Startup to $15 billion: Finding your life’s work with Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein

Harley Finkelstein bounced from DJ gigs to a t-shirt business to law school before joining a small internet startup in 2009 dedicated to helping creators and entrepreneurs make money doing what they loved.  Today, he's the Chief Operating Officer of that same “startup" called Shopify now serving more than 600,000 businesses - and worth more than $15 billion. 

In this episode we cover a lot of ground - from his early gigs, through struggle, failure, rejection and rebirth…and now thriving. I’ve had the good fortune to know Harley for nearly a decade now and his personal journey is both an inspiration and a play book of sorts for anyone who wants to tap into their life’s work - and what to do when you catch the ride of your dreams.

You’ll also be inspired to know that:

• Building and creating may feel like a lonely process, but you're not alone. Harley shares his time tested strategies to get through the tough times and find inspiration to keep going.
• It’s an exciting time for creators. No longer do you need to get your product into a big box store. You can use the power of the internet and social media to reach your audience, cut out so many of the middle men and make great $$$.
• It’s never been a better time to serve even the most niche community. As Harley says, every niche has a mass market on the internet.
• and more…

Enjoy!

Today's episode is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world's largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top experts -- Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times best selling authors and the best entrepreneurs of our times.