We recently connected with Craig Cooke and have shared our conversation below.

Craig, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I have actually created a success model titled “Five Elements Of Success.” It’s in the first chapter of my book Business Kung Fu. The model is borrowed from ancient Chinese Five Element theory and I adapted it for a modern success framework. I based this on my personal entrepreneurial journey with my moments of success and failure as well as my observation of other peers and their success and failures.

The five elements I have defined for success are Passion, Discipline, Expertise, Confidence and Faith. The elements function in cycles and are also interrelated. Any element has it’s own state of excess, deficiency or balance and depending upon this state, can have a positive or negative impact on another element.

As an example, if one has an excess state of confidence, it creates a state of mind filled with arrogance. This is detrimental to achieve higher levels of success. This state of mind has an adverse effect on the element of discipline as one filled with arrogance typically does not feel they need to continue being disciplined in their craft. Not to mention it can compromise relationships with others personally and professionally.

Having a balanced state of all the elements, growing and filling their potential is a path towards success. But as life likes to knock us out of balance, we need to be able to get back to center and that state of balance as quickly as possible.

Craig, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Most of my career has been in digital marketing. With $1,300 and a computer, I started a digital first company back in 1996, the ancient days of the Internet. It was a digital marketing company focused on marketing independent music and was named RhythmNet.com. Over the years, the company adapted and evolved in order to survive and thrive. We started servicing small businesses and acquired numerous capabilities in digital and traditional media. Eventually we refined our brand to “Rhythm” and grew t0 service middle market to large enterprise companies providing an integrated marketing approach with digital at the core.

The journey was challenging but also rewarding with many achievements. We landed on the Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in the United States five years in a row. Only seven percent of companies on the list achieve that. We also won Best Places to Work/Top Places to Work four years in a row. There were many other achievements as well. The pinnacle of success was reached when we sold the company to a world-class digital creative agency out of New York City.

Today, I have started a new chapter in life and my career. I serve as a business mentor offering advisory, consulting and executive coaching services. What makes me extremely unique is that I incorporate energetic practices into my services. I have a doctorate degree in Chinese Energetic Medicine and have been a medical qigong practitioner for over ten years. The practice of qigong was a game changer in elevating and maintaining my performance as a business leader. Now I share this knowledge and expertise as part of my service offering.

I am also an Author. My first book Business Kung Fu is an award-winning, national bestseller. It is a non-fiction business book that conveys my knowledge and skills of Chinese Kung Fu and how I applied principles of martial arts into running my company.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

I sold my business on the 23rd year anniversary of officially starting the business, January 2, 2019. For twenty three years I toiled to build a successful business. Selling the business brought a great degree of satisfaction and fulfillment knowing another company valued the business I created to a high degree.

One piece of advice is to run your business as if you are going to sell, even if you do not have any current plans to do so. It builds financial discipline, It’s imperative that you know your numbers, not only to manage your business effectively but to demonstrate your business acumen to any potential buyers.

Another important tip is to create a strong narrative of why your business is of great value. Obviously, a strong net profit margin is highly desirable, but what are the trends in your business. Are you increasing your gross revenue and net profit every year? If so, by what percentage? What does your industry look like five years down the road? What industry sectors do you serve and what is there outlook? What kind of management team have you built and what is there experience?

There is so much to share in regards selling your company. But the items above are a great place to start.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Managing people is a challenge. Everyone is unique and has their own set of needs, desires and issues. Innate characteristics that worked for me were:
– Patience
– Empathy
– Consideration

It takes a lot of patience to contend with the daily issues of managing a team. There are always issues to attend to. Your patience will be tested in various ways on a frequent basis, But keeping cool, calm and collected helps your team function in the same manner.

Empathy is really important. What I mean here is that you understand how a team member feels, where they are coming from. You “get them.” When you actively listen, with patience and demonstrate you understand them, it goes a long way. Your team members will respect you and value your opinions.

Consideration is demonstrating that you actually care. That you value your team members. At the end of the day, everyone wants to be accepted and valued in some way. By demonstrating true consideration, team members will be willing to go the extra mile for you when duty calls. I have expereienced this myself many times.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://csquaredpro.io/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craigcooke/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcooke/
• Twitter: https://x.com/craigcooke
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@C-SquaredPro
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@csquared.777

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