"I wish that someone would have told me how hard and how long it would take to scale a company and reach profitability at the level required to both pay my own salary and hire the right people."
Mitch Russo is an accomplished entrepreneur who began his career in the software industry in 1985 as the founder of Timeslips Corp, which he sold to Sage Plc. Following the sale, he went on to serve as COO of Sage Plc’s US operations, where he oversaw a team of over 300 employees.
At the age of 42, Russo became independently wealthy and turned his focus to giving back to other entrepreneurs. He became involved in the venture capital community, first as an advisor to startups and later as CEO of the largest furniture shopping site in 2000, FurnitureFan.com.
Russo has also served as a CEO Advisor to several companies, where he solved diverse business problems in sales organizations, marketing, technology, systems, and HR. He later became interested in options trading and mentored with a floor trader at The Chicago Board of Options Exchange.
In 2013, Russo authored the Amazon #1 Best Seller, “The Invisible Organization,” which outlines a step-by-step blueprint for transforming a traditional physical infrastructure into a virtual powerhouse of a company and turning that organization into a marketing superpower.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Mitch Russo: Started a software company in 1995 with just $5k sold it 9 years later for 8 figures. Then built a company with Tony Robbins and Chet Holmes, grew that to over $25M.
Then wrote 2 best selling books, started a podcast called Your First Thousand Clients. My latest book: Coach Elevation, helps coaches create elevated coaching experiences.
I also build Certification Programs and consults with business leaders to accelerate sales rapidly. In 2019 I started ClientFol.io, a SaaS platform for coaches to manage their business.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffet, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Mitch Russo: You know how companies struggle to grow revenue and profits, even while expenses keep rising?
What we do is find recurring revenue opportunities that no one else sees, create strategies to accelerate sales and return growth to almost any type of company!
What advice do you wish you received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Mitch Russo: I wish that someone would have told me how hard and how long it would take to scale a company and reach profitability at the level required to both pay my own salary and hire the right people.
My mistake was hiring smart young inexperienced people who I could teach and motivate but eventually held me back because they were not experienced. Once I realized that, I fired my whole management team and hired top talent who took us to &10m and above.
Next quarter, after patiently spending the last year dialing on my marketing, we are going to step on the gas and really drive subscriber growth for CliwntFol.io
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Mitch Russo: I am building a very scalable company around my SaaS platform ClientFol.io which will both enable coaches to save session time and elevate the quality of their sessions with goal tracking and accountability.
Christopher Hitchens, an American journalist, is quoted as saying that “everyone has a book in them” Have you written a book? If so, please share with us details about it. If you haven’t, what book would you like to write and how would you like it to benefit the readers?
Mitch Russo: I’ve written 3 books:
- The Invisible Organization
- Power Tribes
- Coach Elevation
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Mitch Russo: Culture. It’s the killer app. Peter Drucker said “culture eats strategy for breakfast”
I will tell the story about how i almost bankrupted my company by ignoring it.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Mitch Russo: I would love to be a social media expert. It’s something that I feel like I have not yet figured it out.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Mitch Russo for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Mitch Russo or his company, you can do it through his – Instagram
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