EPISODE SUMMARY
Darrell Vesterfelt is a visionary leader who builds and scales businesses, but he didn’t begin his entrepreneurial journey with a roadmap for success. In this episode of Storyhouse, Darrell shares what it has looked like for him to grow and scale multiple businesses, and he shares some serious wisdom on how to avoid sabotage and burnout.
EPISODE NOTES
Darrell Vesterfelt is a visionary leader who builds and scales businesses, but he didn’t begin his entrepreneurial journey with a roadmap for success. In this episode of Storyhouse, Darrell shares what it has looked like for him to grow and scale multiple businesses, and he shares some serious wisdom on how to avoid sabotage and burnout.
NOTES:
What it looked like to grow into an entrepreneur without the proper life context to understand what it really meant:
“It’s been an interesting journey for me to try to figure it out because I didn’t have the context of being an entrepreneur. Nobody was pushing me in that direction where I came from. What it looked like to be successful was to either go to school or to get a trade and work a good job. And the entrepreneurs in that area were just people who maybe weren’t making great money and weren’t taken seriously. So I just had no context for it.”
Learning to manage multiple business endeavors:
“What I’ve learned over the last five to seven years of really digging into these companies is to pick my spots a little bit better. . . There has to be a thorough line of focus to all of it. So one or two years ago, I had eight companies underneath my holdings company. I managed an IT solutions company. . . there was publishing, there was a documentary. There were all kinds of things – two or three different agencies and different focuses, and it was too wide and too much. There needed to be a thorough line. And so the thorough line for me now is creator-led businesses.”
The 2 – 3 indicators that help you know when it’s time to let go and build a team:
“I’ll say it just takes courage to build a team because you have to let go of things that you’re good at for other people to do.”
Why burnout doesn’t necessarily equate to high stress:
“My internal, what was right for me, and what I was doing externally were out of alignment. So I was burning out, and it’s like if you would’ve looked at me from the outside looking in, you’re like, you’re crazy. This is a great job at a great company with great leadership, with great benefits. Why? How are you burning out?”
Why we need to demystify conversations around money:
“So I want to challenge the norms. Culturally, I want to challenge taboos. Talking about money is a really taboo thing, and I just wish that we just didn’t have to do it because there’s so much emotion attached to money, whether you have a lot of it or a little of it. There’s so much ego attached to money like it makes me somebody who I am or am not.”
CONNECT WITH DARRELL:
CoFounder of @schooloftraditionalskills
