Nick Berry, host of The Business Owner's Journey, offers a high-level overview of his background, and explains his mission to shorten the learning curve for business owners.
Nick shares his motivations behind starting tBOJ podcast, and what you can expect out of the show and Nick himself.
What Nick did NOT share is how much he dislikes talking about himself. That's why he did this episode: a) to get all of the 'Nick talking about Nick' out of the way now, and b) it's important to do uncomfortable things, and his background is important for the show. (Mostly 'b').
Nick provides a detailed overview of his background as an entrepreneur, CEO, author, and mentor. With over two decades of experience, Nick shares insights into entrepreneurial leadership, business strategy, and mentorship. He emphasizes the importance of anticipating and preparing for challenges in business, and how his insights can help other entrepreneurs succeed.
Nick shares aspects of his business strategy and leadership philosophy. He talks about the importance of recurring revenue, maintaining a strong company culture, and client satisfaction. Nick also shares his approach to decision-making and the tools and frameworks he uses to stay organized and efficient.
Nick explains the significance of having a complete support system for business owners. He believes in continuous self-improvement and being part of a community that includes direct mentorship, peer masterminds, and larger business networks.
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Nick (00:00): I'm Nick Berry, and this is my podcast, The Business Owner's Journey. I thought it'd be a good idea to do just this one short "about Nick Berry" episode just to give a high-level view of my background. It'll mostly be things that are going to come up again or be referenced in other episodes.
But this information, more of it, is all on my website, nickberry.info. So my goal with the podcast is to shorten the learning curve for business owners. That's something that's always been important to me—to give them speed. And that means helping them anticipate and prepare for the challenges that are ahead of them. Most of them are predictable to some degree, the things that lay ahead on their journey. I'm an entrepreneur, a CEO, an author, a mentor, and a coach to other entrepreneurs and business owners who are looking for a trusted and proven advisor. You can find the extended version of this story at nickberry.info, but here's the gist.
I've got two decades plus of experience as a business owner, and a great deal of that experience has been working with other business owners and equipping them with the skills to handle the challenges and the uncertainty that they're going to face. I've got experience with a variety of businesses and business partners. I've had hundreds of employees. There have been a lot of lessons that I've learned the hard way that I think I can pass along and help someone get through the process easier and faster. I've had several businesses where I've had successful exits. I've also had a few that never took off.
I'm a recurring revenue's number one fan. My companies have been recognized for growth, culture, and client satisfaction multiple times. And it's all been 100% bootstrapped. I've always strived to be the kind of person that you want in your corner if you're a business owner and you're trying to level up.
My strengths tend to be in business strategy and leadership, and I have a wide range of experience as a founder, operator, and entrepreneur. I can help you, the audience, by bringing you interesting guests who have something that I think you need to know. These are going to be seasoned business owners. We're going to surface lessons and insights directly from them. And in turn, essentially provide you with crowdsourced mentorship on the fly to help you get what you need to navigate the journey and the challenges that are in front of you. I'm also going to share my own knowledge and experiences, both the failures and successes. I'm going to share the resources, tools, and frameworks that I have, that I've gotten for myself, that I've used, and that I still use. These are the tools that we've had to start, grow, and scale without handcuffing myself or other founders to essentially creating a job for themselves. They're the tools that helped us get organized and efficient, helped me get leaders into place to operate these businesses. And I think they're the kind of tools that are going to be of great value to other business owners out there who are trying to do those same things.
One of the biggest lessons that I'm going to share is that your job as a decision maker is crucial, and you have to work to be good at being a decision maker. And I want to be a part of helping you improve as a decision maker. This podcast is here to do that.
So let me tell you a little bit more about my story. Currently, I'm the CEO of Fitness Revolution, a partner in a marketing agency, Entrepreneurs Edge, and started seocontentsurge.com. I'm married to my wife, Kelly. We've been married for 17 years. I have a two-year-old daughter. Kelly and I have worked together every day and been business partners for the last 12 years.
I started my first business in 2002, and since then, I've owned dozens of others, either through founding or acquiring. I've co-founded two franchises, one of which was the fastest-growing franchise of its type for several years. I have co-founded multiple worldwide business coaching programs and owned the largest certifying organization for youth fitness and sports performance in the world. I've had repeat appearances on the Inc. 5000, Entrepreneur's Franchise 500, Franchise Business Review's Top Franchises, American Business Awards, Best Places to Work, and all for growth, client satisfaction, and company culture. And we were able to achieve those things simultaneously.
We were able to grow fast, keep clients happy, and maintain the culture that we were trying to create internally at the same time. We didn't have to sacrifice one for the others. And I'm really proud of that. I ran my company primarily through holding companies. And at my peak, I had 11 operating entities at one time and a staff of 45. Through my companies, we've also raised over $1.1 million for charity. I have co-authored five books, some of which were bestsellers. My companies have hosted over 100 industry conferences and training events, and some of those were among the largest in our industry.
One of my values that applies both personally and professionally is continuous self-improvement. I believe that in business, everyone needs a support system that includes three things: a one-on-one direct coach or mentor, a larger community, and a smaller group of like-minded peers as a sounding board or advisory board. I have been a 10-year Vistage member, had multiple executive coaches, and been in many peer mastermind programs, some with people you may have heard of, and some that just didn't feel right for me. But the point is, I've always been in some type of program for the last 15+ years, and I think it's essential for a business owner to build a support system like that.
One of my companies provides one-on-one business coaching and mastermind programs and business curriculum for business owners in the fitness space. We've helped several thousands of owners through our programs in the last 14 years. I'm also a big believer in personality and communication assessments. I think there's a ton to be learned from them. So I'm going to talk about them in some of the episodes. If you're familiar with DISC profiles, I'm a D, and for Myers-Briggs, I'm an INTP. These things aren't gospel, but I do think they're valuable.
Some fun facts about me: I fired someone who was also fired from The Apprentice. I played college baseball. I have a selfie with the Pope. I am not a professional podcaster, and I swear a lot.
So that's the "About Nick Berry" episode. I do appreciate you listening to it. My goal is to help you prepare to navigate the challenges and uncertainty of your business owner's journey so you don't have to figure it all out on your own.
Nick Berry is an accomplished entrepreneur and CEO, whose track record includes founding and leading numerous companies since 2002.
He is also a mentor and coach to other entrepreneurs and business owners who are looking for a trusted (and proven) advisor.
Among peers, colleagues, staff, and clients, Nick has been referred to as both 'The Business Guy' as well as 'The Anti-Guru', due to his pragmatic approach and principled leadership.
He shares his insights and lessons learned, along with those of his expert guests,
on his podcast, 'The Business Owner's Journey'.
