Michael Barnett, CFE’s Post

The StretchDollar team had two birthdays this week (hbd Kaiza Molina and Lauren O’Leary!!!) and we're coming up on our own as a company. Here's a few lessons I've learned from the fastest year of my life - my first as a founder: 1. "Repetition has never spoiled a prayer." Being a broken record is a good thing when it comes to the mission and vision of what you're building. 2. It's your job to find the joy in the process of building. It'll be infectious. 3. Strategy is way less important than execution. 4. People want you to win. They'll help you. Pay it forward when you can. 5. Your first customers will teach you more in a day than you'll learn in a month on your own. 6. Learn to be present. 50% of your attention is worth 0% of your time. 7. The right team pointed at the right problem is most of the job. 8. Some moments require flexibility, others rigidity. Practice being able to spot which is which. 9. Establish your company as a c-corp based in Delaware.

In the spirit of #ThrowbackThursday, we're reminiscing about our company’s early days and the incredible journey we've embarked on together! #ThrowbackThursday #CompanyHistory #CompanyJourney #EarlyDays #Memories #TeamWork #SuccessStory #BusinessGrowth

It’s the 80th anniversary of D-Day. We know this day of commemoration very well as we’ve spent decades thinking, pondering, and romanticizing over it. Yet, while we look at what it was about, we forgot to look at how it is applied in today’s scenario of events and lessons learned but also the lessons that will have to be re-learned for various reasons. D-Day contributed to creating an era of stability and new strategic reality, and way of thinking as well as creating a culture of abundance and the concept of being too big to fail, but mainly in certain scenarios and power dynamic structures. The numerous small wars since D-Day have been costly in terms of lives, economically, socially, as well as spiritually and morally with no real victories produced in the traditional sense. The scale of problems and catalyst events we’re seeing evolve domestically and internationally both today and tomorrow should be worrisome given the level of malign influence, cognitive and information warfare we’ve been seeing occur and the current state of awareness, preparedness and readiness. Dealing with the new strategic realty will be painful before going forward through hell. Such is the case when going from point A to point B to point C, etc., when chaos, panic, fear, and despair are thrown around as obstacles. Soft times create weakness while hard times creates strength …. if one is lucky in these times we live in? 🤔🤔

Happy 6th Anniversary to my baby, Mill + Co.! Here are 6 lessons I learned in 6 years: 1. There's no heart in the cooler. This is advertising, not heart transplant surgery. Have humility, patience, grace, and perspective. 2. Listen to the yes's that cut through the no's. Starting a business is hard, succeeding and scaling that business is even harder. Wade through the negative energy around you and hold onto the positive stuff, it matters. 3. Imposter syndrome is both real and fake. My feelings of inadequacy are driven by my desire to be the best at what we do. Lean into the drive to overcome the hesitancy. 4. CYA, always. Those who know me know what this stands for (Cover Your A*s). Trust is earned slowly and revoked quickly. Protect yourself, your team, your work, and you will quickly become a trusted partner to all around you. 5. Identifying your core values is imperative to growth. Our values are kindness, empathy and open communication. This one took me a few years to articulate, but once we got there, we never looked back. This is how we choose to live and work every single day, for ourselves, our teammates, and our clients, and it's made a palpable difference in how we show up. 6. Lean on your network. I was never one to ask for help (still struggle with it, TBH). But the minute I started asking for help, sharing help with others without asking for anything in return, and seeking advice from those smarter than me, the game changed. It is amazing what we can accomplish when we walk along the invisible strings that tie us all together. And a bonus #7 - my team. Mengrong (Olivia) Sun, Emma Biedrzycki, Juliana Choo, Mathieu Brinckman, the countless amazing interns who've come through our program, and our trusting and devoted clients, we would not be where we are today without each and every one of you. I am endlessly grateful to be surrounded by so many who see my vision, and want in. Thank you. To Mill + Co., you saved me in so many ways. You invigorated my drive for creativity, my desire to lead with strategy, and my hope for a new path forward in the advertising industry. Here's to the next 6. #anniversary #marketing #advertising #agency #womanownedbusiness

In the spirit of #ThrowbackThursday, we're reminiscing about our company’s early days and the incredible journey we've embarked on together! #ThrowbackThursday #CompanyHistory #CompanyJourney #EarlyDays #Memories #TeamWork #SuccessStory #BusinessGrowth

Today is my 3rd business anniversary. It feels much longer. I think I’ve seen it all during this short “unprecedented “ time. Before that, I spent 15 years gaining corporate experience that would help me learn to follow my creative instinct and also embrace how I best work: for myself. People are always looking for the answers: how can I build a successful business? The answers come from within. No one out there can give you the secret sauce or the easy “quantum leap” we’ve been sold. Here’s what it really takes: -Agility- to move with the realities of the market and the economy. -Resilience- to keep choosing the business you want, even when it gets hard (AND IT WILL). -Trust- in yourself. -Release- of needing to prove yourself, ask for permission, or chase the empty promises that society and the inflated entrepreneurial/online business space have made you believe you NEED to be successful. It’s all a myth. -Confidence- that you can do this (YOU CAN!) Let go of the need to scale. Let the go of the need to chase a revenue goal. Let go of the need for a “seat at the table” with self-proclaimed “experts”. Let go of the need to look good at all times. It’s all noise that will distract you from the success you crave. And that, is how 3 years in, my business is thriving and growing, almost effortlessly. (A well-developed personal brand helps, too 😉)

Check out the latest blog post about how celebrating small successes can help lead to achieving your big dreams. https://lnkd.in/g4CjY58h

Interesting. Hi Clive, if BIM is the engine of the car to drive to a destination of sustainable design $ construction for well being. Data is the fuel. BIM coordinator is the driver. What is the role of #BXP or Plannerly - The BIM Management Platform

I joined Statsig later than I hoped, but I still saw its three-year journey. 2020 was important for me. I became a better data scientist -- effective, pragmatic, and ironically, "are right, a lot" -- one of Amazon's leadership principles that I found most puzzling.  A big reason was building the conviction of the value of data through AB testing. After 6 years in PhD and 2 years at Amazon, I doubted if data really helped businesses. At Facebook, I learned it does. I used data to make key decisions and prove them with experiments. Such conviction is still paying dividends today. Facebook's AB testing tool was great, but I couldn't talk about it much. It was internal. When Vijaye R. started a company to make a similar tool, I interviewed him (https://lnkd.in/gGRqTjRg) and asked for a demo (https://lnkd.in/gnA_cjpy). Rewatching it today, you will find that the product has matured a LOT, but the technical insights and the mission remain the same. I believed in this business a lot, maybe more than most of the founding members. This tool needs to be built, and they're the right people for it. I wished them luck and continued my journey. Two years later, with all the learning and growth, I was back. It almost felt like gravity. Because Statsig is about the mission all along -- make data useful.

We celebrated our 10th anniversary on July 10th! To help mark this milestone, we've compiled a list of our Top 10 Lessons from 10 Years in Business. Up next,   Lesson 8️⃣ : Ballast Doesn’t Slow You Down, It Gives You Stability. One way we help foster collaborative success with our clients is by building a process to periodically review our collective Course and Speed. Whether a short-term assignment or a years-long engagement, it’s important to have a forum—separate from a status meeting—for everyone to discuss our trajectory, results (or lack thereof), where things are going well, where we need to pivot, etc. It helps ensure that we are informing strategic decision-making throughout rather than just sprinting to complete whatever tasks everyone thought were correct at the beginning of a project. This approach won’t necessarily work for all brands or clients, which is just fine by us. We didn’t build our business to serve every need for all types of organizations, just like we didn’t build it with the ultimate goal of selling it. These decisions have been the result of intentional and honest conversations we’ve had over the years about our own Course and Speed. It can be easy to get lost in the slog of entrepreneurship while you’re busily pursuing a long list of SMART goals. If you’re not clear on what you’re even working toward, or haven’t been thoughtful about how to make your journey sustainable, you’ll look up one day to find that you’ve gone too far in the wrong direction, likely with the wrong team. You need ways of redirecting along the route to curb burnout, ensure everyone’s wellbeing, and keep from getting lost. You need ballast to help keep things steady. We are relentless in our focus, we’d stake our reputation on our work ethic, and we hold ourselves accountable to our commitments. But if we don’t have clarity and alignment, both internally with our team and externally with our clients, those efforts will be aimless. Who cares how rapidly you’re moving if you’re not actually going anywhere?