Ep. 82 - Start Ugly: Embrace Change, Honor Fear, and Experiment to Build Momentum and Reach Your Potential— with Chris Krimitsos

Find Us Wherever You Listen To Podcasts

In today’s world, the only constant is change. And now, in light of COVID-19, so is uncertainty. It’s forced all us to think and operate differently and restructure the way we work.

Enter the Start Ugly philosophy.

Chris Krimitsos is an author, entrepreneur, documentary producer, and Chief Creative Officer of Podfest Multimedia Expo, The world’s #1 interactive event for entrepreneurs, podcasters, and professionals. Recently, PodFest broke the Guinness World Record for the most attendees at a virtual conference — an idea and accomplishment that stems from Chris’s own Start Ugly philosophy that’s outlined in his book, Start Ugly: A Timeless Tale About Innovation & Change.

The philosophy and book have inspired thousands of readers to embrace change and uncertainty, release themselves from the chains of perfectionism, and take action on their ideas and creations.

In this episode, Chris discusses how to overcome fear of failure, become comfortable with change in uncertain times, and shift into a mindset that’ll allow you to turn your ideas into realities so you can build business and career momentum.

Starting Ugly at an Early Age to Find Meaning and Business Traction

Chris knew early on that he would be a business owner. From observing his uncles in the restaurant business to starting his own candy-selling venture at the age of 12, entrepreneurship was in his DNA. And as an entrepreneur, he was continuously starting and stopping things because he didn’t know what he liked. And while he certainly had failures (and they did sting), he never thought of stopping and learned from every single one of them.

“So starting and trying new things is the way you learn what you like, what you don't like, what you're good at.”

After moving from New York to Tampa, Chris got involved in real estate investment, creating a successful business buying, selling, and flipping homes. But he wasn’t happy or fulfilled. So, he chose to make a career pivot in order to find meaning and purpose vs. continuing down a path that's monetarily focused.

He loved helping people, he loved community, and he loved entrepreneurship — so he decided a more aligned path would involve creating a community for local business owners, which eventually became the Tampa Bay business owners.

But it was his nose for sniffing out trends and his passion for technology led him to another opportunity to pivot and help an emerging community: the podcasting community. So he startedugly — essentially experimenting by creating that minimal viable “thing” which isn’t perfect yet — and committed to launching before determining if this was what he wanted to do and working towards perfect execution. He found product-market fit with Podfest, as well as fulfillment, so he kept going. Seven years later, his company is creating leading events that bring together those who are interested in and passionate about sharing their voice and message with the world through audio and video.

Dealing with Rapid Change and Pushing Past the Fear to Break a World Record During COVID

COVID-19 and restrictions on live events put Chris’s business philosophy to the test, as he had to quickly adapt to the new virtual landscape. With complete uncertainty as to when live events would and could be held, Chris started ugly and hosted a live virtual summit the likes of which hadn't been seen before.

That first experiment, along with inspiration from the Disney movie “Sing” that Chris had watched with his daughter, led to a simple idea: go as big as possible, pursuing the record for largest attendance for a live conference in the process.

Even with the idea in his pocket, Chris succumbed to fear and sat on the idea for 3 weeks before he “got so tired of being sick and tired.” He wanted to feel alive again, “and the way I feel alive is bringing people together.”

With a five-week promotion cycle, he called on his community to help him reach his goal. He started a crowdfunding campaign to get the event up and running, and he hit his goal in 40 minutes. That momentum continued with other sponsors joining in, attracting new speakers, and even securing celebrity voices to participate. In the end, 46 countries were represented with 5,003 attendees joining.

In light of the pandemic, people all over the world were looking for a greater sense of community, and Chris was able to fill that gap by bringing everyone together to learn and connect through his event.

Success in the face of uncertainty ultimately came down to an experimental and change-oriented mindset; he was able to test and learn, while consistently delivering against his brand promise.

The key, as always, was keeping customer wants and needs at the center of everything he did.

What it Takes to Start Ugly

While many ideally want to get things right the first go-round, the reality is that a lot of successful initiatives, especially in business, really do start out ugly. And if you had it right the first time, there’d be no need for experimentation. But that’s just not the case.

Like starting an events company with only five people showing up initially, you can’t take your first draft, or your test-run, at face value. You have to use that experience as data, analyze it, and iterate again and again until you gain momentum. As Chris said, it’s about rolling with the punches and conditioning yourself for change.

It takes being comfortable with change, realizing that fear is holding you back, and accepting that criticism can help propel you forward. However, it also requires a safe environment where you can fail.

But Starting Ugling for many may be much easier said than done. Many of us face our own mental, physical, financial, and situational limitations that keep us from really taking action against our creative and entrepreneurial ideas.

But that’s why starting ugly is such an important mindset adaptation to make. It’s about acknowledging those limitations and still starting with whatever you have, accepting that failure is an inevitable part of your business and career journey. Once you’ve come to terms with that, you’ll realize that whatever happens is still a step toward achieving your goals. Because right now, with a world in flux, learning to be flexible and adapt is the only way to move forward.

Chris’s Career Advice

If you're just slacking off and just sliding by, you're probably not successful because you haven't found what makes you tick something that you really love. Find something that you can put all your energy into.
Learn the way you learn.
Keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars. If you could do that, you'll live a great life.

Key Takeaways

Whether it's business, whether it's humanity, we're always going through change and you have to condition yourself for that.

Remember that success doesn’t happen overnight. It starts small and embracing what you can deliver in the immediate term.

Fear is what holds people back from getting started on the path to starting ugly.
- Procrastination, coming up with excuses, or feeling like what has been developed isn’t perfect enough are behaviors/manifestations of this fear they are experiencing.
- Remember, even if you become successful, there will be people who won’t like what you put out there so you have to move on and not worry about what others will say.

Fear will inevitably pop back in during your journey. So, “honor the fear. Honor emotion. But then move it to the side and tell that emotion or feeling, ‘I’m going to still do my thing...as you move forward, you'll realize that the fear will minimize as your action goes up and then you'll move towards whatever that goal is.’”

You need feedback to help you break through that inertia and create momentum to take action.
- There are different forms so it’s important to understand the context in which they are coming from to determine if they are helpful and with merit.
  - Don’t listen to the “trolls” who just want to get a reaction or an unsubstantiated opinion but rather focus on those who offer critiques intended to make what you do better
- 360 degree reviews are valuable in also getting a holistic view of what works, what does and how to improve.

Creating a safe environment where people’s ideas don’t get judged is also necessary to facilitate a start ugly mindset and approach.

As you start with experimenting, it’s necessary to sell your vision to others and explain why you're doing something if you want to get there.
- You can do that by pre-framing the situation so you can get buy-in in advance.

It’s all about building momentum towards where you want to go. You are building confidence to the point where you won’t recognize your past selves because you’ve become a different person in the end.

How to break through the inertia in uncertain times:
- Create momentum by being in touch with what people think. Get 360-degree views on your current and potential audience.
- Be in touch with the market, have self-awareness. This is an iterative process.
- Above all, make it okay to have that culture of experimentation