IAM037 – Serial Entrepreneur & TEDx Speaker Helps Entrepreneurs Start Their Journey

Jeet Banerjee is a 25-year-old serial entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and digital marketing consultant. Jeet has launched 10+ businesses, sold 2 companies for a profit, spoken at conferences around the world and helps entrepreneurs start their journeys.

• CEO Hack: Slack
• CEO Nugget: Nail it & Scale it – make sure you refine your business and it's aspects first before scaling it
• CEO Defined: Convey and execute the vision. Create a belief system within the company.

Website: http://www.jeetbanerjee.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/@TheJeetBanerje
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheJeetBanerjee
Online Academy: http://www.TheIncomeIncubator.com

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:28

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jeet Banerjee of JeetBanerje.com.

Jeet it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jeet Banerjee 0:38

Yeah. Thanks so much for having me, excited to be on your show.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

Awesome. Well, what I wanted to do was read a little bit more about Jeet so you can learn a little bit more about him and all the awesome things he's been able to accomplish.

Jeet Banerjee is a 25-year-old serial entrepreneur TEDx speaker and digital marketing consultant. Jeet has launched 10 Plus businesses sold to companies for profit in, spoken at conferences around the world and he helps entrepreneurs start their journey.

Jeet, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Jeet Banerjee 1:05

Yeah, I'm excited. Let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:06

Awesome. Well, the first question I have is if you can kind of build a little bit more upon the bio that I read, tell us a little bit more about you your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

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Jeet Banerjee 1:16

Yeah, absolutely. So like you mentioned, I'm currently 25 years old. So to kind of talk about when I first got started in entrepreneurship, we got a backtrack of about 10 years. So when I was 15 years old, actually, one day, my dad came into my room one bright, early morning, knocked on the door, and he came up to me, he said, hey, I've been thinking and I think you need to go get a job.

So as any 15-year-old has to go get a job, I was extremely frustrated and kind of upset with the fact that I had to go work now. And so and he told me, it's like, oh, you get food, you get shelter, you get all the basic necessities. But all the luxuries like the movies you go to, the video games you buy, and the things you do with your friends, that's on you now. So from 15 to 17, I pretty much took on a bunch of part-time jobs after school like 10 to 12 hours a week of work, getting paid minimum wage, so anything from cleaning floors to tutoring to telemarketing, door-to-door sales, I pretty much did a little bit of everything.

And over these two years, one thing became very consistent, I kept getting fired, or I kept quitting from every single job and something just didn't seem right. Like I felt absolutely miserable and imprisoned in these jobs that I was doing. And when senior year of my high school term came around, it was time for me to apply to colleges and go through the college application process. And my whole life, I thought I was gonna go work a corporate nine-to-five job, get a business degree, and I thought life was gonna be perfect. But now I kind of was trying to figure out like, there's something wrong with me, I had these so-called, like symptoms that I was experiencing where I couldn't work. And the idea of working 40 hours a week just terrified me.

I ended up going and I ended up just plugging in my symptoms on Google. And I  came across videos. And the first one that I remember was one from Richard Branson, where he said that if you feel imprisoned at work, and you feel extremely like it's like the worst chore that you've ever had to do in your life, and you're just unhappy all the time, you're probably born to be an entrepreneur, you probably want more in your life. And that video really related to me. So at 17 years old, I said, you know what, I think what Richard Branson is saying is super true, I need to go out and become an entrepreneur.

And that's when really my journey as an entrepreneur began, I started my first company as a senior in high school, it was pretty much a multimedia agency. So doing web design, web development, and online marketing services for small to medium-sized businesses. So I ended up starting that company and had that company for about two years before selling that for a profit growing it to about 20 plus employees then started my second company, which was an online portal that helped high school students get into colleges. And so ran that company for a few years and grew that to about 250,000 users, I ended up selling that company as well, and it got acquired in November of 2016. So those are the two main big project companies that I've started. And as you mentioned, I've started a bunch of other small businesses and companies along the way. But yeah, that's a little bit about me,

Gresham Harkless 4:00

That is an awesome story and engraved that you were kind of using Google as WebMD, so to speak, to see what your symptoms wearing. And it led you to Richard Branson, who was one of the greatest entrepreneurs for sure. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more to kind of learn a little bit more about the products and services and how exactly you serve the clients that you work with.

Jeet Banerjee 4:16

Yeah, absolutely. So currently, I have a couple of different companies that I'm working on. The latest and most passionate project that I'm really working on right now is this company called the income incubator. And pretty much what I do there is over the years after kind of getting some success and you know, being featured on different publications and things like that.

I've had a lot of people that have reached out to me that tell me, hey, Jeet, I want to learn to do what you do, or I want to become an online business owner, how can I do it? And I always found it very challenging because I've always been the type of person who really wants to help everybody. And it's people like Richard Branson that really paved the way for me, you know, like giving back to the community and sharing all this wealth of knowledge that he had gained and sharing it with the future generation.

That's what inspired me to be an entrepreneur. So one thing I've always been very passionate about is helping other people become an entrepreneur like people after me. And so I would always get these emails and these phone calls or these text messages from people asking me this question. And I can never really answer that question in 10 minutes or 15 minutes, just writing something or telling somebody something.

So I decided to put together this academy where I share some of the seven businesses that I've started over the years, that I think are very easily replicable. So it's pretty much got like lectures and blueprints and documents, and I show secrets. And I put together a great community where students can kind of really network with one another. And yeah, so this is like the main project that I've been working on. And I think I really serve people and offer value by basically helping people get their online businesses off the ground. If you're really passionate about starting a business or becoming an entrepreneur, I help you turn that journey and make it into reality. Pretty much.

Gresham Harkless 4:20

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And that's definitely something that's needed, obviously, in this day and age. So I wanted to ask you, I guess for what I call your secret sauce, or what do you feel makes you or maybe even your organization's or one of your businesses unique?

Jeet Banerjee 5:55

Yeah, absolutely. I think my secret sauce has always been like, I think a lot of businesses out there really focus a lot on money. And I think that's like their driving force behind, you know, like the decisions they make and the way they operate and the things they do.

But for me, ever since I was very young, I think I've always had this mindset where I always wanted to create value. And my first business, I think, taught me a lot about the multimedia agency, because that business was just all about making money. And I quickly realized over the two years that I wasn't happy, and I wasn't fulfilled, money was great and all but it wasn't my primary driving force to be an entrepreneur.

And that's really why I moved on from that company and sold it. And I think the biggest thing that I've learned over the years is like I'm not looking for, like, get-rich-quick schemes, or just getting into markets that have a lot of money to offer are very lucrative. For me, it's all about creating value, and really getting into projects that I'm a big believer in, and I'm passionate about myself. And I think that's what really separates me and really makes me unique.

And that's been my secret sauce is just doing things that I absolutely stand by, I believe in and I will use myself and just kind of replicating that down to the businesses I create. And the companies that create and I think that's enabled me to be very successful in the past few years.

Gresham Harkless 7:03

Yeah, that's definitely valuable information. Of course, for anybody that's thinking about running a business, a lot of times people think about the bottom line, and I want to make this amount of money, but like you been able to stay true to yourself and stay true to the things you believe in. And then all the success and everything has followed after that sounds like.

Jeet Banerjee 7:18

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the biggest thing that I tell people is that for me from what I've realized is that money is the most elusive object in the world. So a lot of people go out there and they try to chase money. And when they chase money, they absolutely can't get it.

But when you chase something greater than money, the money just comes, you know, like, if I create a business that creates value, people are going to repay me for that value that I provide them by giving me money. Money is just like a token of appreciation, the way that I look at it is if you're offering amazing value into the world, and I think if a lot more people build businesses with that kind of principles, those principles in that mindset, I think a lot of great things can come about.

Gresham Harkless 7:50

Absolutely, absolutely. I would definitely echo that sentiment. So Jean, what I wanted to do is switch gears a little bit and ask you for something I call a CEO hack. And this might be a resource, like a book or an app or just something or maybe even a habit, but it's something that you do you use or turn to on a regular everyday basis that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Jeet Banerjee 8:09

Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest thing that really makes me efficient and really effective every single day is this very great to consider kind of like a project management tool. But it's kind of like a project management meeting like Skype, and it's called slack. And it's just for like team management, managing different projects and stuff like that.

And I think for me, it's great because I manage so many different teams and have so many different companies, and just being able to kind of categorize these things and group them off into the slack groups. For those of you who may be a little bit familiar with how it works, it makes me efficient and effective. And it's like a tool that I can use anywhere, like when I'm traveling, if I'm at home, wherever it is that I may need it. And I think that's what really keeps me really efficient. And really effective. On a day-to-day basis.

I can keep track of my task list, stay in touch with my team, and figure out what everyone is doing. And just I can create all these different bubbles. And I think as a serial entrepreneur, it's very hard to separate all your businesses in a way where you can stay streamlined and focused. And that's something that I struggled with early on. But I think Slack has done a phenomenal job to keep me very focused on the things I need to get done while keeping all my businesses just as close by as I need them.

Gresham Harkless 9:15

Yeah, absolutely. In this ESU Jackie circulars are juggling so many different things. And so many different people involved in different projects to be able to go to kind of one place or one software, I should say to be able to do and manage and interact with everybody that needs to be interacted with is definitely a phenomenal CEO hack.

Jeet Banerjee 9:29

Yeah, absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 9:31

And I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. A CEO nugget is a word of wisdom or piece of advice or a few pieces that you might have for other entrepreneurs and business owners.

Jeet Banerjee 9:40

Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest nugget or the biggest piece of advice that I can give people just through my business experiences would be I'm a really big believer of this formula called nail it and scale it.

I think a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs, one of the biggest mistakes they make early on from what I've seen is that people will get a few sales or they'll get a few customers or users, whatever their metric is, and they just want to explode, they just want to scale the heck out of it right off the gates and go crazy with it. And I've seen so many people lose not only tons of money, but their businesses just collapse.

And they end up failing completely because they end up scaling way too fast. And I think the biggest thing that I've learned, over the years is that you've really got to nail down what works, and you got to spend so much time refining that until you've got it absolutely nailed down to where you've got all the x's and x's and o's, down to the nitty-gritty. And once you get it there, it becomes very, very easy to scale. I think too many people are too worried about scaling as soon as they can. But the biggest thing is if you can nail down exactly what you need to do to get to know who your customers are, where these customers are, how to deliver your products or services, how to create the best products and services, and just pretty much put your teams together and all this kind of stuff.

Because when it comes to growing a business, there are many different elements, right? It's like a big pizza or a big pie. And every slice of it has to be put together to create that one pie or that one business. And a lot of people are like, oh, well, I figured out the marketing model, I'm just going to scale the daylights out of this project. And then they realize, oh, well, they don't have the infrastructure, they don't have the team or they don't have the marketing campaigns or whatever the resource is lacking, because they really haven't nailed down all the different things.

So the biggest thing that I like to tell other entrepreneurs and business owners is to nail every aspect of your business down, then scale it and the results will be magical after that. So take your time really refining your business.

Gresham Harkless 11:26

That makes perfect sense. And I think that's phenomenal advice. It's not just about having like one broken place to build your foundation, you want to make sure you have everything in place. So when you kind of quote-unquote, put that gasoline on the fire, you actually have something that's sustainable.

Jeet Banerjee 11:38

Yep.

Gresham Harkless 11:39

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, one of my favorite questions is to kind of get ask you what the definition of being a CEO means. And I know that you have and are a serial entrepreneur, I have a lot of different ventures that you've worked on and are working on. But I know it might be different in different phases. But I wanted to ask you specifically for you, what does it mean to you to be a CEO?

Jeet Banerjee 11:58

Yeah, absolutely. So to me being a CEO, I look at it very similarly to how I kind of look at leaders and leadership. And I think, being a CEO, I have this grand vision that I  bring to the table. And I think it's my job to really convey and portray this vision to other people that really believe in it. Like my team, my employees, my partners, and stuff like that. And as the CEO, I think the biggest role is to convey this vision and to really execute this vision.

And I think the biggest thing I've learned over the years is that it's the hardest thing as a CEO is to keep everyone on the same path, looking forward towards the same vision, right? Like, you might be able to get people to do that for a day or a week. And then if you stop the kind of hammering that same vision that you've got in your mind that everyone kind of signed up for in the beginning, then people are going to stray off, right, their visions are going to change over time, and things are going to kind of difference, and all that kind of stuff. So I think the biggest thing that I've kind of learned as to what it is to be a CEO is to really just get everybody on the same page. And just to create this belief system within a company where everyone believes in the same vision. And the same motto and those types of things.

That's really changed the way I hire, the way I partner with people, and stuff like that over the years. Because before it was all about, okay, who's the most talented I can person I can get for the cheapest salary?

And then I realized, you know, what, if I've got people that really believe in the vision, and they're as passionate about making this vision come to life as I am, all other things will really come into place. Like they'll learn what they need to learn to really get there. And that's the biggest thing that I've learned. So I think as a CEO if you can really focus on cultivating a beautiful vision and getting everyone around it to believe in buy-in, I think that's the greatest thing in the world. And the best example I can use let's say you're a basketball team, right? You've got all these players that play all these positions and do all these things.

But as the coach, I think a coach position is very similar to the CEO position, your job is to bring all of these people together to commit to one vision into one goal and have them perform at that level. And I think that's what I look at as a CEO.

Gresham Harkless 13:51

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And I love that analogy. I'm a huge sports nut. So definitely being able to be a coach be able to identify who does what and how well they do it and be able to put them in the right place so that they can be successful and reach that common goal. So an awesome definition, Jeet, I truly appreciate you taking some time out of your schedule. What I want to do was the passion to mike, so to speak to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and then also how best people can get a hold of you.

Jeet Banerjee 14:15

Yeah, absolutely. So if there's some parting advice that I can kind of leave with people, I'll kind of share the big story that I shared in my TEDx talk about like, If not now, when and I think the biggest thing I tried to tell everyone is that there's no better time to start pursuing your dreams or to do that thing that's on your bucket list, then today, tomorrow is never guaranteed. And you'll never have the perfect moment to really pursue your dreams or to get something started. Every day goes by your responsibilities get bigger.

The excuses keep piling up, you'll never have enough time. You'll never have enough experience. You'll never have enough money. These things are just going to be a never-ending issue for most people. And I think the biggest thing that I can preach for being someone that started when I was 17, who wishes he started when he was like 11 is that there's no better time to start than right now because as each day passes by, you're gonna regret not starting days before that. And so that's my biggest parting advice for people is just go out there and just do it and live a life that you're going to be really satisfied with.

Gresham Harkless 15:09
Awesome, awesome, awesome. That's phenomenal words of wisdom. And then if anybody's listening and they want to reach out to you Jeet, what's the best way?

Jeet Banerjee 15:14

Yeah, absolutely, the best way to reach out to me would be through my personal website, which is JeetBanerje.com, And that's got my blog, my social media links, and my contact information, so anyone can feel free to reach out there.

Gresham Harkless 15:29

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you so much, Jeet and we'll have the link in the show notes for anybody that wants to check out your TEDx. But also go to your website as well and reach out to you via social media links. But I thank you so much for all the awesome things that you're doing and all the impact that you're having upon the world. And of course, taking some time out and speaking with us and telling us some words of wisdom.

Jeet Banerjee 15:48

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. It was an honor.

Outro 15:51

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless.

Thank you for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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