Chad Parks is the Founder and CEO of Ubiquity Retirement + Savings, a financial technology company that pioneered online, flat-fee retirement plans for the historically under-served small business market. Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm has helped more than 7,000 businesses contribute over $2.25 billion toward retirement savings since 1999.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Frank and Gigi
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I was 28 years old when I started this business and I had been professional for 3 ½ years before that… And for 2 ½ of those 3 ½ years I was in control of my own income… Meaning it’s up to me I have to make it work. When I started my business beyond my financial planning practice I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And you have the best laid ideas about what a business is going to look like and you want to surround yourself with certain people who have expertise in different areas… If you are the one who is going to try to do everything in the early days of your business… But that was me, I was doing the accounting, I was doing the sales, I was doing the record-keeping… I was the one had to run payroll, I had to do everything” [Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Losing My Virginity: The Autobiography Mass Market Book by Sir Richard Branson
- Tom Peters books
Favourite Quote:
- “Do. Or do not. There is no try” Yoda – The Empire Strikes Back
- “have a strong enough why don’t worry about the hows”
Recommended Online Resources:
- 15 Five software elevates the performance and engagement of employees by continuously asking questions and starting the right conversations
- Strengths Finder 2.0 – Discover Your Strengths. Hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths
- Kolbe is the only program that understands and builds on your instinctive strengths Take the Kolbe A™ Index to understand your natural instincts today
- Strategic Coach – Premier Business Coach For EntrepreneursDiscover how you can grow your business exponentially with the leading company in business coaching for entrepreneurs
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“don’t forget to make and take time for yourself. As entrepreneurs, as business owners, as leaders we will generally tend to work ourselves too hard. The quote that he said (Tom Peters) zombies make lousy leaders. My advice is absolutely get a hold of your schedule, get a handle on your schedule, make it very systematised… Getting a hold of your schedule and create blocks of time where you don’t have interruptions. Create blocks of times where you will take meetings, create blocks of time where it’s a free day for yourself. And set the expectations… ”…[Listen for More]
More About Chad Parks:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” Zig Ziglar
Other Quotes From the Chat with Chad Parks:
- “you hear often leverage resources around you, take mentors, shadow somebody, take them to lunch, ask them questions. The problem I had back then was I love the idea but I honestly didn’t know the questions that I needed to be asking. And if someone had given me maybe somewhat of a playbook by which then I could go and fill in the blanks with the experts in my area that I needed to find that really would have shortened my learning curve”
- “there is too much information out there today. So, find a trusted source, listen to podcast like this and really learn from everybody else’s mistakes and do yourself that favour of shortening that learning curve”
- “luck is where preparation meets opportunity”
- “you as an individual first and foremost need to define what success is to you”
- “you have really got to know yourself in all of this. If you don’t know yourself then it is going to be a frustrating journey”
- “know going in it’s going to be a rollercoaster. Be prepared for experiencing the highest highs and be prepared for the lowest lows… Set your parameters of what your expectations are”
- “have faith that things will continue to work out”
- “set a realistic timeline for your measurement of time in which success will come”
- “very rarely do we ever see overnight successes”
- “take that slower pace, it doesn’t all have to happen immediately”
- “if you have the right idea, the right attitude and the right infrastructure around you, you to might be able to do it”
- “are there any artificial limitations you are putting on yourself because of fear of failure?”
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