Russell Saks (CEO): Russell graduated from Indiana University with a major in Management and a minor in Entrepreneurship. Russell is the CEO and founder of Campus Protein and handles investor relations as well as their overall growth strategy. A big focal point for Russell is ensuring the company is aligned in both their long and short term strategy. Russell has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and started his first business in middle school.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Russell’s Grandpa
When business started difficulties overcame:
“getting the vendor’s that we work with to sell product to us directly… In the early days it was really tough getting those vendors to sell us directly. We had absolutely no reputation in the industry, nobody knew who we were. And the minimum purchase size really to place a purchase order was really large and much more than we could afford so we were forced to go directly through distributors and our margin was this the cut by doing that but we knew that if this idea was really going to work out in the long run that we would eventually figure out how go direct”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography Book by Walter IsaacsonFavourite Quote:
“If Opportunity doesn’t Knock, Build a Door.” Milton Berle
Recommended Online Resources:
- Inc Magazine get advice, tools, and services that help your small business grow
- Fast Company is the world s leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design
- Entrepreneur Magazine is the a source for everything small business. Get the latest small business information
- Morning Brew – The daily email newsletter covering the latest news from Wall St to Silicon Valley Informative, witty, and everything you need to start your day
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“just have focus. I think that it is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, I think you need to think of your end goal, the big picture and constantly ask yourself if the things you are doing will positively affect that end goal and if they don’t think that those are things that need to be cut out. So I think focus is really the key”…[Listen for More]
More About Russell Saks:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success.” Thomas J. Watson
Other Quotes From the Chat with Russell Saks:
- “when building a business there is a ton of noise from what other competitors may be doing, noise from people trying to sell you different things”
- “I think people who just think things kind of happen are foolish. If you see an opportunity you have to step up and capitalise on it. Rarely are things going to be handed to you so you can’t just weight around hoping that one day I’m going to get that promotion or one day this ideal just come to me. You really just have to step up take accountability and do it”
- “I think the most important thing, and this is something that we do, just identify here are the two to three things that we want to be absolutely great at. And every time one of those things comes across your desk you can ask yourself will this have a direct impact on those two or three things? And if the answer is no then is really not worth your time”
- “I think having absolute laser focus is something that we take seriously”
Leave a Reply