73 - Steven Daar - The Mission Driven Entrepreneur

Steven Daar graduated from college with a degree in finance and started working for an insurance company who provided investment opportunities for teachers.  When he noticed a lot of their products weren't really helping teachers because of hidden fees, etc, he decided to do something about it.

Steve saw a big opportunity to help teachers actually hang on to the money they were investing.  When he was 23, he left his job to start something where he would provide the resources for teachers to keep more money in their pockets.

Steve started this business, knowing a lot about the industry.  However, he soon discovered that he didn't have the sales and marketing skills required to make this business take off.    Instead of letting a failed business get the best of him, he took it upon himself to immerse himself into the learning the things that he didn't know.

Although, he lost money, he ended up learning a lot from understanding why people buy.

He then went back to corporate America to get back on his feet.  The second time around he started another company on the side and built that on the side while working his corporate job.

When it comes to the marketing on your first business, what mistakes were you making?  He said mindset was a thing he wish he would have really known about.  (Books by Marcus Aurelius and Ryan Holiday's The Obstacle is the Way).  It's important to have the mindset of no matter what I'm moving forward.  The most important thing is to keep moving and keep trying, and to keep up with continuous forward moving.

He was also spending money on marketing that was really doomed from the start.  Before you start anything, meet some people in the target market, and figure out what their problems and what their pain points are.  Find out what's keeping them from getting to where they want to be.  Use those same words they're using in your marketing, so you can attract them to your business.

How did you make the transition to your new company to mission driven businesses?  Steve was working at an advertising agency, and he was working with Fortune 500 company where he helped convert people.  However, he found that so many of the companies he was working with really only cared about the bottom line versus the consumer.  He read a book called Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey which opened his eyes about mission driven companies.  He read about these companies who really took the consumer's needs to heart, and creating companies that were really about heart versus the bottom line.

Jason found these companies intriguing, the companies, who work for a mission and have a charitable component.  He started looking up these companies, and would reach out to the CEO's, etc.  He would tell them he would send them ideas he had to improve their business.  His first companies came from people who thought his ideas were great and wanted to hire him.

What's helped him is just doing one thing a day.  If you can just make that goal then at the end of the year, you've taken 365 positive actions.

What were you searching for to find these companies?  There are several websites that have directories with these specific type of companies.  He then hired a virtual assistant and gave him a list of companies and told him to find how to contact the decision makers.

Jason does have a team for his company and some of his consulting work.  He's looking in 2015 to grow that team and hopefully find someone to replace him in the CEO level.  He really wants to do more speaking and writing versus managing projects.  He also wants to revisit the teacher's business.

For the person standing there waiting to jump in, what would you tell them?  Every thing that you need is within you, and the key is just starting, getting feedback, and learning.  If you listen to your inner voice that's being negative, you're basically telling the world 'no' for you.

What books that you've read that are must reads?  Choose Yourself by James Altucher.  And you can find Steven's book at ProfitHacking.com

You can find Steve at www.conversionforgood.com and www.profithacking.com.

More About Steve: Steve is an expert at driving, converting, and monetizing traffic. He’s managed over $1.3 million in online advertising spend working with Fortune 500 companies, and has been an entrepreneur since completing his undergrad degree.

He’s the founder and CEO of Conversion For Good, a conversion optimization agency that works exclusively with mission-driven businesses and non-profit organizations.
 
In December 2014, his first book, Profit Hacking was released. The book has drawn positive reviews from bestselling authors, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and marketers as well as reached #1 in multiple Amazon Best Selling categories.