A Day within the Lifetime of Entrepreneur Michele Romanow, President and Co-Founding father of Clearbanc – Indiegogo Weblog

Working your personal enterprise is not any simple feat. It takes a wholesome dose of ardour, self-discipline, and dedication. Ever questioned what a day within the lifetime of a enterprise proprietor and founder is like? We’re right here to offer you a glimpse! 

This week, we sat down with Clearbanc President and Co-founder Michele Romanow. Clearbanc is an Indiegogo companion that gives campaigners with advances to allow them to fund their advertising and marketing efforts. Clearbanc has invested greater than $1.6B in over 4,000 founders. 

Michele is not any stranger to entrepreneurship. She’s based quite a few companies, together with Buytopia.ca and SnapSaves (acquired by Groupon). She’s at the moment a forged member on Dragon’s Den (a.ok.a., the Canadian Shark Tank) and he or she was named considered one of Canada’s 100 Most Highly effective Girls in 2015.

Learn on to see how she spends a complete day operating her profitable enterprise. Then scroll down for a quick Q&A to get to know her higher and get impressed by her entrepreneurship!

eight A.M. Get up, and prepare to work out with my companion and co-founder Andrew D’ Souza.

9 A.M. Peloton class (Jess Sims is my fave!) and bathe.

10 A.M. Zoom calls with companions.

11 A.M. Spreadsheet work.

12 P.M. Lunchtime. Normally I take a name whereas I eat.

1 P.M. Extra Zoom calls.

2 P.M. Artistic brainstorming with my government workforce.

three P.M. Digital Keynote talking engagement.

Four P.M. Coping with some surprising catastrophe that got here up! Extra conferences. Normally by this time of the day I’m doing extra telephone calls than Zoom.

5 P.M. Investor updates.

7 P.M. Make and eat dinner with Andrew.

9 P.M. Brainstorming work calls.

10 P.M. Emails and observe ups from the day.

12 A.M.  Prepare for mattress. I placed on my train garments, so I can hit a Peloton class as quickly as I’m up. I often hearken to Audible audiobooks earlier than mattress. I’m at the moment listening to Blitzscaling. 

1 A.M. Really go to sleep. I’m an evening owl, and I’ve tried each approach to make myself a morning individual however I personally by no means discovered success with that.

Now that you just’ve gotten a glimpse of what her day is like, get extra inspiration in our unique Q&A with Michele!

INDIEGOGO: How and why did you grow to be an entrepreneur? Was it one thing you all the time supposed for your self? 

MICHELE: I used to be all the time a excessive achiever when it got here to high school. My dad and mom are Ukrainian immigrants and as with most immigrant households, the one professions I may pursue have been physician, lawyer or engineer. They needed me to be an engineer in order that led me to check civil engineering at Queen’s College. 

I ended up finding out engineering in undergrad as a result of my dad and mom closely pushed me in that course. However by the point I used to be in fourth yr, I knew I used to be going to be higher at constructing companies vs. constructing bridges. Throughout my final yr in engineering college, I made a decision to open a zero-waste café on campus, identified at present as The Tea Room – it’s nonetheless there 14 years later! To get funding within the early days I entered a bunch of marketing strategy competitions to boost funding. Though I didn’t win, my classmate Anatoliy Melnichuk pulled me apart and stated to me, “Subsequent yr, we are able to beat these guys.”

The three of us spent numerous all-nighters arising with enterprise concepts and cold-calling corporations. Finally, we found a chance. Anatoliy observed an enormous demand for sturgeon caviar however as a result of sturgeon overfishing, all the world provide had declined by 95%. At this level I had by no means gone fishing in my life!  Quick ahead six months later, we had a 50- web page marketing strategy and began coming into marketing strategy competitions. We ended up elevating simply over $100ok which gave us the arrogance to say no to our job gives and transfer to the East Coast and construct a fishery from scratch. It was an incredible enterprise till the 2008 crash and undoubtedly my crash course into entrepreneurship. 

INDIEGOGO: What makes your Clearbanc distinctive? 

MICHELE: Everyone desires a teammate. Somebody on the finish of the day that you already know for sure they’re in your facet. And that’s what I would like Clearbanc to be for founders. We work primarily based on a income share plan. Meaning to ensure that Clearbanc to do effectively, our founders must do effectively. On the finish of the day, I can inform you as many instances as you need that I’m right here for you and your enterprise. However, I needed to construct a enterprise the place I can present you that with numbers, as a result of each entrepreneur is aware of that the numbers don’t lie. Your success is Clearbanc’s success.

INDIEGOGO: What’s your greatest piece of recommendation for girls who wish to begin their very own enterprise?

MICHELE: When you’ve gotten an concept, a very powerful factor is to only begin. It appears so scary as a result of it by no means feels just like the “proper time” and also you by no means really feel prepared, however it’s the method of leaping in that forces you to begin iterating on an concept. The concern of failure is all the time a lot worse than having your first product fail, since you study one thing within the course of. This recommendation got here from my dad and mom. Despite the fact that they weren’t entrepreneurs, they inspired me to pursue my loopy concept to begin a fishery after school, as an alternative of taking an actual job. I feel my entire profession would have been completely different if I didn’t take this primary leap into being a founder (and by the way in which, the fishery failed!). 

INDIEGOGO: What instruments (devices, apps, books, podcasts) would you advocate to anybody beginning their very own enterprise or crowdfunding marketing campaign? 

MICHELE: I really like tales of unimaginable entrepreneurs so I’m all the time digging to get impressed and motivated. I really like founder tales which might be written with whole honesty. I feel Chip Wilson’s e-book on constructing Lululemon (Little Black Stretchy Pants) and the Walter Isaacson e-book on Steve Jobs are nice examples. It’s the true story — not the shiny one — that reminds you that even essentially the most profitable corporations had so many moments after they almost didn’t make it.

INDIEGOGO: What’s your favourite Indiegogo marketing campaign, or a marketing campaign you’ve lately supported?

MICHELE: My favorite Indiegogo marketing campaign that now we have supported at Clearbanc is Marlow, a marketing campaign for lubricated tampons! 

To study extra about Clearbanc, take a look at their web site or learn extra about them within the Indiegogo Consultants Listing.