We were lucky to catch up with Aaron Sharp recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Aaron, so happy to have you with us today and there is so much we want to ask you about. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others developed certain skills or qualities that we are struggling with can be helpful. Along those lines, we’d love to hear from you about how you developed your ability to take risk?
I’d love to give you a prolific response here, but it’s pretty simple. I realized that not taking the risk would leave me in the same place as taking the risk and not getting the desired outcome. Therefore I have nothing to lose. I think it’s important to understand that I don’t just take random risks. I take calculated risks. There’s certainly a difference. My advice is to always research an opportunity, but don’t research or analyze it so much that you’re paralyzed and don’t act on it. Please don’t be afraid to fail. Most people are so afraid to be bad at something, that they can’t be bad at something long enough to get good at it.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I always think the “what do you do?” question is interesting. Usually, people respond to that question with their title and never really say what they do. For example, “I’m an attorney.” Well, that didn’t tell us what type of attorney or precisely what that entails. With that said, I do many things, but mostly I’m the Founder of Mandeaux, the premier luxury lifestyle brand specializing in the best handcrafted customizable footwear in the world. While our bread and butter is our incredible shoe line, we also offer an astonishing assortment of specialty-grade coffee that we source from micro farms worldwide. We just released the first luxury timepiece (the Auteaux) in our new watch line, and we’re developing our very first niche fragrance.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back on my journey, I think one of the most important skills I learned was understanding the Shopify platform. I initially hired an overseas company to design and launch my first website. After about two months of unacceptable performance, I fired that team and was left without a functioning website. This required me to enroll in “YouTube University” to learn the skills I needed to create the type of site I was seeking. Taking the time to understand the platform has saved me thousands of dollars in hiring others.
The next important thing I learned during my journey was the importance of a mentor. Mentors are the key. I don’t care what anyone says. If you take nothing else from this interview, accept that having a mentor guide you is the easiest way to find success. It shortens your learning curve. You can’t just pick any mentor. It would be best to find someone who has done what you desire to do and pay them what they ask to learn what they know. Period. It’s really that simple. There’s a reason why many professional athletes’ children can also play a sport at the pro level. Look no further than Steph and Dell Curry, Muhammad and Laila Ali, Calvin and Grant Hill, and Bobby and Barry Bonds, just to name a few. They have a built-in mentor that has walked through the very doors they aspire to walk through. This is probably the most important lesson.
Lastly, the area of knowledge I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time on has been understanding marketing. It doesn’t matter how great your music, business, artwork, online store, or idea is if no one knows about it. Countless failed wantrepreneurs had brilliant ideas that never reached their potential because there was never a marketing plan. Even the best author won’t sell a hundred books without the appropriate marketing. Every business requires marketing. Period. Focus on understanding marketing, and you’ll not only help yourself in your business ventures, but you can also help others and get paid for it in any market.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Being overwhelmed is simply being underprepared. Every time I’ve felt overwhelmed has been because I wasn’t ready for whatever I was presented with, and that’s my fault. No one else’s. I’m a firm believer in being prepared. An important concept is that mediocrity grows exponentially while excellence grows incrementally. What I mean by that is there are tons of mediocre people in the world that get up in the morning and do whatever comes their way. Then there are those individuals that plan their days the night before and attack the day with intention. Those people are working towards something and tend to be the ones that are excellent in their field. There aren’t many excellent people. The competition in that realm is slim. Wouldn’t you rather compete with the few to be excellent than the many to be mediocre? I challenge you to move with more intention and watch the many improvements manifest themselves in your life.
My last bit of advice is that while you’re on your journey, remember to prioritize family. Family can be literal or figurative in this sense. It can be easy to lose track of time and what matters most when you’re focused on accomplishing something. Go out and be great! That’s Mandeaux.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mandeaux.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/officialmrsharp
