Jeff Reed is a problem solver who uses the art of connection to design the future. Awarded 2023 innovation ENTREPRENEUR of the Year, Jeff is a caring leader who is fueled by the unmatched energy of accelerating others. This elevated episode will make you feel like you’re on top of a mountain as we discuss idea navigation, design thinking, mentor madness, long-term content creation, and hiking the finite journey of life.
Words matter. When “small business” and “small business owner” is used over and over again, it begins to feel belittling. Together, opportunity awaits those who brew fresh ways to talk with and about small businesses!
First, let’s get an elephant in the room. Everyone understands the need for business categorization within an economy and yes, size is a simple metric. Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs) are quick to explain that because of government policies, regulated programs, and the history of small business owners not thinking of themselves as entrepreneurs, using “small business” has become second nature.
The opportunity exists within events where the assemblage are small business owners, but what about this fear of marketing that won’t resonate without a clear call to “small business owners”? Here’s the trick. Use small business terms to gather awareness, but then let those technical terms chill once everyone comes together. This ensures clarity in branding, online activity, and event promotions. As events get underway, emcees, speakers, panelists, and staff can embolden the audience by using “small business owners” as necessary, but intentionally use more alternative titles that add depth to the narrative. Instead of everything being stuck on small, try these seven synonyms that describe greatness, importance, appreciation, growth, and yes, small business owners.
As people who may have only identified as a small business owners start using enlivened vocabulary, these side conversations become a signal of something lasting! If this effort continues at future events, more people will connect with more terms they feel inspired by. This exposes small business owners to even more relevant resources, helpful ideas, and different areas to confidently explore within an expanding entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Extra Shot
When was the last time you wanted something important to be small?
Using this working draft of synonyms, we can each quietly inspire more inclusivity through fresh assimilation at events. Even if policies remain rigid, more people will learn to celebrate and identify with more codifications.
Over time, more will feel allyship with all that is entrepreneurship. We will remain proud small business owners, but just as vested when we hear whatever the latest jargon may be.
Kaylee Williams is a sales savant and an empathetic venture capitalist dedicated to accelerating fellow founders. As the Investment Director at InnoVenture Iowa, she manages a $30M public fund focused on investing in early stage companies throughout Iowa, with applications for this year’s $100K InnoVenture Challenge now open!
Together, we chat about hiking in the Appalachians, raising capital, and filling the sales funnel to keep entrepreneurs building in the wild. As Kaylee reminds us with her closing canyoneering story, we are all capable of so much more, so push yourself into positions where the only way out, is through.
People within a startup community and organizations throughout an entrepreneurial ecosystem often discuss the “future of work” together. As leaders transition today’s workforce into tomorrow’s playforce, the CIRKA equation helps us talk less and do more.
Curiosity is what drives us to appreciate what goes into the answers. It keeps us asking how and why. Curiosity has always driven ingenuity, but as knowledge and solutions become so easy to find, it will be the curious who avoid mediocrity by exploring the edges.
Initiative is a signal that shows you care. It’s showing up, raising our hand, keeping a promise, and sticking with it. The earlier initiative is shown, the faster trust builds. This allows initiative to stack, which increases impact over time.
Real Skills help us all connect, communicate, and collaborate. First curated by Seth Godin, this evolving encyclopedia is an expansive list of modern credentials that go beyond our natural talents. Real skills shine through self control, productivity, wisdom, perception, and influence.
Knowledge is foundational, specific proficiency required to do the work. For example, DJs need to know what knobs to turn, while doctors must understand human anatomy. Vocational knowledge may require formal education, but autodidacticism (being self-taught) is also an assessable path to transform anyone’s personal interests into know-how.
Adaptability is knowing how to learn. It keeps us nimble, even when systems try to force rigidity. When change is constant, adaptability is what helps leaders remain versatile and relevant while also avoiding the pull toward mediocre.
EXTRA SHOT
Life is too short not to enjoy our time.
Unquantifiable depth in each of these variables power the simplicity of the CIRKA equation. Energy guided by these playforce principles move us beyond loops that limit progress and ignite action on the timeline of now.
We use linear thinking in an exponential universe.
From a blade of grass on the football field, how can one imagine gaining a single yard? The first down marker feels distant at best, a touchdown seems impossible, and winning the game is barely comprehensible. A season championship? Yeah, that’s not even a glimmer in our mind’s eye. Trying to win all at once makes movement daunting, but staying consistent builds confidence and unlocks efficiencies. When space from this efficiency is used to stay innovative, what’s working is fortified as wormholes connect new levels of momentum.
We all know this.
Let’s dig deeper.
If a linear thinking is status quo, opportunity awaits those who augment their work through a cosmic perspective. As signals of product-market-fit emerge, understanding how each part effects the system will optimize what must work. This awareness leads to stability, which tempts most to coast along a linear path. People like us know that while it’s important to respect past success, such nostalgia does not guarantee the same results within a neon future characterized by constant change.
Yes, paving an exponential path takes endless energy, but we play for 80 hours to avoid working 40 and your creative eagerness can be nourished by a peculiar lack of routine. The goal is not more of the same. That will lead to similar, linear results. Instead, maintain what works, then keep increase the curve’s trajectory by feeding new ideas, talent, collisions, and action into the system.
You knew this was coming, but as always, an easy way to go beyond our linear capabilities is found in community. Community allows us all to do more with less. Curiosity, initiative, and adaptability activates diversified trust channels. Fresh feedback rewards a willingness to experiment and when integrity to follow up is applied, variables can be added to a more exponential equation.
Extra Shot
“Getting rich is about knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it. It is much more about understanding than purely hard work.” –Naval Ravikant
Like the opening analogy reminds us, converting a slope of work from linear to exponential is not done all at once. The Headline Trap is distracting and we often assume it takes luck, but we make our own luck with every action.
As we leverage our own community-driven exploration, we uncover ways to earn more with our mind, not our time. The farther we separate time and money, the less we rent our most precious resources. Each time we find that next gear, the system unfolds and the rising slope of your impact, personal bandwidth, sense of peace, and happiness is set free to rapidly ascend.
