Mastering the Art of Adaptation with Feras Alhlou

The Creative Solutions Podcast

Building Success from Adversity: Feras Alhlou’s Insights

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Feras Alhlou is an inspiring entrepreneur whose journey from layoff to leadership will motivate you to take charge of your future. Discover how Feras turned a career setback into an opportunity, mastering new skills and persevering through challenges to build an eight-figure business. As the co-author of "Google Analytics Breakthrough" and a sought-after industry speaker, Feras shares invaluable insights on business growth, resilience, and the power of community service. We also explore how martial arts informs personal and professional success for both of us. Tune in to hear his story and learn how you too can transform obstacles into opportunities for success!

Connect with Feras

• Website: www.StartUpWithFeras.com/daily-advisor
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/@StartUpWithFeras
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/FerasAlhlou
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StartUpFeras
• Instagram: instagram.com/StartUpFeras

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ferasa

Connect with Izolda

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Transcript

The Creative Solutions podcast features interviews with innovative creative artists and entrepreneurs

>> Feras Alhlou: You'd be a better leader, you'd be a better business owner, a better manager if you have an appreciation of what's involved. If you are more hands on.

>> Izolda: Hi and welcome to the Creative Solutions podcast. I'm, your host, Isolde Trachtenberg. On the show, you'll hear interviews with innovative creative artists, entrepreneurs, business executives, and thought leaders. You'll have a front row seat as they explore their internal uncharted waters about what inspires them to grow, achieve, and innovation, innovate. Get their insights and realizations as I tease out answers to questions they've never pondered before. You'll also learn how to supercharge your innovative drive, mindfulness, and communication skills so you can succeed. This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity hack, the Brain FM app. This podcast's host, Podbean, as well as my book, speak from within, Engage, inspire, and motivate any audience. Hello. Hello and welcome to the Creative Solutions podcast. I'm, your host, Isolde Trachtenberg. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here. I am super excited to bring you this week's guest. Let me tell you about Feras Alhlou. Feras is driven to support your success, and I love that it's right up front. He's, that's, that's the mission. And let me tell you why. A layoff in 2003 propelled him into entrepreneurship, where he acquired diverse skills really outside his comfort zone. He learned to persevere through challenges and adapted his vision when needed with dedication and learning. He became a top earner within a franchise, authored respected publications like Google Analytics Breakthrough, and spoke at tons of industry conferences. In 2019, he sold his own consultancy to Dentsu and committed to giving back. Feras mentors new businesses, engages in community service, and offers expert guidance through startup with Feras. Now, here's another thing that you don't know about him that is obviously very close to my heart. Feras is also an aikido player. He is a, third don, which means he's a third degree black belt. And that's something that's part of my own journey that I love to talk about. And don't be surprised if in this conversation, we touch a little bit on how aikido relates to business and, heck, to all of life. Feras, thank you so much for being here. Welcome.

>> Feras Alhlou: Izolda, thank you so much. I appreciate the kind introduction and really looking forward to our conversation.

>> Izolda: I'm, I'm thrilled that you're here.

Rena Friedman Watts talks about how she pivoted after being laid off

And as always, I need to shout out Rena Friedman Watts, who is the person who introduced us. I am so excited to talk to you because you're a real, I mean, it's one of those true to life success stories. I would love for you, if you don't mind, to talk a little bit about how you went from I'm laid off to I've built an eight figure business. What were the pivotal moments or the decisions that led to this kind of decision to, to go and do and make something of it after a layoff? How did you manage that? What are your thoughts? What are your tips? What are your routines? Let's just go.

>> Feras Alhlou: Sure, sure. A lot to cover there. But, you know, you're a martial artist. So this concept of pivoting, you avoid an attack. You pivot, you move m around, and it feels like after all these years, as we get older, you reflect on life, you reflect on business, and there were just a lot of pivots in my life, and I think in most people's lives, and some of them are intentional. Like, you want to get out of the way, and sometimes you have to pivot because something is coming at you like a ton of bricks. So the layoff, I mean, so we moved to the Bay area, to the Silicon Valley back in 1998. I got into, I moved with my employer at the time, got into the startup scene, and then I was a vp of a cutting edge tech company in 2003. We raised a lot of money. We raised $96 million as a company. And then, we could not sell, fast enough. We couldn't deploy. He run out of money. And then layoffs ensued. I was part of, I think, the one before last, before the company folded. So here I go. From a vp of a cutting edge tech company to a layoff husband, and a father of a young family. At the time, the job market was very dry, similar to what we're seeing today with the waves of layoffs around us. And I, you know, it took me, it took me. Sometimes I get emotional here. I mean, it took me a few days to recover, I m guess, emotionally, psychologically, you know, I'm this vp now I'm out of work. What is it that people are going to think about me? Why me? What did I do wrong? but, you know, two, three days into it, a couple of days into it, I gotta do something about it. So I updated my resume and I started to reach out. Six, seven weeks into this, trying to get an interview, nothing, zilch. so I ran across, I ran into a friend of mine who wanted to do his own business. We chatted for about a week, and we decided that, you know what? Let's join resources, let's join forces. Let's start a business. And that's how it all started.

Feras says layoffs make you question your sense of self

I'm happy to go into more details, but let me pause and see if you have a question on that or you want me to dive into a specific part of this, initial recovery, after the layoff.

>> Izolda: You know, it's funny that you paused where you did that moment of self doubt, really. It makes you question who you are. It, makes you question what you're capable of. And there are lots of people who would sort of let it bow them down and not really recover their sense of self. Can you talk a little bit about what had to happen inside you to be able to go, you know what? This is something I can recover from. This is something I can do something about.

>> Feras Alhlou: Yeah. So I remember, I mean, I remember till this day when the CEO walked, in to my office and he said, Feras, tomorrow we have layoffs. And I had anticipated that that was about to happen. What I did not anticipate is that what he said next. And Feras, you're part of it. You're impacted as well.

>> Feras Alhlou: And, my stomach dropped, my heart was racing. I felt like the blood's going to flow out of my skin and explode. All these feelings. And then, oh, my goodness, no way. How did I not see that? What did I do? We were about to deploy, like, go and do a major deployment for a major telco at the time, and I was part of this, so. But you know, at the end of this, in a way, like, business is business. When I went back home and I got home, I used to, you know, I was in a startup. This was one of those 1213 hours day startups. So I went home that afternoon and spoke with my amazing wife and she said, why are you here early? I said, well, let me share with you. I remember sitting on the couch there in the living room where at the time we rented. And, I said, yeah, that's what happened. I mean, she was extremely supportive. of course, we have three kids, young kids, and financials, the financial side of things. Always sort of top of mind. But that wasn't. I knew I'll figure something out. I knew that things will work out financially. But it was more to your point, like, oh, my goodness, like my self worth here, my reputation, like, it's the shame, all those feelings, all these emotions run through you.

David Frum: Layoffs are hard on everybody, even strong men

And I want to mention to if your listeners, some of your listeners or maybe someone in their family. If you're impacted by layoff today, it's hard. And I had to lay off people later when I was a manager and a business owner. Not a whole lot of times, but it's hard on everybody. So don't, I mean, take. It's okay to mourn. I always say that's okay. Even for strong men out there. It's okay to cry. If you can't cry in public, cry at night. get these emotions, let them flow. Let them go through these emotions. And I think the logical thing to do, which is really hard to do in the first few days, maybe the first couple of weeks. But at one point, you have to sit down and do an honest assessment of what led to this sometimes. And I always say there are two hard truths about layoffs. At times, top performers are let go because a whole branch is closed or a whole vertical or a whole product is discontinued, and everybody is let go. And a lot of times, and this is, maybe hard to say, and I say it with a lot of compassion, but a lot of time, and a lot of times, companies lay off the underperforming 5%, 10%, whatever it is. So I think after that emotional kind of struggle or those feelings that you go through, I think, do an objective assessment. Ask people. Look at your last performance review. This is going to be really hard. But if you're honest with yourself, if you want to move on and learn from that failure, if you want to call it as such, you got to do an assessment and see what is it that you could have done better. Not to dwell on the past, but to learn from it for the next time. Whether you go back into the work workforce for your next job and be better at it, or if you want to start your own business, you have to know your strength and your areas for improvement so you can build a solid business. So that all of that was sort of going on in my mind in the first couple of weeks.

>> Izolda: I love that. And it's so funny how I had almost an identical story, back in. This would be 19, I want to say, 1990, 1989, similar thing happened to me where my boss, who was the president of a company, said to me, he took me, it was 03:00 on a Thursday. I'll never forget it. And, David, I'm shouting out you if you're listening to this. Cause he. He held it together to say, the company's going under completely. I'm not even legally allowed to tell you this. It's gonna happen tomorrow. We're all out of jobs. And what's interesting to me about that is, you know, he, he did cry. It was his baby, and it was just terribly sad. But what was interesting for me is my mindset went to, okay, I'm going to take a week, and I'm just going to party. I'm just going to go and I'm going to have all the fun in the world because I'm going to give myself a week to, you know, you mentioned morning, and I went the exact opposite way. I celebrated. I went, okay, I have freedom for a week to do whatever I want. I traveled. I had fun with my friends. And then exactly at 03:00 p.m. the following Thursday, I got a to work.

You almost got fired for not working hard enough at a startup

And the question I asked myself, and I would like you touched on it, and I'm very curious to see your thoughts on this. I looked at it as a lesson. It wasn't my fault. It was, I was not the president. I was not the decision maker for the company. But I still asked myself, what do I want to do differently next time? And so this is the question that I have for you, and I'm going to relate it a little bit to aikido, because when I, when I'm working with my sensei, for example, and she's amazing, shout out to Roma. She's an incredible, she's an 8th don, she's incredible. And she'll throw you 10ft and not blink an eye. But one of the things that she says every time we do it is how do you want to behave differently next time? How do you want to behave differently the next time you attack me? How do you want to do things differently so that you see a different result? So that's my question to you. When you were going through this, how did you do things differently? What kind of, not just mindset, but what kind of actions did you take to allow yourself to, again, pick yourself up and start something new that was different than what you had done before?

>> Feras Alhlou: Yeah. And amazing example there with, you know, I think I might have been to that dojo. is it in Brooklyn or where's the dojo at?

>> Izolda: No, it's in college park, Maryland.

>> Feras Alhlou: Okay. Okay. I'm, maybe I'm confusing names, but no. So, I mean, one thing that I learned in that startup is I've always worked hard. I think after, well, the first couple years in my career, I almost got fired for not working hard enough. And I learned my lesson early on. But in that startup, it was true Silicon Valley. Again, I slept there a couple times. And so I learned that the value and the momentum and ah, the amazing things you can do with lower resources. So I learned that from that startup and then from the incident, from the layoff incident, I could have been a bit more hands on. So in your case, it sounded like the whole company folded. Right. And so everybody's gone. So they're not just picking on you. In my case there was told people I was let go and then the company was still around for I think like another six months or so. So it was me like what, why did they have not lay off this director and why it's me? And again, you go into, I don't want to, like, I never wanted to sort of blame others or say they're picking on me, not the other, but I was thinking in my mind which like, if had I been more hands on, because I started my career, career, being technical, and then I moved to people management, project management, account management, I love that stuff. But I stayed very, I think, very m far away from sort of the ins and outs of what my team that I manage was doing. And for me that was a very important lesson is that you'd be a better leader, you'd be a better business owner, a better manager, if you have an appreciation of what's involved. If you are a bit more hands on, at one point you have the delegate, you can't be doing the same thing over and over to grow your business. But if you don't have, I think, the hands on experience and you have some area where you really dig deep into and understand and be an expert at, in a way you could be replaceable.

>> Feras Alhlou: So that is, that was more of a, again, a, you know, just career, lesson, if you will, is no matter what, what, what you do, small company, big company, whatever department you work in, learning and staying close to your area of expertise and kind of mastering that domain, that was a very, very important lesson that I learned. again, not the mindset stuff, but on the technical field that I'm in.

>> Izolda: It's interesting to me, in listening to what you're saying that it, because I think to me, mindset is so much of even the technical aspects, because how you approach problem solving, how you approach the decisions you make, is going to have to come from whether or not you have a mindset that is ready for them.

You talk about being willing to learn about becoming an entrepreneur

And so I'd love to ask you a little bit about the challenges you face during those initial stages of becoming an entrepreneur. How did they, how did those challenges shape your approach and contribute to your eventual success?

>> Feras Alhlou: So this might sound as a cliche, but without that failure, without that layoff, that was sort of wake up call, that, hey, you gotta continue to learn and be an expert in something. I don't think I would have been able to succeed in that very first business because we got into that business and this is 2003, and you remember those days, that was sort of the dawn of the Internet.

>> Izolda: Oh, yes.

>> Feras Alhlou: And convincing a business owner, a small business owner to pay us money, so we built a website for them. That was hard. People might not relate to today, but, so learning, and I didn't know how to do websites, I don't know how to sell, I don't know how to market because I worked in a company for all those years, other people did that. I was good in terms of delivering a project once a project was sold. So, so I had to learn sales, I had to learn how to do online marketing, SEO, pay per click, all that Google stuff at the time and the Yahoo stuff at the time, and those skills or the habits that I learned from the previous, startup that I was laid off from exploring, learning on your own, having to wear multiple hats, all of those were very, very transferable to the new business that we started. So without that failure, without knowing that I have to learn and have that learning mindset and exploration and trying new things, there's no way that I would have been able to, sustain and grow that first business that we started.

>> Izolda: Ah, failure, you know, I mean, it's very true. We, without, without those previous experiences, you don't have as good a blueprint, but also, you talk about being willing to learn, right? You said you had to learn marketing, you had to learn how to do all of this stuff at the same time, though, you still have to have, it's not an eye on the bottom line, it's almost like an eye on the strategy, an eye on the long term. And I'm going to go back to Aikido because I usually do, when I am grappling with someone or when we're doing any kind of work together, there is a give and take. There is this knowing sort of where you are in space, but also knowing where the other person is in space and making those transitions successfully. Who's giving, who's taking, who's taking, who's balance, what's happening. So you were going through all of this in this timeframe, the early aughts and the mid aughts. When you're doing these transitions and you were starting to get more successful. Can you talk a little bit about how you implemented those transitions? How did you need to pivot, how did you need to change how you were doing things as you went from serving some of those smaller companies to catering to like, let's say, Fortune 1000 or Fortune 500 companies.

>> Feras Alhlou: Yes. In terms of mindset.

>> Izolda: No, no, no, it doesn't have to be mindset. No, no.

>> Feras Alhlou: I was saying in terms of mindset, like, adaptability is another thing, flexibility is another thing. Because in the startup that before I was laid off, we were selling to Fortune five, we were selling to Fortune 100 with major telcos, the AT and T's of the world. And it was an infrastructure system. So imagine leaving that pitching and speaking with c suite CEO's and chief marketing officers, and chief technology officers, and then going, and now selling to small business owners, the local restaurants, the local dentists, the local, I don't know, dry cleaning. And that's what we did. We were knocking door, we're going door to door, knocking on doors to tell them about all this amazing thing called Google. You can get leads through Google, right? So that was a huge mind shift in terms of being ready to accept that. Yes. I used to sell to c level, now got to humble myself and learn and understand the pains and the pain points of these small business owners and be able to relate to them. So that was like, that was a big shift for me. Now, you can always examine what you did in the past and see how you can maybe repurpose it, repackage it for the present. So one thing that these business owners, the small business owners, they consistently told us that when my partner, business partner, I would go and meet with them, said, you both are so professional. You show up on time, well dressed, you do a follow up, you always meet your deadlines. Like all those skills that we had, we couldn't have sold or even spoke with Fortune 500 if we were not very polished on time. All the professional things you do with Fortune 500. So those habits, I would say, and those business skills did actually give us an advantage when we were selling small business owners. So that was really positive. Of course, other things don't apply to small businesses. So we had to learn those and learn the hard way and through the rejections. I mean, I never sold a thing, Zelda, before, before we started our first business. So learning how to, you know, how to follow up, you email them. Well, you call them. At the time, we had to do a lot of, things in person and going to a restaurant and waiting for the business owner to be done with him or her taking care of their clients. I mean, a sales pitch could take 3 hours just waiting for them to be available. We had nothing else to do. We got to sell. So then, as we grew, back to your question, as we grew and we started to specialize and we niched down on analytics within digital marketing, we really got into this analytics thing, and there was a wave of all these, big companies, Google and Microsoft and others, they were acquiring small analytics firms and repackaging those products and then offering them to the masses. So we, in a way, rode that wave. And as we became Google certified partners and got listed on their portal, the bigger leads started to come our way. So yet another pivot, another sort of reorientation, because what used to work with the small and mid sized business owners and we had to figure out how to sell and how to deliver to them. Now we're getting these leads from Fortune 500. So I had this amazing sense of excitement. Oh, my God, look at this lead we got. And then, oh, my God, how do I pitch to them? How do I sell to them? and we fumbled the first couple of leads and then we figured out that we have to, you know, do things differently. But, yeah, it's, it's, it's sort of, you have to roll with the punches in a way, and, and learn, you know, like, learn, learn from these days. There's a lot of resources. In the old days, we had to go and attend courses and read books and, and kind of talk to peers and people in the industry. That was a bit, I think that we had less access to resources. So that was, that was one of the challenges.

>> Izolda: Yeah, it's, it is.

How did you change your approach to talking to smaller businesses when developing skills

I'm fascinated by this because I, in, in my own sales, I tend to want to ask all the, say, all the stuff early instead of asking questions. And so I want to ask you, when, you were doing this, when you were developing your skills, were there any creative ways that you implemented to talk to some of these smaller businesses as you were growing into the media business, how did you change your approach? How did you, what kind of innovations did you make in your own skillset in addition to, like, reading books, but on the fly, were there times or do you have a specific memory of something that you did that was just creative and out of the box in order to either make a connection or close a sale?

>> Feras Alhlou: You know, what's that saying? Good, artist borrow and great artists steal. I think it was Picasso said that. So maybe not the most creative person in that way, but I'm a sponge. and I think the sponge was the only species that survived, the massive mass distinction, way back then, because, it absorbs good things and fights off bacteria. But literally, I remember I would go to a networking event, which were very hard for me to do because I didn't know how to do that. But m, after you do a few, you get comfortable at it and tell people what you do. And then I would take notes, like on the back of the business card of, let's say I spoke with a lady who does x, y and z, and I would take notes. I'm like, oh, she's doing that. Let me, I can try it. I would talk to the other person and this gentleman is doing, this one guy told me that he would print a design, because we were selling graphic design and website design, and he would take two templates and show the business owner, because you're selling design, so you want to show them something visual. And he said, people really like that approach. So we implemented that the next day before we went and pitched. So, learning from others, people who are maybe in a similar phase in their journey, similar stage, people who, or maybe people who have been, I always say people who have been to where you want to go, learning from them, I think it's important. And then it's. I think learning, is education and application. So it's not about just reading books or talking to others. How do I take that and implement it in my business? And that stayed with me for the longest time. Even today, we hear a lot about AI. Some people are skeptical, others are using it. There are definitely ways for you to implement AI in the way you run your business, and there are ways to actually incorporate AI in the services that you're offering. So always I think that learning and applying what I learned, stayed with me till to this point is you don't have to figure things out on your own. Ah, tap into your network, into the resources, into even your competitors. I've had gracious competitors who had shared with me some amazing tips that helped a lot in our, in our business.

>> Izolda: Ah, that's great. And I love that you said that, because the informational interview is king as far as I'm concerned. This notion of communication, of being willing to share. But also, I say this to prospective, the perspective clients in that they're in the field, for example, of where I'm aiming my business. But, I've said these very words to people. I've said, I'm not trying to pitch you, I'm trying to figure out how to pitch you. And it just puts people at ease. And I'm not trying to pitch them. I'm not trying to get their business. I'm trying to figure out how people who are like them want to be pitched right. And so there's nothing wrong with that. And interestingly, it has gotten me business with some of those people, but that's not my intent. So communication, to me is very key in any form of business and coming up with those innovations that allow you to do that.

How do you ensure effective communication among team members when they're remote

But you have, sort of multiple locations for your business now. And so I would love to talk to you about that notion of communication. How do you work within the team members, especially if they're in different geographical locations? How do you ensure effective communication and collaboration with all these folks?

>> Feras Alhlou: Yeah. So I'll tell you one thing is that we, so after, when we started that first business, once we figured out sales again, it took us some time, not days, not weeks. I hear you. And then we started to use leverage contractors and, and part timers. And then we figured, you know what, we can also build a team, an offshore team who would support our businesses and then also potentially sell their services to, other companies. And we ended up, I think around 2008, 2009, building a company, offshore company. We grew it to 45 people.

>> Feras Alhlou: And in terms of communicating, this is way before Zoom, this is way before COVID and the whole remote culture. So we figure, again, we learned the hard way, you can't just build a team, even if they're an amazing team in a different geography. And if it's in a different country now, you have different culture, different business culture. You have to be close to the team. So we made a commitment, my business partners and I, we had four partners in that venture that we would commit this one year where we still maintained the business here in the US, and we had to sell and grow and deliver and also build that unit or that its own entity, overseas. And it took us, we know we got the go ahead from the folks at home, the bosses at home, and a lot of travel to stay with the team, especially in the formation phase. is still the values, the business culture that we wanted. and then we would work at night when we were there to catch up on us work. And then when we were back in the US, we were working early mornings and nice to communicate with the team over there. So constant. I think as a founder as a business owner, as a manager, you lead by example. You can give a lecture on whatever value, whether it's transparency or honesty or customer satisfaction. Yeah, you can preach on that all day long. But if you don't model it, if you don't show it, if you don't show your team how it's done by, your actions, then no one is going to really. It's not. It's just. It's just going to be, you know, like a slogan that no one really m applies. So. So I think what we've learned, from that first experience is that you have to be close to the team. It requires some sacrifices if they're in a different time zone. but that stayed with us. So. So even that analytics company that we ended up growing and selling to, Densu, the global media giant, we built a remote workforce by design. The whole entire company, the 40 plus people here in the US, we were hiring people remotely by design. This is 2013, 2014, way before this, thing became a commonplace. So we learned that you have to be intentional about it. You have to hire people on board them, have a whole lot of communication, have your one on ones with them on a weekly, bi weekly basis. You have to get together maybe once a year. We used to have an annual summit that everybody looked forward to attend. So you can't just hire people remotely and sort of leave them their own devices. You have to be very intentional about it.

>> Izolda: Intentionality is so important. And to me, and coming back to Aikido, intentionality is part of it, but also receptivity.

Roma says martial arts principles can apply to the business world

So I would love to ask you about that aspect of identifying potential partners, identifying potential clients, nurturing those fruitful collaborations. Can you talk a little bit about, your process for doing that?

>> Feras Alhlou: Yeah. And since you mentioned Aikido, we published a video on eight principles, eight martial arts principles for business. And one of them, I think the first one was, knowing, or know your opponent's mind. So, in aikido, and you train and you know that, you know, when someone is attacking, you know, you don't wait till you get hit, you react. You want.

>> Izolda: Hopefully not exactly.

>> Feras Alhlou: I mean, you want to. You want to be this. This concept of. Of alertness, right? You're alert. not in a stiff way, and I. And sort of mechanical way, but you want to focus on the attacker and be aware of the surroundings, because there might be another attacker behind you, or they might have a wall behind you. You can't move. So knowing your opponent's mind and knowing what's going on? Are they coming in fast? Are they coming in slow? Do they have something in their hand, maybe like a knife? why are they attacking you in the first place? So that I think also knowing in the business, if you translate that to the business world, people are not opponents. But you have team players, you have your team, you have vendors, partners, you have customers, you have competitors. So I think here, consider the confrontations or these interactions from the opponents, from the other person's perspective. If you have an unhappy customer, like, why are they unhappy? Is it something maybe you did? Are they reasonable? Are they, are they just, are they unreasonable? Did they, did we m m miss a major deliverable for them? Did we not? Maybe, maybe it was just a bad day, you know, that the client had a bad day at home, and they're just frustrated. And so I think what I learned from all these years in martial arts is what she called the receptivity, or, like, really understand what could be behind this without judging and then receive it, like in aikido, this concept of harmony. I'm not necessarily going to block something. I'm going to blend with it. I'm going to receive it and then redirect it, re channel it. And that, I think people talk about empathy, people talk about Stephen Covey, one of my favorite books, the seven habits of highly effective Paul, he talked about, seek to be, seek to understand before you seek to be understood. So those concepts apply really well, I think, in life, in your relationships, your marriage, with your children, at work. Just understand where people are coming from. There's just so much going on these days, and there are mental issues, mental health issues, a lot of pressure. People sometimes are having difficulties. You just make ends meet. So understand, where people are coming from and why they're behaving in a certain way, and then apply the proper proportionate response.

>> Izolda: Oh, that's beautiful. Understand where they're coming from, and then apply the proper proportionate response. I think that is a, an absolutely phenomenal way of looking at it. And what's interesting to me about that, again, I'll go back to my sensei. I'm talking a lot about Aikido with you. That's very interesting. but my sensei says, you know, meet them where they are.

>> Feras Alhlou: Yes.

>> Izolda: And then, and then join with them as they're going. Where they're going. And then help them go just a little further than they meant to. And that's, that's, that's how roman, spot on. The, that's how Roma does it. And so.

You say entrepreneurship is five times harder than you think

But you said something that struck me. You said that we're meeting all of these difficulties, and there are certainly challenges that we have from everything from mental health to the economy and all of that. But you work with entrepreneurs, you work with people who have decided, for whatever reason, that they want to strike out on their own. But you also talk about the fact that it's harder than you think. So can you talk a little bit about that? What are some specific aspects or challenges of being an entrepreneur that aspiring entrepreneurs kind of don't know about or underestimate?

>> Feras Alhlou: So I say, we have a bunch of black belt principles at startup with Feras that we use. and one of them is entrepreneurship is five times harder than you think. So don't quote me on the number. It could be four times, six times, it doesn't matter. But it is much harder.

>> Izolda: It's harder.

>> Feras Alhlou: I mean, if you think about it, you have to, let's say you've taken the leap and you started a business, so you've made that decision. So you have your domain. Let's say you want to do HR consulting or financial consultant or whatever the case might be. You know, that space. That's an assumption. But you haven't sold this thing. You haven't done marketing, you haven't done payroll or hr if you now are hiring people. So there's these other aspects of the business that you don't know. So there's a lot of learning going on, so you have to accommodate for it. Also, once you sell, you have to deliver. And if you're on your own, initially, most likely it's going to take you few times to really understand how to scope things properly, how to give the right estimate in terms of timeline and budgets. So there's just a whole lot of learning, learnings and a lot of, I think, entrepreneurs, they, there's maybe there's some romanticism about, about entrepreneurship, and they want to make it big and build a seven or an eight figure business. But initially, there's a lot of foundation building that is required, similar to anything martial arts. Of course, when you start, you know, white belt, you don't know how to move around, you don't know how to move your hands, your arms, your legs, your feet, all that same thing. I always remind entrepreneurs, look at the very first time, remember the very first time you swam or you rode the bike or you put your hands on the steering wheel. When you drove the first time, you were very stiff, you were very nervous, you were clunky, like you didn't know what to do. And then fast forward a year from then, and you were much comfortable, much natural at riding the bike or I rolling in aikido or maybe playing an instrument. So these systems, these things around us, art or science, business is the same way. You just got to put the hours, you got to put the reps, you got to pitch many times, and then it becomes natural. You got to deliver many times, and then you become better at it. You got to hire and learn how to be a good manager. So it just, it's a matter of, I think, understanding that it's going to be hard and getting ready to just get the reps. That's sort of one of the main messages I share and highlight with those who are about to start a business or those who started, and they're sort of overwhelmed. It's going to be overwhelming. There are a lot of unknowns, a lot of ambiguity. That's just part of it. But just, just go out, have a plan, and execute to that plan, and just, it's a matter of doing these repetitions and learning. Learning from the mistakes.

>> Izolda: yes, learning from mistakes. It's interesting that you said that. I really agree with you about the fact that everybody, no matter what it is you're doing, you were once a beginner. No matter what it is, you once spoke for the first time, you once walked for the first time, you once fell for the first time. And that's something that my sensei does talk a lot about. And we spend a lot of time learning how to fall. You learn how to fall to save yourself. That's what you're doing. That's the point of it all. Falling. Failing is learning how to save yourself next time.

60% of Americans have a business idea, but only 9% actually act

So talk to me a little bit about what advice you'd give to someone who's failed or who's just starting, who's considering starting their own business, but, but not know what are some of the steps they should be taking.

>> Feras Alhlou: Yeah. And just, a data point here is that I believe, according to the labor of Bureau of Labor Statistics, don't quote me on the source, but 60% of Americans have a business idea, and I think 34% have multiple ideas, but only a mere 9% are the ones who actually act on this idea and turn it into a business. So I joke ideas are a dime a dozen. So if you have a business idea, there's the technical aspect of things, like you have to vet the idea, make sure that people who will buy what you want to offer, make sure you differentiate from your competitors, make sure you know what you can sell this for. So there's that technical vetting of the idea. and we have a lot of content on how to do that. The mindset, though, is failure is not if you will fail, it just going to happen. Just like riding the bike. Is that a metaphor? It is going to happen. So how do I learn from that? In the sense that, okay, one time I went to, this is a funny, real story. A funny story, a sad story. I went to a course, a sales course, three date sales course. At, the end of it, the sales coach, he gave us this list, a checklist of things you should learn about the lead before you send a proposal to your point. You know, you ask people like, let me know more about you and your challenges. So there was like 29 points, I think, on this checklist. He sold. I went to the next pitch. See, I applied quickly. I learned that I applied, and it was right after lunch at 01:30 p.m. i go into this office, in this conference room. And then I said, sales coach said, I gotta get all this information. So I started to ask these questions one at a time. Right. Without watching or listening to what the person is saying.

>> Feras Alhlou: I put the lead to sleep. I swear I'm not exaggerating. The guy sneezing off, it was so boring. I mean, I think he was so polite. He did not interrupt me. But you can't. I mean, you know, I mean, I laugh at it now. It was so embarrassing. and, you know, you learned later that you have to act on your feet if, if the client is not interested, if the lead, is sort of looking around on zoom, not focusing on like, you have to, you know, act on, on the body language. Right. And you don't. You. There's no way that you can learn how to do this initially. So learn that, I think, in the mindset wise, that just part of the journey that I have to go and pitch several times, and then I became better at it. And the same thing in aikido. My role, my first roll is going to be really clunky and then might leave a couple of bruises, but two, three months into it, I'm going to roll very smoothly. And then it becomes really natural and then I can sort of role without thinking about it. So, so I think it's, don't get discouraged if you get a rejection. Don't get discouraged if a client doesn't get back to you. Don't get discouraged if you run a marketing campaign that got you, that returned zero leads. Don't get discouraged if this big client that you just did an amazing job for did not renew. These things will happen if they're not happening. I don't think you're doing. You have a business, but learn from each one of them. Do an assessment at the end of the month, at the end of the quarter. Okay. What went well? Okay, I'm gonna. I'm going to me, my team and I were going to do this and do more of. And then what did not go so well? Why did we lose those. Those two clients? Why did I get, you know, I usually get maybe 20% rejections. I got 40% rejections this quarter. Learn from that, from that and apply it for the next, you know, for the next quarter.

>> Izolda: This notion of application is fascinating to me because it, calls on us to be judgment free of our own failures. Right.

>> Feras Alhlou: You.

>> Izolda: You go. I like to say, and I'm sure other people have said it before me, sometimes you win, sometimes you learn, and as opposed to losing, because it's not a loss.

Last company was pitching again, Fortune 500, and we did not win

So can you talk to me about a time when you really took what could have been considered as a failure and turned it into a real innovation or a real satisfying conclusion?

>> Feras Alhlou: I used to say, in the last company, I used to say we had a bunch of value. We had a value statement, and we have a number of principles. One of them was, Ah, easy. Ah, hard on the issues and hard on issues, soft on people. So at that time, 2014, 2015, we were pitching again, Fortune 500. And we get those rfps, those thick requests for proposals or requests for quotes, rfqs. And you have to apply. And you have. Is not like a quick proposal. These things take time.

>> Izolda: Oh, they do.

>> Feras Alhlou: And we're talking about, by that time, six digit deals, $250,000, consulting gig in a multi year gig, engagement. So you'd put tens of hours to prepare the RFP, the request for proposal. And then in some cases, you have to go on site, multiple people, and pitch. And I remember this one was one of the, virgin, brand, one of their business units. And we prepared so hard for that one. Zelda, we put so much energy, we. And then three of us traveled to the east coast, and we did not win that deal. it was. I want to say it was devastating, because by that time, we were very profitable. And, you know, you win some, you lose some. But I, like, we did everything possible. We. Even when we walked in their building, like, we dressed the way they would dress like in their industry, and we had a lot of fun, fun story. Like, when you walk into that building, if you had a tie on it, they would actually take your tie, and they would cut it, and they would hang it on the wall of shame. And this is. I guess this is what Richard Branson does in these companies. So, luckily, I did not have a tie on. so we did everything we could, and later, when we heard the news that we did not win, I mean, it's hard. I don't want to say, no, it's okay. but there was no moment in time in my mind where I was going to blame someone on the team, on the account team that was pitching. There's just no way. So I shared the news with the team, and we had a quick huddle, virtual huddle, and I said, hey, folks, it is what it is. and I thanked everyone on the team for the amazing work that they've done to get us there. it's a privilege, in a way, to go and pitch to these big companies, and we were there, a contender. So I was very proud of that, and I was happy that we were in that position. And I said, okay, folks, let's now do everything in our capacity to figure out what happened. And it's not easy. a lot of these big businesses, they don't want to tell you their legal considerations, but we figure out ways to reach out to different attendees of that meeting from. From the client side to. To get information on why we were not chosen. And it was one thing. It was. He said, you scored well on everything, but this one stakeholder who was attending the meeting was kind of sitting a bit far away, and we didn't think he was part of the decision making process. So, m. We did not ignore him on purpose, but we did not give him any attention, sort of. I was focusing. I was there. I was focusing on the. On the highest, you know, sea level, and we sort of ignored this, this one influencer to the decision making process. And that was just bad preparation on our part, because we get a list of who's attending when you work with these big companies, and you should go to their LinkedIn profile and understand everything they do and what's important to them and also understand, learn about their personal life and go and network with them and connect with them. So that was a huge learning for us. Very expensive lesson. But, m, you bet. After that pitch, I made sure we used basecamp at the time. We had an action, like a list of things to do before a pitch and make sure we study every person who attends, a pitch meeting and be able to connect with them and understand their issues and their pinpoint. I would just be, you know, we didn't ignore them out of, like, we're disrespectful. It just, you know, it was a miss on our part. So. So, long story short, I would summarize is with your teams, with your customers, you have to, you know, prior preparation prevents, poor performance. So you cannot be over prepared when it comes to sales and pitching, especially as you get into bigger and bigger clients. So. So preparation and then going out there and giving it your best is important. And when things don't go, don't go in the direction that you're hoping. Just learn from that.

>> Izolda: And I love that you said that. And because this little statement that you just made holds for every kind of business. And I work a lot with artists who are also entrepreneurs. That's a business as well. And there are lots of artists who don't understand those facets of their own businesses. I'm so glad you said that, because it relates to, if you're a singer or a musician, or a fine artist or a plumber or an architect, whatever it is, that preparation facet of working with your clients and customers cannot be overstated. So I'm super grateful that you said that. Feras, I appreciate so much that you took the time to be here. This was such a great conversation. I could keep you here all day, and I have like 14 other questions we haven't even gotten to. So what I would love to do is invite you to come back sometime in the future and we'll delve more deeply into some of the work that you're doing. But if somebody wants to know more about you and the work you're doing and your aikido and going on hikes and all of that, all of the stuff that you do, how do they find you? What is the best way for someone to locate you before I ask you my last two questions?

>> Feras Alhlou: Sure. Sure. Again, thank you for your kind words. And thank you for the amazing content that you produce, on just helping entrepreneurs and helping people in life and navigate life in general. So I appreciate that. So, yeah, people can, reach out at startup with Feras.com. and Feras is spelled like my first name. F e r A s. We have a daily newsletter you can sign up for, and you can go on YouTube. Startup with Feras. We have our channel with, I think, over 200 videos now on all things, all the things that entrepreneurs need from sales, marketing, choosing a partner, working with lawyers, working with accountants. So, yeah, help, you know, feel free to reach out and leave us a question, a comment. We have a weekly podcast, actually, livestream. Not, not a podcast, really. More of. We answer the questions that come our way from the community.

So if you have a business, you're struggling with sales or marketing

So if you have a business, you're struggling, maybe with sales or marketing or hr or back office or you have an idea and you're not sure how to turn it, or if you're the creative type and you're an artist and you're really struggling with, you know, some of the left brain stuff, there are ways to, you know, to find people to help you or maybe help you set up some checklist. So, yeah, reach out. I'll be more than happy to provide, guidance and support where I can.

>> Izolda: Oh, awesome, Feras, thank you so much for that. I appreciate it. As, as a creative myself who sometimes struggles with those facets, I'm gonna be. I've looked at a few of the videos on the YouTube channel. I'm gonna go through all 200. That's gonna be my. My lunchtime viewing is gonna be your. Your videos. and, and it's a great. I mean, that I'm trying to maximize my productivity and my creativity, and I'm spending my lunchtime trying to enjoy my food, but also listening to guidance from other people. So that's a, that's a great little time saver for me. it keeps me from. From watching television. Anyway, so I, again, I'm super grateful that you took the time.

I love building. It's just something that I enjoy. And, uh, this is like my 7th venture now

I have just two more questions. And the first question is, what is the thing that makes you get out of bed in the morning? And I don't just mean your alarm.

>> Feras Alhlou: You know, I like to. I like to get things done that just in general in my life, sometimes to my own detriment, sometimes you got to slow down and listen to your business partner or to your wife or your husband or partner. So, I love building. So even after the ventures I've had and selling the business, I did take a year and a half, a couple of years to actually volunteer, do pro bono work, to a few nonprofits. I'm so fortunate I was able to do that. But then my co founder and I, Eric, we decided to focus on startup affairs and provide, share our experience and our expertise with the community. Just working, you know, we spend most of our waking time at work, in all professions, so, so working with people who share the same values, who have the same passion. They want to build something and grow it it's just something that really gets me excited. And, this is like my 7th venture now. and I feel like, why do I do this to myself? Another startup? But it's just, it's fascinating to build something from the ground up and rally a few people initially to share your vision and help you build it and make it, materialize it. It's just something that I really enjoy. And then along the way, just something I'd like to share is that in this last venture we had that we sold to, densu, we made my partner, business partner, and I made a commitment three years before the acquisition. And we told the team that once we sell, once we get investors or we sell, so there's a huge financial upside, we will take a sizable percentage of that amount that we get and share with the team. And, obviously, when we sold the business and the financial transaction was completed, I was very happy. I felt amazingly, you know, I achieved something big, but I was as happy to take. And we're talking about millions of dollars and have that shared with the team, delivering on that commitment. And this is my advice to founders and business owners and people who have businesses. As you grow, as you become better at what you do, as you become more profitable, share with those around you, those who have helped you along the way. you couldn't have done it without them. So share with your team and send nice gifts to the partners. And also help nonprofits, a cause that you believe in, whether it's, an hour a week, or maybe a few hundred bucks a month, a year, whatever you can afford. But that concept of building something and growing that entity, and then the capitalist and me making a lot of money out of it, and then sharing, I think those, those are things that, that kind of keep me, keep me motivated, keep me running at, 1213, 14 hours a day.

>> Izolda: Oh, that's a lovely sentiment.

Feras: Be of service to others can yield profound answers

And you may have already answered this next question, because you just already said it, but I'm going to ask it anyway. This is a silly little question, but I find that it can yield some profound answers. And so here's the last question. If you had an airplane, environmentally friendly, of course, that could skyrite anything for the whole world to see, what would you say?

>> Feras Alhlou: Be of service to others? What Ralph Waldo Emerson said, life is not about just about being happy. It's about being compassionate, being useful, and, being honorable. So be of service to others. Just so many people help us. No one gets to the top on their own. No matter how difficult your situation is. If you just look around you, you don't even have to look overseas. And other people are struggling these days. So find something that you have and share some of it with others. I think that will do a lot, for our, our families, for our relationships, for our community and for the country. So, yeah, that would be. Be of help, be of service to others. It's not just about you and how big you can be and how wealthy you can be and all that. Just be of help to others.

>> Izolda: That's beautiful. I love it, Feras. Thank you.

>> Feras Alhlou: I don't know where that came. I don't know where that came from, but, I truly believe it. Yeah. Thanks for kind of finding that somewhere.

>> Izolda: That's what that question is designed to do. It's really. It's sort of coalescing. Coalesces your biggest beliefs into one sentence, and you did it. So thank you so much for that, Feras. I appreciate it. And I really appreciate you taking the time to be on the show. This is so great, and I can't wait to have you back. Thank you again for taking, for giving your wisdom and for talking aikido with me, which is so fabulous.

>> Feras Alhlou: Thank you so much. As you said, we could have, probably can go for another 2 hours just talking about aikido. So I appreciate it is all done. Keep. Keep producing this amazing content, and if you're ever in the bay area, I'd love to meet you in person and take you out to lunch or dinner and connect at a different level. So thank you so much.

>> Izolda: Oh, yeah, and I'm in the Bay area more than, more than, less than I want to be, and more often than you think. So that I will definitely get in touch. Thank you for that, Feras. I appreciate it.

Isolde Trachtenberg is the Creative solutions podcast host

So if you've been listening to this, you know, you need to go check out Feras Ahlulu and the work that he's doing to help entrepreneurs of all types, obviously, because listen to this episode. this is Isolde Trachtenberg for the Creative solutions podcast. You know what, the show is brought to you by. It's always brain fm, it's always podbean, and it's always my books speak from within, at least for the foreseeable future, until the next thing comes out. I, as always, remind you to be bold, be creative, and most of all, be kind. Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the show if you're new, and it would mean the world to me if you told a friend about it. Today's episode was produced by Isolde Trachtenberg and is Copyright 2024. As always, please remember this is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope.