In this week's GASB Podcast episode, Troy interviews Fred Cary, based in San Diego, California, United States. Fred's the CEO of a company called IdeaPros. He has also been involved with a ton of businesses; he was also in a rock band once. Fred started several companies before founding IdeaPros.

Fred was always destined to be an entrepreneur; he started at the age of 17 by offering services 24/7 to now, 50 years later, with no plan of retiring. Some of the companies Fred started were BoxLot, Azure, Path1, Imagine Communications, Home Bistro and IdeaPros, a company that helps fellow entrepreneurs with anything and everything they need in their journey. Ideapros has generated over $30 million in revenue in the past few years, with an EBITDA of 25%.

According to Fred, in growing a small business, what he loves most is the sense of innovation. The process of creating something or doing something that nobody else has done is incredible. He said, "Sometimes you have to change course; sometimes you have to do so drastically and violently."

This Cast Covers:

How Troy and Fred knew each other.
Fred Cary's early days of entrepreneurship.
Fred's variety of businesses.
How difficult it is to start a company.
The meaning of success as defined by the interviewee.
Being mindful of your competitors.
Resolving negative feedback to improve the company.
Fred's passion for innovation.
Being critically honest and transparent.

Links:

Additional Resources:

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

Quotes:

"Sometimes you have to change course; sometimes you have to do so drastically and violently." — Fred Cary.

"Just because you have a great idea doesn't mean the world's ready for it." — Fred Cary.

"They say you spend the first half of your career building up your resume and the second half building up your eulogy." — Fred Cary.

"Look behind you. Look at your competitors." — Fred Cary.

"The greatest work that you're going to need to do is in the marketing area … It is the lifeblood of your organization." — Fred Cary.

Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com. License: CC by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

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