Description:
Today Ed Fox joins us. Born and raised in Australia (now living in America) Ed’s been a serial Entrepreneur since he was a kid! He was finding creative opportunities to sell stuff already when he was 7 years old. He was building businesses when most people are still trying to figure out who they are in their teens.
But this is not by accident. Ed grew up in an environment surrounded by others in business.. almost everyone he mentions in his family had a business of some kind and influenced him. So it was instilled in him at an early age and he had no one around that would tell him, “you can’t do that, Ed!”.
One of the things that always intrigues me is how successful people come up with ALL THOSE IDEAS. So I had to ask, “Ed, how do you come up with ALL THOSE IDEAS??” He shares his secrets and there are some amazing takeaways that I plan to implement in some way into my own business; I have no doubt some of you’ll benefit in the same way. Enjoy the listen!
Edward Fox was born at a very early age. He is a big fan of puns and dad jokes.
So much so that he has published 2 books of dad jokes on Amazon titled 101 Groantasic Dad Jokes and 101 MORE Groantastic Dad Joke VOL2 .
Edward is a serial entrepreneur with his first business venture at the age of 15yrs old in Australia a corner general store in a little country town.
Having moved to Wichita KS in 1990 Edward continued his business pursuits.
Edward enjoys helping business owners grow their businesses and is currently the founder, principal, or co-owner of the following business ventures.
- Tradebank of Nashville – A B2B Barter Exchange (Franchise) Nashville.Tradebank.com
- Tradebank of Wichita – A B2B Barter Exchange (Franchise) Wichita.Tradebank.com
- iQ2 Digital – A Digital Marketing agency and full-service printing company. iQ2Digital.com
- BGW (Brew Grind Water) – a specialty coffee (& tea) machine sales, service, and repair company. Sales nationwide.
- Nashville Discount Card – local fundraising and business promotion website. NashvilleDiscountCard.com
- US Discount Cards – National licensing of the proprietary discount card business system opportunity (your city may be available)
- USA Cricket Field Design – Consulting on cricket field design for cities and universities.
Edward publishes several youtube/podcast shows, including:
- Nashville2.com where he tells the stories of businesses and non-profits and people that interest him from across the Nashville metro.
- Networking EDucation – a series of short videos where Edward covers basic tips for effective networking.
- Barter Bing Barter Boom…It's Just That Easy. – Talking to people that use the managed barter system platform within Tradebank to help their businesses. BarterBingBarterBoom.com
- Wake Up Call With ED and Paul – Business Talk. EDandPaul.com
Edward also is an accomplished speaker and presenter and has been a keynote speaker or panelist for business events, chamber of commerce both virtually and in person.
A personal highlight for him was being asked to speak to 10k+ people at the Georgia Dome. Ask Edward to speak at your next event.
Edward has been married to Alice, “The Most Wonderful Wife in the World” ™ for over 30 years. They have 5 adult kids that claim them as parents, 1 grandbaby (very excited about that) & a dog named “Mister”.
Edward is open to doing zoom 121's with any business owner or aspiring business and share his wealth of business knowledge.
Edward can be reached
Linktr.ee/Aussiefox
316-200-4135
615-933-1369
THE MEAT OF IT!
- Intro – we’re here with Special Ed
- His story
- Born and raised in Australia
- Knew a lot of people with businesses as a child.. family.
- Always around entrepreneurs and independent contractors
- The origin of the word ENTREPRENEURS ..
- His loved with ‘Dad Jokes’ ..
- The first thing he sold at what age.
- 7 years old
- .. collected and sells empty coke bottles on the side.
- From there learned how to make even more money..
- 15 years old (1982)
- Wants to drop out of school..
- Figured out how to start his own business.
- “I’ve got a plan” ..
- How he starts a ‘shop’.. starts just selling milk.
- Which lead to.. more consignments.
- Added video rentals in '83
- Does a 100k in sales.
- With the profits bought more businesses
- General store .. built to a half a million in volume per year
- Then sold it! At 21 years old.
- learned a LOT
- At 18 started an Amway business.
- Type of business (multi-level/network marketing) vs independent
- Why it’s a good model.. what it teaches those new in biz
- You need to treat it like a business..
- Why the average person doesn’t make money..
- Paying for your education in another way
- You’ll learn if you want to be a business owner through a venture like this
- How to be successful with multi-level/networking..
- How he meets his wife.
- “You’re funny…”
- Married 32 years.
- Back to business.. who influenced him?
- Was around positive people.. “you can do anything you put your mind to”.
- Dad, Mom.. and other family
- Didn’t have a lot of negative family members.
- Started listening to audio tapes ..
- Learning from someone he worked with in Amway ..
- Mentoring.. and his tapes, books, functions.
- The importance of who you’re surrounded with..
- Negative surroundings..
- BUT.. negative motivation CAN work.
- Depends on the individual.
- People that come out of terrible situations.. thousands of those stories exist.
- Matt’s history.. part of his life when he was an angry young man.. negative.
- First book that influenced positively. Think and Grow Rich..
- Listening to tapes.. Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar..
- You have to ‘want to’ and believe you can.
- What all influences how you find your way in life..
- Did he ever have a boss?
- That story..
- I need some vacation time.. a month off. I met a girl.
- Worked for Sears.. 90-95
- Sold cell phones 94-95
- Doesn’t like working for other people..
- Ways he’d find ways to make money on the side working for someone else.
- Has 2nd kid.. come home and stay with the kids, build a business.
- People that are built or meant to be entrepreneurs..
- Matt’s story about not being able to get off work at the Olive Garden.. and that’s how the job ended.
- People that aren’t built to be entrepreneurs..
- Ed’s wife.
- Matt’s wife.
- Being authentic to who you are
- Have a side hustle in case something happens.
- Back to where we left off in the story..
- Game nights..
- '95 .. magic the gathering.
- '96 .. Pokeman
- Started holding tournament's.
- And taking it to the max.. opening all kinds of tournaments.
- Game nights..
- He just.. doesn’t stop! How’s he do it?
- GENERATING IDEAS
- Some more stories how he came up with ideas.
- You have to write your ideas down.
- How does he do this specifically.
- Uses a ‘journal’.. to jot down ideas.
- Most were bad..
- Some examples ?
- But some were good..
- An idea he thought of.. and then others made millions.
- An idea and 50 cents..
- Uses a ‘journal’.. to jot down ideas.
- You have to work your brain muscle
- Write them down, review every 3-6 months
- Actively think of ideas.
- 3 STEPS
- One – what’s a better way to do that.
- Two – Is there a need?
- Three – And can I get it to market?
- Think of 10 different ideas a day.. train your brain.
- 3 frogs sitting on a log..
- You have to have ACTION with a decision.
- How do you sift through the ideas..
- How he looks at them..
- Can I do it for very little money.
- What that means to YOU.. how much money you have to start with.
- More stories..
- Can we do it cheap enough to create a proof of concept?
- More stories..
- AND.. is it interesting to YOU to do something with?
- Can I do it for very little money.
- How he looks at them..
- People that LOVE their businesses.
- What’s your exit strategy?
- Hard to learn..
- Learned.. it’s just a business regardless of how much you love it.
- You may run a business for years before it will make money!
- And most small business owners make less that a million in sales per year
- If a biz isn’t making you money.. maybe you have to cut the losses.
- When do you give up on an idea?
- Getting inspired by what others are doing..
- A spin on what others are doing..
- How can you do this better?
- There’s no original ideas.
- Brilliant Ed IDEA: Find something that works really well in one industry.. apply to another!
- More stories !!
- One of the big takeaways from this podcast >> actively generating ideas.
- Closing with..
- Back to Ed Fox.
- What’s he doing today?
- More ideas.. he’s taken action on and is doing today.
- Bartering biz franchises
- Runs National Discount Card
- Affiliate with Mailbox Power ..
- (Noting a common thread).. businesses that help a lot of people.
- Digital marketing company
- Google My Business passion..
- Cricket field designs – building them for less, consulting fee
- Some stuff going on.. Next episode on time management. haha!
- Spinning plates, one drops.. go to dollar store for another plate.
- “Something worth doing is worth doing poorly until we can learn to do it well.. unless your a heart surgeon.”
- Spinning plates, one drops.. go to dollar store for another plate.
- Building businesses that ‘work together’..
- On that note.. where can we find him on the world wide web?
Check out these related Episodes:
- Episode 52: Project Management, Getting Things Done.. Capture It All & Enjoy Less Stress!
- Episode 47: Meet Rhonda Negard – Her Story Becoming a Business Owner, Leaving Corporate to Build a Business & More!
- Episode 44: Jennifer Denney – End of the Year Business Reviews & Planning … are We Doing It Wrong?
