Consulting Creatively

⏰ Today in 5 minutes or less:

• Entrepreneurship is a creative act. And consultants are part of that process.

• Failures help refine your niche and steer a clear path forward.

• Don’t limit yourself to what you think you can accomplish.

Trusting Your Own Value With Ben Manwaring

What do nut milk, corporate porridge, and startups have in common? 

Seems like a random list, right? 

But for my good friend Ben Manwaring, investor, advisor, and former Chief Revenue Officer, they’re all part of a career story that bridges consulting, entrepreneurship, and lessons learned the hard way. 

In this interview, Ben reflects on the twists and turns of his career, offering insights on trusting your value and carving out opportunities where your unique background shines – all the way from America to Amsterdam. 

Read the bits and pieces below, but here’s the full story. 

Your career has been flexible, spanning different roles and startups. If we do the hundred pennies exercise, how many pennies would you put in the "entrepreneurship" pocket? 

Ben: It's definitely varied over time, but the number that flashed in my mind was 40 plus. 

I absolutely value stability and experience. The collective experience that comes from a big established organization is that you gain a lot of institutional knowledge and tap into a ton of resources.

But it's so much more enjoyable and energizing for me to be in an environment of creating something.  

I think entrepreneurship and starting new enterprises or helping new companies grow is interesting. You weave together the business aspect with some creativity. It's generative and it satisfies the part of me that wants to have a successful career, but also wants to create something. 

You get to see it more pronounced; unlike in big business environments where you're still helping create something, but the influence is a bit diluted.

In a startup or working with an entrepreneur or a founder, you see the progress: this business did not exist before or did not have customers before but now, it exists, serves customers, and is on a growth path. 

The contrast is very stark in a way that you don't always get to see in a large corporation. 

Your point about entrepreneurship being a creative act is spot on. It makes me think back to our one-day nut milk business. How did experiments and missteps like those help shape your focus? 

Ben: Failures are always valuable. When I tell the story of my consulting work, I talk about how I consulted for everything – from the largest tech companies in the world to sole proprietor founders.

And this was one of them: I invested in and consulted a single founder business in the artisanal nut milk space. 

I've always been passionate about specialty coffee and cafes. I met a barista through one of the cafes that I went to a lot. They were starting an almond milk business, so I invested a little bit in their business and helped get it started. But they had to close the business because of life circumstances. I was disappointed, but I could kind of roll with that. 

These kinds of opportunities emerge and then some of them fall away, but it doesn't bother me that much. I'm able to roll with the organic ambiguity of it all because I find it energizing. 

Not that I want the businesses to not succeed – that definitely would’ve been preferred. But it's exciting and fun for me to be part of that entire process. 

Let’s get practical. You moved to Amsterdam less than a year ago and are now plugged into its startup scene, with efforts in Berlin too. What steps have you taken to get involved and build meaningful conversations? 

Ben: That’s a good question. First, I used just some of my basic sales tools. Having just left the CRO role, I was doing a lot of hands-on selling because of the stage that we were in and the level of buyers we were trying to reach. I was pretty adept at things like sales navigator, which I kept a license for. 

I also figured out who I wanted to talk to, which were primarily principals, managing partners, venture capital firms, and private equity firms. I created some lists of who those people were because I thought they would be door openers for me into this investment and tech community.

And so, I was just very deliberate about that. I was going cold actually, instead of looking for people I had a connection to. 

This might be helpful for others who are thinking about living overseas – I think sometimes in the U.S., the vast business community there can make you feel like a small fish in a really big pond. 

I've found coming to Europe, my background isn’t something that a lot of people have. As I was reaching out, there was a great willingness to connect because it was quite interesting to people. 

Each door led to another, so now I'm mentoring a handful of startups through an accelerator here called Startupbootcamp. And then through that, I've met a lot of other people in the investment community and started attending pitch competitions.  

Like anywhere, it's just been kind of taking those first steps and getting connected to people: seeing who I vibe with and wanting to spend time with people that I feel authentically connected to and share some of my values. 

It's been interesting because it's different moving as a middle-aged adult where I don't have like a school program to plug into or an office that I'm going into every day. But I think I've been really happy with how this building a new network has gone so far. 

Let’s say you’re advising Ben and Lauren from 10 years ago. What are you telling them? 

Ben: You know, I've actually thought a lot about this. It could sound very cliche, but I actually feel really passionate about this: 

“Both of you are so talented and so incredibly smart. The only thing keeping you from what it is that you want to do is your own limiting beliefs about what you can accomplish.” 

When I look back, there were so many times that I thought about taking another jump in my career. I was talking to people about a job at Tom's Shoes when they were on the up, but I had so much insecurity about why I wasn't a good fit. 

Granted, I've had a lot more experience now in my career, so there’s a lot more to draw from. But even in our early 30s, we already had a great treasure trove of experiences. I talked down to myself so much that I really kind of diminished my own experience. 

And I wish I could reach back and tell myself that what I bring to the table is already so valuable and find the ways to believe in that – bring that out and celebrate it because other people will see it. 

We really limit ourselves in terms of what we think we can accomplish. That's what I would love to tell us sitting in the basement of Round Rock One eating poor cafeteria food. 

Lauren: I want to build on what you said there. I had this thought when I was at BCG. I was flying to Manhattan to Dallas every week and it was horrible. I was eating a sundae and drinking wine in first class when I thought “If I work this hard for someone else that I don't even care about, how could I not be successful on my own?” 

Play that forward five years later to Corporate Porridge Ben and Lauren – we were trapeze artists, and we just didn't see the net. If we would’ve just known to let go, we’d both eventually feel be like, “Yup, there’s a net there.” 

And things have worked out in interesting ways for us. If you got that far in your career, there's no way that you won’t figure out whatever it is that you're supposed to figure out. 

What We Can Learn From Ben Manwaring: 

1. Entrepreneurship is an artform. Creating a company is like creating an art, regardless if you’re a hands-on founder or advisor. When you work with a start up, you become part of that creative process. 
   

2. Failures lead to clarity. New opportunities, even those that don’t succeed, help refine your niche and steer a clear path forward. It took Ben a day in the nut milk business to realize that he’d rather support the person who makes the milk instead of doing the work himself. 
   

3. Deliberate networking works. Even if he had the advantage of a unique background, Ben still had a proactive approach to networking in Amsterdam. Take the time to get to know people and feel connected enough to share the same values.

Chart Crimes!

This monster of a pie chart gave me stress, anxiety, and depression. 

If only we could also invoice that 247.8% rate. 

Remember, the path to success is paved with continuous learning and embracing fresh perspectives.

Let's stay connected, share ideas, and elevate your consulting business.

Stay curious, friends.

The 2×2 is brought to you by Keenan Reid Strategies

Having trouble viewing this email? Check out this and past issues on our website.

Was this newsletter forwarded? Someone is looking out for you. You should definitely subscribe!