Jim (8:20)

Right.

Omar Zenhom (8:20)

The school is built to teach students and make sure they move on to the next level. But instead of him solving it himself, he chooses one of the teachers as hey, can you be the staff room manager? If anybody says something's missing or needs fixing or needs refilling, go to maintenance, call them up and ask them to please replenish the supplies. That problem now solved and delegated. Somebody else is doing it. And I do this all the time in my business. Anything that doesn't actually impact my bottom line, I delegate. So in business, what's the most important task? Making money. Making sure your customers are happy. Making sure that you're actually fulfilling on your promises. Right. That's what matters. Because if you don't do that, you go out of business and you don't want to do that. You got to make sure that that's really your focus. I got to focus on making sure we're making more than we're spending, that we're innovating, that we're making sure our customers are completely satisfied and are super happy with what we're doing, that we're listening to our customers and implementing feedback. This is what's important, right? Managing my calendar? No, I can get somebody else to do that for me. Replying to emails, I can get somebody else to do that for me, I'm not going to be evaluated in terms of the success of my business based on that. What's important is the bottom line, the numbers, the money, the customer. So as an action step, tomorrow or your next working day, go into your office, ask your boss if you can get more visibility and be mentored by them. Number one, they're going to be flattered. Okay. Number two, this is not going to take very long. You can say, hey, I would love just maybe an extra two or three hours a week where I can learn from you. I can shadow you. Can I be in the meetings that you attend? Maybe I can be a part of the interviews. When you interview somebody into the company, offer to assist with projects or take something off their plate and you're going to learn a ton about how to make decisions, how they deal with difficult situations, and journal about this, write notes about this so you can utilize these skills in your own business like I did.

Ryan Reynolds (10:25)

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Jim (10:57)

It looks like Jim from sales just got in from his client lunch and he's got receipts. His next meeting is in two minutes. The team is asking, can he get through his expenses in that time? He's going for it. Is that his phone? He's snapping a pick. He's texting Ramp. Jim is fast, but this is unheard of. That's it. He's done it. It's unbelievable.

Ryan Reynolds (11:17)

On ramp expenses are faster than ever. Just submit them with a text. Switch your business to ramp.com.

Omar Zenhom (11:28)

Tip. Number two, huge study how the company you work for operates. Your current job right now is a treasure trove of business insights if you know where to look. Whether it's hiring, evaluating team members or managing finances, every business has systems and processes that you can learn from that. You can just learn how it's done so that you can do it for yourself in your business. After working for Gus and being his assistant manager for a year in teaching, I got promoted because Gus resigned. He said, I want to go back to teaching. I Don't want to be a manager. And he recommended me to be the head of department and I got a promotion. When I got promoted, I then was in charge of hiring teachers to join my department. So the first thing I did is I went upstairs where corporate was and I asked the HR manager of our organization. If I can learn how you guys screen candidates, what am I looking for when I'm actually hiring? What are some of the things I should be aware of? Can I sit in on other departments interviews? You know, the interview process before I have to make my first hire, I want to learn how people are actually, you know, running these interviews. What questions are they asking, how they breaking the ice. And because I learned that from the managers I had at my job when I became a full time entrepreneur, these skills then translated directly into running my own business. The first thing I created in my business when I was making my first hire was, was in an evaluation form. It's like a scorecard. So that when I'm running through the interview, I know what areas I'm looking for, right? I'm asking questions to find out if they're a good cultural fit, if they have the actual skills to do the job, ask them to share stories about their experience in dealing with difficult people in the office or a disagreement with their boss, to learn how they deal with difficult situations and if they're diplomatic, if they have the communication skills to articulate how they feel and what they want to express. Where did I learn this in my job? I used to have that when I was a teacher. And I learned, okay, that's what you got to do, is figure out what areas are important for this role and for the company and give them a score based on each area and ask questions based on each area. I also learned that when you hire somebody, you can't just throw them into the deep end. I learned in my job that there is a two week training process for new employees and there's an onboarding process. And we created that in our own companies where we had a Trello board or like a Kanban board, where every day they did certain tasks to learn about the company, the product, the customers, who we serve. And it was an orientation that really helped them understand that, hey, this is a prerequisite. You need to know this stuff before you jump into the job and start dealing with our customers or dealing with our product or service. You most likely have some sort of onboarding process in your company right now. You probably went through it when you joined it. You can learn from that and you can model that in your own company when you start one. So as an action step, one of the things I highly recommend is request being involved in cross department projects or meetings or any kind of trainings. So just because you're in sales doesn't mean you can't ask to be part of the marketing training or the marketing meeting or the product meeting or the finance meeting so you can learn about the different departments. Tip number three Practice leadership in your current role. You will have the opportunity to get better at leadership right now. And listen, you don't need a fancy title to start practicing leadership and you need to start practicing because leadership is the heart of entrepreneurship and you can develop these skills by taking initiative in your current role, in your current job, no matter what it is. Back in my teaching days, the principal of our school in one of our management meeting pointed out there was one teacher in one of the departments that is off every Monday, is calling in sick every Monday for the last three Mondays. And the teachers are trying to complain because the teachers have to cover their classes for them and they're not so happy about it. He said, anybody have any ideas how to deal with this situation? And he was kind of like quizzing us or testing us. And I just raised my hand and I said, hey, I'm not really sure. I haven't dealt with that situation before, but I actually would like to handle it. I'd like to learn how to handle it. If you can coach me through it, I'll take care of this situation for you. And I did this because I knew that this is scary and it's tough, but I have to learn how to be a great leader and how to deal with difficult conversations. So raise your hand and take initiative. I know you're not going to get paid more for this. I know that you're not going to get any extra credit or anything like that, but you're going to learn skills that you wouldn't learn if you didn't raise your hand and your boss will appreciate. They'll appreciate the fact that you're taking that initiative and they'll be happy to train you and help you and give you the support you need to get through it. So as an action set, be on the lookout and identify any leadership opportunity that you can take on in your role just this week, right? Step outside your comfort zone and take some ownership. Part 4 Build a network and gain mentors. Don't be afraid to ask anybody you look up to in your company for coffee for some time outside of work, even a Lunch on the weekend. One of my bosses back in the day and teacher named Bill, Bill Parace, shout out to you, man. He was willing to have a lunch with me outside of work and we would have coffee. Sometimes we'll have lunch or dinner outside of work. And I would sit down with him and say, hey man, I would love to learn how you got to where you are today. As a manager, as a leader of this organization. I talked about things I'm worried about, like the pressure and the work life balance and moving fast enough in my career, Bill became a mentor and my friend, really. And in a lot of ways I needed that. I was young, I was in my early 20s, but I am 100% positive that would never happen if I didn't approach him. Bill was busy, he had a life, his job was demanding. But I asked him just frankly, hey, I'll pay for lunch, I'll pay for the coffee. I just want a couple hours just to talk and ask you some questions. Is that cool? We built a strong friendship and he became my mentor and I really learned a lot from him just in those chats, but only from what he said, but from what I observed in real life right at the job. And we're friends till today. Bill, thanks so much for all your help. So as an exercise, I would just schedule some one on one time with somebody outside of work, Coffee, a lunch, even just a walk in the park. You could discuss your career goals, where you want to go, some things that are bothering, things that are giving you anxiety, and they can give you their perspective. There's something really powerful about seeing somebody who has done what you want to do, is somewhere where you want to be or has some a life advice. Maybe they had 10, 20 years on you and can kind of tell you, hey, don't be afraid to take that leap and start that business. Sometimes you just need to hear from somebody else. So to wrap up your job isn't just a paycheck, it's a training ground. Okay. By observing your boss, by studying your company, by practicing leadership, by building a network and being okay with saying, hey, can you be my mentor? Can we have a coffee? Can I have a lunch? Hey, forget the mentor thing. I just want to have a chat. You could gain the skills, you can gain the confidence that you'll need to start your own million dollar company. And remember, the best entrepreneurs are lifetime learners. I'm learning every day and that's what gives me joy in life. This is what gives me the excitement to keep going. I'm learning a ton every day, even though I've learned so much already. Use your current role in your job right now as a stepping stone and you'll be miles ahead when it's time for you to launch your business. I'm so grateful I did that because when I started my business, became a full time entrepreneur, I landed on my feet, I had all these skills that other people didn't have when they got started, and I avoided a lot of disasters along the way. Thanks for tuning into the $100 MBA show. I'm Omar Zeno. I hope you love this podcast. If you do, the best way to show your love is to subscribe. Whether you're listening on Spotify or Apple or any podcast player, hit that Follow button or subscribe button. It's the best way to show your support of the show, but also it allows you to get all our episodes in the back catalog and get our next episodes automatically. If you're watching on YouTube. If you like to watch your content, we have a YouTube channel. Make sure you hit subscribe and let us know what you think of today's episode in the comments below. Your number one takeaway. Share it. I would love to hear from you so I can build upon that in future lessons. Thanks so much. I'll see you in the next episode.

Jim (20:14)

Got a 7am meeting on a Monday expensing breakfast because it's in policy wasting all afternoon submitting an expense report for that breakfast. If your company used Ramp, you could submit expenses with just a text.

Omar Zenhom (20:34)

Yay.

Ryan Reynolds (20:36)

Free your team from expense reports today. Switch your business to ramp.com.