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Exclusive Interview with Andy Jacob – One of America’s Most Innovative Business Consultants
Hello, today we are interviewing Andy Jacob, one of America’s most innovative business consultants. We are going to have some fun, and do a rapid fire interview. Mr. Jacob is known for fixing business problems for his clients very quickly and efficiently, so let’s go.
● Name: Andy Jacob, but my friends call me Jake.
● Current title in your company? CEO, but to my dogs Luigi and Bella, I’m Dad.
● What’s your motto? Never Get Locked Into A Motto.
● Year you launched Andy Jacob? I was launched from my mother at Sinai Hospital in Detroit in 1960.
● What is your number one accomplishment? Marrying my wife.
My ComeUp Story
● Tell us about your latest project “Andy Jacob’s Beautiful Startup Quiz”…What is it? I have published the 11 most important questions an entrepreneur can ask themselves when starting a business… and I give them away for free.
● Why did you launch Andy Jacob’s Beautiful Startup Quiz? Everyone asked me to do it, and I’m a pushover.
● How did the journey with ” Andy Jacob as a brand ” start? It started with my first business in 3rd grade. I was in third grade. so I I hired second graders to shovel snow for me off of driveways of customers. I charged $2.00 and gave the kids shoveling $1.00. Nice business model!
● How did you start believing in your own work? What made you launch your career as a “Coach to Entrepreneurs and Business Owners”? After I received the first $2.00 from a neighbor to shovel his driveway!● What is the biggest lesson that you have learned since you started the Jacob Consulting Group? Many business problems can be fixed in an hour or less.
● Breaking into the business consulting industry isn’t an easy feat. What advice would you give young business people looking to form their own companies? Marketing tips? Make your customers extremely happy. If you don’t do that, you have no business!
● Do you recall any embarrassing moments you had during your come up? I had an important radio interview and I was snowed in during a Michigan winter storm, so I did the interview by phone from my home. My Labrador retriever Bubba kept barking at squirrels outside. The listeners must have thought it was lunacy.
● Tell us about a time you were faced with insurmountable odds, yet persevered to overcome?
At Oregon State University, I played football my freshman year. Back then, they had a drill called the slaughter box. It was Mano y Mano, who could basically knock the heck out of each other. I wanted to impress the coaches so I took on a all American senior linebacker in the box. Well, let’s just say I made it out alive!
My Daily Behind the Scenes
● What is your typical weekday and weekend like? What do you do when not working? I am currently working 60 hours a week in a new startup. I wake up early, go to bed early. When I’m not working, I’m working.
● Where do you find your inspiration? Everywhere. Just walking down the street is inspiring to me. I’ve experienced the loss of many loved ones, and just thinking of them is inspiring.
● What is your role in the company now? And how involved are you in the day-to-day and overall operations? I’m all in.
● What songs do you listen to that psyches you up and makes you feel strong? One of my favorite things to do is go to the symphony. However, if I want to really get going, I’ll listen to some 70’s rock. For strength, I like the sound of the wind.
● What is one thing you do when you’re feeling stuck creatively? Dive into whatever is in front of me at the time. Just do it.
● What is the product or book you’ve created that you are most proud of? The Beautiful StartUp Quiz
My Now
● Why are you so passionate about your “one-hour” coaching and consulting practice”? Why do you think it’s important? We all live in what I call the “micro age”. Everything must get done in a micro second. Even an hour is too long to fix most business problems.
● How do you a consultant set prices for projects? Very straight forward. We make a deal. If my clients don’t love the outcome, we keep working until they do.
● Over the years, did you ever encounter famous people who were very difficult to coach? Famous is a little different than successful and wealthy. I approach wealthy and successful people the same way as an inexperienced founder. It’s all about asking the right questions. The questions may be different, but it’s all about the questions.
● As a successful business owner, I’m sure you have picked up a lot of valuable insights and tricks of the trade along the way. If you had to narrow it down, what one piece of advice would you give to business owners and entrepreneurs?
Rule #1 Be persistent.
Rule #2 Any questions, go back to rule #1
My Future
● What would you like to achieve before the end of 2018? Breaking my newest startup into multiple locations.
● What is the most meaningful project you have done? What would your dream project be? Helping The Friendship Circle, which brings happiness and companionship to children and young adults with special needs and their families.
● What’s one dream you’ve achieved that you’re most proud of and why? Marrying my wife. I definitely married up.
● We see you are a supporter of numerous Animal charities. Name a charity you are passionate about and explain why it matters to you. How do you show your support? Kristin and I support animal charities because we both love what animals have brought to our lives. We both had animals growing up, and they have enriched our life.
● If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your teenage self? Study harder and go to Harvard.
