Colin C. Campbell is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded over a dozen multi-million dollar companies. #1 Best Selling Award winning Author, speaker, and founder of Startup Club, helping entrepreneurs globally through his book “Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.”

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Guest Resources

Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. – Get a copy of Colin’s best selling book in Amazon.

Start Up Club – Core values are a reflection of you and your business.

3 Value Bombs

1) A lot of entrepreneurs think that they have the best ideas and that ideas always come from them but ideas come from everyone.

2) Core Values are the ‘guard rails’ to assure that your company doesn’t go into the gutter.

3) Core values are critical for scaling your company. Having a set of beliefs will assure you that your company will scale in the right way and not go off the rails.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.

Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: Startup Core Values

[1:23] – Colin shares something that he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

A lot of entrepreneurs think that they have the best ideas and that ideas always come from them but ideas come from everyone.

[2:31] – Colin shares why and how he use core values to scale his companies.

It is absolutely critical that everyone develop core values. There is a culture that exist between small start ups that don’t really require formalized core values but the earlier you identify those core values will also reflect the values of the company. When you do that, it can help you scale your company.
You will know when you need it in place when you start to hear the famous line in start ups “Remember the good old days?” because that means your culture is not scaling.
At Hostopia, they grew to almost 600 employees and they have to scale because they have multiple office. They had to put together a key core value statement that is rhythmic in nature and that becomes the language of the office. As an example, the core values of Hostopia or the 4 pillars are Respect, Recognize Greatness, Spend it Like Our Own and When Our Customers Succeed, We Succeed.

[4:46] – Colin gives an example of how core values made a difference in his business.

They had to fire one of their top sales people and he thought that he they are going to lose money or make less money if they did. But that person doesn’t meet their core value integrity over money by doing stuff that they don’t want their company to represent. They made the hard decision to fire that employee. In the short term, they have taken a revenue hit but in the long term, everybody in the organization understand where their place is and understand the core values they have in their organization.
Core Values are the ‘guard rails’ to assure that your company doesn’t go into the gutter.

[6:36] – Colin talks about the key ingredients to create these core values, or pillars as he call them in his book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

The first thing to make is the Mission Statement that should be memorable and not just something to put on the wall. They create a rhythmic value statement that is memorable in nature and the voice of the office. An example of this is “When our Customers Succeed, We succeed.” Their employees are putting it in their email signature and it sends the right signal to their customers.
Make it rhythmic and memorable and use it in the office in a day to day basis as part of the company.
Core values are critical for scaling your company. Having a set of beliefs will assure you that your company will scale in the right way and not go off the rails.
A lot of things can go wrong when you are scaling a business but having core values is something that will not cost you a lot of money. Just spend 3-4 hours with your team to create it and share it with the entire organization. Its actually free but a lot of businesses don’t do and are one of the reasons why they fail to scale.

[8:47] – A timeout to thank our sponsors.

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[11:55] – Colin tries to run his Custom GPT to JLD and see what they get and it’s a 100% live test.

They created a Custom GPT which is free to use and can be found in their public domain Start Up Club. They use the information from his book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. that they uploaded to the Custom GPT and base on that creates those core value pillars or core value statement for the organization.

[12:28] – Colin turned the interview around and asks JLD questions and type his answers to the Custom GPT .

First question: What motivates or drives your team members in a daily basis? His answer – Inspiring our listeners, Fire Nation, to achieve greatness within their life.
Second question: What overarching pronciples define the purpose and mission of your team and company? His answer – To provide value with transparency and consistency.
Third question: If you even quit a job, what was the reason? Answer – No purpose.
Fourth question: What are the company’s goals and how do they align with your values? Answer – To inspire millions of entrepreneurs and small business owners to reach their potential by giving them the knowledge and strategies of successful entrepreneurs before them.
Fifth question: Which non-negotiable values should ebery team member embody to uphold the integrity of your organozation? Answer – Truth, Honesty and being Genuine.
Sixth question: What are your 2 or 3 personal core beliefs about business in general? Answer – Effort wins. You must provide the No.1 solution to a real problem and you must always deal in honesty.
Seventh question: Can you describe a situation where company’s values helped in making a tough decision? Answer – On a weekly basis they get a big time ginancial offers from sponsors and companies that don’t align with his values like gambling site, drinking , etc things that are not the right fit and believe in that he easily turns down because of their company’s values.
Eight question: If you have to sum up your company’s impact in one sentence, what would it be? Answer – Providing value with transparency and consistency.

[15:42] – Colin talks about the results of JLD’s test.

The value pillar or value statement of JLD are:
Inspire greatness with fire and truth.
Transparency lights our path daily.
Honesty fuels relentless entrepreneurs spirit.
Effort wins, purpose guides our journey.
Solutions first, integrity always shines.
Othe company’s that have similar values to JLD are, Patagonia, Warby Parker and Tom’s.

[17:46] – Colin gives his key take away.

Have time with your team to have a strategic planning session.
Get a copy of the book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat and find all the core value principles that you need to scale your business.

[19:18] – Call to action.

Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. – Get a copy of Colin’s best selling book in Amazon.
Start Up Club – Core values are a reflection of you and your business.

[20:00] – Thank you to our Sponsors!

DeleteMe: Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/eofire and use promo code EOFire at checkout!
Mentorship: Email John@EOFire.com to set up a call!

Killer Resources!

1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!

2) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!

3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!