We were lucky to catch up with William Harris recently and have shared our conversation below.
William, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
It’s tough for entrepreneurs. I can remember times when a big client was leaving us, and I was convinced that it might be the end of the business.
There are often days when you’re quite certain you can’t pay the bills, but what I’ve found to be comforting is that I know there is a God that created me, and said that he cares about me enough to number the hairs on my head. What’s even more important, is that God is outside of time.
You see, I might look at my timeline and see the obvious obstacle… the client leaves so I can’t pay the bills. But that’s just one dimension of time… God can see what’s up, down, and around on that timeline and he might just be saying, “Hey Will, I see what’s on the other side of this obstacle… I have to let this client leave because I have something better for you on the other side that you can’t see yet.”
To me, that’s the epitome of comfort when things are tough and confusing.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m the CEO of an award-winning advertising agency called, Elumynt. It’s exciting, and stressful, but ultimately rewarding.
We help ecommerce stores scale from $10M to over $100M+ and have helped 13 of them get acquired. That’s the rewarding part… being able to see the fruit of your labor directly impact businesses.
Additionally, we launched a podcast a little over a year ago and that’s quickly become one of my favorite things that I do each week. I get to have conversations with some of the smartest people in ecommerce, advertising, and marketing – like the President of Shopify, Harley Finkelstein, or the President of UnderArmour, Stephanie Pugliese. We dig into professional topics as well as personal topics and I’ve learned so much from everyone.
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?
Early on in my journey, the three things that really helped me succeed were data understanding, communication skills, and decision-making abilities.
In my line of work, it’s important to truly understand data – what’s incremental and what’s not, and how to look past the stuff that’s not accurate.
But that data understanding is only helpful if you can communicate effectively with people. I come from a background in nursing where I had to communicate life or death information to doctors and family members, literally – and those required two very different types of communication styles. That’s true in business as well, you might understand the data, but can you communicate that in a way that is actually helpful to your audience?
Lastly, it was important be able to make decisions. A lot of people might be good at understanding data, and communicating, but if you aren’t able to actually make a decision you won’t be able to move forward. I see this often, where people are very much aware of the data, and they are pretty sure they know what they need to do, but they aren’t confident in making a decision and moving forward. This is imperative. Sometimes you will make the wrong decision, but you can usually pivot, but the worst decision is indecision.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
It’s hard to say that there’s just ONE thing that was most helpful, when there were so many things that have been helpful. If I had to pick just one, it would probably be good mentorship/friendships. Being an entrepreneur is hard, and at times, thankless. Having good mentors and good friends in your corner that can help keep you sane and focused can’t be understated.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://elumynt.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elumynt
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wmharris/
- Twitter: https://x.com/wmharris101
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrGSAXmgmMtYux-uSgsvTaA
Image Credits
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