Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal and business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Andrew McDowell, Owner of Generate Your Value LLC., located in Alpharetta, GA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My company name is Generate Your Value LLC. I am Life/Leadership/Small Business Coach. My customers are anyone who owns a profit and loss statement with $50 million or less in annual revenue and 100 employees or less.
Tell us about yourself
I am an engineer by trade and a creative by nature. Founder of the entrepreneurial and small business coaching and consulting firm, Generate Your Value and co-host of The Generate Your Value Podcast. I spent 22 years with the Boeing Company, where I always felt more like a life coach than a boss. In 2002, I began my journey into entrepreneurship within a corporation when I was asked to develop an Airspace Design Consulting business from scratch that would serve the global government market.
I have a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgia Tech in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Computer Information Systems from Georgia State. Naturally, my aviation work took me around the world and enabled me to work on high-profile projects - such as preparing the Beijing and Sochi Airports for their respective Olympic Games.
I would love to have a conversation with you about how I might be able to use my strategic skills developed from my years with the Boeing Company to Generate Your Value in your personal and professional life. I have a keen sense of applying business concepts to life coaching and life coaching concepts to business.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Surviving through a pandemic. I started the business five months before the pandemic began with a small network as my target customers. Now, business is still standing...
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Self-doubt. Entrepreneurship is a journey with many ups and downs; it takes grit and determination to deal with the valleys of the journey. Self-doubt can creep in.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- It's a journey full of ups and downs. Develop a thick skin.
- Keep your business plans short. Be flexible and state your business plan assumptions. Your number one job after you launch is to validate or invalidate those assumptions.
- Not every customer that walks in is a YES. Know your ideal customer, and don't be afraid to say NO.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Leadership starts from within. We learn how to be leaders of others through the process of leading ourselves.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.generateyourvalue.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genyourvalue
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/airspacedude/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AirspaceDude
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-mcdowell-69231627/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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