Frankie Russo is founder and CEO of 360°ia, an Inc. 500 MarTech company; 360ia specializes in marketing automation and business intelligence. He is a veteran marketer, who a decade ago founded Potenza, an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing marketing company for the last five years. He is also the author of The Art of Why, a highly-praised book in which he explores how you can discover your life’s mission and find the perfect balance between work and family.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Steve Jobs
- Sir Richard Branson
- Steve Pruett Chairman of the Board Cox Media Group
When business started difficulties overcame:
“there were a lot of different things that I dealt with early on that were difficult. Mainly just trying to get started with the initial seed money. My parents, they didn’t have any money to give to me so I had to do all of that on my own. I had an uncle that help me little bit, he gave me two or three grand to help get some office furniture when I first started my mortgage company. But the hard parts were the drought times. The hardest part of the business is that first year to 2 years when you are just trying to get enough money to pay the bills, you are not even talking about profits yet. And those were tough times”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- The Innovator’s Dilemma (Management of Innovation and Change) Book by Clayton M Christensen
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers Book by Ben Horowitz
Favourite Quote:
- “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right” Henry Ford
Also
- “Good Artists Copy; Great Artists Steal.” Steve Jobs
Recommended Online Resources:
- Inc Magazine get advice, tools, and services that help your small business grow
- Harvard Business Review – Find new ideas and classic advice on strategy, innovation and leadership, for global leaders from the world’s best business and management experts
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“really focus on doing something that you are passionate about. And make sure that it’s tied to something that also has a lot of purpose. So, don’t go out and just do something because it seems like something you will make a bunch of money on. Do something that you are passionate about, that you are good at and find a way to make it really help other people to create that purpose”…[Listen for More]
More About Frankie Russo:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Whatever you are, be a good one.” Abraham Lincoln
Other Quotes From the Chat with Frankie Russo:
- “it all boils down to having courage or bravery or whatever you want to call it. It’s what is required to be a successful entrepreneur because you will have doubt, you will have fear, and it will change. There’s 100 different ways that doubt or fear can creep in as an entrepreneur… Just don’t flinch”
- “’it’s always darkest before the dawn’. From experience I consider that’s very true as an entrepreneur. And so, it’s very important that when it matters most that we just don’t flinch in what we believe in”
- “you have got to be really honest and transparent from the beginning”
- “I didn’t ask a lot of the questions early on in my journey so I spent a lot of time having to pay for my education. What that means is I made mistakes and had to pay for them that I could have avoided if I had done more upfront to be prepared and ask the questions and look at the possible things that could hurt it as a poster just focusing on everything that can work ”
- “be willing to wait for the right opportunities and the right people and then once you commit to them just don’t flinch”
- “the secret to success is a combination of a lot of hard work and dedication without wavering”
- “there is some things that people will associate as luck. What I think it is, is seizing certain moments that present themselves. Because there is no real luck and so within business it’s more about keeping my eyes open and seizing a moment or seizing an opportunity and giving it that same work ethic that I am committed to”
- “you’ve got to have strong relationships. Whether it be a mentor and investor or a client or employee or your community. Those are stakeholders that are crucial to success and balancing all of those pieces is part of that”
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