Not too long ago I gave a speech at a college here in the city. One component of my speech dealt with networking and maintaining relationships with people that you meet.
After the speech someone asked me: “I’m always trying to network with people, but many times when I get someone’s number or email and I try to reach out to them, they never respond. What should I do, keep on trying or just forget about it?”
That’s an excellent question and a situation that I’d bet many of us have experienced throughout our entrepreneurial journeys. There isn’t a simple answer to the question, because, really, it can go both ways.
It depends on two factors:
How badly you want to connect with this person
How much can your business/life benefit from actually getting to know this person
There have been numerous occasions when I have met someone at a party, event, or social gathering and exchanged contact information, usually business cards. And when I tried reaching out with a friendly email or phone call to chat, they simply didn’t care to respond…no matter if I followed-up with another series of calls or emails.
When that happens, personally, I’m done with that person. I value my time too much to be trying and trying to get in contact with a person that, seemingly, doesn’t want anything to do with me.
Sure, maybe they went on vacation or a family issue arose. If that’s the case, and they have heard your messages and read your emails, then it’s their responsibility to get in touch with you at this point, not yours.
Now, here’s the flipside: If you can really see your business benefiting from knowing this person and maybe even your life changing, then you should stay on it. When you only have time to lose and the world to gain by knowing this person, then just go for it!
After the first few calls and emails, to which he/she didn’t respond to, begin shooting off quarterly emails — once every 3 months. Remind him/her of who you are, where you met (the occasion) and a reason as to why the two of you should meet-up again.
Keep your name fresh in their minds and don’t let up. Sometimes people (re: entrepreneurs) will ignore you because they feel that you can’t offer them anything (lame…) or because they don’t see a way that they can help you. So they lock you out, go figure. But, if you stay persistent and show them that you are busting your ass to reach out to them, a wise entrepreneur will respect your persistence and extend some time to you, eventually.
But at the end of the day, your most important asset as an entrepreneur is your time. Respect your time. Cherish your time. And know that your time should be valued. If someone doesn’t value you, then you shouldn’t value them. Don’t waste your time chasing a person who isn’t worth it.
I’ve seen the links and heard the buzz about Justin.tv all over the net. But today, while reading about it in the May issue of Business 2.0, I finally decided to find out what all the hype was about.
Simply put, Justin is a young entrepreneur living in San Francisco and rocking a video camera on his baseball cap to record his life, all day long. Justin also provides a live chat room on the site for viewers to connect. I love the concept.
While browsing through his site, I spent some time watching some archived clips of Justin’s life. I saw a movie of a bunch of people drinking beers and singing a tune, what appeared to be a Justin.tv theme song.
Then I flipped over to the live recording session: Justin is actually eating lunch with his parents right now. Mmm…Mmm… and it’s making me hungry.
Though this may seem corny or a waste of time to many people, I really don’t think so. I think Justin is providing a useful service to entrepreneurs across the world by giving them a glimpse (actually, the whole thing) into the real life of a real entrepreneur. It’s amusing, funny, and education all at the same time.
I think that all entrepreneurs should do something like this and share their lives with the world. I would certainly subscribe to other young entrepreneurs video feeds and watch.
A few years ago, when I was just starting to get into entrepreneurship and also the stock market, one of my biggest dreams was to, one day, take a company that I created public. You know, issue an IPO (initial public offering) on the NASDAQ or the NYSE.
For those of you unfamiliar with taking a company public, here’s the quick rundown: Say you own a candy company and you are doing very well, but you’d like to expand into new territories. Well, you need more money to do that, right? So, what you would do is contact an investment banking firm, the firm would assess how much of the company you should sell to the public and then decide on an appropriate price per share, then through a series of other investment banking firms, brokerage houses, (called, the syndicate), your shares would be released onto the open market for anyone interested in owning a piece of your company. You would then, if all goes well, have the necessary money that you needed to expand your operations and the public would now own a certain amount of your company.
Of course it’s much more detailed than that, but the basic concept is giving up a chunk of your company to raise a large sum of cash to reinvest back into your business. In street terms, it’s called “floating” your company onto the market, and the “float” is the amount of shares you dump onto the market for the public to snap up.
Nowadays, I’m not so interesting in brining a company public one day, especially with the pitfalls that this country is facing with the Sarbanes Oxley Act, which is extremely prohibitive when it comes to going public.
But the concept of going public got me thinking about one particular young entrepreneur. Mark Zuckerberg of facebook. Now here’s an entrepreneur who turns down a 1 billion dollar offer to sell his beloved facebook. I admire him for his balls (wait, that didn’t come out right). Let’s try it again: I admire his boldness and courage to turn down such a huge offer.
My hunch tells me that he’s holding out for something bigger. Some sort of investment vehicle that will make him more than a billionaire one day. A source that knows Mark once told me that “Mark declined the deal because he wants to become a billionaire from the deal and the 1 billion offer wouldn’t be enough to make him one.”
So, want to know what I think? I think that Mark is holding out to go public. I think that facebook is gearing up to offer in IPO within the next 18-24 months. And, I think that it makes sense.
The IPO would give the army of students who truly love facebook the chance to own a piece of it and to financially share in the growth of the company. And, of course, facebook would make billions in the process. Money that can be used to make facebook a much better service for everyone. Not a bad deal.
With all the buzz and media continuing to shine light on facebook, I think it’s fair to say that there will be a certain level of Irrational Exuberance around the purchasing of the stock. In other words, many investors will blindly dump tons of cash into the stock without studying the fundamentals because it’s “cool!!!”
Sound familiar, ahm… tech bubble stock crash. Not to say there’s another bubble forming, but let’s just say that if there is… it may be facebook’s IPO (froth), that starts generating some bubble action.
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I see a lot of young entrepreneurs rooting for other young entrepreneurs all over the map. Generally speaking, whenever I come across a group of young entrepreneurs in a gathering, I see them expressing support, concern, and passion for each others’ businesses.
I see them swapping business cards and talking about how partnerships can be formed. I see them offering assistance and sharing ideas about how they can help one another.
When young entrepreneurs present on stage, I see other young entrepreneurs responding with great alacrity and intensity. I see other young entrepreneurs rushing to speak to them after they’ve presented.
Want to know what else I see a lot of nowadays?
I see a lot of older entrepreneurs showing blatant pessimism, disdain, and outright negativity towards the younger generation of entrepreneurs. Something is definitely different and noticeable about the way older (35+ years-old) entrepreneurs react to the younger crowd of entrepreneurs (30 and under).
I’ve not only experienced this first hand, but I’ve spoken with numerous other young entrepreneurs who have faced the firing squad from older entrepreneurs/businessmen (who want to be entrepreneurs, but aren’t…and will end up working a 9 to 5 forever).
I don’t think it’ll take a degree in Rocket Science to figure out some of the reasons why such reactions from older entrepreneurs/businessmen occur. Let’s take a stab at a few possibilities:
Fear:
Frankly, I think that many older people fear younger entrepreneurs because of the many feats that we have accomplished at such a young age. We are moving at a speed that has never been seen before. We are the first generation to really exploit the advances made with the Internet / WWW. When older entrepreneurs see 18 – 22 year-olds building, literally, multi-million dollar — 1B dollar businesses, I think that a certain level of anxiety is provoked, which leads to fear, which leads to trying to put a stop to it… and so forth.
Security:
Some older people may be thinking about a lack of security. Let’s face it, young entrepreneurs are creating companies and hiring employees. And the fact of the matter is, young entrepreneurs are more likely to hire young employees — people they can relate to better in a social respect. Older businessmen may feel that if young entrepreneurs continue to grow at the rate that they are, then the future outlook on jobs may seem bleek.
Jealously:
Could it be that the older generation is jealous of our accomplishments? Could it be that they never expected us to accomplish so much at such a young age? I think that this holds true with certain members of the older generation — no doubt. Let’s face it, older entrepreneurs/businessmen aren’t immune to jealousy and may very well be expressing their feelings through negative comments to entrepreneurs such as “that’s never going to work… your idea is horrible… not going to happen!… keep dreaming!” It’s one thing to be critical about an idea, but it’s another thing to completely bash a concept with a slew of negative remarks that add no real insight or ways to improve the concept. I absolutely hate when I see other entrepreneurs — young or old — conduct themselves in such a manner.
For whatever reason this is happening, anyone would be naive to deny that it is, in fact, happening. Entrepreneurs, of all ages, should be in each other’s corners no matter what. Age, on the road to success, shouldn’t be a factor and shouldn’t be used as a tool to bash someone’s ideas or concepts. We’re in this together.
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“Discontent is at the root of the creative process… the most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.”
– Eric Hofferer
One of the things that separate entrepreneurs from everyone else is their continued dissatisfaction with the world. As entrepreneurs, we always want more, we want better, and we constantly strive to reach new heights.
Look at people like Bill Gates, Branson, and Jobs — each one of them have all the money in the world and can sit back and relax for the rest of their lives. But no, they continue to strive on, continue to stay hungry, and continue to “want more.”
In order to truly become successful in life, I think that you have to have the sort of mentality that doesn’t put a level on success. You have to think of success as an ongoing journey that never really ends.
Sure, it’s great to set goals and be happy when you achieve them, but the point is that, as an entrepreneur, goal setting should “never” stop. Once you accomplish something, the bar should be set higher and higher, and higher, and higher.
You should never stop climbing that ladder. If you’re just in it for the money, then you’ll jump of that ladder when you make a few mill’. If you’re in it for the fame, the you’ll jump off the ladder when you’ve appeared on a few radio/TV shows.
BUT, if you’re in it for all of those things AND something greater, something that’s life changing, then you’ll never jump off the ladder and you’ll continue to rise and rise.
It’s okay to be dissatisfied, discontent, and not fulfilled with the world. Those are the exact ingredients that’ll fuel your journey as an entrepreneur trying to change the world. If we were all satisfied in the world, then entrepreneurship would not exist.
Russell Simmons, co-founder of the legendary hip-hop recording label, Def Jam. Founder of clothing/fashion line, Phat Farm and Baby Phat. Founder of production company, Def Comedy Jam. Founder of sneaker company, Run Athletics. And the list goes on…
Russell Simmons is a true entrepreneur, in every aspect of the word. He had a vision of using hip-hop as solution to the problems of the underprivileged kids living in the inner-city. His passion for music and helping people fused into an entrepreneurial mission that laid the seeds to his empire.
Russell began promoting artists in his early days, taking unknown rap artists and sharing their words with the world. Giving them the opportunity to use their words as hooks to grapple their way out of poverty and hard times. He saw opportunity where other promoters saw risk. Most people weren’t interested in promoting rap artists back in the day, so he took it upon himself to exploit this particular niche.
He dropped out of college to pursue his promoting company full-time and soon become deeply entrenched in the industry. He worked tirelessly — bootstrapping and using grassroots methods — to promote rappers. Such names as L.L. Cool J, Beastie Boys, etc.
Within a few years, in 1984, he founded his record label, Def Jam. From that point on, he went on to growing into a billion dollar company.
What Simmons did was nothing short of brilliant. He was able to offer a remedy to the woes of the black youth who felt that they had no other options in life. He created a vision for them, a dream. Something to aspire to. And with those issues and needs to fill, he founded an empire that changed the music industry, the world.
You, too, can lock in on the wants and needs of a particular group and build and industry around it. This is exactly how industries are created — to fill a need for a particular group of people. Russell found such a need (niche), so can you.
You all know how much I hate the fact that colleges are ignoring young entrepreneurs by not offering courses in entrepreneurship, you know how I bash the traditional / theoretical teachings that most business classes use in their courses, and you know that I’m disgusted by the amount of non-entrepreneur professors who end up teaching business classes throughout our university systems.
Well, today, just a few hours ago, I learned of a new program called the Institute for Entrepreneurs at Grand Canyon University. I sat down with Danny Kessler, one of the founding students of the program, and discussed what he’s been up to over at the institution.
I have to tell you, from what I hear about the program, I’m definitely breathing a bit easier and am so delighted to hear that such a school was created.
I won’t go into the history of the institution, you can learn that from the site, but what I’d like to discuss is how the actual classes are conducted — this is what’s really interesting.
I asked Danny to describe a typical class for me and I’ve summarized/paraphrased his responses below:
So, tell me about the professors. What’s their background?
All the professors are entrepreneurs with real experience. I’m currently taking a PR/Marketing class and the professor ran a multi-million dollar PR company that she recently sold to Intel. All of the professors are quality and have real experience.
What do you actually do in class?
Class is like one big open discussion. We all throw around ideas, discuss concepts, and help one another out by offering suggestions for their business. We also spend a lot of time reading blogs and other websites. For instance, if we are learning about PR we may all go to prweb.com and discuss different strategies from that site. We don’t use books and cover theory, we actually “do” things and engage in real conversations about entrepreneurship.
Each class we have a speaker come and talk to us about a particular entrepreneurial subject. We have CEOs, consultants, networking gurus, etc. come and talk to us and answer our questions. They provide valuable suggestions and solutions for us to implement into our own businesses.
How long is the program?
Since it’s incorporated into the Grand Canyon curriculum, you still have to take liberal arts courses to satisfy your full degree. However, for the entrepreneurship program, you meet once a week for 4 hours. Each course is given 8 weeks, 2 course per semester.
Do the professors ask for your input of how the class should be run?
Absolutely! They constantly ask “what do you think about the way I am running the class? What can we improve? What can we add/modify/cut?” The professors are basically running the classes based upon what the “students” want to learn, not the other way around.
Any homework?
Homework consists of things like pitching your business idea to the class and trying to sell them on your idea. We don’t get traditional homework like something you’d get in a business class. Our homework is hands-on, not questions that we study out of a book.
So, as you can see, this entrepreneurship program is quite disruptive. I love what these guys are doing. It’s great to know that we are heading in the right direction when I see programs like this popping up. I wish the Institute for Entrepreneurship the best and look forward to seeing them grow.
Rock on!
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I’ve often wrote articles in the past, and also had discussions with fellow young entrepreneurs explaining how dangerous it can be to try to make business decisions too quickly without properly thinking it over and taking things slow.
Well maybe this just isn’t always the case. My older brother is also an entrepreneur who has owned and managed several small businesses for about five years. In fact this summer he’s actually leaving his full-time job as a Math Teacher to become a full-time entrepreneur, because business is so good.
Well anyway my older brother is very gifted; he can take a great idea and turn it into some great profit very quickly. Recently while visiting another city he noticed that at a festival, there was a huge row of about 30 “Port-a-Potties,” with absolutely no sinks or water in sight.
He thought to himself, “Yuk! That’s sick;” all these people are using the restroom, but have nowhere to wash their hands. Then that’s when the light bulb went off, and he got the idea to sell hand sanitizer along this area of portable restrooms. He soon realized that in just two weeks there was going to be the largest crowd of the year converging on this particular city’s streets, for a HUGE festival.
There would be an extra 600,000 people in town attending this event, but he only had a few weeks to get this project up off the ground and set up in time to meet the huge demand and opportunity. I mentioned that maybe he should just wait to the next year, so he could do proper research, but he didn’t agree.
So he quickly did some market research, wrote a detailed business plan, and contacted wholesalers and manufacturers/ distributors of hand sanitizer products. Then he came up with his price points, his expense reports, his break-even points, and profit margins.
Once he had his detailed report, he went to his elite group of private investors that he has consistently used over the years. He has access to about five investors, all who are very wealthy and successful, and have learned to trust in my brother’s ventures and projects.
After getting his investment capital, he struck an awesome deal with a manufacturer with a great wholesale price. Then he got all his licensing work done, received his permit to set up a vending booth at the festival, purchased his supplies, and hired individuals to help run the booth, and do foot marketing/sales.
After this, he simply tied up other loose ends and managed the whole project. Because he was able to strike an awesome deal with the manufacturer, he had a HUGE profit margin. So the project was an instant hit and he later made a great profit, even after paying his sales team, his investors and all the fees.
So judging by this example, maybe it isn’t always fitting to wait for things to work themselves out and maybe “time” is overrated. Or maybe this example is just an exception to the rule and my brother lucked out.
I’m not really sure. One thing that I do know is that you better make sure that you have a strong idea and plan in place. Also when you do get that magical idea, you must follow your gut when making decisions.
You never know what you could be embarking upon! There are no set rules in entrepreneurship and business; I think that’s what’s so cool about it! So remain true to yourself and be smart, I think you can’t go wrong with that combo.
Once a week while walking on 5th Ave here in New York City I invariably pass the Forbes Magazine building on the way to Washing Square Park. It’s a beautiful building that has a very strong and dominant look to it.
I’m not a fan of Forbes Magazine by any means. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I read an issue. However, I’m a fan of the building for a particular reason.
You see, every time I walk past the Forbes Magazine building, I don’t read it as such. I read it as “Mind Petals Magazine.” I completely ignore the fact that the building says “Forbes” on it and I simply see “Mind Petals” instead.
This way of thinking is very powerful for the entrepreneur. You shouldn’t only “think” about what you want to accomplish or where you want to be in the future, you really have to see it — you have to visualize it as if it’s really right in from of your face.
Really take the time — every single day — to visualize what you want out of life. See it appear right in front of your eyes. When you do this, you consciously and subconsciously creep closer and closer to making it a reality.
It keeps you motivated, hungry, and ambitious. We should all have something to visualize — to keep us going. For me, I visualize a large building filled with Mindpetalers who are inside working on changing the world and making things happen through young entrepreneurship.
If you couldn’t swim, would you jump into a pool of water without knowing just how deep it was? Umm, I doubt it! This would be a potential death risk.
You would want a clear idea as to just how deep that water was, because if it’s too deep, you’re going to keep your butt on shore.
So if this simple idea is easily understood, why do so many young entrepreneurs jump into the deep end when it comes to creating business ventures, without having the ability to swim, and without any knowledge about just how deep the “commerce waters” are that they are diving into?
In essence these young entrepreneurs are really just jumping in, “hoping” that the waters are not too deep, and praying that they don’t drown to death and go belly up.
I’ve been in this position; I created my first venture without proper knowledge about the operation, the market for my service, my targeted demographic, or the geographic market that I was hoping to operate in.
Some research efforts can become extremely complex, and there are many large marketing research firms that make billions of dollars a year in revenue by providing in-depth marketing analysis reports for large firms.
Obviously you might not be in a position to seek professional consultations from marketing research analysts, especially as a young start-up; so like everything else you may find yourself having to wear the hat of a research analyst.
The main thing to remember is just to touch on the basics, the most important aspects of what you need to know to make a decision as to whether you should enter a particular market, how you should enter that market, and what you plan to bring to the market.
These questions are definitely awesome starting points. With the advances of the Internet, researching markets and performing analysis has never been easier, because most of the information that you need will almost always be somewhere on the “Net.”
Also remember to use large firms to your benefit. If you are planning on entering a market selling sneakers online, why not study the buying habits of Nike’s customers, Reebok and all the others.
Even though you may plan to take a totally different approach, you still may be able to pick up on some very important knowledge by studying others who are in much larger markets.
These types of reports and case studies are usually available online with many different journals, and if you’re a college student these research journals are usually free through your campus library.
Just remember when you’re on the verge of creating a new venture or even expanding your current firm, always do your background checks and research to make sure you’re making the best decisions.
To make any business work, you need a team. That’s right Mr. (or Ms.) Entrepreneur, you can’t do it alone.
Throughout life, starting in kindergarten when you were taught how to share, you had to work with others. Some people are better at it than others, but nonetheless, you rarely have much choice in the matter. Despite the fact that we all must work together to attain any progress in any field, it’s notoriously hard to get people to work together.
When working in a group you may find that some individuals participate in what social psychologists call social loafing. In basic terms, it means that when you get a bunch of people in a group with the intention of working together, some won’t work up to caliber. They assume that others in the group will pick up the slack.
Take a minute to remember the last time you were put in a position where you had to work in a group. Did everyone work the same amount? Was it because they were unable to? Were they simply letting you do all the work?
If you put yourself in a position where you do all of the work for someone, what motivation do they have to do it themselves?
The key to getting the team to work together is really in getting them involved. If you’re not part of something, how can you feel responsible for the outcome?
The three C’s of motivation by Alfie Kohn (source) [PDF]
Choice
The people you are working with (or are working for you) should have some control over what they do, whether it simply picking what order things are done in, or getting to do the task of their choosing.
Collaboration
The people in the group need to be able to work together effectively and efficiently.
Content
You need to give everyone something to do. You can’t quite simply say to everyone the list of tasks that need to be done. You must assign everyone a task and ensure that they complete it.
Note: Be careful you also don’t micromanage. People must be given the reigns with enough slack to do with them what they will. You must be firm enough not to let them wander but also not too firm in that they begin to despise your actions.
Finding the correct balance between helping out and micromanaging is difficult, and can only come with experience.
Everyone has to work in a group. Make sure everyone has something too do, and does it. Just don’t be to hard on them if something isn’t perfect.
For the next two days, starting tomorrow, I’ll be volunteering my time to help run the GEL conference here in NYC. I’ve never been to a GEL conference, but I’ve heard good buzz about them in the past.
GEL (Good Experience Live), is sort of a mashup conference that explores business, technology, life, art, and society — live and in your face. You listen to speakers, go on tours around the city, work together on activities, and listen to great performances and demonstrations.
People from various industries and sectors will be there — entrepreneurs, business leaders, leading experts, technologists, bloggers, podcasters, you get the idea… And guess what, since I’m volunteering, it’s free! I’m not sure, but I think it costs around $1000 per ticket, so I’m very thankful to be attending.
If you’re an entrepreneur, you should be looking for volunteering opportunities wherever you can. Volunteering is good in many ways:
You get to attend for free (saves cash)
You are put into a pool of amazing people who you can network with and build relationships with
You enjoy the perks of free food & financial compensation (sometimes)
You get to listen to great speakers who can inspire you to improve your company
All of these things are great, but my favorite is “networking opportunities.” When you volunteer, you are put in a position to meet great people from all walks of life.
Every time I volunteer for an event, I make sure to throw on my “Mind Petals : Infinite Ideas To Bloom” tee-shirt with ” www.mindpetals.com” on the back. It’s amazing marketing, because everyone always asks “what’s Mind Petals?” or “do you run Mind Petals?” and that allows me to immediately spread the network and explain what it’s all about. So don’t forget to purchase at least one tee-shirt with your company name/URL on it if you know that you’ll be volunteering for many events.
All in all, volunteering is a great thing for everyone to do, especially entrepreneurs wanting to spread the word about their business and do some serious networking. Keep up to date with events in your area with Meetup.com and eventful.com.
Volunteering is a great investment for your business. For a small amount of your time and energy, you can end up gaining clients, partners, investors, and new ideas for your business. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Ever suggest a new product or service to someone and try and convince them to give it a shot? Sure you have, we all do that. But, did you ever try and share a product with someone and they automatically said something like: “no way! I use fill in the blank and I would never use that!”
Well, that person was probably a fanboy. A fanboy is someone who loyally uses your service and protects it at all costs. If someone tries to convince them to switch to another service, a fanboy will immediately disregard their suggestion and continue using his own brand.
Fanboys are the people who not only protect your brand, but also push it. They won’t just tell a few people about your service, they’ll tell the world. It’s almost like an obsession for them and anyone who tries to take away that obsession in regarded as the enemy. They’ll never let go of your brand.
Many of us are familiar with the term “connectors” — people who connect other people with your product or service. Some marketing books will refer to these people as “mega hubs” — a person ( mega hub) who makes it his job to connect to other people (hubs) and share your business with them.
Though a fanboy embodies the characteristics from both connectors and mega hubs, they take things a step further — they “protect and guard” your brand. These people will not only throw a brick in your face when you try and get them to switch to another product, they’ll do everything in their power to convince “you” to switch to their brand — to become a part of their club.
The fanboy is the guardian of your brand and will forever fight to preserve it. It would be safe to say that Apple, Inc has an army of fanboys protecting their brand. Mac users are very loyal and consider themselves a “family.” They love their Macs, love their iPods, and love everything about Apple. In fact, these Apple fanboys will be among the people who first purchase the iPhone as soon as it drops.
And guess what… they don’t give a $hit about how much it costs — price won’t be a factor for them. They’ll continue to support the brand no matter what, barriers don’t exist for them.
We’re all fanboys in some capacity or another. Think about… did you ever begin to use a brand and absolutely fall in love with it? Did you purchase their products no matter what price they were because you trusted the brand? Did you hold firm when someone tried to convince you to switch? If so, you’re a fanboy.
Now that you are familiar with a fanboy, how do you build your brand so that it’ll, in effect, build an army of fanboys for you — to protect, guard, and aggressively promote your product?
Think about your brand and how it affects the live of your customers. Think about how your brand can leave an everlasting positive impression in the minds of your loyal customers. Find out what makes your customers happy from using your service. When you do — when you have locked in on that information — do everything in your power to sustain that positioning. Never stop adding value to your brand, even when you “think” that your brand is successful. Making a brand successful never ends, it’s something done every single day that you run your company.
I came across this article from a post in MP Nation. If you are running a business and have ever thought about joining an incubator, taking on partners, or seeking Angel or Venture Capital, then you should read this:
For the first time since running my business I got back a tax return. YAY! It was definitely a good feeling, albeit it was only a few hundred dollars. Still, it’s good to know that my company is paying and receiving taxes. For the first few years, I didn’t do taxes for my business. I ignorantly thought that since I didn’t make any money — and only lost money — that I didn’t need to do my taxes. Good thing I have an accountant now, eh.
Ok, so the purpose of this article is to coax my fellow young entrepreneurs — you — to reinvest your taxes back into your business. Even if you don’t have a business now, but got back some cash from your 9to5, you should use that money for your startup.
For the past few months I’ve been wanting to get serious with podcasting, so I invested my tax returns into some sweet podcasting equipment (mixer and mic) and a podcasting book.
You should do the same. Think about what you need for your business. Do you need a new design, some new books, or maybe a new computers? Well, be smart, and use your tax returns to either outright purchase those things or to offset the expense.
Running a successful business has a lot to do with cash flow and investing money back into the business. I know… I know… maybe you’ve been dying to get that 80GB video iPod, or a new phone…. but think twice if you know that there are more pressing investments that you need to make, investments that will add value to your business and create a better experience for your customers.
And it goes way beyond your tax returns; you should always be thinking about ways to get more money back into you business. As a startup, you can’t afford to squander your money on unnecessary things when you have a company to keep alive.
Sure, have fund and spend money on toys and things that you want — no doubt. But, just make sure that you are spending “more” on your business. Your business should be your number one investment — always.
Over the weekend, while hanging with some young entrepreneurs, I was engaged in a conversation with someone and all of a sudden he said something very shocking… so shocking that it completely threw off the positive mood in the room. He said: “Fuck social entrepreneurship! I don’t believe in the whole concept of giving back.”
I was totally shocked when I heard that statement. I automatically knew, right away, that this person wasn’t going to go far in life. I wanted nothing to do with him after that statement. Now, a few days later, sitting on my computer writing this… I begin to think about customers and clients.
Why customers and clients? How do they relate to some negative jerk who is pretending to be an entrepreneur? Well, it got me thinking. Thinking about how the characters of your clients and customers can affect you and your business.
Just as that one bad apple destroyed the chemistry in the room with such a negative statement, can your clients and customers leave a bad impression on other customers because of their negative actions? Can they discourage other people to not use your service because they don’t want to be associated with negative people…even if they are just your customers and not a part of your company?
I guess the point here is: your customers and clients “are” a part of your company. It doesn’t matter if they weren’t a part of the founding team, it doesn’t matter if they didn’t come up with the idea, and it doesn’t matter if they don’t have an equity stake in the venture… they are still a part of your business and their actions can either positively or negatively impact your business. Your customers make or break your business.
We don’t have the power to control how our customers behave and the things that they say, but we should do everything in our power to disassociate ourselves with customers who can potentially rub other customers the wrong way.
For instance, say someone was a paying subscriber to Mind Petals magazine. He loves to read Mind Petals magazine and promotes it everywhere he goes. But one day I wake up and read that particular customer’s blog and find out that he was caught stealing computers from his college computer lab.
Personally, I’m going to drop that client right away — period. I simply wouldn’t want to be associated with such a person. Moreover, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for associating that person with my other clients. To me, that wouldn’t be fair.
Look at what happened to Imus. Quickly after his racist comments, he lost all of his corporate sponsors — American Express Co., Sprint Nextel Corp., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. Subsequently losing his job. Corporations didn’t want to be associated with his racist views and didn’t want their customers to be — in anyway — connected to someone who uses racist language.
Spend some time thinking about your customers. Get to know as many of your customers and possible. Become their friends, listen to them, and drop the bad ones that you come across. Keep your business positive and weed out the trash.
Last night I met up some fellow young entrepreneurs for drinks and chat here in NYC. Ryan Allis, Adam Gilbert, and Rich were all present and we had some great conversations about business, life, and the world.
Adam, who runs the successful and newly launched My Body Tutor, said something that left an impression on me: “I married my passion with entrepreneurship.”
For years Adam has had a passion for body, health, and fitness and he finally tied that passion together with entrepreneurship. I was ecstatic to hear how well he was doing with his new venture and even happier to know that he is finally doing what he truly loves in life.
We all, as young entrepreneurs, have to marry our passions. Starting a business around something that you truly don’t love is akin to cheating on your girlfriend behind her back – not good.
Simply put, it’s betrayal. You are betraying yourself by not following your true passions and desires. You need to find that special “something” that makes you infinitely happy, and marry it for life.
When you find yourself creating and running a company that you truly aren’t passion about, you need to get a divorce. Hopefully you’ll find out sooner than later, so you may be able to get a nice and clean annulment.
But, if you let it go on for too long, you are going to suffer even more. And, like in real-life divorces, not only you will suffer, but so will others. Your customers will suffer.
Think about it: if you spend a few years building a business around something that you truly aren’t passionate about and then all of a sudden decide to get with the program and start something you really love…guess who will suffer? All the clients that you amassed over the course of the business.
Now all of a sudden, you either end up shutting down the company or selling it to someone else — either way, your clients will be affected in some capacity, and most likely not to their benefit.
So the lesson is: before you start a business, before you go to bed with an idea, make sure that it’s something that you really love — something that you can see yourself pursuing for a lifetime. And if you currently don’t feel that with the company you are running, then it’s time for a divorce. Period.
As human beings, many of us have fear. We may fear public speaking, fear disapproval from our parents, fear getting bad grades in school, or, of course, fear death.
Same thing goes for entrepreneurs, we have fears as well. But in our case, fears can prevent us from reaching success and accomplishing what we have set out to do. Fear can lead to the entrepreneur’s demise.
Here are some common fears that I see many entrepreneurs facing:
Public Speaking
This one is a killer. So many entrepreneurs are extremely fearful to going up on a stage and talking about their company. Also, ever go to a entrepreneurial gathering and look around the room and see those entrepreneurs sitting alone and not talking to a single person? Com’on guys, snap out of it!
We have to fight though our fear of speaking to people and sharing what you have to say. It’s imperative that you are able to speak to groups of people about your business and even being able to network with strangers at gatherings. This is crucial to your success. Take a risk, start taking to people and see what happens.
Failure
You can’t be scared to fail. This is probably the largest hindrance for young entrepreneurs — the fear of never making it. You have to understand that we aren’t perfect and failure is — believe it or not — an ingredient for success.
Embrace failure. Use failure as fuel. Failure teaches us how to come back stronger. The greatest men alive have all failed in pursuit of fulfilling their dreams. Without their failures, they wouldn’t have learned to improve, revise, modify, and solve the problems of the world.
Failure is your friend, not your enemy.
Rejection
Don’t be scared of the word “no.” It’s only a word and doesn’t mean anything. As an entrepreneur, you’re going to hear the word “no” over and over and over again.
Potential partners are going to reject your ideas. Venture capitalist are not going to believe in your company and decide not to invest. Customers are going to say no to your service. All of these things will surely happen, no doubt.
But you must build up immunity for rejection. In order to succeed, you have to have thick skin and be able to keep on pushing forward no matter what anyone says to you. You can do ANYTHING you want. Ignore ANYONE that says otherwise.
If you find yourself being fearful, you have to fundamentally change the way you think. A mental shift must take place and you have to accept the reality of the matter. The reality is that no matter how many rejections you receive, or how scared you are to go up on stage to talk about your company, or how scared you are to fail, that none of these things are going to have a negative impact on your life if you “just do it” and don’t succeed.
In other words, you have to start thinking in terms of “so what” and “who cares” and not be worried about the outcomes of your actions — fight through your fears and allow them to melt away. In time, you will see that they are irrelevant and only serve to keep you immobile as an entrepreneur.
You only have one shot — one life — so don’t mess it up by letting your fears get the best of you. Fears will keep you on the sidelines and out of the game. Be courageous. Stay in the game.
As a young person — in your 20s — you are expected to have a job. Every time I go back home to visit my grandma she says:
Grandma:Dave… have you found a job yet. Me:No grandma…. I already have a job. I run my own business. Grandma: No, that’s nonsense. Get a job and make some money. That’s the only way. Me:Grandma, I love my business. It’s more than a job, it’s a life for me. Grandma:Nonsense!
I think that the conversation between my grandma and I underscores the general sentiment that a lot of older people share towards entrepreneurship. It’s as though they are still living in the olden days where everyone was forced to get a job from a young age and if they didn’t then they’d starve and end up on the streets.
These is this gross misconception that many of our parents and grandparents share that makes them believe that if we aren’t working a 9 to 5, then all of a sudden we are unemployed and aren’t making any money…that we are going to end up poor and depressed…and that we are wasting our time chasing dreams.
We are living in a new era, folks. The same metrics for success — go to college, get good grades, work for someone for the rest of your life, and retire “happy” — aren’t the same in this day ‘n age.
Give a creative person an Internet connection, a computer, and a few programming books, and he can create anything from $1000+ a month to a multi-million dollar empire in a matter of years. It’s happening all the time.
The truth of the matter is that all those young entrepreneurs out there who have decided not to go the 9 to 5 route and started a company while they were in college or upon graduating “are” employed.
Except their employer isn’t some boss breathing fire down their backs; their employers are customers, clients, and their dreams and aspirations to change the world.
We, young entrepreneurs, are employed by our desires to make it big and contribute to the world. We are employed by our curiosity and our burning desires to watch something we planted grow and prosper. We are employed by the problems that we see in the world as we try to create solutions for them.
Want a watch a movie that’ll change the way you think? That’ll help you to realize your true potential? Watch What the Bleep Do We Know and get ready for an awakening of the mind. This movie changed the way I think and helped me to understand that my potential — that all of our potential — is unlimited.
So there you are, a young entrepreneur just starting out with your first company. Most of your friends just got $45,000+ per year jobs upon graduating. They spend their paychecks as if they were disgustingly rich. Some of your entrepreneurial friends may even be running a successful business right now — making more money than you, have more clients than you, and appear to be having much more success than you.
And there you are… sitting at your desk… running a business, busting your ass, working long hours, not making much cash at all, and on top of all that… you have to watch your 9 to 5 friends bask in their “safe” paychecks every weekend and your entrepreneurial friends pull in buckets of cash with clients to spare.
So how do you feel? What’s running through your mind? Are you angry? Are you going to give up because you aren’t making cash? Are you going to cry like a baby?
I’m not sure how you feel, but if there is ever one time in your life that you should be ignorant, it should be now.
As a young entrepreneur running a startup, it’s imperative to be ignorant of the success of others. You can’t let that get to you. Same goes for your competition, you have to ignore them as well.
Turn a blind eye to what others are doing, how much people are making, and how strong other companies are, and just focus on what you are doing. Sure, stay on top of your game and learn how others are becoming successful and how larger companies are growing, but don’t let it affect your performance; don’t let it discourage you at all.
Professional golfer Zach Johnson just beat the best golf player in the world at the Masters, Tiger Woods. He stated that: “when I heard the crowd cheer for Tiger after he made a great shot, I would just block it out and stay focused on my own game.”
And it worked. This nobody golf player that wasn’t even recognized around the world is now sporting the legendary green jacket for Masters’ winners.
Stay focused. Worry about your business the most, not what other people are doing with theirs. Your business has to be of paramount importance to you.
Pictured above, serial entrepreneur John Florey, confidently pours his newly released “Kalashnikov Vodka” into the shot glasses of two very beautiful — ahh.. hot! — models.
Florey has stepped off the beaten path of Vodka brands and took a huge risk by modeling his entire brand off of deadliest killing machine ever made: the AK-47 assault rifle.
From the start of his venture, Florey has faced an onslaught of attacks towards his marketing tact to build an alcoholic beverage around an assault rifle. And not just any gun.
The AK-47 is a popular gun widely used among terrorist groups and violent activists around the globe. There are currently over 100 million of these weapons in circulation.
So it’s no wonder why such criticism towards the drink would arise. But Foley, like many other ambitious and hungry entrepreneurs, sees opportunity where others see risk.
When Foley came up with the idea to start this new line of Vodka, he immediately sought out the inventor of the AK-47, Russian General Mikhail T Kalashnikov for his expert advise on the gun and to get into the mind of the person behind such a remarkably designed and time-enduring piece of machinery.
To appease his critics Foley made it clear that:
“We are not promoting a militaristic brand, our product is a genuine Russian vodka”
But, of course, Foley undoubtedly used the popularity of the gun and all the connotations that follow it, to push his brand out of the box and separate it from the other vodka brands that have flooded the market over the years.
Upon close examination of the above bottle in the picture, you can clearly see the bottle was built to resemble the shape of a bullet. And there was no holding back with the strength of this vodka, packing a military strength of 41 ABV (alcohol by volume) to bring it over the top of the traditional 40 proof that most vodkas adhere to — just another shrewd way to give his vodka that extra “ummff!”
I admire Foley for the risk that he took. He built a brand of vodka that — essentially — glorifies violence and death. But com’on, let’s be real, we love watching death, violence, and action. Who doesn’t like Sopranos? Who doesn’t like watching action packed movies with people getting blown up as the heroes prevail?
We live in a society — whether good or bad — where we get pleasure out of violence and action, as long as we aren’t participating in it and it’s something that we are watching on television (in a fictional setting).
So the question is: why not? Why not create a vodka brand that nicely fits into the culture of “what’s cool” and “what’s hip”? Florey created a “manly” brand that will attract all those “tough guys” or people that want to feel tough and drink the official military-grade vodka. Ingenious, if you ask me.
It takes a lot of guts to go down such a road. Guts that we should all be taking with our brands. Don’t position your brand to safely fall into the nice, snuggly, and soft hands of the status quo. Create a brand that’s going to rub people a certain way, defy the norms, and create new — possibly radical — positions in the minds of your customers.
It appears as though Foley’s bets are paying off as the brand attracted a healthy slew of investors and recently went public on the JDJL Market. The stock offering was so successful that the stock became totally oversubscribed and Foley “had to actually give money back.”
Watch out Absolute and Smirnoff, the troops are coming!
Florey has high hopes for his Kalashnikov brand. His boldness and confidence may catapult his brand beyond the pack. If he has it his way, soon people will be saying “ I went out last night and got Kalashed,” says Florey.
A few months ago I wrote an article discussing my presentation at the New York Technology Meetup, New York University (September 5, 2006). I finally got the video online and am glad that you can all share in my experience speaking to approximately 500 people about Mind Petals.
This month we launched our second issue of Mind Petals. It grew from 2 pages to 4 this month and was distributed all across the city. The distribution has been going great so far. I was able to spread the magazine at the New York Technology Meetup that meets once a month with 200 – 500 entrepreneurs / technologist from all over the city, Stern business school (I was invited to join the entrepreneurship club), Pace University Lubin Business school ( I handed out flyers to the business students), and even a hackers meeting that I attended last night called Hacker 2600.
So as you can see, Mind Petals magazine is definitely a grassroots operation and I plan to update you once a month on the progress of the magazine. How I distribute, the contributors that are involved with the project, and the obstacles that I will surely encounter as I try and grow this 4 page black and white into a full blow magazine such as Business 2.0.
But, I can’t do it alone. I invite every single Mind Petals member, fan, supporter, and contributor to get involved. There are many ways you can help out and I will discuss a few now.
Submit an article:
Each month we’ll publish roughly 6 articles in each issue. You can submit an article to us at anytime and if the content is right for the magazine, we’ll absolutely include it.
We are looking for content that really “speaks to” young entrepreneurs, not “at them.” Such as obstacles that you have faced and how you overcame them, ways and techniques that you have used to improve your business, and ideas that you’d like to share with the world of young entrepreneurs.
Below each article that is published, we will include your full name, email address, and the name of your company.
Become a Mind Petals Distributor [ MPD ]
If you are currently attending a college and think that a good amount (100+) of students would benefit from such a magazine, then you’d make a perfect Mind Petals Distributor.
Each month, we’d send you a package of roughly 100 copies of Mind Petals. It would be your responsibility to hand out the magazines or put them in a place that young entrepreneurs would be able to access them (entrepreneurship clubs, business professors, etc…)
Each month, you’ll send us a brief outline of how you distributed the magazine, the tactics that you used, where you passed them out, and how effective it was. We’ll post each distributor’s story on a follow-up article here on MP. Pictures would also be great.
In return, Mind Petals Magazine will give you a free month of sponsorship in the magazine. You can promote your business, your club, your events, anything that you want to share that is someway related to entrepreneurship.
Your advertisement will be seen by at least 1000 (and growing) other young entrepreneurs across the country attending various colleges, including the students that you distribute to at your college.
If you’d like to become a contributor, distributor, or both, please leave a comment below or contact me directly at editor [at] mindpetals.com
Thank You to April’s Contributors:
Anthony Putignano of Xonatek web development William Quisenberry Jason Drohn of Jdsblog.com
Last night I went to an event at the new Google building here in the city and I fell into a spell as I stared around the large room filled with people. I said to myself: “wow, I am sitting here now because of the idea of two Stanford students who wanted to create a search engine. Two former students who are now worth over 13 billion dollars. Two students who have changed the world as we know it.”
I bet you the Google founders couldn’t have imagined what their initial idea would have turned into years down the line — an empire. Google is the Internet. Period.
Young entrepreneurs, it’s crucial that you think big straight from the beginning. Yes, yes… we all hear the same thing “start small and grow…” yaddah…yaddah… Sure, it makes sense to start small, focus on a niche, and grow from there — of course.
But, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t think big. Thinking big is essential. You have to defy reality. You have to completely distort reality and set extremely high goals. The only way that you are going to become successful — to become “Big” — is by constantly thinking big.
We attract our dominant thoughts in life. Whatever you think about the most is what you’re most likely to get out of life. Like attracts like. It’s as simple as that.
When you create your own reality and set what seem to be insurmountable goals for yourself and you tell yourself that you are going to do everything in your power to make it happen, you begin to see the world in a different way.
You begin to turn a deaf ear to the naysayers. You begin to stop caring about all the obstacles in your way. And your mind goes into auto-pilot mode as you set your destination to success.
Don’t be afraid to think big. It may seem like you’re crazy for having such large aspirations and your friends may think you’re insane and that you’ll never make it happen. Richard Branson’s friends thought he was crazy for starting an airline, but he went with his gut and kept on setting the bar higher and higher. Now look at him.
We’re always talking about teamwork and how everyone a part of a startup — the team — has to have 100% of their hearts and minds devoted to the business in order for it to succeed. Well, I don’t believe that.
I don’t think that all the partners of your business will ever be as passionate about the startup as the person who came up with the vision — the founder. Sure, there will be many cases were an entrepreneur builds a team of super-enthusiastic partners who want to see the business succeed just as much as they do.
But, that doesn’t mean that their passion will be on the level of yours. That’s why it’s so important for the founder — the dreamer of the company — to constantly evangelize the team with the company vision. To constantly reiterate the idea over and over again. To constantly share the vision and the dream of the company as if it was the first time you were sharing it.
That, my friends, is the single most important function of the company founder. The founder must be the guardian and keeper of the vision at all times. The vision is your baby and you have to hold onto it, nourish it, and nurture it every step of the way.
When zeal and passion begins to diminish among the team, it’s your job to rekindle the spark and reignite the team with a fire to see the vision through. It’s a tough job, but it’s yours. The founder’s role in the startup is absolutely critical to the success of the company.
Having an idea and building a team is just putting your foot in the door. One you’ve done that, the real work beings. People are going to look to you to provide that surge of positive energy, never-ending enthusiasm, and constant flow of passion that seems to go on and on like the energizer bunny.
You, the founder, are the head of the boat. You need your team to row and they need you to navigate — neither of you can function without the other. Take control, instill passion, and navigate your team into the open waters of success, prosperity, and brilliance.
Kevin:Dude, do you know someone that would be willing to invest in my company? Joe:Yeah, I may know someone. But… if I get someone to invest, I’ll need a 10% cut. Kevin:You couldn’t just do it because you’re my friend? Joe:Nah dude, if I’m going to spend my personal time trying to help your startup… I’m going to need something in return. Kevin:Wow, you’re something else dude.
The above scenario is a typical conversation that many entrepreneurs encounter while running a startup. Though the situations may change, we, entrepreneurs, find ourselves reaching out to others to help us along the way.
It’s normal for us to ask for help. We surely can’t change the world on our own. In fact, it takes a real entrepreneur to be able to ask for help. So many entrepreneurs think that they are above asking for help and soon find out — the hard way — that asking for help is absolutely necessary and critical to success.
But what’s with the “I’ll-help-you-only-for-something-in-return” attitude that so many — so-called — entrepreneurs have nowadays? Believe me, I’m all about reciprocity and absolutely love when someone returns a favor and helps me out after I help them.
BUT… that’s not the reason I help people. We shouldn’t help people just so we can ask them for something 5 minutes later. Help people because you “want” to help people. Not because you want something for yourself.
Entrepreneurship isn’t about twisting arms and taking advantage of people who need your help. Entrepreneurship is about wanting to see people succeed just as much as you want to see yourself succeed.
You’d be better off telling someone “no” instead of just helping them to exploit them a few minutes later with a request of your own. I’m not saying that it’s bad to ask for a favor after you help someone, that’s ok.
I’m saying that it shouldn’t be your only motive for helping someone. If it is, then your position as an entrepreneur becomes suspect and don’t expect to get far in life. Nope.
Reading an article today concerning deaths that have resulted from mans desire to possess resources and methods of energy, I stumbled upon a very introspective concern. Man has waged war against his neighbor for oil, what many call our most precious commodity. I find that interesting and thought about the simple fact that death would arise, civil unrest, and chaos would ensue over a thick liquid. Hours were spent pondering what I believed to be my most precious commodity; what was the item, in this complicated world that I needed most?
I looked up at the clock and realized that I had to set it an hour forward due to daylight savings and there it was. So blatant, so modest, so important and vital, yet so silent and patient. The most constant and consistent thing in my life; so dependable and always measurable. The one item that truly controls my every decision. It governs my ability to make choices and I must consider this item very carefully when planning my day. It’s the only thing that is always working against me.
Time, the thief of opportunity many say, is my most precious commodity.
Think about it this way, why do Americans spend millions and in some cases billions of dollars going to the gym, buying vitamins? Why is the wellness and fitness business one of the most rapidly growing in our nation? It’s because we are all looking for a way to spend a few more moments in our life, before our time expires.
You can’t escape time. It tells you when to not drink milk or when you should arise from your bed in the morning. In almost every room in a normal American home we can find a clock or in silence, hear the subtle tick-tock, tick-tock reminding us that time is running out. Many of us punch in and out of work on a time card and our lives have been set on a 24 hour cycle.
How often have you heard the phrases, “I wish I had more time”, “there are only 24 hours in a day”, “the meter is running”, “I’m running out of time” or “I’m on the clock”? We as entrepreneurs are always trying to find a way to have more time and clock management is a vital necessity of the successful business owner.
It doesn’t matter if you own a pizzeria, fortune 500 company, or mid-sized program consultation firm, time is what we all desire most. Running a business is not easy and there are many tasks and responsibilities we have to carry out as owners.
When I first opened my doors, as a financial firm I had two partners. One was gone in the matter of a week due to his inexperience; the second was gone in a few months due to his inability to produce business. All successful companies have their own stories of previous partners, dissolutions, and reformation; even though I’m a little off topic, my point is that when you’re alone, you have to become a man or woman of many hats.
Working alone is great because all decisions you make are yours, there is more control over the business, and you get to keep all the money, but the serious downside is time consumption. I found that when I was all alone, I found a new sense of freedom and had to become more accountable than I was before because there was no one else to take responsibility. I worked 13 hour days alone and found that at the end of the work day, I would go to sleep and do it all over again. Days seemed like minutes and weeks began to blur into a hazy memory. Though I was making very good money and business was booming, I was overworked, stressed out, and reaching my limit.
I explained all of this to my brother and he recommended a book, Go It Alone by Bruce Judson. I didn’t find it profound or life-altering but the one thing that stuck out was this idea of multiplying yourself, outsourcing projects or tasks, and not becoming a slave to your business. Our greatest asset is time, and I devised a way to create more of it, in order to be creative and grow my business in a healthy manner.
I discovered ways to make things more efficient and profitable by:
Teaching other people how to replicate myself and employed numerous loan officers
I hired a processing team, making my company more efficient
Outsourced business
Used the Internet to market and share information with my network of employees
Formed a well-structured web, comprised of different companies that perform
specialized tasks for me (i.e. appraisers, title insurance, attorneys, and accountants)
Perfected a replicable system that was simple, effective, and proven
Educated myself about the industry on a daily basis
Found answers in my mentors
Devised auto-pilot systems that work even when I’m sleeping
That was some time ago and I am constantly tweaking and improving my system. I now have net branches all over the East Coast, a solid team of effective employees, and well….more time. I can savor each breath and I can’t remember the last time I used an alarm clock. Actually I will never be “on the clock” again. I travel when I please, eat when I want, and “punch in / punch out” mentally at my own discretion.
We are only alive on this spinning globe for a few short moments and we as entrepreneurs are always faced with the fact that if we just had more time we could blossom into the most beautiful fruit bearing tree. Time is our most precious commodity; not oil, gold, uranium, or pork bellies…. but that silent, unyielding whisper of tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.
What does time mean to you? Can you be more efficient? Any time saving tips you can share would be appreciated. How do you plan on spending your time on earth… your lease could be up any day?
Darius Askaripour is the founder of mortgage company, Vitruvian Lending.
This isn’t something be proud of, exactly, but the longest job that I ever had was for 4 months. They were: dishwasher, bus boy, food runner, waiter, car washer, rental car driver, cashier, stockbroker trainee, and a toy salesman. My last job was as a project manager for a web development / interactive media firm in New York City. I started in April ’06 and left in the beginning of August. The main reason for leaving or sometimes even being fired (once or twice) was simply because I was never happy working for someone else.
The first few weeks I was able to put on a nice big smile and pretend that everything was ok. Actually, I always “tried” to like the job but always failed. After time went by, I couldn’t fake it anymore and the fake cheesy smile disappeared and it became evident that I didn’t want to be there.
I hated the bureaucracy. I hated all the rules. I hated making cents and not being paid a lot when I knew that the company owners were millionaires and I was making snack money. I hated being reprimanded for mistakes. In the world or entrepreneurship, mistakes are good and help us learn. In corporate America, mistakes cost you your job and you aren’t given the chance to learn.
What else… I hated being lied to by my bosses. I was once told that I would be getting paid $10 per hour and a month later when I got the first check, they said “oopps… I meant to say $6 per hour.” One time while working for a restaurant I was told that the first two weeks would be a “trial” to see if I was cut out for the job. It was a non-paid “trial.” Everyday that I worked, my boss patted me on the back and said: “you’re doing an excellent job and you’ll be hired.” The day before I was to start, he called me up and said that he no longer wanted me. WOW – two weeks of free labor. I figure he does that 26 times a year, equaling an entire year of free labor from 26 suckers (26 people x 2 weeks of bullshit trickery = 52 weeks = 1 year of free workers).
So I have compiled this list (part fun / part serious / part joking) as a way for entrepreneurs who are currently slaving away for jobs that they hate and bosses that treat them badly and companies that unfairly pay. This list isn’t to be taken as a literal manual to do anything illegal or corrupt – take it for face value and have a laugh…. Maybe I’ll motivate you to leave and go full force with your company. Or, maybe it’ll give you something to read at work. Either way, you’ll be that much closer to quitting – I hope.
Turn Every Off
Ok, so you’ve had it and you can’t take it any longer. It’s 6AM, you partied with your pals last night, and there is no way you are going to make it to work today. In fact, you plan on never going back. You’ve already got your last check. Yes, the alarm is buzzing and your boss is calling your phone and dropping emails in your blackberry. Please proceed to unplugging your alarm, shutting off the blackberry, and unplugging the router for your digital phone and calmly shut your eyes and go back to dreaming.
At least Get Your Paid Vacation
It’s been 3 months since you’ve been working at your new job. You absolutely hate it. All day you spend your time reading blogs and writing emails to your pals. Well look at the bright side, it’s been 3 months and you now qualify for your 2 week vacation. Tell your boss you’d like to take your paid vacation starting next week. After your “paid” vacation, call up your boss and say goodbye. If you plan to quit, at least take your vacation before your quit!
The Entrepreneur Letter of Resignation
Pull a nice white sheet of computer paper out of your printer and get yourself a nice black magic marker. Now write the following “I HATE THIS JOB. I HATE THE PAY. I THINK I HATE YOU. I’M STARTING MY OWN BUSINESS. I’M AN ENTREPRENEUR! I QUIT. SUCKER!” And hand it to your boss and walk out.
Might As Well Get Free Software
The day you leave, open your favorite FTP client and connect to your server. Open up the applications folder on your company computer and drag the folders (applications) of your choice onto your server-side window. And don’t forget to rip all of your co-workers itunes music with “itunes redux” software. Now delete the FTP client, shut off your computer, and walk out for good.
Start Taking Mini Vacations
Ok, this method is best used for people who “want” to get fired or for people who plan on quitting within the next 3 months – whichever happens first, it won’t matter. Start by studying your boss – when he walks around, how long he takes a break for, the times he usually calls upon you, etc. You have to know all of his moves. Once you’ve done your homework, start taking an extra break here and there. Call up some buddies and meet them at the bar during your lunch break and have a few drinks for an hour. When you return and if your boss still isn’t around, quietly slip back to the bar for another 30mins – 1 hour or so. Continue this behavior for 3 months, then leave if you haven’t already been fired. It’s a win-win – you got to party the last 3 months of working AND you got paid for it.
Fire Your Boss
Being the entrepreneur that you are, you have a growing list of a million inefficiencies and bad work practices that you have noticed and painfully endured since you have been working at the job. You’ve tried to make changes and speak your voice, but every time that you do, you get a bureaucratic brick thrown in your face. That’s it!! You’ve had enough! Storm into your bosses office and say the following “boss, please sit down, I’d like to talk to you. Over the past few months I have been closely evaluating your performance and your level of productivity has been dropping. You have proven yourself incompetent and have no idea what you are doing. You’re FIRED!!” Now smile, stand up, and walk out and never return.
Build Your Business Team Before You Go
Over the past few months you have been getting close to some of the other younger guys at your office. Like you, they hate the job and would rather be working for themselves. They are also natural born entrepreneurs and feel “forced” to work the dreaded 9-to-5. Every day, continue speaking to these select co-workers about entrepreneurship and starting a company; share stories with them, talk to them about the latest Business 2.0 articles, and have brainstorm sessions about future startups. One day, when the time is right, get up, jump on top of your desk, and give a speech about entrepreneurship and how young entrepreneurs shouldn’t be afraid to start a business. State that you are leaving the company and: “if any of you would like to come with me and join my startup, you are welcome. Let’s get out of here.” Hopefully you now have your founding team.
Run Your Business From Your Cubicle
If you’re slick enough, you can do this for a long time before you leave. In fact, I became a master at this before I left my last job. You have everything that you can possibly need, a phone, fax, computer, printer, etc… to run your startup directly out of your company office. If you need to fax a client, go right ahead and use the company fax, nobody is going to ask you what you are faxing. Keep your gmail account minimized and pop it open when no one is around; send some emails and check your inbox for new updates. In fact, you should be able to squeeze in at least 4 – 5 hours of “startup” work per day because the fact of the matter is that most employees only work a total of 2-3 hours of “real” work per day. You may as well run your company and make the most of your time before you quit. This is ideal for entrepreneurs working a 9-to-5 in order to raise capital for their startup. Once you have enough, get out of there!
So there you have it. Now, what are you going to do?
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Last night I watched one of my favorite movies, Rounders. For those of you not familiar with the movie, it’s about a young law student, Mike, who is a brilliant poker player internally struggling to define his life as either a magnificent poker player who will someday win the championship or just another soon-to-be lawyer who lives a boring and uneventful life.
The reason that this is one of my favorite movies is because of all the valuable lessons presented. Throughout the movie you’ll learn about passion, staying motivated, never letting go of your dreams, and learning not to go against your destiny, your life’s calling.
1. Don’t Let Anyone Domesticate You
There was a scene in the movie where Mike, played by Matt Daemon, walks into his apartment and he finds out that his girlfriend has left him. His best friend, Worm, tells him “she domesticated you!”
This scene was powerful because it shows the reality of how people try to break young entrepreneurs; how people try to make them “get a job,” or “stop following your dreams.”
Girlfriends, mothers, fathers, professors, etc… all of these people, at some point, may try to “domesticate” you. They may try to encourage you to give up your aspirations and dreams to become a successful entrepreneur and change the world.
Don’t let these people rain on you parade. Don’t let ‘em try and distinguish your flames. Though they may think that they are helping you, they really aren’t. Shut down their words, block out these messages, and push forward!
Mike’s girlfriend simply couldn’t understand that it wasn’t just a game for him, it was his life. His true passion. Mike says:
Why does this still seem like gambling to you? I mean, why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker EVERY SINGLE YEAR? What, are they the luckiest guys in Las Vegas?
2. Don’t Run From Your Destiny
Mike is sitting down in a bar with his law professor and he listens to the story of how he went against his parents’ wishes to become a rabbi and instead became a lawyer because he felt that it was his true calling in life.
He stated:
The last thing I took away from the yeshiva is this: We can’t run from who we are, our destiny chooses us.
At that moment, Mike then realizes that he can’t run from who he is anymore. He’s a poker player, not a lawyer. He knows that his true desire in life and personal legend is to play poker, live for the rush of competing against the best in the world.
You must do the same. You have to follow your gut; follow your passions. Don’t run away from what you know you must do in life. If you do, then you’ll look back one day when you’re old and gray and say “ I wonder what I would have been if I had….”
They end the conversation with:
Mike: If you had it to do all over again, knowing what would happen, would you make the same choice? Professor: What choice?
Exactly, there shouldn’t be a choice. You just have to do it!
Look at people like Bill Gates, Branson, and Jobs — each one of them have all the money in the world and can sit back and relax for the rest of their lives. But no, they continue to strive on, continue to stay hungry, and continue to “want more.”
Russell Simmons, co-founder of the legendary hip-hop recording label, 
