Today I spent an hour in the mind of an entrepreneurial genius. Awesome Inc hosted a mentor session for our Awesome Fellowship Companies led by Jim Host, founder of Host Communications (later sold to IMG). I left educated and inspired.

Here are my biggest takeaways:

1. Communicate effectively - If you’ve ever heard Mr. Host talk, you’ve witnessed a powerful display of storytelling to make a series of points. Mr. Host uses stories to forge a connection between himself and the listener. He is one of the best communicators that I’ve ever observed and has a way of using just the right amount of words, not too few, not too many.

2. Do everything with honesty and integrity - Mr. Host tells a story about how he used to tell people when they started working for him that he has two rules; 1. Don’t misrepresent yourself or this company…ever, and 2. Don’t ever steal 5 cents from this company. If you break either of these rules you are fired on the spot, no second chances. If he can’t trust you, then he won’t work with you. If you have a struggle with something else, be it drugs, alcohol, a personal issue, or a learning curve problem, he is always open to helping you fix the problem. He will give you a second chance and even pay for you to seek the help necessary to solve the problem. Just don’t break his rules about honesty and integrity.

3. Be organized - Write down the 5 most important things you need to do each day and do the hardest thing first. We all struggle with procrastination. At the same time, we all love checking things off lists. Mr. Host has been practicing this since he was young entrepreneur and always completes his list of 5 important things starting with the most difficult thing first.

4. Confidence - You have to have faith in yourself if you expect others to have faith in you. Good entrepreneurs, leaders, and employees believe in themselves and believe they can get the job done. This leads to opportunities and allows you to bounce back from failures (which are inevitable). In 1971, Mr. Host ran for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky. He decided to avoid all external fundraising and completely self funded his campaign. He lost the election. At this point he was over $70,000 in debt and was down to $132 in his bank account. But he wasn’t going to give up on himself, because he believed in himself. He bounced back and started Jim Host & Associates (which he often jokes about not having any associates at the time). Within a year he paid off all of his debt and was on his way to creating a company that would later do over $140 million in annual revenue. He never lost confidence that he could win.