Company Visit Ryan Spencer Goal Setting , Entrepreneurship & Networking Student: Thana Bos Student ID: 20249 Field Expert: Franz Schwab Pre Motorola – Ryan Spencer What kind of company will you visit? During this 1-on-1, I will have a conversation with Ryan Spencer. Over the previous year I have had contact with him on several occasions and his willingness to serve as a guide to me has stood out. Ryan is an entrepreneur that has assisted many projects through his personal efforts. Some of the projects he has been involved in are: ADO vrouwen, stichting ONS, Yin advies, SHS Den Haag and Wijkschool Rotterdam. However, after getting involved in various projects, he decided to move to the east of the Netherlands and take a step back from all of this at a very early age. Throughout his career, he has taken whatever opportunities came his way and aligned with his interests in order to grow and help out where he can. Ryan has a very organic approach to entrepreneurship; one where private and professional life are linked, and where flexibility and passion allow him to put his gifts to optimal use. Currently, Ryan seems to be focussed on yin-advies together with his wife. Recently, they launched the 'TAKE5' track, through which him and his wife help people understand the origins and coherence of their choices, develop a personal compass, and acquire the knowledge and energy to align behaviours to your choices. I am extremely interested in this track because I feel like it could benefit me greatly. Therefore, I would like to learn more about it from Ryan and the strategies it is based on. What are the learning goals for this interview? My learning goals for this company visit are to go into greater depth as to how Ryan does business and has got to where he is, get more clarity on where I am and how I can take things to the next level business-wise, and to find direction in life in general. During this company visit, I would like to address the following questions, topics, and issues: • How do you know that you're heading in the right direction? • How do you find opportunities to add value to people? • What do you think are great opportunities in this current time? • How have you found people to work with? How do you deal with working with people? • What do you think makes an entrepreneur successful? • How do you put dreams into action? Where do you start? • How have you managed to balance your professional and private life? • How do you find meaningful and useful connections and surround yourself with the right people? • How to put yourself in the situation where opportunities come to you, and you can add value • What personal advice would you give me? How can I grow to the next level? What is the customer role in this visit/project? Last year, I invited Ryan as the host of a customer visit for TA Tribe. Afterwards, he really appreciated my efforts and offered me the opportunity to catch up with him when I felt I needed it. Therefore, I am hoping that he can offer me some guidance and advice as to moving forward with my entrepreneurial career. Besides, I see Ryan as a very valuable connection whom I can learn a lot from over the years to come. Therefore, I hope that we can connect on a deeper level and possibly collaborate or help each other out. In conclusion, Ryan's role from my perspective is to offer advice, listen carefully to my questions and where I am currently at in my development, and to discuss how we could possibly collaborate. What skills will you train during the visit? During this company visit, I want to be as open and honest as possible. Because Ryan and I have met before, I think that this is a great opportunity to build a better connection that will benefit me in the years to come. Asking relevant questions, stating my opinions, and asking for input will be key to making this conversation relevant and useful. Most of all, I should aim to have a pleasant conversation, which does not have to be overly serious. I have found that by keeping things light-hearted, while asking questions; I get much more from the conversation. Besides, it will be important to recognize and act in a manner that shows that we are 'equals'; we can both learn from the conversation, and it should therefore be a back-and-forward, not a one-way conversation. Providing my input will therefore be key, especially if I disagree to something or have something relevant to add which could benefit the conversation as a whole. How does this visit help you to reach your goals? The hope is that this conversation will give me new insights into the next steps I need to take in order to reach my goals. At the moment, I feel quite lost, so I hope that this conversation with Ryan will give me more clarity. Besides, learning from Ryan's experience and advice will broaden and/or deepen my understanding of entrepreneurship and how to best align your personality to the value you add to the world. Lastly, this 1-on1 is a great opportunity for me to surround myself with people whom I can learn from and grow with. I therefore hope that we will be able to build and maintain a good connection. Post Motorola – Ryan Spencer What went well? The conversation with Ryan exceeded my expectations; the interaction itself was very natural and engaging, I was able to gain some insights which advanced me towards my goals, and Ryan is willing to offer his help on a more regular basis, get me involved in his projects, and put me in touch with his network. What I noticed after the conversation is that it gave me a lot of energy, which is something I do not often experience in such a manner. Even though I had prepared questions for Ryan, the conversation flowed very naturally to the point where I did not ask a single one. Yet, most of my questions got answered. Besides, I took more initiative during this conversation to add in my own point of view and make things relevant to my situation by explaining where I currently stand and how I would like to grow from here. As a result, Ryan gave me some pointers. Over the coming two weeks, we agreed that I would more clearly define what makes me 'tick', what is important for me, and I view as success. After which, we have planned another meeting, and we will look at my work more closely and go from there. Lastly, Ryan seems very open to mentoring me and working together on some of the projects he is involved in. Therefore, I should be learning more from Ryan and his connections over the coming months in order to take the next step in my entrepreneurial journey that I have been working for. What went poorly? There was not anything that stood out that went poorly. However, one thing I did mention is that I got quite nervous before starting the digital call, even though I had talked to Ryan before. This is something I often experience, however it luckily tends to go away when I get into the conversation. Yet, I hope that through voluntary exposure to similar situations, this nervousness will go down over time. Especially when meeting with someone in person, which I need to do more of to get used to. What did you learn? It was made clear to me that I tend to see a lot of opportunities and people like working with me, but that I also need to stay focussed. This is a difficult balance to keep, because it forces me to say no, set strong boundaries, asking myself what I really want, and dealing with the fear of missing out. There seem to be two critical elements that help in keeping this fine balance: 1. Focussing on and aligning your life with what makes you 'tick'. Typically, this is about the deeper layer of why you enjoy doing certain things. It is about what you care about, what your strengths are, what you enjoy doing, and where you want to make a difference. This is not limited to a certain business or profession, it is something deeper. For Ryan, this is helping others, building something up from the ground, having sufficient space, and making money. These things change over time, but as I have tried several things out, I find that slowly, but surely, I get closer to what I want in and from life. 2. Prioritizing things that are likely to be successful by taking into consideration the team/people involved and the market/competition. This is something that cannot be thought; it is learned by doing. However, there are some things that can help in making such considerations. For instance, it is wise to evaluate the people you will be working with rationally, meaning that they should be capable and a good match for you. If they are not, I should not be ashamed of telling them that it would not be wise to work together at this point. Besides, it is important to realize that 1 out of 7 businesses fail and that most 'rich' people have 7 streams of income. Having multiple streams of income and activities, allows one to shift priorities based on environmental circumstances. Lastly, it is critical to define what would make the company different from the competition. This is what the business tools learned at Team Academy are useful for, and business theories should be implemented before starting a project to evaluate its likelihood of success. Creative entrepreneurs tend to find it difficult to balance creativity and the needs and wants of clients. As in graphic design, there is a constant tension between wanting to make what I produce perfect, even though my clients and their customers will not notice all the details I have worked so incredibly hard for. Ryan noted that clients are often satisfied with a standard way lower than what you deem acceptable. The Pareto Principle states that 80% of the value added is produced by 20% of the work. Even though I find it important to produce the best work I can, I should keep a strong focus on this 20% which will make my clients happy. Over the past year, I have realized that I need to work together with other people to achieve my goals. My current struggle point in this journey is finding the right people to work with. Ryan has a strong view on this issue and provided me with the following tips: • Put yourself in positions to work with people through networking and producing good work. • Make rational choices on whom you decide to work with, even if they are close friends or relatives. • Ask older people and retirees in your branch for help and get them to mentor you. These professional often want to help out younger entrepreneurs, and they have large networks. • Know who and what you are looking for based on your strengths and weaknesses. • Do not employ people, but work with them on a freelance basis. You do not want them to see you as a boss. They should be able to challenge and correct you when necessary. • Make the best of the people you already know and ask for referrals. What stood out for me during and after this company visit is how valuable connections are. Being successful really is about having the right people around you. Only now, the saying: 'You are the amalgamation of the five people you spend the most amount of time with'. Both peers and mentors are incredibly important because talking about what you are up to gives you new insights while keeping things interesting. The fortunate thing about living in the Netherlands and in this day-and-age is that we have tremendous amounts of choice in terms of whom we surround ourselves with and what we do. Each of us has full responsibility over our lives and decides how they want to live it. What can you do better next time? The main lesson learned from this company visit in terms of what I can improve on is that I need to expose myself more often to speaking both 1-on-1 and with groups of people of whom I think highly. Both in-person and digitally, although in-person should have my priority because I have been least exposed to it and I think that it is very valuable. As Ryan stated: trust and connections are made in the real world, which is why a crucial part of one's education is learning to interact properly with people and network effectively. How did this visit contribute to your goals? This company visit with Ryan has been a big step in reaching my entrepreneurial and personal goals by giving me new insights, opportunities, and connections. It has given me more clarity on what really matters,, and I believe that working with these learnings and continuing to communicate with Ryan will allow me to grow to a next level. Furthermore, I was able to gain confidence in building meaningful connections, ask for help, and practice my conversation skills. Lastly, I am confident that whatever direction I will end up going in, Ryan will be able to help me further through his network. As a next step, this means joining one of the internal meetings of yin-advies to see where I could add value.
