I recently went one on one with Doug Smith, co-founder and CEO of True Nutrition. Doug is an adventurer, traveler and entrepreneur who perpetually lives outside of his comfort zone.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Doug: Such a good question, however I'm sure many could write books about just this.  In a nutshell, I'm where I'm at today by seeing the bigger picture, but also understanding the day to day objectives that have to be completed for the bigger picture.  I think it all comes down to attitude.  Cherish your successes but respect and learn from your failures.  Also understanding that my failures for the most part, were not negative, they showed me how not to do something.  All you need is the balance of successes to outweigh the failures and having a positive drive to keep doing so.  Some give up after a few failures, but that's just attitude, you can view them as learning experiences and ultimately figure out how to create successes from them all.

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?

Doug: I think great ideas come from personal experience.  As in you personally have a want or need or see something you'd personally be interested in that may be in the form of a product or service.  Sure, people can come up with ideas that might be good ideas for the general masses, but what I've learned, unless you're not personally affected or motivated by that idea, the sustainability of figuring out how to make it a successful product or service becomes difficult.  Companies that are genuine or the leaders of those companies that not only just sell the product or service, but live the product and service usually have greater success as the motivation to create a better product or service is there.  Success sometimes takes a long time and if you're not personally motivated to sustain through a growing company, you may not give that product or service a fighting chance for success.

Additionally, entrepreneurs by nature are idea people.  I've mentored many budding entrepreneurs where many of them say, "I have so many ideas, I'm just not sure which one to pick".  The reality is, this is an excuse to not get started.  Sit with each idea for an hour and pick which one can be the most successful, is the most sustainable and the one that you feel you'd be motivated over a long period of time to keep doing, and get started.  In business there really are no failures, you may do something that doesn't work, but at least you know it doesn't work and can switch directions.  Not doing anything or just sitting around with your ideas with no execution or action, really is the biggest failure.

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?

Doug: For me initially, close to 20 years ago, I personally had a need/want for customized protein powder that didn't have other additives and filler ingredients.  It really was that simple.  I knew many other friends and acquaintances I've met thought the same thing and there really was not a company that provided this service.  With the internet and ecommerce really ramping up at that time, the idea to create a simple website as an ordering platform became apparent.  TrueProtein.com was born (now TrueNutrition.com).  I personally was going to be customer 1 and knew my motivations for health and fitness drove me to at least give it a try.  The best advice I can give is, if you personally believe in something, as in you'd use it, others will too.  There's various ways to dip your toe in the water so to speak to mitigate costs to test the market, however, at the end of the day, you eventually have to dive head-first and believe in your product and service and either find the market or build the market.

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?

Doug: First and foremost, always keep your ethos to your business consistent.  If you're setting out to fix an objective with your product and service, make sure the ethos and legitimacy of your brand stays the same.  With that consistency you also have to be willing to take all of your ideas and throw them in the trash to adjust and mold to how people want to buy your product and service.  It doesn't mean you change your ethos, but it does mean you need to be creative enough to know when something doesn't work or does work.  A growing company is just that - what works today might not work a month from now and you have to be willing to take ideas that once worked and throw them out or change them.  I see many entrepreneurs question why something once worked, and now doesn't and they crumble.  It's ok to question it, you should question it for change and adjustment, not continually beating the dead horse.  Also having forecasts and goals are essential.  If you want to increase revenue or growth in a different way, you need to visualize what that growth is, create a plan, then execute.  And along the way, if the execution isn't working, change the plan!  Don't be so rigid in your plan and initial thoughts that it creates failure.  Realize the goal, and adjust the plan to attain that goal.

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Doug: Marketing I always call "Vegas", as in it's always a gamble to an extent.  All other forms of business, at least to me, seem straight forward.  It's like a race car, each part has a purpose and you can put that part in place to attain a certain goal.  It's straightforward and relatively simple to view each part and how each part interacts with the car to make it go.  If a part breaks, you replace it.  However "marketing" is like the race car driver.  He can be having a bad day, bad attitude or the other cars he's racing are better than him, might crash into him or do something that is out of his control.  Marketing is similar, it is a crap shoot, you never truly know what will work until you execute and try it.  Sometimes $100.00 spent on marketing gets you $10,000.00 in sales and sometimes $10,000.00 spent on marketing gets you $10.00 in sales.  The best tip I can give knowing this, is to focus on how you spent money on marketing and what it gave back.  Really analyzing what works and what doesn't is crucial.  Also know, you won't know what works or doesn't if you don't at least try.  Always try the most economical marketing means first, see what worked, refocus on those, then try marketing venues that might be more expensive.  Trying different things, gives you a better idea to give you the edge when gambling in "Vegas".

Adam: I'm sure you have many, but what are your best tips on the topic of nutrition?

Doug: Keep it simple and sustainable.  There's so many different ways to eat today, it's definitely confusing to many.  It's tough to tell people how to eat because of likes or dislikes and different dietary restrictions or social restrictions.  Don't go on a diet, change your diet.  Don't plan to eat a certain way for 3 months to lose weight, plan to change your diet forever and the weight will drop.  The best way I've found is to not read too much on various diets, but to stick to whole, nonprocessed foods.  Stick to the outer perimeter of the grocery store and out of the isles.  There's nothing in the middle you need.  I always say eat happy plants and happy animals.  Essentially eating fruits, vegetables and animals, and animal byproducts that aren't packaged.  Real food.  If it comes in a bag, then a box and lasts in your cabinet for over a year, it's not real food.  When you start to eat real food, your body will tell you when it's had enough or needs more.  Eating real food most will find is actually cheaper than eating the stuff in the middle of the grocery store.  What I find is overtime when people get rid of the garbage they are eating in their diet, they can dial in further on what works better for them.  But no human being has to ever eat anything in the isles of a grocery store.  You might think you do, but you don't.

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Doug: Three of the best things I think a leader can do are the following.  First lead by example.  You can't say do as I say, not as I do, it's just not genuine and creates animosity.  The best way for people to do what you need of them, is to show them how you do it first.  Second, always give credit where credit is due.  I realized a long time ago telling someone "great job" or how much you appreciate what they did, goes further than any raise.  People want to feel industrious and feel like they are making a difference and above all to be recognized for it.  No one's perfect and everyone will have failures.  There's healthy ways to identify those failures to help empower your team to learn from them, and be motivated to change the failure into a success.  Focusing on the negative keeps people negative, not ready to move forward.  And third, a leader always goes last.  Put your team before you, not to injure you or your business, but lead by allowing them to feel the success first.  They will be the reason you see more success in the future, not the other way around. 

Adam: What are your best tips for entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders on the topics of physical and mental health?

Doug: It's all the simple things really.  First get a good night's rest, and focus on it.  It's a 1/3 of your life you are sleeping, so understand the importance of it.  Sleeping on 4 hours a night is not a badge of honor, it's actually ruining your success and your health.  Eat properly, again eat whole foods that don't clog your mind and body with substandard non-nutrient dense foods.  And lastly, work hard, but play hard too.  Not working is just as important for your "work" as actually working.  Playing hard doing physical activities you enjoy, means you'll have a better balance and above all much-needed stress relief many entrepreneurs end up having.

Adam: More broadly, what are your best tips for entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?

Doug: Stay positive.  As a leader, working in fear or negativity can drag you down and your team down.  Listen to people.  Sometimes entrepreneurs get caught up in their ideas and think they can solve everything.  The truth is, you're not always right and when you don't listen to people two things happen, you might not be hearing a really good idea that would work better and second, you're not empowering your team to show that you are open to hearing them out to solve various problems.  And lastly stay motivated to your objective, product or service.  We all can switch gears or get bored, but keeping motivated for the job at hand will ultimately create success.  Discover ways that keep you motivated for the long haul.  The longer a business is in business, time usually creates more success.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Doug: You are what you eat, you are what you think and you are who you surround yourself with.  Hang out with losers and ultimately you become a loser.  Eat garbage, you turn into garbage.  If you think negatively of yourself or others, you will become that person.  It's not to say don't be humble, but being positive and keeping your life, activities and the way you think positive in some cases creates failures or successes.