Paul J Daly is the Founder and CEO Congruent Automotive, a full service creative marketing agency and the author of “The Automotive Manifesto: How Brand Connection Can Save Retail Automotive”. With almost two decades of business leadership experience and a deep understanding of the retail buying psyche, Paul’s approach to the challenges and opportunities facing the modern dealer is clear and human.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
When business started difficulties overcame:
“all of them. The only one I didn’t have to overcome was motivation… I had no business background, there is no entrepreneurship in my family… We are talking 2003… Anyone over 40 remembers what the Internet was in 2003 and it was dial-up modems and there was no bandwidth on YouTube. And information was very hard to come by so we actually had to go and buy books… First challenge was I had no idea how to run any kind of business finances whatsoever. I didn’t have any business context, I didn’t have any sales training and frankly I didn’t have any technical skills. I said yes to start a business with a skill I did not possess at the time. And I went and got two days of really poor training and like every entrepreneur i said I can do this”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Small Business For Dummies Book by Eric Tyson and Jim Schell
- Triggers: Sparking positive change and making it last Book by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter
- It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy Book by D. Michael Abrashoff
Favourite Quote:
- “we don’t expect it to be easy”
- “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison
- “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison
Recommended Online Resources:
- Podcasts
- HBR IdeaCast – Harvard Business Review A weekly podcast featuring the leading thinkers in business and management
- Building A Story Brand – If you’re frustrated because you struggle to get the word out about your product or service, the Building a StoryBrand podcast will help.
- Akimbo is an ancient word, from the bend in the river or the bend in an archer’s bow. It’s become a symbol for strength, a posture of possibility, the idea that when we stand tall, arms bent, looking right at it, we can make a difference. Akimbo’s a podcast about our culture and about how we can change it. About seeing what’s happening and choosing to do something.
The culture is real, but it can be changed. You can bend it. - The GaryVee Audio Experience
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“understand your motivations. We can get into so many situations because our motivations are driven by ego driven by fear, driven by needing to prove something to somebody else. Even if that’s the case if you can at least acknowledge that’s what it is you will make better decisions and you will cause less destruction and more construction. So understand your motivation is the very best advice I could give”…[Listen for More]
More About Paul J Daly:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.” Henry Ford
Other Quotes From the Chat with Paul J Daly:
- “it’s a really bitter sweet thing. Understanding who the people on your team have to be. If I was a little more emotionally intelligent about those decisions and not so reactive… I think entrepreneurs convince themselves that everything has to be done right now and immediately or else the world’s going to fall apart. Sometimes that’s the case but it’s typically the exception not the rule. And if I would have known that truth then I would typically would have more time to make a decision or could make a more measured decision. I definitely would have avoided quite a few mistakes. Because once you make a decision it takes ten times the effort to unmake it. So I literally would have saved years and years of my life”
- “secrets to success: persistence; understanding yourself (so self-awareness); understanding that your reaction to something (be able to put that in a box and analyse it as objectively as possible before reacting to it); I think a genuine care for other people and being able to put other people’s interests in front of your own in order accomplish your own interests I think is probably apparent in the vast majority of very successful people (they make other people feel good)”
- “a lot of times I want to blame other people for my problems and this book just reminds me that the people are capable of a lot more when they are treated and heard and listened to and cultivated and mentored”
- “what happens was when you grow very fast there is all of these challenges that come along with that”
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