This week we decided to interview 3 sets of entrepreneurs that Sergei works with, right at the end of a two week program where they had to speak with as many prospective customers as possible to try to validate their business idea.

We spoke with a student named Kanishk who had some really creative ideas for how to meet as many doctors and other healthcare professionals as possible in less than 2 weeks. He discusses what worked, what didn’t, and how this process was instrumental in helping them figure out what kind of business they can build for healthcare professionals. The founders also told us how they were able to use this process to secure their first pilot customer.

How often have you thought to yourself “wow – I haven’t talked to her in forever?” We work very hard to meet new people and grow our personal and professional network, but it’s easy to forget to stay in touch with the people that we meet. Friendships, partnerships, and opportunities can only happen if you actually work to build meaningful relationships.

In this episode we discuss how we recently made it a point to reconnect with some of our old colleagues, friends, and acquaintances, and the immediate unintended benefits that can come from simply asking how someone is doing.

In this episode you will learn:

1) The importance of doing things and not expecting anything in return
2) Why you shouldn’t overthink things, and start reaching out to people that you’ve met
3) How to start acting towards reconnecting with people right away

This episode was inspired in part by Jordan Harbinger and Jordan’s lessons on relationship development.

Highlights from 5 of our most popular episodes of the 75 released this year. On this New Year’s Eve we’ve decided to review the top 5 episodes since The Mentors podcast was launched at the beginning of 2018. You will hear some of the main lessons learned from our most popular interviews and stories that really resonated with our listeners throughout the year.

In this episode you will hear about:

Episode 32: The Secret to Finding Big Opportunities, with Carey Smith of Big Ass Fans

Episode 8: Building a 90 Million Dollar Business After 50, with Larry Petretti

Episode 13: How to Start a Successful Coffee Shop in One of The Biggest Cities in The World

Episodes: 22, 28, 30: How To Do What You Love In A Communist Country, a three part series about our father, Samuel Revzin. Click here for part 2 and part 3.

Episode 7: Becoming Unstuck – How To Finally Get Started

Today we reflect on the sad news of Colin Kroll’s passing, founder of Vine and creator of HQ Trivia, and discuss the reality of being an entrepreneur and the importance of finding productive ways of dealing with the various difficulties that might come along the way.

You will learn:

1. Tony Robbin’s technique for neutralizing emotions during especially trying times, from his first book Unlimited Power
2. The power of practicing daily gratitude
3. The importance of speaking with others to work through your issues, and some of the options available today for connecting with experts, like MyWellBeing and TalkSpace (used by celebrities like Michael Phelps)

Going to a Russian bathhouses is a very unique experience, but we didn’t expect to get a lesson on sales and customer relationships after our trip there this weekend. In this week’s 5 Minute Pick Me Up, we explain why we think everyone should try the banya, and the valuable business lessons that we learned.

In this episode you will learn:
1) The importance of finding ways to engage with customers over and over again and seeing up-sell opportunities
2) How being flexible can help you generate more revenue
3) How high pricing can create perceived value

If you listen to this show, you know that we got our startup chops by working in sales for several years. In one of Sergei’s last sales jobs, he was tasked with making 100 calls a day.

Most of the time, when you call Fortune 500 CEOs, they don’t pick up the phone, but this time, the CEO of Sprint did. Listen to this latest edition of the 5 Minute Pick Me Up to find out exactly how the conversation went.

Turns out running a drug cartel is a lot like running any major business enterprise. In this week’s 5 Minute Pick Me Up, Vadim shares what he learned from watching Narcos Mexico over Thanksgiving break.

We learn:

1) How a Mexican drug leader was able to motivate every other drug boss to work with him
2) The importance truly understanding what drives the people you work with
3) How you can apply this to your business to inspire others to work with you

Instacart recently announced a $271 Million funding round, and Sergei is reminded about a very similar concept he wanted to start around the same time that Apoorva Mehta started Instacart in 2012.

The only difference was that Apoorva had a way to execute immediately, and Sergei did not. That’s why the idea didn’t matter, in that case, as much as the immediate ability to put something into market, and see if it’s viable. And that’s exactly what Apoorva did.

Listen to this edition of the 5 Minute Pick Me Up on The Mentors Podcast to hear the whole story.

The company I had been advising was just served a cease and desist order from a major brand to change their name, and it was about to put at risk their chance of having the Shark Tank episode air that would likely make the difference between success and failure for their fledgeling startup.

It was the Friday night before the Monday deadline by which the startup had to have this issue resolved, that in a last ditch effort I decided to cold email an executive in the brand that held the startup’s entire future in their hands without even knowing it.

The upcoming election on Tuesday inspired us to talk about our first ever entrepreneurial pursuit in High School that ended up teaching us many lessons that we still use when starting businesses.

As sophomores, we found out about a political debate club, Junior Statesmen of America, that taught kids how to debate real issues in congress style debates, and decided to bring it to our school. The only problem was that our principal decided not to sanction the club.

That meant that we had to learn how to raise money, how to promote the club and do everything in between all by ourselves. Little did we know that by being forced to figure out how to bring this club to our school without any support from the administration, we were doing something very entrepreneurial that would teach us how to build businesses later on.

With this episode, we hope that you decide to become a more active member in your own community, even if it’s just volunteering, because it’s guaranteed to pay off in ways that you can’t even imagine in the future.