An entrepreneur since fifth grade, Paul Chambers is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Subscription Trade Association. From launching a SaaS company at SXSW to building one of the biggest brands in the subscription box economy, Paul has a handle on every aspect of a subscription-focused business and exactly how they succeed.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Paul’s Grandfather & Step Father & Father
- Elon Musk
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I had some difficulties right out of the gate actually. My very, very first business I started when I was in high school and I wanted to start a dial-up Internet service provider. I wanted to be the AOL of the day… Not necessarily AOL but at least help people get on the Internet. And I wanted to start this business and my grandfather said I’d back you, write a business plan, write pro forma. I will be with it and I will give you a little seed money to start it. And so, I wrote up this plan and he kept challenging me and he had me sharpen my pencil on a few spots. And eventually I got it to where he believed in it and he gave me $10,000 dollars to go out and get the equipment I needed. I bought all the wrong equipment; I had no idea what I was doing and failed miserably. And so, I had to figure out how to pay him back”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
Joy, Inc : How We Built a Workplace People Love Book by Richard SheridanFavourite Quote:
“Failing to plan is planning to fail”
Recommended Online Resources:
Trends by the Hustle – Your next business idea, delivered weekly. They track emerging industries and trends before they explode, and then show you how to capitalize Join 6000 innovators today
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“it’s okay to fail. As long as you learn from those challenges and those mistakes and work hard to not make them again. If you haven’t failed, if you haven’t made any mistakes then you are really, really lucky, you don’t recognise it or maybe you are just really lucky. I don’t know what other reason there would be… And just consistently keeping your head up and moving forward and always, always just keeping an ion the future is extremely beneficial”…[Listen for More]
More About Paul Chambers:
Subscription Trade Association (SUBTA)
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“When something I can’t control happens, I ask myself: Where is the hidden gift? Where is the positive in this?” Sara Blakely
Other Quotes From the Chat with Paul Chambers:
- “Ask questions to get to answers… So, surveying people and asking them and just having conversations. What are you looking for? What would help your business? What can we do to help you?… Just getting to understand people”
- “it’s focusing on setting the proper goals, setting the proper targets and working towards them. And that’s way easier said than done because the challenge then becomes you get so ingrained in the day-to-day you have to for sure so to come back and say okay here is what we established for our Q2 goals. Let’s make sure we have to keep coming back to these… We have to keep coming back to them and make sure that we are getting them done. And if something is standing on our way do, we need to reset those expectations or do we need to work harder towards it? Do we have the right resources to get done what we need to get done? So, for me a big secret to my success is not only establishing those but having just a great team to help get those things done and empowering that team wherever I can”
- “it’s about doing what you love and leaning with that. And then if you are happy… if you do the right thing the rest will follow”
- “you’ve got to take a step back, you got to evaluate how do we make sure that we are planning this appropriately and we are doing the right things… Making sure that all the right experiences are there and everything is in line with that is so, so important. And that truly is the secret of success”
- “I love ideas and I love inspiration and I love helping people. It’s so fun”
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