How Entrepreneurs Overcame Burnout, Rebuilt Globally, and Found Support in EO

Catherine Tyler is the Founder and CEO at Baer Reed Inc., a women‑owned business and legal process outsourcing firm that delivers secure, cost‑effective support to law firms, corporate legal departments, and regulated industries. A former litigation attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Cruncher and Winston & Strawn, she launched Baer Reed in 2010 after recognizing a need for high‑quality, scalable legal support. Under her leadership, the company has grown to serve Fortune 100 and Am Law 100 clients.

Uday Bhasin is the Managing Director at Tradeways, an emerging markets advisory firm specializing in financial and family office strategy in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. He previously held senior finance roles at Sharjah Holding and Dubai Group and spent 11 years at PwC. Uday also serves on the boards of multiple regional banks and insurers, including Diamond Trust Bank in Kenya and Tanzania.

Lael Sturm is the Founder of Ogmentor, a virtual assistant agency that connects executive, marketing, and sales assistants with growing businesses. He built Ogmentor as an extension of his marketing agency experience, helping place skilled assistants and providing strategic support to business leaders.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[1:58] Catherine Tyler talks about launching a legal outsourcing firm inspired by inefficiencies in international antitrust cases
[4:24] Finding community support during a period of entrepreneurial burnout
[16:43] Uday Bhasin’s transition from corporate finance to founding a cross-border advisory practice
[21:06] Navigating pandemic challenges in a relationship-driven consulting business
[22:46] How Lael Sturm pivoted from a traditional agency model to building a virtual staffing company
[25:27] Gaining leadership insights and deepening connections through EO board service

In this episode…

From legal outsourcing and cross-border financial advisory to virtual staffing and leadership development, the entrepreneurial journey is rarely linear. How can founders navigate burnout, pivot their models, and rebuild with intention?

After questioning the status quo of US legal practices, Catherine Tyler launched Baer Reed in the Philippines and joined EO to reshape her personal and professional future. Uday Bhasin reflects on launching Tradeways after a high-powered finance career, the challenge of starting from scratch, and the long game of earning trust across continents. For Lael Sturm, a pandemic-era pivot from agency work to virtual team support sparked rapid growth and deeper engagement in EO’s community. All three credit EO with sustaining their growth and helping them rediscover what matters most.

In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, recorded live at the Entrepreneur’s Organization Global Leadership Conference in Honolulu, you’ll hear how Catherine Tyler, Uday Bhasin, and Lael Sturm overcame burnout, embraced reinvention, and found purpose through EO. You’ll also learn how mindset, delegation, and peer support fuel long-term success.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

“Why are we doing all the legal work in the world’s most expensive jurisdiction?”
“You can’t just sit there and have someone tell you what to do all day.”
“When you don’t have a name card or a calling card, people don’t take your phone call.”
“Accelerator is more practical, was more valuable, and frankly gave me the tools and the confidence.”
“Trust people to do things their way. Trust people to ask questions and access resources.”

Action Steps:

Join a peer support community like EO: Connecting with fellow entrepreneurs provides emotional relief, shared wisdom, and actionable strategies.
Delegate responsibilities to trusted team members: Freeing up your time allows you to focus on growth and innovation and avoid burnout.
Reevaluate your business model during market shifts: Strategic pivots can uncover new revenue streams and create stronger alignment with evolving client needs.
Reflect on personal goals beyond business: Gaining clarity on life aspirations can inspire more meaningful entrepreneurial decisions and fulfillment.
Attend leadership conferences regularly: Immersive events foster learning, new relationships, and renewed motivation to improve both personally and professionally.

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Episode Transcript:

Intro: 00:02

Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now let’s get started with the show.

John Corcoran: 00:12

Hey everybody, this is John Corcoran with Dr. Jeremy Weisz, and this episode is a little bit different. This is a live interview that we recorded at the Global Leadership Conference from Entrepreneurs’ Organization, where some of the best entrepreneurs from around the globe share ideas and to learn about entrepreneurship. And of course, this episode is brought to you by Rise25, where we help B2B businesses to give to and to connect to their dream 100 relationships and partnerships, helping you to run a podcast so that it generates a referral pipeline and ROI.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 00:44

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John Corcoran: 01:11

Thanks everyone. Enjoy the interview.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 01:12

Enjoy.

John Corcoran: 01:27

Hey John Corcoran here. I’m at the Global Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Leadership Conference in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii. I’m from San Francisco chapter. I’m also the Co-founder of Rise25 B2B podcasting company. And I’m here with Catherine Tyler from Baer Reed.

She is our incoming president of the San Francisco chapter, which we’re really excited about. I’m going to be serving on her board. And Catherine, let’s start withBaer Reed. How did that get started? Where did that idea come from?

And I’d love to hear about kind of the early challenges of getting it off the ground?

Catherine Tyler: 01:58

Yeah, absolutely. So I was an antitrust lawyer at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher in San Francisco. And they would talk about what it takes to make partner. And I would just think that is not for me. So I started to think about what else you could do.

And these antitrust cases involve major like international cartels. And the documents would be in China. And we’d be translating them and sending them to Germany. And I kind of had this light bulb moment, like, if the documents are not in the US, half the conduct is not in the US. Half the clients are not in the US.

Why are we doing all the legal work in the world’s most expensive jurisdiction? And so that’s.

John Corcoran: 02:36

And city, San Francisco.

Catherine Tyler: 02:37

Exactly, exactly. Why are we doing it all here? And so that’s when I started to look at what other places had similar legal systems. And actually, the Philippines legal system was set up by the U.S. following World War two. So everything in the Philippines is basically identical.

So like the SEC is still the SEC, the National Bureau of Investigation. All the same systems. So? So that was what gave me the idea. And then I told the law firm I was quitting and moving to the Philippines, and they said, give us six months.

And then I off I went.

John Corcoran: 03:10

So you moved to the Philippines to start it? I haven’t even heard this story. So. So that sounds dramatic.

Catherine Tyler: 03:17

Okay, so the first place I actually moved was back in with my parents and naturally. And I said, because if I have to stay here in San Francisco, I have too much fun. So I’m going to move in with them. And when I’ve raised the money that I need to seed money and put together my business plan, then I can move out and go to the Philippines to get this started. So it took me six weeks to raise all the money that I needed.

John Corcoran: 03:38

You were motivated.

Catherine Tyler: 03:39

I was motivated. And then I moved to Manila. And I think one of the biggest challenges we had is that the system there is very complicated. I would have done things very differently now. But I didn’t really know any better and I didn’t have many contacts or mentors, so.

So it took us about a year to open our doors. And we’ve now been in business since. That was 2011 actually April 4th yesterday, I guess.

John Corcoran: 04:07

So there must have been some people that thought you were crazy. You were leaving this high paid job at this, you know, impressive, reputable law firm. You move in with your parents and then move halfway around the world. There must have been a lot of people doubting you, asking, what the heck are you doing?

Catherine Tyler: 04:24

Yeah. I mean, I think it takes a lot to get to where I was before I decided to take entrepreneurship on. But, you know, the thing about being an entrepreneur, and you know, this too, is that if that fire is in you, there is like, no way to put it out. You can’t just sit there and have someone tell you what to do all day. When you have your own ideas and places you want to go.

So, so I just I always say, you know, leap before you look and build the, you know, build it on the way down. Build the parachute.

John Corcoran: 04:57

And I know that the time that you joined EO was a time when you were kind of burning the candle at both ends, working extremely hard. Talk a little bit about that.

Catherine Tyler: 05:07

Yeah. So I joined EO during the pandemic. It was actually someone reached out to me on LinkedIn in the summer of 2020. The restaurants had just opened again in San Francisco, and they had an expert witness company, and they’re like, I bet we could do some work together. So we’re like, great, we’ll go out to lunch.

And we got there and realized sort of right away that the fee sharing rules around attorneys meant that we probably weren’t going to actually be able to work together. And so he said to me, he said, but, you know, he said, you know, we’re here. Let’s enjoy this lunch. And he goes, Catherine, you’re an entrepreneur. It’s it’s been such a rough year.

How are you doing? And I just burst into tears with this complete stranger from LinkedIn. And I’m crying at lunch and I’m like, it has been so hard and I am all by myself. Off and he just said, we got to get you in EO. Wow.

Yeah. Wow. And that’s he set that up for me. And then I was actually got invited to an online test drive at that time. Because we were all still quarantining in that fall and and that joined the end of that year.

John Corcoran: 06:08

And I imagine when you came to that, you were probably thinking, as many do, how can I manage this? How can I do this? How can I afford it? Do I have the time for it? So talk a little bit about overcoming those hurdles.

Catherine Tyler: 06:20

Well, certainly. I mean, at the beginning when you’re when you’re looking at the, the. I think when at the beginning when you’re looking at the cost and the time involved, it seems like a lot because you have not yet had a true appreciation of all the value you’re going to get out of it. Now, I can’t believe how little we pay to be a part of this organization, because it is the most transformative thing I have ever done in my life. Personally.

professionally like this. It’s just the most transformative place and people.

John Corcoran: 06:56

And let’s talk about some of that transformation, because you have a big personal transformation, which is on the horizon right now. But also first, on the business side, you know, you went from working your butt off basically to I brag. I tell people, my friend Catherine, who I lose track of how many places she’s traveled to because you are all over the globe having these amazing adventures that I’m jealous of.

Catherine Tyler: 07:18

Yeah, and actually, I don’t know if you know this, but I’m going to Argentina on Friday.

John Corcoran: 07:22

Yeah, see, there’s another one, another one right there.

Catherine Tyler: 07:23

And then on to Patagonia. And then I’m going from Patagonia to Greece for the Regional Leadership Academy for you.

John Corcoran: 07:32

Well, the Catherine in 2019 was not doing any of that. So how did you get over the hurdle to get to the point where you have a business that allowed you to do that?

Catherine Tyler: 07:40

Yeah, I was in 2019, in like when I joined, I was still at the place where I would be awake at 11:00 at night doing stuff for the company myself. And I still felt really siloed. And most importantly, I felt really burnt out. And I have this notebook I use for you. And the very first page says it’s okay to just quit.

And that was not about EO. That was like my mantra to myself, like, you can walk away if you have to from your company. And I had this dream that my dream was, I’m going to quit my company and I’m going to go work at Starbucks in Elko, Nevada. That was the closest place, I thought, to where the Bay area where you could afford an apartment on your Starbucks salary. Okay, so that’s the level of burnout we were at.

And when I joined my forum, we were talking about this. And on one of our first meetings, my first meeting with them, and someone was like, would you be willing to do a deep dive on this at our upcoming retreat? And I said, I would love to. Like, I’m just I’m I’m so burned out. And so Pascal Zuda was my coach.

I still remember our first call. And so he coached me through talking to my forum about the problem. And then they all experience shared like the places. I mean, it just makes me emotional even thinking about it, because at that moment I was so burned out and I thought I was the only entrepreneur who ever felt like that. And these were ten amazing individuals who have really impressive careers and companies who are telling me that they all felt that same way, too.

And then they shared with me the things that they did and the mantras that they have to get themselves out of that place. And one of the strategies, we kind of call it the chocolate cake plan. And it’s about how to delegate more in your business and how to get to the mindset of delegating more in your business. And I’ve been able to now use that. So I would say on my, my actual business that I joined with, I spend maybe an hour or two a day tops.

[Continue to Page 2]

John Corcoran: 09:38

And you have a separate firm also.

Catherine Tyler: 09:41

Yeah. So that allowed me to. Then I set up a new law firm that works on global anti-human trafficking cases.

John Corcoran: 09:48

Something you’re passionate.

Catherine Tyler: 09:49

About? Yeah, something that has allowed me the space to actually turn my career back into something I really care about doing.

John Corcoran: 09:56

So yeah.

Catherine Tyler: 09:57

It’s pretty amazing.

John Corcoran: 09:58

And then you have you joined the board. So talk a little bit about you know, that’s an additional contribution. Right. It takes time to be on the board and what you’ve gotten out of being on the board and now stepping into the presidency.

Catherine Tyler: 10:09

One of the things that Rob Castaneda, one of our former presidents, always says, that really resonated with me in joining the board and getting more involved in the organization is that when you’re in those moments of feeling overwhelmed, you actually have to do more, not less. It’s like, you know, when you’re a tail fishtailing, you got to hit.

John Corcoran: 10:29

The.

Catherine Tyler: 10:29

You.

John Corcoran: 10:29

Got.

Catherine Tyler: 10:29

To.

John Corcoran: 10:30

Turn into.

Catherine Tyler: 10:30

Gas, not the brake.

John Corcoran: 10:31

Yeah, yeah.

Catherine Tyler: 10:32

And and that was really true for me. So I just there was a need for someone to do events. And I really stepped into that role. And having that responsibility really then gave me the opportunity to meet so many people, not just in our chapter but across the organization, and has really just continued to increase the value I get from my membership.

John Corcoran: 10:53

Yeah. And you have a personal transformation that you decided on in part from EO. So talk about that.

Catherine Tyler: 10:59

It’s not even in part, John. It’s 100%. So you know, in you know, we talk about getting to your 5% and being really authentic and focusing on like the nugget of things that really matters. And so I was driving I was actually coming home back to Seattle through the mountains. It was so beautiful.

The sun was setting. It was like November. And I was thinking to myself, like, I’m just in my personal life, I’m really unhappy. And I so I was like, oh, you know, maybe it’s that you don’t have the right relationship. Maybe it’s that, you know, and I was like, keep pushing.

Like get at tier 5%. And that was when I realized that I really wanted to start a family. And then I was like, okay, if I’m going to use kind of EO mindset here, that doesn’t necessarily Really? Like what? What is the true world of possibility?

If I was setting up the perfect system to work for me. And what I came to is that I really wanted to find a co-parent who would be an amazing parent with me and who I had a great relationship with, but who I wasn’t necessarily romantically involved with. And then I went to Thanksgiving that year, which I always we host a party in London, and I was telling them about this transformation. And my.

John Corcoran: 12:10

A friend of yours place in London.

Catherine Tyler: 12:12

A friend of mine’s place in London, and I was telling them about this transformational thinking. And my lifelong friend Martin, who’s a gay man, lives in London. He’s fabulous. Was like, how come you’ve never like, would you consider me? And so the two of us started a journey, a very intentional journey of co-parenting.

And we just we just matched with our surrogate. And amazingly, the owner of our surrogate agency has also now joined EO.

John Corcoran: 12:42

Which we’re excited about. So comes completely full circle. Yeah.

Catherine Tyler: 12:46

Well, you know, it’s just the people who are in the organization talk about it a lot, myself included, because it’s such a huge part of what is making us happy and involved and out in the world. And so I think then you just like I, I cannot shut up about how much I love it.

John Corcoran: 13:02

So there’s so many people that go through life not discovering or being honest about what would really make them happy. And you got to that. You got to that. You realized what that was. And not only that, you didn’t, like sit on it, you did something about it.

And you’re on that journey because of you.

Catherine Tyler: 13:23

Yeah. And the crazy part is that we’re in an organization where everyone’s doing such amazing, transformational, innovative things that it doesn’t even feel. It doesn’t even feel crazy. No, it doesn’t feel crazy at all.

John Corcoran: 13:37

Everyone else is doing it.

Catherine Tyler: 13:38

Everyone else is doing it, too. And And it’s been, you know, one of my biggest support systems through this whole journey has been my forum. So they’re the people who, when I’m having doubts or when I have ideas, I need to get off my like things that I’m worried about. They’re one of the first places I go.

John Corcoran: 13:57

And so here we are in beautiful Paradise, Hawaii. We came here for the Global Leadership Conference, where there are 2000 entrepreneurs from all over the globe. And we’re learning and we’re having once in a lifetime experiences and fabulous meals and and seeing great things. So talk a little bit about what you have gotten out of being here for the last couple of days.

Catherine Tyler: 14:18

So I think the most amazing thing to me about EO, like one of the most impressive things, is that the culture is extremely consistent across the organization. So when you come here to Hawaii, you take the, you know, 120 people in our chapter and now you get to hang out with 16,000 people like them. And you can sit down at any meal, go out to any party, go to any learning event, and you just like meet all these crazy, cool people. Like, for example, I sat next yesterday in my president’s training. I sat next to Kostas, who’s the incoming president for Greece, and he’s just such an amazing person, and I’m going to get to see him when I go to the regional leadership Academy in Greece later this month.

And it’s just like, in what other organization would you be able to sit down, talk to someone for half a day and be like, we’re great friends now, right?

John Corcoran: 15:14

And then you come to the next year and you run into these people again, and you’ve got this network of people all over the globe that you can, you can tap if you need, if you need them. Yeah.

Catherine Tyler: 15:23

So last night I was at. So every year Canada House puts on an incredible party. And last night I was hanging out at that party with a bunch of the people from Eola. And I know them because they invited some of the other West Coast people to come on a trip that they were doing before last year’s GLC. So I actually went with them last year before GLC to Nepal, where the Nepal chapter like, welcomed us and helped us set up an amazing experience and really made us feel like part of their chapter.

And then we all went to Annapurna together. And so I got to see all those amazing people here last night.

John Corcoran: 15:58

Wow. So cool. Kathryn, thanks for sharing your story. Where can people go to learn more about you and bear read?

Catherine Tyler: 16:05

Probably our website baerreed.com. I understand you’re supposed to use LinkedIn and stuff, but I’m not on it very much.

John Corcoran: 16:12

baerreed.com it is. Okay. Thank you. Catherine. Hey.

John Corcoran: 16:43

John Corcoran here coming to you live from the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global leadership Conference in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii. I’m a member of EO San Francisco, and I’m also the Co-founder of Rise25, which is B2B podcasting and content marketing. And I’m here with Uday, who’s from the Dubai chapter, and Uday, we were just talking about your entrepreneurial journey, starting your company. You were an employee and then you started your company. Trade ways is the name of it.

Tell me the origin story behind how you got started.

Uday Bhasin: 16:43

Yeah, thanks. Look, it was a pretty interesting journey because I’m a career guy. I’m a chartered accountant by training. So when I started my journey, you know, I was destined to. To die in my accounting firm.

Yeah. But as luck would have it, I moved to Dubai about 20 years ago, which in itself was going through a big transformation and at my age try to do. We did a whole bunch of things and I joined. I was very lucky to join a sovereign wealth fund very early in my career, and we invested a shedload of capital in Africa, Middle East and Asia. But as would happen, as luck would have it, the financial services crisis happened in 2008 and the whole world fell apart, which was great for me because I had to restructure a whole bunch of debt and 230 companies in our portfolio, which we had to then reshape.

So I did that successfully, etc. but after two years I thought I was equipped with enough skill to then say, well, I’m going to try and do this on my own. And I’m originally from Kenya, so there was an itch to do more and more back in Africa.

John Corcoran: 17:49

Is that, oh, to go back to Kenya.

Uday Bhasin: 17:51

To do more business in Africa and and stuff. So we support. So I set up a practice and I thought I could mimic my alma mater, which is PricewaterhouseCoopers. And I set up.

John Corcoran: 18:03

A lot larger company.

Uday Bhasin: 18:04

A lot larger company. So I thought I’d bring it back in and but I think it was missing. As with larger companies, there’s no criticism of them. But I think it’s, you know, when you’re a founder of business and a leader of a family, you want more personal attention. And I think that was the ethos with which I started.

And we had built a lot of connections just by virtue of being in a sovereign wealth fund from Asia and Middle East and Africa. And I thought I’d be able to bridge some capital flows between these geographies.

John Corcoran: 18:34

I’m getting the sense that it was a little harder than you expected.

Uday Bhasin: 18:36

Well, that was the thesis. And on paper, it sounded like a slam dunk and I thought I was in. But to be honest, I mean, I had early wins, which were great. And we did at that time we advised the largest deal in Kenya, etc. so it got me the mileage. But after that, it’s like falling off a cliff because you’ve essentially got to just start hustling and get on the road and you don’t have this big infrastructure around you, which I had either the sovereign wealth fund or PricewaterhouseCoopers and building those relationships again.

And when you don’t have a name card or a calling card, people don’t take your phone call. So it’s just starting. That journey was was very, very.

John Corcoran: 19:15

It was a lot slower than you expected.

Uday Bhasin: 19:17

A lot slower, a lot painful. And I’ve got a lovely family of three kids. And when you wake up in the morning, you’ve got to figure out how you’re going to pay the school fees at the, at the end of the term. Right.

John Corcoran: 19:27

And were you able to pursue over time that passion for doing more work back in Africa?

Uday Bhasin: 19:32

So absolutely. So I’m super grateful because ten years on now, we celebrated ten years last year. We we’ve been able to establish ourselves as the go to people for family advisory, corporate finance, you know, people who are family run businesses, at least in East Africa. And it’s now people calling me. So the tables have turned, but it’s not without a lot of hard work.

John Corcoran: 19:57

Yeah, yeah. We’re here at Global Leadership Conference. Have you been to other Glcs and why do you come? What motivates you to come here?

Uday Bhasin: 20:05

So this is my second one I was at I was in Singapore last year, which I thought was actually I was a skeptic before I, before I attended to be, to be very honest. What does it mean? What are just a bunch of people meeting? It’s just another convention. But actually when you get here and you start talking to people, a lot of those struggles and stories that I, that I had actually a lot of people have.

John Corcoran: 20:27

Lots of other people have the same similar story.

Uday Bhasin: 20:29

Similar stories, similar pain. And I think when you start talking to people, you realize, well, actually, oh, actually, you’re not alone. And I think this gives you that. And, you know, I came from a, you know, PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the largest financial services globally, globally. And you’re not alone there.

Right. You’ve got a bunch of peers anywhere in the world. And when you’re alone and you’re setting up on your entrepreneurial journey, I genuinely alone. But what this gives you, GLC gives you is the idea to just meet people who are in that new field. You’re part of one big, one big firm, essentially with different stories.

Yeah.

John Corcoran: 21:06

And what about have you had other challenges with the company, with building it over the years? There’s Covid and things like that.

Uday Bhasin: 21:12

So. So my business is is a people’s business right. So we advise people. And if you can’t meet people and you can’t talk to people, and people are struggling in their own businesses, I mean, it becomes difficult, right? So for two years you’ve got to figure out, oh, what am I doing?

Am I in the right? But as luck would have it, and it’s not luck. I suppose it’s it’s it’s how if you persevere enough they themselves these businesses have challenges out of Covid and what they needed was help. So we were able to provide that. So I think Covid was tough.

But on the back of Covid has actually turned out to be okay for people like us. So it’s perseverance I think is important.

John Corcoran: 21:52

Well, this has been great. Where can people go to learn more about you and your company?

Uday Bhasin: 21:55

So we’re based in Dubai. We work in Africa. You can go to tradewaysme.com, which is my website. Visit me on LinkedIn.

My name is Uday Bhasin and I’m always one phone call away.

John Corcoran: 22:07

Perfect. Thanks so much John Corcoran here from the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Leadership Conference in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii, 2025. I am a member of the San Francisco chapter. I’m here with another member of the San Francisco chapter, the Co-founder of Rise25, which helps B2B businesses to get clients and referrals and strategic partnerships with done-for-you podcast and content marketing. And we’re going to be talking about Ogmentor, which I know the whole story behind, but you share the story with all the listeners, all the viewers.

So you have been in San Francisco and in the Accelerator program first and had a marketing firm for a lot of years, which went through a transition. So tell us that story.

Lael Sturm: 22:46

Yeah. So I started with a marketing agency, which I ran for years, and it was moderately successful. It was successful enough to pay my bills and and give me a comfortable lifestyle, but it was a bit of a grind. I learned about accelerator. I took the marketing agency into accelerator, had some great growth, learned some great lessons.

But what happened was the pandemic and things slowed down with my marketing agency. The fees kind of dried up. Everybody dialed back their ad spends, and I had a team of people who were really qualified, you know, marketing and sales support, people that were on my team. And I started lending those people out to my clients just as a strategy to keep them loyal, to keep them engaged. I said, hey, let’s provide some service for them so that when they open up their ad spend again, they’ll come back to us.

Eventually, some of them said, wow, this is great marketing and sales support from overseas. Can you help us get this sorted out on a full time basis? At that point, I needed fees. So it was like anything, you know, anything that I can charge you for, I’m going to charge you for.

John Corcoran: 23:48

It was the pandemic. People were doing whatever they had to do.

Lael Sturm: 23:50

That’s right, that’s right. So so all of a sudden, this new sort of opportunity presented itself. That business grew really nicely. And an accelerator coach said to me, hey, look, you’re going to have to choose. These are different businesses.

You’re either going to fail at both of them or you can pick one to be successful at. I picked the virtual marketing and sales support angle and, and grew that into a separate business that’s now called Ogmentor and eventually wound down the marketing agency. And very quickly, the virtual sales and marketing support business grew to be EO qualified, and I was able to jump over the line.

John Corcoran: 24:28

I remember how exciting that was when I heard that that was going to be the case. You and I are very passionate about the accelerator program, both having been through it, both having graduated from it. Can you speak a little bit more about the impact that that program has had on you?

Lael Sturm: 24:42

Yeah, so so I’ve heard you say it’s like the MBA I never got, but I got it.

John Corcoran: 24:48

You actually have an MBA, right?

Lael Sturm: 24:49

So I got an MBA. So I’ve got a point of comparison. And I can tell you accelerator is more practical, was more valuable and frankly, gave me the tools and the confidence and the community that I needed to grow my business. I learned a lot in business school. I had a great time, but if I had to choose, I might choose accelerator or to, you know, to recommend to entrepreneurs who are who are frustrated, who who don’t have all of the skills that they need to actually grow their business.

John Corcoran: 25:17

And you like, I came directly into EO and got involved, and now you’re on the board. Talk a little bit about what that’s been like getting involved in the community.

Lael Sturm: 25:27

Yeah, it’s been great. I think I think it’s it’s really so much more than accelerator. Accelerator is tremendously valuable, very, very practical. But but the greater EO is really more holistic. So so it’s there for personal growth.

It’s there for emotional growth. It’s there for challenges that come up in life that are professional and personal. It’s also a lot of fun. I mean, it’s it’s great people. It’s people who get it, who you can connect with, who you can be honest and open with.

It’s a trusting environment. And and frankly, you get to do amazing things like go to Hawaii and hang out with 2000 entrepreneurs for a week.

John Corcoran: 26:07

And that would be my next question is, so what? What have you been your takeaways from the last couple of days hanging out here with 2000 entrepreneurs in beautiful Hawaii?

Lael Sturm: 26:16

It’s been learning. I mean, learning a lot, sort of drinking from a fire hose, if you will. Some of my takeaways are kind of board composition and management, both at the accelerator level and at the at the regular EO level, which is empower smart people, trust them to do great things. Set expectations, have high goals. And and actually your board should be able to deliver the results regardless of you as a leader taking things on.

I think as entrepreneurs, a lot of us have control issues. We want to do everything well. You’re in a community of entrepreneurs. Trust people to do things their way. Trust people to to ask questions and access resources.

And this is some of my learning from GLC.

John Corcoran: 27:06

Any final thoughts for potential members who are thinking about looking at EO San Francisco or EO San Francisco Accelerator Program, for that matter, what considerations they should take into account?

Lael Sturm: 27:18

Yeah, I think I think if there’s one thing and this probably applies to both EO and EO. Accelerator is beginner’s mind. Sort of assume that maybe you don’t have all the answers. And as a starting point, that’s a really, really great way to access the knowledge that’s available in the other members, that’s available through the coaching or the mentoring programs. If you come in thinking you’ve got it all figured out, that’s really not a recipe for success.

John Corcoran: 27:50

And I also want to ask you about how what do you what have you taken from getting involved in the board and brought back to your company or to to your personal life? How has that benefited you?

Lael Sturm: 28:02

Yeah. So so the board has been tremendous. I mean, initially it was an ask, you know, give something like contribute more, but I’ve actually gotten so much from participating in it. One, it’s given me a front row seat to see how other leaders operate, how they handle their their roles and their challenges to. It’s deepened some of those relationships with people who I knew pretty casually and we had friendly relationships.

Now it’s kind of cemented that. And then and then three, I’m really learning a lot, not just in the context of the board, but actually getting to know these people, how they how they conduct their lives, how they conduct their businesses, how they how some of them have exited. So really, really interesting stories. And I, and I get to actually take all of that in. It’s been really valuable.

John Corcoran: 28:52

Well, this has been great. Where can people go to learn more about you and Ogmentor?

Lael Sturm: 28:56

Yeah. So ogmentor.com, that’s the place to find it all. There’s links to social there, or you can find us on all the major socials.

John Corcoran: 29:06

Great. Thank you so much.

Outro: 29:08

Thanks for listening to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast. This episode is powered by Rise25.