Thoughtful Advisors to Audacious Leaders

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mike Rowlands, President and CEO of Junxion Strategy, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Junxion Strategy is an international consultancy with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada, and London, UK. For over 20 years, we've been helping organizations define their purpose, plan their impact, tell their stories and embrace accountability.

Our clients bring the unique expertise of their sectors and industries and a desire to do more with their momentum. Across the globe, we've helped some of the world's most courageous and generative organizations, including Adidas, Doctors without Borders, The Body Shop, The Guardian, and the United Nations.

Tell us about yourself

I'm a thoughtful advisor to ambitious leaders, a convener, and a philosopher. I love to host juicy, generative conversations in service to life. As Junxion's President & CEO, I lead an amazing team of social impact professionals that are dedicated to accelerating the shift to the purpose economy.

I also co-produce the annual Social Venture Institute conference series, which brings social entrepreneurs together to connect with their peers, learn from one another, and develop the skills to make a meaningful difference on the issues of our time. And I started as a student of philosophy and political science—interested from the beginning in community building and what it means to live 'the good life.'

What all these roles have in common is an abiding commitment to being in good relations with the people around me, contributing to conversations that matter, and designing a career that leaves the world (I hope!) a little bit better than I found it.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

After 20 years of owning my own businesses, there's a lot to be proud of—and my fair share of mistakes and mishaps! Mostly, I'm proud of the incredible group of people that we've been able to employ. Junxionites are an eclectic, creative, passionate, smart, and ambitious bunch, always ready to ask a bold question or provide an audacious answer.

Opening our office in London in 2009 was a major highlight—as was our recognition as a 'Company to Watch' by the London foreign direct investment agency in 2010. We were named alongside a little tech company called LinkedIn! Of course, as a consultancy, so much of our impact is driven by the clients we support. To work with the likes of Doctors Without Borders, The Body Shop, the United Nations, Sentebale, and so many other incredible organizations and brands has been a privilege, indeed.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Most entrepreneurs feel the ebb and flow of business cycles. Some years are good other years are tougher. Especially in the early years, it can be hard to manage the stresses and strains. I spent five years serving early-stage entrepreneurs while Entrepreneur in Residence at a Vancouver venture accelerator. So many of my conversations with those entrepreneurs were about helping them simply to learn to be entrepreneurs! The single hardest part of entrepreneurship, for me, is the occasional need to make the difficult decision to let someone go. Sometimes, it's because of those ebbs and flows in business; other times, it's just a bad fit.

In Junxion's history, though, I think the hardest time was the four-year period when we operated an office in New Delhi, India. We had ambitiously opened there in 2011 and worked incredibly hard to make it work. Our company was spread across 12 time zones—so all the way around the planet. There was never a time when all the offices could be fresh and alert on an all-hands call. The clients we supported across southeast Asia were incredible... but the wind fell out of our sails in 2015, and we had to face the decision to close that office and shrink the company by about 50%.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Know thy self. Self-awareness, self-development, and self-care are vital for any entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is a 24/7 kind of job, so fatigue and burnout are always near. Being aware of our capabilities and strengths, developing ourselves to be better at what we're good at, and staying in good physical and mental health are essential for success.
Lead with love. Corny? Maybe. But compassion inspires. Gone are the days of the command and control leader who strikes fear in the hearts of their teams. Today's leaders are dedicated to supporting their people and serving them—rather than the other way around.
Over-estimate and over-deliver. Everything you plan will take twice as long and cost twice as much as you'd like. It just seems to be a standard feature of entrepreneurs that we're optimistic to a fault. So always over-estimate. And surprise and delight clients as much as you can. Under-promise and over-deliver. That way, they'll keep coming back and connect you to your next clients.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://junxion.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrowlands
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowlands/

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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