Member Since 2017
Rented, Inc.
Atlanta Area
Andrew McConnell is the Founder and CEO of Rented, Inc., the leading provider of full-service revenue management as a service (RMS) for professional vacation rental managers. Andrew holds degrees from Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Cambridge University, and has worked with some of the world's largest public and private entities as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co., and as a Director, Solutions Design at Axiom Global, Inc. In addition to speaking and writing about vacation rentals and the sharing economy, Andrew also contributes more general business insights and advice to publications like Inc.com and Forbes.
You don’t need an ocean in your backyard to start accessing these same benefits. If you need a few tips for getting started and following through, here's what I recommend
Some core differences between pool swimming and open water swimming parallel closely with the differences between big corporate employment and entrepreneurship.
Whether running, biking or swimming, going against the wind will at some point hit you in the face. The same is true in business.
Being at “the top” is not a static state.
If we are to get where we all agree we want to go, we are going to have to do things differently going forward.
A person’s reaction or response to a comment or an event is rarely a product of that event alone.
If the tendency to imagine suffering is so common and so unhelpful, what is the answer?
What and how we think about the ideas in question plays a critical role.
The answer is to be in a place where you are actively deciding on the right course of action for you and deliberately executing against it.
How can you be certain the actions you are taking are the right ones, and the most efficient ones, to get you where you ultimately want to be?
It is clearly quite another thing to persist in wrongly held assumptions when the truth is readily known and easily accessible.
Metrics must be the byproduct, not the end result, of the pursuit of something bigger, something more meaningful, something that is permanent: your purpose.
In the world of startups, failure has come to be seen as something to celebrate. It shows you have tried something new, something daring, something risky, but also something that should have outsized rewards if it succeeds.
We live in a world in which we depend on predictions, and at the same time in a world in which such predictions are almost impossible to consistently make with real accuracy. The answer is not to avoid such predictions or to even necessarily make better initial predictions.
When someone comes in with so much energy and excitement and a desire to help the company improve telling them their ideas are not only unoriginal but also failures before they have had the opportunity to fully explain and test them out is a wet blanket of the worst kind.
A lot of people talk about the importance of culture in a company, and the importance of being intentional about what that culture is. However, culture isn’t a matter of what you want or what you say you want. Culture is what the people in your company actually do.
What are you currently thinking and worrying about over which you actually have no control?
The year 2020 was unlike any other. We can either lament the year that was, or we can reflect on what the year taught us.
The legacy is in the work, rather than just in the outcome.
I recently had the “good fortune” to experience my first hurricane truly in the eye of the storm. Hurricane Paulette hit Bermuda in September 2020 and affected not only our island, but my perspective as well.
The world will not stop changing, and neither can we if we wish to survive and thrive.
Can you find something to put you in a positive frame of mind rather than one of powerlessness and despair?
If you think you're beyond the fundamentals at this age and stage, think again.
We control and influence far more than we may think.
There's no final destination — just the journey of listening, learning and improving.
Be ready to accept that you were wrong, have the courage to move quickly and track your assumptions all over again.
The principles of Stoicism align closely with success in today's startup world.
It is not about having the “fastest” life, but rather intentionally pursuing a more fulfilling one.
Emphasize that AI is meant to augment the strengths of your team.
As a leader, work to increase the frequency of the best times while diminishing the worst times.
In all, this approach has been instrumental in reducing my stress, helping me and my company move faster and, ultimately, achieving far more than would otherwise be possible.
Your perceived negativity of a situation can be lessened with the right frame of mind.
Continually reassess your business: where you must be great, where you can be great and what doesn’t matter when it comes to competing.
The more you do so, the more you can serve as an example to others.
As a leader, you could be failing your team members if you aren't properly communicating change.
The budget of time is fixed for everyone: seven days a week, 24 hours a hour. Make the most of it.
Respect that we all learn and explore new insights at different speeds.
Scale as a service is making it possible for small businesses to limit their risk and focus on their competitive advantage.
Structuring your time frees up your mental energy to focus on the present moment.
Strive toward improvement but recognize that perfection is not the end goal.
It's important to continue to learn and grow, even after you graduate.
How can you proactively increase your happiness?
Ideas come and go but your mission should withstand the test of time.
Put a plan into place so everyone on your team is playing to their strengths.
Focus on constantly improving yourself. You will be surprised at what you're capable of.
Can you increase minimum wages company-wide and still be cash flow positive?
Are some of your current business/HR policies outdated?
There's something really special when the whole team gets together under one roof to brainstorm, relax and socialize.
Never stop improving.
Not only will bringing in the wrong people not have the positive impact you want, but they can actually hold back the right resources in your company.
Humans are far more motivated when we feel strong ownership and responsibility for something.
Just like a relationship, building your startup requires hard work and dedication so that you don't fall "out of love" too soon.
At Rented, Inc. our mission is to sustainably support local communities in creating a global reach on their own terms. We currently do this by strengthening and supporting local rental management companies through access to world-class talent, technology, and resources. Relax. It’s Rented.
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