Chris Carneal, founder and CEO of Booster, discusses entrepreneurship, business growth, and leadership insights.

Key Takeaways

- Momentum is crucial for early-stage businesses; focus on accelerating growth while addressing critical issues

- Self-awareness is foundational for leadership success; regularly seek feedback and assess strengths/weaknesses

- Establishing clear company virtues/values helps guide culture and decision-making as organizations scale

- Balancing entrepreneurial drive with family/personal life is an ongoing challenge; prioritize regular check-ins

Topics

Chris's Entrepreneurial Journey

- Started as a college baseball player giving lessons, which sparked his entrepreneurial spirit

- Launched Booster from his dorm room, initially guaranteeing $3,000 to first client school

- Grew from side hustle to $100M+ company with 1000+ employees over 23 years

- Wrestled with tension between ministry/non-profit work and for-profit business early on

Momentum in Business Growth

- Theme for the year: "I create momentum in myself, with my team, for my clients"

- Crucial to maintain momentum, especially in early startup/scale-up stages

- Advice: Focus on core growth drivers while addressing critical issues, don't get overly distracted

Self-Awareness and Leadership

- Self-awareness rated as #1 trait for CEO success in recent survey

- Recommended tactics:

- Take multiple personality assessments (Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, etc.)

- Establish a personal board of advisors for honest feedback

- Regularly assess strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots

- Goal: Spend 80% of time leveraging strengths, delegate or systemize weaknesses

Establishing Company Values/Virtues

- Initially had 4 core values: integrity, enthusiasm, leadership, results

- Transitioned to 6 virtues after 15 years: gratitude, wisdom, care, courage, celebration

- Virtues are timeless, actionable, aspirational, and apply both professionally/personally

- Define, display, and regularly reinforce virtues throughout the organization

Balancing Entrepreneurship and Family

- Acknowledged running at an unsustainable pace that exhausted his wife

- Advice: Schedule regular marriage/family check-ins (annual trips, conferences, etc.)

- Set appropriate boundaries and prioritize self-care to stay healthy/fueled

You can subscribe to the podcast at https://matthewefird.com.

Are you a seasonal business owner who's struggling to make ends meet during the winter months? Do you hate losing great staff when the weather turns cold because you don't have enough work to keep them employed year-round?

You could be a perfect fit for a Lighting Pros Franchise location! Learn more about Lighting Pros Franchise here: https://lightingprosfranchise.com

Would you consider yourself a corporate refugee or portfolio investor looking to get into business ownership in the emerging market of outdoor lighting? Would you be interested in an award-winning system focused on permanent holiday lights, landscape lighting, and temporary Christmas lights? Did you know that you can do outdoor lighting all year long? You could be a perfect fit for a Lighting Pros Franchise location! Learn more about Lighting Pros Franchise here: https://lightingprosfranchise.com

Interested in having Matthew speak at your upcoming Event? Go here: https://matthewefird.com

Looking for the best AI Notetaker? Check out my link to FathomAI and get a month of premium for free! https://fathom.video/invite/UT2ZaQ