Hiscox Courageous Entrepreneur Interview Series
This is part five of the ten part series. Follow the Hiscox Courageous Entrepreneur interview series on Under30CEO.com.
Interview Series Sponsored by Hiscox Small Business Insurance. Hiscox specializes in protecting IT/technology, marketing, consulting, health and beauty, photography and many other professional services businesses, tailoring coverage to the specific risks in your industry.
The Hiscox Courageous Founder Interview Series focuses on young entrepreneurs who have taken risks and dedicated their lives to becoming successful entrepreneurs, making a difference in their own lives and the lives of those they serve. Ryan Ballow is not only a courageous entrepreneur who risked his financial wellbeing when starting his business, he is a US Army veteran who selflessly served his country as a 19 Delta Calvary Scout and served in Iraq.
A year after leaving the army at the age of 24, Ryan started a service-based business fixing personal computers. Betting his future on the business was a risk Ryan felt he absolutely had to make.
Q: What was the biggest risk you took when starting and building iMobileRescue?
A: “The biggest risk for me very specifically was losing my apartment and defaulting on my car loan – both of which happened at the time I started iMobileRescue…What was more risky for me at the time was not doing it.”
While losing your place of residence and defaulting on a car loan is most people’s worst nightmare, Ryan considered not pursuing his dreams a bigger risk, and he was willing to do whatever it took to get there.
Ryan’s computer repair business changed directions after he was asked by customers if he was able to fix Apple devices. Instead of just directing those customers somewhere else and continuing to focus on computers, Ryan dove head first into this new niche. “I bought a bunch of broken devices to learn how they worked and watched a bunch of tutorials.” Ryan was soon able to fix nearly any iPad or iPhone, and iMobileRescue was officially born.
Giving up wasn’t even a thought during the tough times of Ryan’s early days as an entrepreneur. “If you have the idea in your mind that you could ever quit, I don’t think that’s going to prepare you to make it through the hardest times.” Ryan has made it through rough times early in his life and has a vision for making a larger impact on the world.
Brain Power
Ryan explained that iMobileRescue is part of a greater goal — Salience9. Salience9 is a business productivity technology company that focuses on human performance utilizing brainwaves and the way we think and use our brain. His immediate focus is an application called definition, which will help the user define action items to help increase productivity. Over the next 10-20 years, Ryan will work on additional ways to optimize the activity of brainwaves using neurological enhancement technology.
Asked how to utilize the most of your brain in order to maximize productivity, Ryan recommended to sleep for 7-9 hours, cardio during your “sweet spot of the day,” and meditation.
Q: What’s your best overall piece of advice for young entrepreneurs?
A: Understand that you’re a better entrepreneur if you can make your brain function better, sleep better, eat better, exercise, and take care of yourself. Have a degree of optimism that can’t always be substantiated. You have to have a degree of optimism about the future and your ability to create it that doesn’t require proof that you can do it. Be irrationally optimistic — it’s critically important.
Don’t let fear get in the way of your dreams! Listen to the full interview with Ryan Ballow below!
Interview Highlights
– “Serial entrepreneurship is like the mask/explanation that a person who just wants to invent things has to use these days.”
– “Having a high tolerance for fear is beneficial”
– “Having a good drive behind what you’re doing allows you to push through a lot of the fear.”
– “We have anywhere from 15 to 40 customer devices every day; it’s 100% necessary to have insurance.”
Listen to the full interview here:
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