adolescent years, one of the things that I had to do to get through that was to really confront that self critic. That voice inside that says for no logical reason, you're not good enough, you're not worthy, you're not insert- adjective-here. You're not X, whatever strong enough, pretty enough, whatever. I had to really confront that voice. I know this will sound a little bit kooky perhaps, but one of the things that I did at the time was whenever I heard that voice coming up, because it was loud for me as a younger person. It had gotten to a pretty loud and consistent point. I made myself, in safe settings with people that would get it, literally say those thoughts out loud when they came up. I know if you're listening, you're like, "what are you talking about? Say all those crazy thoughts out loud? That sounds terrible." But I tell you what. Every time that I said it out loud, in a safe setting, not at the grocery store with like the clerk, but someone that knows you-
[36:01]
James McKinney: The coffee shop table for one, nothing like that?
[36:03]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah, for one that will stay a table for one if you do that,
so keep it to yourself. But every time I said it out loud, one even just
hearing them it was like wow, that sounds really not true. Two, the people
around me could help really diffuse the power of it and help those sort of
messages just fall to the wayside. I will say at this point in my life, I am
very conscious of the messages that go on inside of myself. There's a literal
question of is this message serving me? If the answer is no, if there's some
self defeating, negative, fear based anxiety oriented message that's just not
serving me, then what do I need to do to let go of it? That's a fairly
conscious process for me. I think for most entrepreneurs, I would imagine
there has to be some sort of skill set built up around that, or else how do
you do it? Because it's a big world out there and it's a lot of ways that we
can make mistakes and get in trouble. So it's healthy to have that.
[36:59]
James McKinney: Do you think, and I want to ask this question just because of
my various and numerous data points that I read when it comes to female
founders and the tiny, tiny bit of venture capital investment female founded
companies get. There's such an uphill battle when it comes to female founders.
Given what you just talked about, and all the narratives that have gone
through your mind, as a female founder do you find that to be amplified and
more challenging to move forward as you go into building your business, and in
these meetings and these presentations. Do you feel that part of that, "I'm a
female founder" narrative plays in your head at all?
[37:40]
Ilana Zivkovich: You know, it's a great question, very timely with "Me Too"
and the movement that we have around female empowerment right now. What I will
say is I have a lot of respect for the challenges that women specifically,
people of any sort of minority or traditionally oppressed class, but women in
this moment, that women face day in and day out in the work place, and as it
relates to achieving an equal measure to their male counterparts. I respect
it, I understand it, I can tell you my stories of where that's come up for me.
It's certainly been an issue at play.
But here's the other thing I would say. I walk into a board room at 24 years old, we go back in time here a little bit, as a young female director and I open my mouth and I say something that doesn't sound terribly uneducated and that actually has merit, and I'll be honest with you I think people take even more notice because I'm more unique. I'm not a 60 year old white man in a suit. So overall, we all come with whatever package of strengths and challenges. We have to be aware of who we are, including how we look, what gender we identify as, all those things, how they impact how others will see us. But I don't believe that any of that is a reason or poor excuse sounds too judgmental. I don't really mean to say that, but I guess I just don't believe that any of those things are true limitations, provided that you're not in one of those situations, and we've heard about them all over the place in the news, all over, where there really is some just egregious discrimination and oppression going on.
Those things aside, if we're just sort of dealing within the normal realm of business behavior, I think you own who you are and you put your best foot forward. As people have their own judgments, their own reactions to you, that's just part of everyone's experience really. To answer your question, it's a very long answer to say no, I don't think that as a female founder it has been more or less of an effect. I think we're all just people and we're dealing with what we've got.
[39:37]
James McKinney: Awesome, awesome. That is incredible. So now, that leads us to
WERQ. So you were a consultant for a long period of time. You were learning.
You were gaining knowledge and what it meant to run an enterprise. How did you
move from consultant to entrepreneur?
[39:55]
Ilana Zivkovich: I started telling my friends for about a year, I was like, "I
just want to start my own business. That's the next thing. I need to start my
own business. I need to start my own business." To not make the story terribly
long, I had an opportunity to do so at one point with two men who I was in
business with at the time. I decided to not move that forward and guys, if
you're listening, I love you so much but I'm glad we didn't do that deal.
It was going to be a bum deal for me, to be honest. It was going to be me with 40% of the equity and 95% of the lift, so we didn't move that one forward. It wasn't the right time for me, and it wasn't the right time for them. But when that happened, it became very clear to me that's the next thing that I want to do. I really want to own it. I want to create it, I want to start it. I ended up going to lunch with a friend who'd I'd known for 10 years, but someone I hadn't known well. He was the chairman of the board of the very first nonprofit that I was at 10 years previous. He had just donated a large sum of money to my alma mater, University of Texas. We'd reconnected over that. We went to lunch.
I had no idea, and this is like business 101, you research who you're meeting with before. You Google them. Like, come on. I had no idea that this man did venture capital. I didn't know that he did any sort of investing. I knew he was an extremely successful business man, but that wasn't why I was going to lunch with him. I was going to lunch with him because I liked him a lot and he had just donated a large sum of money to my alma mater, the school of social work. I thought that was an amazing, generous thing to do and I wanted to say thank you.
So I went out to lunch. We're talking about family and life and travel and morals, and whatever, for a good hour and a half, two hours, who knows. Deep into this lunch, again I have zero agenda. I don't even know what this man is doing, he says, "So what are you up to professionally?" Oh well, I tried to start this company and here's why I didn't. But man that's really my passion, it's really what I want to be doing, and he says, "Well, sounds like you just need someone to review your business plan and your ideas. I'd be happy to do that for you." I kind of am like, what? This guys' taken two companies public.
Over the course of the rest of the lunch, I learned about all the different investing he had done. He's been a major player in lots of brands that you would know by name, really impressive business acumen. So I call him the next day and I say, his name's Steve, and I say, "Steve, I just want to be clear. You're offering to review a business plan that I will put together. You're offering to take a look at that," and he says, "Yeah, don't stress about it. Just the executive summary, couple of pages, nothing more than that. Don't worry, I don't write checks unless I really believe in the validity of the business." I can tell you exactly where I was in my car on the side of this road, in the middle of nowhere in Texas, and again I'm like don't write checks? I'm just sitting here feeling lucky that this guy's willing to talk to me and hear my ideas a few more times.
Now he's already putting this seed in my head about writing a check. I said, "Okay." This is right before the holidays so my family and I go to Australia for the holiday break. He's travelling as well. We agree to get back together in January. I'm on my way to Australia and I'm Googling how to write a business plan. I'm not an MBA, I've never done this, I don't know what I'm doing. I put together a business plan and I feel like this business plan has some legs, but it just doesn't seem quite right. So I did what I do because I'm curious, and I think other people are brilliant, and I passed it off to a couple people who I really trust who are dear friends. Thank you guys for being honest. And they told me straight up that no, they would not invest in that business. No, they would not hire that service, and they told me why. Thank god for friends that are willing to be honest, right?
[43:32]
James McKinney: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
[43:34]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah. That feedback was amazing and helped me get version two
of the business plan together. That version of the business plan was I
literally met with Steve, my angel investor who's like the true definitely of
an angel, two more times only. One dinner and then one 10 minute meeting where
I w as sick as a dog and thought I was going to, I don't know cough him out of
the room. But it was two more meetings before he had signed on. We were
business partners, and he had signed a big check for me to go and live my
dream, which is an experience that I know a lot of founders will not have the
benefit of finding this diamond in the rough angel investor that believes in
them and is willing to put their neck on the line and try to support them in
what it is that they're doing and man, do I feel lucky every day for Steve and
for that experience.
[44:23]
James McKinney: So there's a couple incredible nuggets in that. One, I think
what you did by just reaching out and offering to take him to lunch because of
what he did for your alma mater, that's a telling thing for you as a person in
general. Your other center, you're looking for ways to give back to support
people, and you are just wanting to acknowledge him and what he did. As people
do that, those are the types of opportunities that come from moments like
that, where great people attract great people.
So for those that are listening, in fact I had Lyft ride this last week where the Lyft driver was just down on himself and was that defeated entre preneur who's tried numerous times. I told him about the podcast, I gave him my business card. We exchanged a couple of emails and what I said in my email to him is in the midst of your desperation, do not stop giving to those around you. There's so much that we get so landlocked as entrepreneurs, that we forget those moments to give back out to those around us. You didn't forget that, and that's why this opportunity came. So it's not a luck thing at all. It's you were authentic to you, and this opportunity came from that authenticity and that moment. So that is awesome. And everyone listening, it happens day in and day out. I see it all the time, just people wanting to truly be generous in nature and some great opportunity comes back to them.
The second thing, though, at this time before you met with Steve at that lunch, were you even… how close were you to actually moving forward in this venture that you had percolated in your head? How close were you to actually moving forward on that before that lunch?
[46:03]
Ilana Zivkovich: I was feeling really itchy is what I kept saying to people
around me. I was feeling really itchy in my current role, which for the record
was amazing. Working with people I love, doing stuff I loved, a schedule that
was quite livable, but I just had this itchy sensation inside of me of this
isn't it. The next step is around the corner, I've got to find it. I've got to
find it, I've got to find it. I've got to be open to it. I wouldn't say that I
was closes to going out on my own. I didn't have a resignation letter in my
back pocket or anything like that, but I would say I was very ready and I was,
it's such a hippy word I don't particularly love it, but I was kind of
manifesting. I was like what do I need to do? I'm very open. I was in that
space where I was welcoming it.
[46:47]
James McKinney: So then also too, back to that incredible moment when you're
being your authentic self and inviting Steve to a lunch to say thank you for
your generosity to my alma mater, his prompting and curiosity about your
venture gave you that push like to think oh, it's time to move now. This is an
interesting opportunity and you went after it, right? You didn't respond with,
"Well, actually I don't have a business plan and I'm still thinking about it.
I'll get back to you." Your mind started saying, "Okay, now things are in
play," and you moved on it, and you seized that opportunity. I guess that's
probably part of your curious nature. You were curious as to okay, what's
going to come of this? If I deliver this business plan, what happens here?
So there's so much about that story I love, and I love the feedback that you received gladly from your friends as they said this is not good, I wouldn't buy this service, I wouldn't invest, whatever the case may be. Because there's a lot of humility that comes in that, so that's fantastic. So now Steve has invested, work is live and it's active, and it's breathing, and it's growing. Share for our listeners what is WERQ. By the way, for listeners it's W-E-R-Q. So what is WERQ?
[48:03]
Ilana Zivkovich: I will share for sure, but I want to go backwards for one
second because you brought up, I just have to mention it. You're talking about
that willingness to take the leap, and to try something new, to ask for the
feedback and ask for support. I called on a bunch of my old bosses that I
mentioned, you know who you are and I love you so much, and thank you for your
help. But I will say in that meeting where Steve actually offered the money,
where it was meeting number three in total, including our lunch before he
offered the money, and someone asked me about it later that day. I called them
and they said, "Well, how long did it take you to make your decision?" I kind
of, that was a confusing question because it was instantaneous. This is the
opportunity. You walk through the door and you try. Give it a shot. So that is
that curious part and that passionate part of my nature coming out for sure.
The last thing I'll say before we get into what WERQ is, that original business plan that got me the funding for the business is not at all what we're doing today. And we are profitable today. We are a successful business today, and that is not how we're operating. I asked Steve that very first day when he committed the funds, I said, "Steve, I know why I want you on this venture, obviously. You're amazing and seasoned and a million things that I don't know. You're also willing to give me a big fat check, thanks. Why are you signing onto this? You can invest in any company you want. Why this?" he said, and I'm looking I wish I could show you, I'm looking of a photo that I bought him and I both photos after that initial investment, it's a horse. He held up the business plan, he said, "Ilana, I'm not betting on this business plan. I'm betting on you. You're a winning horse, and my money is on you."
That statement in and of itself fueled me through the first six months of business, where everything was confusing and hard, and nothing was working. Just that statement of this person believes in me to that extent. I was really able to own that and feel it in my soul, and take that and let that fuel me when there started being evidence to the contrary. In any business, it's going to be hard to start and hard to get your first revenue generated or whatever the case may be depending on your industry. But having that belief in me helped me have that belief in myself.
[50:15]
James McKinney: So when you heard that phrase from Steve, I'm so big on words.
I am such a believer in the power of encouragement, because I think people
underestimate. Lots of times we'll go on and we'll say, "Oh, I wish I would
have said that to so and so." Yeah, you should have said that to so and so.
There's so much that comes from encouraging words to people. But I have to ask
this. When Steve said what he said, "I'm not betting on the plan, I'm betting
on you. You're a winning horse." I'm betting on you the person, you can
execute, you can do this. I believe in you." With all of the other narratives
that you had for however many years of your life up to that point, and you
hear that, how did they hit each other at that moment in time? What went
through your mind as someone said, "I'm betting on you."
[51:03]
Ilana Zivkovich: I remember that moment so vividly, and I remember it felt
ethereal. I don't know what word to put on it. It felt like this he's an angel
investor, and angel is just the perfect word. Because what I know now, James,
is I never needed that man's money. He knows it now, I know it. I never needed
the money, but what I needed and I think what probably a lot of people
questioning if they're ready to make the jump or feeling frustrated, whatever,
I needed some indication that I was that horse worth betting on.
[51:41]
James McKinney: Yes.
[51:42]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah. Sometimes, and I've done a lot of my own work, and I
continue to do it all the time, and I'm not someone who suffers from that lack
of self confidence and insecurity that I used to. I'm pretty secure in myself,
but being secure in myself to like cook dinner for my family and go to my 9 to
5 is very different than being secure in myself to go and like live this
dream. Those words meant the world to me. They really did.
[52:06]
James McKinney: I want to thank you for sharing all of that. For our
listeners, we are human beings. I don't care how secure of an individual
anyone is. There is so much power that comes through encouragement and belief
from another person into us. It is nothing to do with our ability to believe
and self confidence. We're not desiring it from people, we're not sitting here
trying to cling on to them, but when we go through life and someone just drops
this phrase into our lap, "I believe in you. You are capable of doing this.
Wow, you did such an amazing job on this. My life is changed from it."
Whatever the case may be, there's so much power in that. We as human beings,
we are wired to be connected with others. Those words can connect us with
them. I'm so big on if there's a bit of encouragement to be given, do not
hesitate. Move on it. So I love that. I love that you owned that too.
[53:05]
Ilana Zivkovich: Yeah. When someone gives you the encouragement, see what it
feels like to try to believe it.
[53:11]
James McKinney: 100%.
[53:12]
Ilana Zivkovich: We may hear things from people. A lot of my work is very
intimate work. I get to know people really well. Back in social work days and
certainly now in the coaching. I'm working in a really close way with people.
Just imagine if you could let yourself believe all the wonderful things that
people say and feel about you. Imagine if you could live in that, and not live
in all the other BS that we all have inside of our heads, that isn't serving
us one, and really isn't true. It's quite a powerful thing.
[53:39]
James McKinney: So now let's get to the question of what is WERQ.
[53:43]
Ilana Zivkovich: Okay. My baby, my company. We work business to business. We
work with executives and their teams. Our goal is to help other businesses be
as successful as possible, and our belief is that business is ultimately just
a bunch of people getting together, trying to do the next right thing. Trying
to make the right decision. Trying to work effectively as a unit. So we work
with executives and their immediate teams doing team alignment, which sounds
amorphous, but what we mean by that is strategy. What is it that you're trying
to achieve, process how are you going to achieve those things, and people,
which is right roles, right seats, which is trust and communication, which is
culture, relationships, all those things.
So we work with teams on that side, and then we do a fair amount of executive coaching as well as some strategic planning, some team building, and related initiatives built in. But all of this predicated on the belief, which proves to be true time and time again, that when a business can give its people, operations, and its people strategy dialed in, the potential upside is absolutely limitless. People are amazing and when we can maximize what they're able to do in relationship to one another, and in their contributions to a business, that business is on a really solid track. So that's what we do.
[54:57]
James McKinney: When did you start WERQ?
[54:59]
Ilana Zivkovich: It will be our one year anniversary on Friday.
[55:02]
James McKinney: That is awesome. Oh, I love it. Congratulations. What has been
one of the surprising challenges in growing WERQ, because you're a year old?
What has this first year been like?
[55:14]
Ilana Zivkovich: This first year has been amazing. It's literally be one of
the happiest, scariest, most wonderful, most stressful, fabulous years of my
life. I've definitely been sustained by the people around me. The mentors and
the team members and my friends and family for sure. So I'll say that. I think
one of the things that I thought at first was how will I ever do this? I don't
know how to sell. I'm not a sales person.
I came home one day. I had been working on an engagement for about five months and I had lost the business to another vendor. I come home, and I remember sitting outside. We've got some couches outside and I'm saying to my husband, "Babe, I just here's the thing. I just suck at selling. That's just what it is. I'm kind of down about it." My husband, bless him, is a data analyst, and he's like, "Hold on. Hold that thought. Hold on. Let's just gather the data here. Tell me everything that you've pitched," and this is maybe six months into the business. "Everything you've pitched, what have you closed, what have you lost."
So we go over it. We make a sheet, and it's like this is what we've pitched, this is what we've closed, this is what we've lost. At that moment, my sales close rate, me personally, was 80%.
[56:20]
James McKinney: That's awesome.
[56:21]
Ilana Zivkovich: And I'm sitting there, whining that I suck at sales because I
lost one gig. Here I am this whole podcast, talking about believing in
ourselves and challenging those messages, but man they still creep up all the
time. That's a perfect example. I was telling myself this story that I don't
know how to sell. In my business, I don't even think of it as selling. I'm
just coaching someone through the buying process, trying to figure out if
there's a good fit there or not. I'm not selling them on anything. But
regardless of how you frame it, I had closed 80% of the business I had gone
after and I'm telling myself I suck. That's an unreal close rate. My mentor
said, "Well, that just tells me you need to increase your rates." But those
same things that still come up, those ways we tell ourselves that maybe this
isn't working out, when really just hold, hold, don't believe every thought
that comes through your head, and keep trying.
[57:09]
James McKinney: That's awesome. For those listening that, maybe they are a
solopreneur right now, or maybe they're an employee, but they have this desire
to do something for themselves in an entrepreneurial endeavor like what you've
done. What advice would you give them on that first year? Just to kind of
level set expectations, what would you, gift of experience would you give to
them as they jump into something new?
[57:36]
Ilana Zivkovich: Well, as I am at the final week of my first year, I have not
a lot of the wisdom for the entire year yet, but here's what I would say that
seemed to work really well for me and for my business. Our initial plan was to
spend the first year doing a lot of content development and building out stuff
to then go and sell. Right before we launched, we sort of shifted that focus
and decided, "Hey, you know what? Let's get out there into the market. It's
not perfect. It's not tested. We're going to figure it out as we go, and let's
let the clients and the customers," as the case may be in a lot of businesses,
"Let's let them tell us what we need to do better, what we need to shift, what
we need to build for them."
A business is really just do you have something, a product, a service, something that other people will find value in and want to pay you for. That's all it is. Rather than try to like think in our mind and do all of this strategy or development work or whatever to try to figure out what's that perfect thing that the people are going to really want to shell out the money for, we decided not to do that and we just went and let the experience teach us. Let the people teach us. Didn't worry that it wasn't perfect. Didn't worry that it didn't have a beautiful bow on it every time. Made a bunch of mistakes. Learned some great lessons.
Overall, people were satisfied and actually quite thrilled for the most part. Let yourself get out there and don't let perfection be the enemy of doing it. It's like that paralysis by analysis. Don't get so caught up in trying to make it this perfect end goal that you don't let yourself take the first step. Just take the dang step, and the results will tell you what you need to do next.
[59:12]
James McKinney: Oh, man, that is so powerful. I hope everyone caught that. If
you didn't just go back about three minutes and listen to it again. That was
awesome. So I wrap every startup story with a question about perspective,
because I'm a firm believer that if we forget all the people that have been a
contributor to our success today, it will inevitably lead us to our failure.
The entrepreneurial journey tends to be a lonely journey because people make
it a lonely journey, but it should not be that way. We need people. So as you
look back on your journey leading up to work, and even in your first year of
work, who are the people that you look back to with just such immense
gratitude for?
[59:53]
Ilana Zivkovich: oh, there's so many. I feel like I'll be at the Academy
Awards right now. And thank you, and thank you, and thank you. But I'm really
fortunate. Again, I go back to we talked at the beginning about almost a how
to in terms of developing mentor relationships. I don't do it on purpose, it's
how I'm wired. But I have some of the best, most talented, tireless mentors in
my world. I also have some of the best friends. My family as well as sort of
chosen family and friends. For better or for worse, I allow myself to be as
honest with the people in my trusted circles as I can be, including those days
that are inevitable where it's like gosh, I am just so tired of this or I'm
beat, whatever the case may be. If I can allow myself to be honest and really
allow myself to be seen by those people that have earned that right to, they
have my trust and I know that they're going to have my back, then everything
else becomes surmountable. Because the point you made is really true.
Entrepreneurship can be very lonely and there's so much responsibility, and
every decision is ultimately on your shoulders depending on the way your
business is structured. That's a lot to carry.
So I do what I can to not make myself carry it alone. I'm a tribal person. I try to share the load. And I also try to share the joys. There's a wonderful quote that we use in our contractor agreement when we're signing up other coaches to work with us under our brand: A joy shared is doubled, and a burden shared is halved. I just love that. I'll say it one more time. A joy shared is doubled, and a burden shared is halved. Celebrate with your people and their successes, and give them the opportunity to celebrate you, and then be there for them when they need a shoulder, and let yourself lean on theirs when it's your turn to need one.
[61:33]
James McKinney: If there is anything that you take away from Ilana's story, I
hope it is about the power of curiosity and passion. Having an unending hunger
to learn more and to seek an understanding of what you don't know yet, then to
take that knowledge and let it fuel your momentum forward to execute against
your passions. All too often, people do not seek assistance out of fear of
perception or rejection. For the most part, we are absolutely willing to help
someone in need, but we are not willing to seek the help when we are in need.
We do so out of fear and out of pride. We cannot allow our fear of perception
or perfection to paralyze us and inhibit our growth and opportunities. Be
curious. Be curious what might happen if you pursue that relationship. Be
curious about what might happen if you go after that deal that you've been
telling yourself is way too big for your business right now. Be curious about
finally saying yes to something you've been saying no to for so many years. Be
curious about taking Ilana up on her offer for all The Startup Story
listeners.
[62:38]
Ilana Zivkovich: We are excited to offer listeners of The Startup Story
podcast 20% off on any of our emotional intelligence tools. We have an entire
suite of EI focused assessments. EI is seen today as more significant than IQ
or any other factor in determining leadership efficacy as well as team
fulfillment, and therefore productivity. So it's a very popular set of tools
that we have and we would love to offer listeners of The Startup Story 20% off
on anything from that suite.
[63:10]
James McKinney: If you visit WERQpeople.com, and that's W-E-R-Q people.com,
you can check out all of WERQ's services. Just make sure you mention Startup
Story when you interact with the company to get your 20% off. In one episode,
Ilana gave us encouragement with her startup story and resources with her
offer for help. I hope we can provide some value to her by engaging with her
on LinkedIn. A link to her profile is in our show notes, so make sure you
reach out to her and let her know one way her story had an impact on you.
Now, for my personal ask. The Startup Story community has been so incredible with sharing our podcast with others, but we have more stories to tell and more people to reach. We are a startup and the most powerful way you can support The Startup Story podcast is to leave a review on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @TheStartupStory.co. Share The Startup Story on your social media, either with a link or a screenshot. Make sure you tag or mention us @TheStartupStory.co so we can see your help and say thank you for it.
Lastly, share the podcast on your LinkedIn profile. The Startup Story is for entrepreneurs, so please do not underestimate the power of sharing The Startup Story on your LinkedIn profile so other entrepreneurs can discover us. In fact, most people struggle to share good content on LinkedIn anyways, so if you want to support The Startup Story then search for The Startup Story company page, follow us, and share our posts to help encourage other founders and spread the word about the podcast. Every single founder has a story, and the startup stories we bring you every week can encourage and inspire another founder. It might just be what they needed to hear to keep moving forward on their dreams. I look forward to sharing these stories every Tuesday with hopes to inspire you to start YOUR story.
Listen Now
Play and Subscribe