The One Mantra That This CEO Runs His Life and Business On

General Assembly to solve the global skills gap. Several years, 20 campuses and over 40,000 skilled graduates later, Hargreaves has moved on to focus on transforming another industry: rental housing.

He is now the founder and CEO of Common, one of the leading co-living startups with residences in four cities: New York, D.C., Chicago, and San Francisco. Common tenants rent out a bedroom and share the living room, kitchen and bathrooms. Common handles everything from weekly cleanings to community events.

brunchwork

Common CEO Brad Hargreaves mentors brunchwork members

At a recent brunchwork, Hargreaves shared three strategies for entrepreneurs eager to tackle big industries.

1. Have a long-term vision.

“One of the biggest challenges I see people face is that they don’t know what they want,” Hargreaves said. "When I mentor people and coach them through their entrepreneurial journeys, a lot of it comes down to: What do you want?” 

Ask yourself: Where do I want to be in 5 years? Understanding what you want to do with your life is a question that everybody faces. It also one of the hardest to answer.

You should also ask yourself: What do I obsess over? What problems do I need to solve?

For Hargreaves, the problem was rental housing. During his time at General Assembly, the problem he perceived with the rental housing market kept gnawing at him.

Not just our students, but our instructors, our employees, and my friends would move to New York and they would spend $2,000 [per month] and they all lived in a basement in East Village.

Rental housing and education are the two major areas of consumer spending for people between 22 and 35. Both areas have a poor ROI, according to Hargreaves. "It’s a lot of money out of our pocket and it’s unclear what that money gets us," he said.

2. Set quarterly goals.

It’s good to have a vision in your head of where you’re going to be in five years. If you want to grow as a leader and as a business, it's critical to also set short-term goals.

“Quarterly is a good cadence," Hargreaves said about setting goals. "It is long enough that you can make meaningful progress, but short enough that you’re not going to get off track."

Measure and analyze your progress at regular intervals. You can color-code your progress for each goal: red (failed), yellow (made progress) and green (succeeded).

3. Stay grounded.

There is a reason the entrepreneurial journey is often compared to a roller coaster ride. One minute you may be burnt out, stressed and feel like a complete failure. The next minute, you feel invincible.

"Anxiety kills my productivity," Hargreaves admits. The mantra he lives by is:

“It’s never as bad as it seems, nor is it as good.”

Brad Hargreaves has always been driven to solve big problems. In 2011, he cofounded General Assembly to solve the global skills gap. Several years, 20 campuses and over 40,000 skilled graduates later, Hargreaves has moved on to focus on transforming another industry: rental housing.