key takeaways
- First jobs can teach valuable customer-service and sales skills and accepting big mistakes.
- Here’s what eight business veterans learned from their early roles and what advice they have for young people today.
Every entrepreneur starts somewhere – often with a first job far from the boardroom or venture capital.
From mowing lawns to selling computers, knives, and more, some of the most creative startup programs are those that challenge youth to learn new skills, test their customer-service and sales abilities, and give them the autonomy to make and learn from their mistakes.
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This National Entrepreneurship Month, entrepreneur Hear from eight business leaders about the valuable lessons they learned from their first jobs and the best advice they can give aspiring founders today.
1. Eric Levin
Levin, 56, is the founder and CEO of Seattle, Washington-based wine discovery app sellertracker,
What was your first job?
I convinced a local Apple dealer to help me sell Macintosh computers during spring break in 1984. My life changed after that first glimpse of Mac.
What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from that first job that helped you succeed as a founder?
That experience taught me three important things: First, great products sell themselves when they intuitively solve real problems. Second, being a user of your own product gives you invaluable information – I was both selling and using Macs then, just as I actively use SellerTracker today. And finally, real passion is contagious. My enthusiasm for Mac resonated with customers, and later, my love of wine and solved a problem I personally encountered with other collectors. Those principles have been the foundation of everything I’ve built.
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What is your best advice for young people who want to start their own business?
Make something you need yourself. CellarTracker started because I had a wine storage problem that needed solving. I wasn’t trying to take advantage of a market trend or create something for someone else. When you’re your own problem solver, you have a deeper understanding of what works and what doesn’t, and your passion will sustain you through the inevitable challenges of building a business.
2. Amir Loloi
Loloi, 66, is the Dallas, Texas-based CEO and founder of the rug company loloi,
Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. Amir Loloi and his sons, Steven and Cyrus (left to right).
What was your first job?
I moved to Texas from Iran at the age of 16 and spoke very little English. I got my first job at Burger King and learned the language while learning customer service. I sold ice cream in an ice cream truck, and my entrepreneurial instincts encouraged me to move forward – eventually buying my own ice cream truck.
You should learn a lot about what you love to do and become good at it.
What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from that first job that helped you succeed as a founder?
No matter what work was given to me, I always did more than it. Taking advantage of every opportunity and living up to the expectations of that role has helped me grow throughout my life.
What is your best advice for young people who want to start their own business?
You should learn a lot about what you love to do and become good at it. Know that the only way you will be successful is to surround yourself with people who are smarter and stronger than you to be able to grow your business. Ultimately, treat people the way you want to be treated.
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3. Karen Robinovitz
Robinovitz, 53, is the co-founder and co-CEO of the New York City-based slime brand and immersive experience. Sloomu Institute,
Image Credit: Courtesy of Slumoo Institute
What was your first job?
It was 1994, and I was an assistant women’s daily wearThe original trade newspaper of the fashion and beauty industry that still exists online today.
What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from that first job that helped you succeed as a founder?
Like any other person in my first job, I also made mistakes and I still think about those lessons today. I remember submitting a photo taken of George Marciano by WWD new York Times For syndication. This was pre-Google, pre-high-speed Internet, pre-email. I trusted the photo department and didn’t triple check it was the right shot before sending it NYT,
Next day or two, NYT The image ran in the newspaper…and it was George’s brother, Paul. NYT It had to be withdrawn, WWD had to refund them – and it all came down to me. Basically I was read the riot act – and let me tell you – I never missed a detail again! My lesson was to set up a double or triple checking system for any project.
What is your best advice for young people who want to start their own business?
No one can do all this. Surround yourself with people who are strong in areas you are not – and collaborate.
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4. Jake Bullock
Bullock, 37, is the co-founder and CEO of the Arizona-based THC-infused beverage brand can,
Image Credit: Courtesy of Cain
What was your first job?
My first job was to mow the lawn.
What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from that first job that helped you succeed as a founder?
Mowing the lawn can be a daunting task, it may seem like it will take a lot of time to complete. I learned to just put one foot in front of the other and focus on the next step instead of thinking about the entire effort. This lesson is great advice for founders riding the roller coaster of positives and negatives: You just have to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.
What is your best advice for young people who want to start their own business?
Just start it. You will learn a lot from the experience. Often, there is pressure to have the right idea and the right founding team, but if you are working at full speed you can solve all of those issues. If you’re just thinking about it, you’ll never actually do it.
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5.Esther Hallam
Hallam, 46, is the founder of the Woodstock, New York-based baby formula brand Nara Organics,
Image Credit: Courtesy of Nara Organics
What was your first job?
My first “real” job was when I was 16. I was an office assistant in a consulting firm headquartered in my small town. Every day after school, I supported five partners in various administrative tasks. I remember their database engineer teaching me all about Structured Query Language (SQL) databases, and this was a key learning that had a direct impact on my future career as a product manager (although I didn’t know it then).
What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from that first job that helped you succeed as a founder?
Learn by helping. I did all the remedial administration work for this company, and I really understood how they run their business by doing the invisible work. Similarly, I get to know every aspect of my business by helping with the grunt work. For example, when we were researching and developing our formula in a lab, I washed the equipment because I was not a scientist. But washing equipment really helped me understand how the manufacturing process works.
What is your best advice for young people who want to start their own business?
Just do it, and especially for young people: you have time. You will never be ready, and there will never be a right time, which means you are always ready, and there is always a right time to start. After that, it’s constantly based on your integrity, and you enjoy the journey.
6. David Yeom
Yeom, 50, is the CEO of the Los Angeles, California-based online invitation company to evict,
Image Credit: Courtesy of Awit
What was your first job?
My first job out of college was doing audit and tax consulting at Arthur Andersen in Downtown LA. My first customer engagement? Three days in a row of photocopying stacks of documents. It was humbling, exhausting work, especially during peak periods when 100-plus hour weeks were the norm.
Talk to as many people as possible about your ideas.
What lessons from that first job helped you succeed as a business leader?
Despite the long hours, it was incredibly rewarding. I had the opportunity to work with talented people and fast-growing companies, which was an amazing learning environment. I was shy and nervous about public speaking, but I had to present often – those experiences pushed me out of my comfort zone and built the confidence and character that led me on the path to entrepreneurship.
What is your best advice for young people who want to start their own business?
The best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to talk about your ideas to as many people as possible – especially those who have walked a similar path. It takes a village to build a business, and you never know who might become a co-founder, investor, or key team member along the way.
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7. Meenakshi Lala
Lala, 45, is the CEO of a New York City-based online flower delivery company urbanstems,
What was your first job?
My first job was in fashion, and it shaped everything about how I lead today. It was fast, demanding and deeply creative – you had to think on your feet, make quick decisions and be incredibly close to the customer.
What lessons did you learn from those early roles that helped you succeed as a CEO?
Those early experiences taught me the importance of balancing creativity with agility, flexibility, and operational discipline – these lessons have remained with me ever since.
Fashion taught me to move fast but be intentional and lead with both instinct and structure. It also taught me to think brand first – every decision from product to people should reflect who you are and what you stand for.
Those lessons made UrbanStems a natural next step – a chance to bring that same mix of speed, creativity and purpose to a completely different world.
8. Ben Witte
Witte, 37, is the founder and co-CEO of Los Angeles, California-based Relaxation Beverages Holiday,
What was your first job?
My first real job was selling Cutco knives, a job that focused on personal sales.
What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from that first job that helped you succeed as a founder?
Although selling knives was not my hobby, it taught me how to work and how to make sales. I learned early on what rejection feels like, and amid the ups and downs of any startup journey, it’s a feeling entrepreneurs are forced to get comfortable with.
What is your best advice for young people who want to start their own business?
Being told “no” is inevitable, but it’s not a signal to stop. That feeling of rejection that I learned at my first job seemed defeating, but as a startup founder, I quickly learned that every “no” is a valuable piece of feedback. Throughout Recess’s journey, I followed my vision from day one despite any skepticism from investors, consumers, etc. – and now we have grown relaxation beverages into a mainstream category.
