157 - Get Around Yourself With Mike McDerment

“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult.” – Warren Bennis

So....there you are....working diligently on your company and then you're in charge of people.  WHAT!?  People don't come with instruction manuals and leading them can be hairy!

In this episode, I had the opportunity to talk with Mike McDerment, the big cheese at Freshbooks and his journey was very much like my opening statement.  Mike shares about his journey as a leader and how we've got to get around ourselves in order to create a place where people want to be.  I really enjoyed Mike's sense of humor and his candor and I know you will too!

CHEERS!

More on Mike....

Mike McDerment is the Co-Founder and CEO of FreshBooks, the world’s #1 cloud accounting software for self-employed professionals. Built out of frustration after accidentally saving over an invoice, Mike spent 3.5 years growing FreshBooks from his parents’ basement. Since launching in 2003, over 10 million people have used FreshBooks to save time billing, and collect billions of dollars. A lover of the outdoors, Mike has been bitten so many times it’s rumoured he’s the first human to have developed immunity to mosquitoes.

In January 2003, Mike was running a four-person design agency and using Microsoft Word to create invoices. One day, he accidentally saved over an old invoice, and something in him snapped – he knew there had to be a better way. Over the next two weeks, he coded up a solution and eventually turned that side- project into what is now FreshBooks.

To keep the lights on, he moved into his parents’ basement for 3.5 years and completely revamped how he ran his design firm to the point where he only worked 19 days in one year — while generating over $200,000 to bootstrap the company that would become FreshBooks.

Today, Mike has grown FreshBooks to nearly 300 people serving more than 10 million users in 160+ countries. To help self-employed professionals set better rates, Mike also co-authored Breaking The Time Barrier, which has been downloaded more than 300,000 times. 

Check out Freshbooks here!