Tori Thomas AND Laura Deleot built Circa Design on a set of principles: intentional design, focused processes, collaborative teamwork and creative curiosity. Within two years, they scaled to 90 clients with offices in two cities. They experienced growing pains, but they know how make good ideas grow. They are doing it themselves with Circa.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Walt Disney
- Laura’s Family members, Grandmother, Husband
When business started difficulties overcame:
“One of the biggest difficulties was really valuing our time… I definitely struggled with self-doubt and confidence… I would look at other businesses and feel like well I’m definitely not there… When we started we would tell people like oh we are just a small studio, and we pretty much said that until we expanded into two studios and then it was like oh realisation oh we are not just a small studio like we are an actual business and we have employees and we have great clients and why are we selling ourselves short”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom Book by William Glasser M.D.
- Brené Brown Books
- The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are Book by Brené Brown
Favourite Quote:
- “evolve or ceased to exist”
- “live the questions” Rainer Maria Rilke
- “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt
Recommended Online Resources:
- Blinkist lets you read the key lessons from 3000 nonfiction books in 15 min or fewer
- Thesaurus is the world’s largest and most trusted free online thesaurus brought to you by Dictionary.com. For over 20 years, Thesaurus com has been helping millions of people improve their mastery of the English language and find the precise word with over 3 million synonyms and antonyms and the ability to filter search results by relevance, word length, and complexity
- Harvest – Simple time tracking, fast online invoicing, and powerful reporting software Simplify employee timesheets and billing
- Slack is where work flows It’s where the people you need, the information you share, and the tools you use come together to get things done
- Asana – Easily organize and plan workflows, projects, and more, so you can keep your team s work on schedule
- Audible – Explore the world s largest selection of audiobook titles by best-selling authors
- Xero connects you to all things business. It’s online accounting software connects you to accountants and bookkeepers, your bank, and a huge range of business apps
- Gusto offers fully integrated online payroll services that includes HR, benefits, and everything else you need for your business
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“know your audience, know yourself and be decisive in the decisions that you are making currently… What’s the worst thing that can happen…What is failing? The worst thing that could happen if we take that risk… Sometimes it helps I think to know if it’s a risk worth taking. Because if the worst thing could happen is something that we are not really willing to let happen then maybe it’s not. But most of the time it’s like the worst thing that could happen is you fail, we have to shut something down and then we go back to doing it the way were doing before, which helps me assess if it’s worth it. And I feel like most times I like oh worst thing that can happen is really kind of fine. It’s a good reality check and puts things into perspective”…[Listen for More]
More About Tori Thomas AND Laura Deleot:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” David Brinkley
Other Quotes From the Chat with Tori Thomas AND Laura Deleot:
- “we can have a business, we can be successful and we can have a better impact when we make decisions where it’s not based on us, like when we are bringing more people in, we are bringing in better processes and we are thinking outside of just our limited scope”
- “There is so many great resources out there, and I think this is why your podcast the entrepreneur Way is so helpful is because if you are really thinking about where you are as a business, if you are in that start-up or you are in an idea phase it’s just important to know where you are at… It’s so important to be aware of that so that you are aware of where that advice is coming from. Someone’s advice where they have had a business for 10 years, they might forget about what it took to get there. Whereas someone who is in that start-up or even in the idea phase, there is validity in every part, just kind of important to know where that advice is coming from and to understand where you are at so that you get the appropriate advice for you”
- “I don’t know if there is a way to shortcut the learning curve”
- “when I’m feeling at a place where I am comparing myself to others and other people’s success that’s probably when I am least satisfied. But when I know very clearly what successes to me, and I think it is probably different for different people, but success to me is I love working but I want to keep that joy of working, I also love my family, I love people. So when I am in a place where either of those things I start just feeling resentful for the time that I spending their or not been able to enjoy any of that that’s a problem. I think I in a successful place when I’m able to enjoy those things in my life”
- “I think we are all a little bit perfectionists, we have this drive to be an entrepreneur because we want to do something better and we think we can… Perfectionism is not the goal”
- “I think failing is probably not trying and kind of being that cold and timid soul instead of knowing victory or defeat”
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