Posts Tagged entrepreneurial spirit
Book outline: Crush It! part 2, discovering your passion
Posted by eviator in For Job Seekers on December 3, 2009
Too many people ignore their personal passions in order to conform to things that society or other people think they should do. In his 2nd chapter, Success is in your DNA Vaynerchuk discusses his personal background, his early business exploits selling baseball cards, working in his?father’s liquor store, and eventually using the internet to promote the store and his person brand. The general point of the chapter, and of the book in general is that you must be yourself. It can be difficult sometimes, but the good news is that the internet makes it possible for you to redefine yourself, and most importantly to turn your passion into your personal brand.
I can definitely relate to some of what he says in this chapter. I remember my dad working two jobs so that me and my brother could go to the best schools. I’m sure that he wasn’t passionate about loading goods into eighteen wheelers all day (his true passion has always been baseball), but he endured the back-breaking labor because he valued education, a passion that quickly became my own. You should look to your own past and find out what drives you to success. Do some soul searching and find out what you are passionate about.
Notable quotes from this chapter:
- Storytelling is by far the most underrated skill in business.
What are you passionate about. Let me know at EdwardViator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com
Book outline: Crush It! part 1
Posted by eviator in For Job Seekers on December 2, 2009
As a professional I always strive to be the best at what I do, which is why I am a big fan of sharpening my marketing tools. A big part of this is reading the latest business books and trying to learn as much as I can; only a fool thinks he/she knows everything. I recently read Crush It! Cash In On Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk, and have learned some very useful techniques for marketing / branding yourself online, as well as effective ways to use social networking websites to accomplish marketing goals; both of which are essential skills in today’s business world. I’m going to go through this book, chapter by chapter, describing the salient points as well as offering my own commentary. The chapter 1 discussion starts now.
In his first chapter, Passion is everything, Vaynerchuk offers his secret to success.
- Love your family
- Work superhard
- Live your passion
This formula may seem overly basic to some, but if you think about it, you know it’s true. At one of my previous jobs, I found myself dissatisfied even though the pay was good, and the job was challenging. At the time, I had no idea why, but after reading this book, I’ve realized what I was missing. I wasn’t living my passion. I’m betting that this is the point where most people have problems. With food to put on the table and bills to pay, it’s easy to think of success as something to be measured by money. We seldom realize that success should be measured by how happy we are. If you’re not living your passion, you are missing out on one of the most important elements of success.
Living your passion sounds great, but in the meantime you have bills to pay and so you won’t (and shouldn’t) quit your day job just yet. The good news is that with all of the opportunities available using free social networking websites (such as blogs like the one you are reading now), you can still live your passion, and may even be able to make some money off of it in the future. Vaynerchuk discusses these social networking websites as well as money making opportunities later in the book, which we will get to in a future post.
Notable quotes from this chapter:
- Money goes where people go.
- It’s never a bad time to start a business unless you’re starting a mediocre business.
- The person who can dominate in rough times is the person who can dominate, period.
- Social media = business, period.
Have you noticed something missing in your life? Are you living your passion? Email me EdwardViator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com
Part 4 of 5: The Startups for Tech Wildcatters
Posted by Steve in Miscellaneous, Pitch on October 22, 2009
The last three days, I introduced Tech Wildcatter micro-seed project, their program, and some of their philosophy for a successful fundraiser. Today, we look at the startup selection program and how discussed their program for entrepreneurs.
Gabriella Draney and Jon Feld started Tech Wildcatters. On Sept 3, I had the great opportunity to sit down with Gabriella and talk about her new venture. I organized her responses into each of these general question categories.
What types of companies are they looking for?
Tech Wildcatters will target IT professionals: one to two people with a good idea and some prototype.
What areas of interest?
In no particular order or priority:
- Transportation and logistics
- Energy
- Retail/Consumer Goods
- Education
- Real Estate
- Travel/Leisure
What stage should the startup be at?
They would like to do something that has an alpha or prototype already developed but can do a pre-seed company.
Does the product need to be patentable?
Not necessarily! The idea is to get early to market, and be best in market.
What are the characteristics of the team?
Two or three founders with the skills of business, product development, and designer spread between them. They need to have the entrepreneurial spirit.
A big question for them will be their ability to devote 100% of their time to this endeavor. This is not something that can be done in a typical 40 hour work week. Will their other commitments be manageable? Will their spouse be able to handle it and be supportive?
Key questions they will consider:
- How well have you thought out your idea?
- How much have you worked on it?
- How dedicated are you, especially when the 12 weeks end?
- Can you develop your own product? (If it is going to take 30 programmers, this will not work.)
- Can you be in Dallas for three months? (After the program ends, you can be anywhere)
Two or three people? Why not one?
Gabrielle described how Tech Wildcatters do not want someone working in a vacuum. “Companies are not built in isolation,” she said. It is unlikely to find someone that is great in the business, development, and design. With two people, they have the other person who can review their ideas and offer critical feedback.
What will be their selection process?
Their criteria they are keeping to themselves for now, but the process is fairly simple. They will have three passes. The first will be whether or not the entrepreneurs fit the criteria. Based on these criteria, Tech Wildcatters will select who they will contact.
The second will be an email to the entrepreneurs and their response. See other comments in this article about the biggest mistake being lack of follow-up. If you are applying to be a part of this, definitely return all email as fast as possible.
Finally, they will do phone calls and interviews. They will narrow it down to 10 to 15 companies for the first group.
Ultimately, there will be a selection process and it will start soon. They plan on selecting companies starting December 2009. Tomorrow, I will tell you how to contact them (if you have not already done a web search for the name Tech Wildcatters).
Focus this Blog!
Focus is the best gift one can give to their customers and audience; but can be the most challenging and elusive of tasks. Entrepreneurs love to say they have focus and then talk about the fifty different things they want to do with their widget company. It is an easy way for investors trip up the entrepreneur. It is painful for the entrepreneur to focus.
Its a little easier for investors to focus: it is THEIR money.
Here, your time is your money. To focus this blog I offer the following (and request this of the audience) idea. In ranking order, let us focus this blog on:
1. Elements of the VCPlan. Those concepts from the Multi-Point Lists that investors, and entrepreneurs use to evaluate each other, how it is done, and how it is best to meet those expectations. This includes concepts that are not included, and why.
2. Those issues or tenants of wisdom that influence investors, and entrepreneurs directly in their pursuit of excellence in the Elements of the VCPlan.
3. Other ideas that are only one or two degrees away from the issues or elements.
Finally, on people:
4. Highlight people with entrepreneurial spirit seeking positions; and what is the best way for them in an entrepreneurial way to get a position using the Elements of the VCPlan. Whether the job seeker wants to find employment or start a company is up to them.
Focus on Elements that investors use to evaluate entereprial companies, the issues and related ideas that affect those elements, and entreprenurial spirited people seeking a new position in life. This includes both the what, the how, and why of all three. This blog should help one understand how to identify the best potential investments as well as how entrepreneurs can develop their companies and show them in the best possible light.