My good old man Mark Wicken had said this to me a couple of times: if you can manage $100 effectively, then you can manage $100K and so on.

Being a hotheaded entrepreneur in my early years, I overestimated my capabilities for achievement and underestimated the value of this lesson in managing resources.

Mark would also say, “If you spend one dollar on something, you need to make two to replace it!”. This is a small hint at one of the biggest pieces of financial advice: understanding the value of the time required to earn back spent money.

As entrepreneurs, we get stuck on our ideas for developing a product or service but often miss the main driver of all businesses: sales. Mark would say, “As a business owner, you are the only person who can best sell your services, and you need to own that.” I’ve often gone around looking to delegate sales, which is inevitable during the growth stages of a company. However, removing myself from the sales cycle has been one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made.

As an entrepreneur, hiring and managing resources is probably the top priority after sales. Managing a team and ensuring the success of their projects, alongside marketing and sales, are all highly specialized areas requiring full delegation and skilled orchestration to run a successful operation. In my experience, the biggest factor in success is balancing costs before hiring a new person. There are countless activities required to keep a business running, whether it’s a small or large operation, to maintain balance.

Mark would often say, “As your own recruiting department, you need to always have a list of prime candidates you’ve interviewed and are ready to join you.” Business comes with surprises. When a new opportunity arises, that preparation becomes an asset, saving costs, reducing mistakes, and ultimately leading to success. On the contrary, rushing to hire during project spikes leads to risks: not finding the best fit, not giving new hires enough time to onboard, and not having the capacity to train them.

Mark was a recruiter—some called him a headhunter! He had mastered the art of the job search from both employer and employee perspectives, and he made it his mission to coach the next generation. That legacy lives on.

This was a refresher of the wisdom he left me, which stays with me every day. He’s greatly missed since November 2024.

Mark’s book, REMEMBER ME!, is available on Amazon and is a great resource for anyone looking to learn the basics and tactics of the job search. I’m still reading it, and much of it never gets outdated!