First What, Then How (Dov Gordon)

Welcome to Making It! This weekly show explores the lives and stories of entrepreneurs as they share their unique perspectives on their success and the path to making it.

For Dov, founder and CEO of Profitable Relationships, the what is the essential element to entrepreneurial success. Too often, people get bogged down in the how and limit themselves and their opportunities before they ever start. Dov equates creating a business to creating a work of art. It’s a creative process in which you know roughly where you want to end up—what you want the finished product to look like—and you trust through the journey that each step in the process will reveal itself as you move toward your masterpiece.

In this episode of Making It, Dov takes us through his own journey of finding his secret to success after years of “pushing the boulder up the hill and watching roll right back down” only to realize that he was the one making it hard. Dov’s greatest teacher was experience in those early years, and the lesson was letting go. There is no right or wrong way, there is only the individual path, and no one else can chart it for you.

“To me, making it is about being free to live according to your own genuine values and priorities.”

“Worry less about yourself and focus more on contribution.”

– Dov Gordon

Dov Gordon is the founder and CEO of Profitable Relationships. Starting out in his 20s, Dov knew a “real job” wouldn’t cut it and that anything less than success was not an option. With no formal training or experience, he began coaching small business leaders. After nearly a decade of arduous ups and downs mixed with enough wins to keep him going, Dov knew he wanted to go bigger.

He started a peer group for CEOs of companies doing $150 million or more in annual sales, pushing his then-current business to a new level. Since then, Dov has created even more success with his latest company, Profitable Relationships and the Under-the-Radar system, uniquely helping consultants find and retain a steady stream of ideal clients.

After experiencing firsthand the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, Dov discovered the secret that brought a lot of success to his own small company. He started teaching this secret to others, and one by one, they too experienced the success that was elusive for all those years.

Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:

Mirasee

Dov’s website ProfitableRelationships

Dov’s Twitter

Credits:

Guest – Dov Gordon

Associate producer – Danny Bermant

Producer – Cynthia Lamb

Executive producer – Danny Iny

Assembled by – Geoff Govertsen

Audio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher Martin

Audio Post Production by Post Office Sound

Music soundscape: Chad Michael Snavely

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Music and SFX credits:

• Track Title: Sweet Loving Waltz

Artist Name(s): Sounds Like Sander

Writer Name: S.L.J. Kalmeijer

Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

• Track Title: The Sunniest Kids

Artist Name(s): Rhythm Scott

Writer Name: Scott Roush

Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

• Track Title: Onwards

Artist Name(s): Matteo Galesi

Writer Name: Matteo Galesi

Publisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS

Episode transcript:

I'm Dov Gordon and you're listening to Making It! I run a business called Profitable Relationships Dot Com and we help consultants become under-the-radar leaders in their industry as a way of gaining ideal clients consistently.

I think of business as a work of art. You're creating a work of art and you need to know what is this painting or a piece of art that I'm looking to create? One of the lessons that so many of us really need to learn is really the trust is to have that faith that the path forward will show itself. As I take a step towards it. Every step. Another step, another step. Things will start to come together...