Leah Busque explains why it's OK to talk to strangers and why you should get ideas from your dog.
Leah Busque has built a huge career around small jobs. She's the creator of TaskRabbit, a mobile platform that allows users to outsource small tasks to people ("taskers") nearby willing to execute those tasks. She graduated from Sweet Briar College, a small women's liberal arts college in Virginia, before landing a job as a software engineer at IBM. While she loved her job and the people she worked with, Leah felt there was an entrepreneurial side to her that she wanted to explore. So with a little help from her dog — seriously — she left IBM to start her own business. Here are the tips to her success:
1. If you encounter a problem without a clear solution, create one.
Picture this: It's the middle of winter, you're late for a dinner across town, the cab driver is outside honking his horn, and you realize that your dog is out of food and the pet store might be closed by the time you're finished with dinner. It seems like a simple problem, but when Leah found herself in that very situation she noticed that there was no simple solution. "That's when I came up with the idea for TaskRabbit," she says. A good idea can come from anywhere if you're paying attention. Instead of settling for the status quo, critically think through the problem, and you just might discover the next big idea. "Think through solutions and think how you might change or improve a situation," Leah says. "That's definitely an entrepreneurial mindset that I actively sought after."
2. It's OK to talk to strangers.
Huge corporations spend millions of dollars conducting focus groups to gauge interest in their products. Leah got similar results chatting with a group of strangers at a coffee shop. "I was getting a coffee one morning and I saw this group of moms in the coffee shop with their babies and I was like, I bet this idea I have would be great for moms. Maybe I should just go over there and introduce myself and ask them what they think about this idea," Leah says. So she did — and the reaction was amazing. "They were like, 'Oh my god does this exist? Can I use it right now? I actually need this today!'"she says. This impromptu focus group over a cup of coffee provided Leah with great validation and those women ended up being the inspiration for the beta site. "I launched TaskRabbit with a small mother's group in Charlestown neighborhood of Boston," Leah says, " They were my first early adopters." Valuable feedback doesn't have to cost a thing. While mentors, teachers, supervisors, and peers might seem like the logical place to seek advice, never underestimate the importance of sharing your idea with a group of people you think might actually benefit from it.
3. Take your idea further than you think you can.
Leah knew she had a good idea — and the mothers at the coffee shop knew she had a good idea — but it wasn't until her mentor challenged her to think big that she felt ready to jump ship at IBM to pursue it. "Scott Griffith, the CEO of Zipcar, was one of my early mentors, and he really pushed me over the edge and gave me the confidence to do it," Leah says. "He said, 'I really think you're on to something and I think you should see how far you can take it.'" Those seven words resonated with her. "When I thought about seeing how far I could take it, I knew that I needed to do it full time, and I needed to leave IBM and just go for it," she says.
4. You may have to literally lock yourself in a room to avoid distractions.
It's one thing to have a good idea; it's another to act on it. To take the leap from vision to execution, you may need to take extreme measures. "I basically locked myself in my room and programmed the first site for 10 weeks straight," Leah says. Yes, showers, proper meals, and physical activity were limited, she admits, but so was procrastination. "There were no distractions," she says, "and I just was so passionate about this idea and became so obsessed with what was possible and the potential for impact that this product could have on my community, on myself, and on a broader global scale.
5. Surrounding yourself with a strong team makes you more successful.
Leah is lucky enough to be both incredibly creative and also analytical (remember: she came up with the idea and did all the coding for the site), but even she knows her limitations. Leah knows that much of her success is dependent upon hiring the right people. "Finding great mentors and advisors and team members can really complement your skill set," Leah says. "It's all about building a team and a community that's successful."
6. Don't lose sight of why you're working so hard.
TaskRabbit grew quickly. Since the site's original incarnation in 2008, TaskRabbit has garnered nearly $40 million in funding, has earned Leah a spot on Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business list, and has grown from 100 taskers to more than 30,000 in close to 20 cities across the U.S. However, despite the rapid growth, Leah still keeps her focus on the people she started the business for. "Everyday we hear these amazing stories of things that happen on the platform," Leah says. "So it's a constant source of motivation to see how we're impacting the lives both of our tasker community and the clients that use the service." She's heard many heartwarming stories, like one about a stay-at-home mom who is running tasks to earn extra income so she can save money to take her family on a vacation, and tales from families where both parents are working full time and juggling kids, but can find relief by getting their groceries delivered through a neighborhood tasker. Accolades from her business contemporaries are great, but they don't beat the kind words from her TaskRabbit community.
7. You can look professional and be comfortable.
There are two types of casual: zero effort (unwashed hair in a ponytail, no makeup, and pajamas as clothes) and effortless (ballet flats, jeans paired with a tailored blazer, and lip gloss). Now that Leah runs a company with 50 full-time office employees, she's upped her casual game from the former to the latter. "When I was working out of my second bedroom, I didn't care about what how I looked," Leah says, "but now we have an office and I'm meeting with partners regularly, so I love to dress up." Even in the startup community's laid-back culture, Leah thinks it's important to put effort into how she looks.
8. Schedule in "me" time.
Like many entrepreneurs, Leah knows that she could spend 24 hours a day working if that were physically possible. To avoid burnout, she makes a concerted effort to schedule personal time. "I live and die by my calendar, so I schedule in personal things too," Leah says. "If I can get 15 minutes after work, maybe before the nanny leaves, I'll go for a run." When it's scheduled, it holds the same priority as her other appointments and helps keep her more productive. "I don't have to think about what I'm going to do next because I've already thought about it; it's already written down and I can just keep moving throughout my day."
9. It's OK to be in mommy-mode at work or work-mode with the baby.
There's a lot more fluidity between being a businesswoman and being a mother now than in decades past. Leah gave birth to a baby girl almost a year ago and has found that she really doesn't need to shut off one facet of her life to be more productive in another. "I have a nice blend between TaskRabbit life and personal life," Leah says. "I may be checking my email on the weekend while I'm with my daughter, but while I'm in the office I can peek in on my Dropcam [which provides live video stream] in the nursery and see how she's napping or see what she's up to. Technology has really enabled me to be efficient across both aspects of my life."
10. Don't overthink it.
What's holding you back from launching your big idea? Leah thinks it might be because you're overthinking it. "We can become so paralyzed by the fear of what we don't know that we won't even try," Leah says. "If you're passionate about something. You're going to find a way to figure it out." So stop worrying. Seriously. No more excuses — go get it!
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