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Lifelong Entrepreneur Shares the Secret Ingredient To Growing Your Business Lifelong entrepreneur, Takuya Davis, has an unparalleled track record of growing businesses beyond targets. He explains why people are the secret of his success

By John Stanly

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Takuya Davis

The collaboration of people can achieve incredible things. Whether its scientific advances, mountaineering exploits, or pushing the bounds of human endeavor, working together is the key to producing results. However, the impact of collaboration does not have to be as grandiose as these examples.

A carer helping someone dress in the morning; a colleague volunteering to mentor someone; the growth of a company: all of these are born out of the human desire to connect, to expand, to live. Creating something out of nothing can be taken for granted, but the process is just as awe-worthy as landing on the moon or cresting Everest.

A business that grows from a small seed to an international franchise model is a force for good that spreads across a country or a continent, changing lives and supporting families with jobs. The passion that entrepreneur Takuya Davis feels for his work is evidenced in the expansion of each and every business he has started or joined.

Whilst studying medicine at Washington University, Davis started a local company, painting houses over three summers. The enjoyment of running and growing a business superseded his plans to be a surgeon and he soon found himself becoming a franchisor and growing it beyond all expectation.

Davis has gone on to work across a number of industries. Whether it's construction or solar panels; recruitment or hospitality, Davis has accelerated every business to great heights. He maintains that it does not matter what the business itself is; it is the principle of people that counts.

Putting the right person in the right spot at the right time has power that will ensure the skyrocketing success of any company. His Phoenix-based recruitment company, Mitsuoka & Company, focuses on the alignment of values and vision. This combination ensures long-term alliances that benefit both the candidate and the business.

People are not machines that can work in a vacuum. A host of different factors can affect working capacity on a day-to-day basis. Davis understands the innate intricacy of motivation and therefore takes a holistic approach to recruitment. He does not just note the professional goals of a candidate. His recruiters will discover what matters to each person, whether it's on a physical, personal, emotional, or spiritual level.

This unique attitude ensures the right people are placed where they belong in the world of work, their values being deeply affiliated with those of the organisation. The vision each company has for its future is key to hiring the people who will help get them there. High performance is not the only indicator of a candidate's success, people can thrive in all sorts of different ways given the right environment.

Davis believes you get out of life what you put in. Whatever your venture may be, it is simply a vehicle for the effort and achievement of your particular goal. Betting on yourself is a key characteristic of any entrepreneur and Davis is no different. Trusting your instincts and being open to learning from others are qualities that have got him where he is today.

With a peripatetic childhood covering 14 schools, it is second nature for Davis to adapt to new situations. This flexibility allows him to take the long view and bounce back easily from any short term obstacles. Staying open to the constant flux of life has served him well in business, because he can evolve and stay nimble in changing times.

The pandemic heralded unprecedented challenges, but he was able to innovate quickly and switch to virtual demonstrations for the home improvement business. They adapted sales and marketing techniques, focusing on social media as well as digital marketing growth in lieu of the traditional grassroots tactics. This receptivity helped Davis transform a small company into a multi-million dollar concern. By being open to new business models, Davis learned the art of scalability and has experience of being on both sides of the franchising vehicle.

Davis directs just as much drive and passion to his personal as well as business goals. Using a vision board, he maps out his destiny and focuses attention on achieving it. He aims to help people in different ways, minimise his carbon footprint and fully immerse himself in family life with his wife and two children.

Learning from many mentors and role models, Davis has been influenced by the tenacity of his parents, as well as the dedication of his martial arts instructor. Becoming a father has also been a deeply felt learning curve, inspiring a new view of the world. As Davis adapts his boundless view to new horizons, we await his future ventures with great anticipation.

John Stanly

Start-up mentor

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