5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A Founder
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MAY 22, 2023 IN AUTHORITY MAGAZINE ON MEDIUM
…You already have all the tools you need right now to do this. You will learn everything else you need as you go. I had a mentor tell me, before I signed my first client, that I had to recognize my value first. I had to believe the client was just as lucky to work with me as I was to work with them for the relationship to be strong. That mindset is still at the core of my best client relationships.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Malika Begin. Malika Begin is a people and organization development leader and the founder of Begin Development — a business consulting firm that works with companies on building strong, healthy culture. Built over a decade of experience in the people development space, Malika’s signature style and dedication to team health is powered by her belief that leaders who invest in their employees, excel in conflict and communication skills and foster collaborative teams are the biggest asset to a successful organization.
Malika’s work spans that of startups and brands in tech, media, marketing, and entertainment, and her client set includes a breadth of companies from Magnite, BOND and CreatorIQ to SKIMs and Good American and even Delta Airlines and YPO.
Malika has her Masters in Organization Development from Pepperdine University Graziadio Business School, in addition to certifications in Gallup’s Strengthsfinder, Wiley’s 5 Behaviors, an MBA certification from Graziadio and Negotiation through Pepperdine Law’s Straus Institute. She currently resides in Malibu, California with her husband and her three boys.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I began doing leadership development with a company that had just four employees. All of the coaching I did was focused on building great teams and culture together. Within three years, we grew to a fully remote company of 120 employees and had established an award-winning culture. (And that was before remote work was cool!)
When the company was acquired, I developed a 12-person, 8-month leadership development program called COLLAB to help scale by training more leaders with intention. The next year, the company was acquired by an even bigger organization (one with three portfolio companies), and two years later, were bought by AT&T. So, in less than 6 years, I watched as a 6-person team grew to a 200,000-person organization owned by one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world. Being a part of and helping to maintain good company culture during that rapid growth inspired me to build my own thing, and shortly after the company was acquired by AT&T, I took the leap and officially launched Begin Development.
Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
The way my family overcame hardship throughout our family history has truly inspired me. Both sets of my grandparents were farmers. My maternal great-grandpa immigrated from Sweden. My paternal great-grandpa almost lost his farm in the Great Depression. Hearing about how they persevered and went on to give generously and to be leaders in their communities is something I have always admired. Early on my parents told me that if I had a hard or ethical decision to make, to ask, “what would my grandparents do?” and it would probably be the right, honest decision.
During the first six months of starting Begin Development, I didn’t sign a single client. I was really feeling the failure of it all and thought that maybe I needed to increase my expertise. So, I applied to a grad program in business at Pepperdine University. The week before my Organization Development program began, I signed my first client. It’s been non-stop ever since.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Starting out, I made mistakes in almost every area of the business that you could imagine. I was so desperate to sign a client, I can see how my anxiousness to get going probably scared away every single person I talked to. Things would be going so well in our conversation until it was time to talk about the contract and closing the deal; everything just seemed to evaporate at that crucial point.
Once I signed my first client I felt much more settled, confident, and ready to focus on the work. My biggest mistake, in the beginning, was not trusting myself, the process, and knowing that the hard work would pay off. I think confidence and perseverance, together, are key in this building phase.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Development work is a vulnerable, yet transformational process — it asks a lot of clients to see big changes in the challenges they are bringing to you. It takes a lot of courage to enter into this work at any level. What makes Begin Development stand out is the care and honor we give people as they go through the process, since the work is often more personally challenging than people initially expect.
I regularly hear from clients that the experience is different than what they initially thought it would be. When we say ‘Development with Heart’, we don’t just mean that we will bring heart and our whole selves into the room to design solutions and facilitate improvement. We also ask for clients to be open and vulnerable in a way they may not have been asked to before in a corporate environment.
Working with Begin Development is a customized, collaborative experience with our team. When clients hire us, we celebrate the invitation to dive into the work they care so much about. If it’s meaningful enough for them to seek help to remove barriers or improve some of the most challenging situations they are facing, then we know they are committed to seeing results. And we love to deliver those results with them!
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
As an entrepreneur, I’m still learning about this myself. However, I think part of the key to avoiding burnout is to find people that you love to work with, pour energy into the projects that inspire you, and make sure to pace yourself and your business well. I have to remind myself that I can have it all…I just can’t have it all right now, so prioritizing is key. I’ve seen rapid growth and scale lead toward burnout, so I am being intentional about who we work with and how we partner with other brands. It’s important for our energy management so that we can do our best work for each client.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I’m grateful to many who have encouraged me, from the two founders who first hired me to do leadership development, Alec McNayr and Alan Beard, to colleagues and friends who have made introductions and opened up their network to me.
Meg Scheding gave me the referral for my first retainer client, CreatorIQ. Darnell Brisco brought me in on a new exciting project with BOND. My professors and mentors have shared almost any resources I could ask for over the years.
Upon deciding to start Begin Development and in a moment of panic, I called Sarah Harden, now CEO of Hello Sunshine. She immediately picked up the phone and I said, “I’m thinking about starting my own business, but I’m afraid to do it alone.” Without hesitation she said, “You can definitely do this!” The confidence she had in me at that moment in time was pivotal. I gave my resignation that week and filed paperwork to incorporate Begin Inc. the next week.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
A key part of my life’s purpose is to make life more abundant for others. I think we can all do this for each other when we create environments where people can be heard, seen, and valued for their unique contributions. We spend so much time at work that if we’re not in a good situation, we take that home to our families and friends. It saps our energy and our creativity. I think creating exceptional work culture together can bring goodness to the world. It makes for happier people who have more fun, thrive, invest more in others, can be more generous and create more opportunities for impact in the world.
At Begin Development, we are committed to generosity and we work towards fulfilling that commitment by donating to local charities that work with high school kids or young adults who are just starting to find their way in the world. We conduct Strength and Values sessions with them to help them understand their power and leadership potential. We’ve also created “Begin Now” grad boxes that we donate to help students who’ve recently graduated from high school and college. It’s a pivotal time for graduating seniors and if we can positively impact them or point them in the right direction with their own self-awareness and confidence, I think they can change the world.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
The only way to learn how to do it is to jump in and start doing it. Be curious. I watched hours of YouTube to learn how to build a Squarespace website. Now, I absolutely need the muscle of Googling everything I don’t know how to do and just figuring it out. My ability to learn has definitely expanded and I’ve had to lean into my curiosity to find energy for learning.
You are going to fail at pretty much everything you attempt for the first time, and you are going to learn so much, so jump right in. I wanted to wait on building many things for the business until I could hire an expert so I wouldn’t fail, but that was just too slow of a path toward growth. I often wondered if I should wait until I graduated with my Master’s to get going, but honestly, building a business while I was learning was probably one of the most synergistic things I could have done.
Your network is more powerful than you think. I have prioritized staying connected with the people I admire. Not because they can do something for me but because I think I have a lot to learn from them, even if I’m just championing their wins online. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of favors and generous things people have done for me over the last few years to help me out and make a huge difference in my success. A pivotal moment for me was when a female coach that I admired said, “would it help you to know how much I make?” She took me for a walk under the pier and told me, in detail, her timeline and earnings to date. This information changed my life, because I didn’t really know what was possible and she made it real for me.
You already have all the tools you need right now to do this. You will learn everything else you need as you go. I had a mentor tell me, before I signed my first client, that I had to recognize my value first. I had to believe the client was just as lucky to work with me as I was to work with them for the relationship to be strong. That mindset is still at the core of my best client relationships.
You will never regret this risk. Even if it had only lasted a year, even if it all ends tomorrow, I’m grateful for the people I’ve met, how I’ve been able to partner, and the way I’ve shown up for myself and others. I’ve learned so much about my fears and emotions, like anger and anxiety, that I didn’t even know I had. I’ve also learned about power and how we share it and what it does for people when we do. I like the person I’m becoming and will never regret starting Begin Development.
Can you share a few ideas or stories from your experience about how to successfully ride the emotional highs & lows of being a founder”?
Being a founder is the absolute best experience and one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. I think part of managing highs and lows has been having such an incredible community of people championing me. I’ve fostered relationships, mentors, and a personal board of leaders that I can turn to in any situation. They offer a wide range of expertise in different lines of business and personal strengths. They have not only given me excellent wisdom and advice but have also generously shared their resources to help me thrive.
I’ve had clients introduce me to their competitors. I’ve had a client offer up their internal services from legal to tech to marketing to help me grow my business. I’ve had a client use their personal flight miles to upgrade my international flight while in grad school so I’d be rested and ready to learn when I arrived. I’ve had a graphic designer teach me to build my website on my own when I couldn’t afford to pay for it and take professional-level photos to get me going. I’ve had a mentor offer up their house to use for sessions when I couldn’t pay for a workspace. I’ve had so many generous people emerge through this process, it makes it much easier to ride the highs and lows when you see the power of the community around you.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can follow on: Insta/LI: @begindevelopment
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