A Bigger Voice

Why Management Guru, Tom Peters, Responded to My Tweet

Not long ago, I read a post on Tom Peter’s blog that I enjoyed, where one of his points was the futility of planning ahead.  I tweeted about it, referencing the blog post:

@tom_peters advice for Living Life to the Hilt http://ow.ly/8FTzj <--wisdom that only comes w/experience 

 

 

One of my Twitter followers responded to my tweet with this:

RT @carolross: "Re: @tom_peters advice for Living Life to the Hilt" Obviously, Tom is not a cave diver! For us, it's all about planning! :)

 To which I replied:

 re: planning and @tom_peters. He's known for being provocative and pushing the  envelope. Your mileage may vary.

 

And then this came through my Twitter feed from…Tom Peters. (Yes, I verified that the account was his, and not an imposter’s.)  I’ve deleted my cave diving friend’s Twitter handle to protect his privacy but he was also addressed in the tweet below.

@carolross "No one rises so high as he who knows not where he is going."--Oliver Cromwell.

 

I soon found myself in a three-way conversation with Tom Peters and my friend.  Peters tweeted at least three more times in response to my responses. He finally wore me out and I stopped tweeting. I’m sure he could have gone a few more rounds.

Why did he even bother to respond?  Because he was engaged in something he felt passionate about. And on social media, quality content (on both sides) engages.  Tom Peters also has a personality that enjoys intellectual bantering . (In a live seminar years ago, I was part of a small group that had lunch with him and got to see him up close.) So he’s not likely to let go until he’s had the last word. Which makes Twitter an ideal medium for him.

 

Why Social Media Matters

The point of this story is that while social media can be “noisy”, it’s also a way of connecting with people you normally wouldn’t come across in your daily life.   You don’t have to be a social media expert to make these connections.  The friend I mentioned in the story above has been on Twitter for less than a year.

Some of those people might end up being colleagues, friends, or clients.  I have a coaching client who recently was at a professional conference where a man came up to him that he didn’t recognize.  He asked him, “Have we met?” To which the person replied, “No, but I read your blog! “ My client has been blogging consistently for only a few months.  But it kickstarted a conversation with a stranger and made him more of a colleague, instantly. Photo by Victor1558

And in the context of building something big like a movement, social media becomes even more important. It's a way to connect to your tribe easily, online, and authentically.

Not long ago, I RSVP'd to an invite for a dear friend's 70 birthday party. The RSVP went to my friend's daughter, who I had not met.  She wrote back that she had been following my blog for many years and was really looking forward to meeting me in person.  I was flattered. Unfortunately, due to illness, I missed the party. 

The story doesn't end there. My friend's daughter signed up for my Break Out of Your Bubble program and based on her workplace domain, I could see that two of her colleagues had also signed up.  Afterward, I wrote to thank her for referring others to the program.  Her reply was this:

"I am keenly aware of your stellar reputation and have loved the authenticity of your writing, so it was easy for me to speak highly of you."

This is the power of social media.  Someone who I've never met in person, who I had one email exchange with regarding an RSVP for a birthday party, knows and trusts me enough to recommend me to her colleagues. Photo by return the sun

If you've been wondering how to create that same trust with your tribe, join me on May 1 for a live Q+A session with myself and Walter Akana. Walter is a social media insider, who at sixty-something, continues to be my mentor for what’s new on social media. (Don’t even get him going on Pinterest and Instagram.) Walter and I met several years ago on Twitter and since then, we have co-developed information products and co-led webinars and in-person workshops.

Our live Q+A session on networking and social media is part of the Break Out of Your Bubble (BOB) program.  When you sign up for the BOB program, you’ll not only get access to the live Q+A session on May 1, you’ll also get THREE recorded webinars, including:

• How to Make Social Media Work for You (aka Create Your Social Media Strategy)
• Networking Naturally for the Busy Professional
• I'm Burning Out. Now, What?

Use discount code, SOCIAL, to get $50 off the late registration price of $147.  This code expires on April 30 at midnight ET.

Click  here to register.

Part 2: A New Roadmap to Building Something Big and Lasting

The startup phase is tricky, because we can fool ourselves that we are making progress, when we are not.

This is one of the many lessons I'm taking away from the book, The Lean Startup.  This is the second part in a two-part posting about concepts in the book that are making a difference for me as an entrepreneur. 

BTW--all of these ideas are ones that can apply to social entrepreneurs as well as "traditional" for-profit entrepreneurs. Whether your "customer" is one who pays with money or one who pays with attention/engagement, whether you are building a sustainable business or a long-lasting movement, these ideas apply.

 

Metrics That Matter vs. Vanity Metrics

Have you heard the saying, "What gets measured, gets done?"  Complementary to that idea is this one: "Measuring the wrong thing is worse than measuring nothing at all." 

The reason why is that when you are measuring the wrong thing, you have the illusion that things are going well. It's easy to put resources into a losing proposition. At least if you aren't measuring at all, you don't have this false sense of security. Photo by tmorkemo

Author Eric Ries calls these metrics gone bad, "vanity metrics".  An example is number of customers or accounts. Might work if the cost of acquisition is lower than the lifetime revenue of an account. But what if it isn't? 

This is what I discovered in my start-up, My Alumni Link, where my clients have been university alumni associations.  I could point to over a dozen high profile universities as my clients.  But how many were profitable over the long run. Uhhhh....that's another story.

So what should you be measuring?  Metrics that allow for clear cause and effect to be made visible. Conversion rate on a sales page.  Product usage by customer.  Metrics that allow you to show that improving X leads to Y.  Ries introduced me to the idea of cohort analysis, where groups of customers, having a shared characteristic, are tracked by a behavior that you care about (e.g., amount of time spent on a site, number of discussions posted per individual).  Each group is a mini-experiment whose results can then be compared with other group's results. I'm now tracking things I never tracked before, seeing clearly what progress I'm making towards being a sustainable business. A better understanding of cause and effect help me to decide where to devote resources. Photo by RDECOM

 

The Wisdom of Small Batches

I used to subscribe to the Big Bang theory of product development and marketing.  It started with working for a monopoly (the telephone company), with too much money to let things fail early, surrounded by fellow engineers who thought perfectionism was a virtue. Well, in some environments, perfectionism is a virtue (e.g., air traffic controllers, SWAT teams.)

But in today's environment, where betas are the norm, aspiring to get to nirvana before releasing something doesn't make sense. Same goes with marketing.  Start now, and find out where the glitches are, in small batches, before too much is at stake. Photo by Rachel From Cupcakes Take the Cake.

In launching a new career development tool, I've experimented with the idea of a "continuous launch". In prior years, I would have made a super duper announcement of product availability, in one big email blast, after slaving over just the right marketing words for a week. And then I would have waited. And waited. And waited.

Ries points out that if you try things out in small batches, you'll find what you need to improve upon a lot faster.  That's exactly what happened with the site, breakoutofyourbubble.com. The current version is the result of announcing the site to small groups of people, and getting their feedback as well as tracking their behavior (e.g, time spent on site and number of unique visitors/sales that day). By the time the site was announced to thousands of people at a time, it had been through several major changes in format, content, visuals and length.  The day before the start of the program, I am still launching to new groups. I have been doing this for nearly a month, learning what I can from each new group exposed to the product. Photo by kcnickerson.

 

How Many Pivots Do You Have Left?

According to Ries, a pivot is a fundamental change in its business strategy. It's a special kind of structured change designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, business model, and/or engine of growth. With my start-up, My Alumni Link, I am now using a different business model from what I used the last couple of years. 

What's really lovely and reassuring for me as an entrepreneur is that so many successful companies went through multiple pivots before getting it right.  The true measure of runway is how many pivots a startup has left. 

There are many types of pivots, including:

• Zoom-in Pivot.  Single feature becomes the whole product. 
• Zoom-out Pivot. Whole product becomes a single feature of a much larger product.
• Customer Segment Pivot.  Same product but for a different customer.
• Customer Need Pivot. Problem is not important to customer, but in the process of finding this out, it creates an intimacy with the customer that reveals a true need.
• Platform Pivot.  Moving from an application to a platform for vehicle for third parties to leverage.
• Business Architecture Pivot. B2C (low margin, high volume) vs. B2B (high margin, low volume)
• Engine of Growth Pivot.   Sticky vs. viral vs. paid. See below. Changing engine of growth requires a change in the way value is captured.
• Channel Pivot.  Same basic solution could be delivered through a different channel with greater effectiveness. Example: company abandons a previously complex sales process to "sell direct" to its end users.
• Technology Pivot.  Use different technology to deliver same solution to same customer, same channel, same value capture.

This year, I had several pivots wrapped up into a new business strategy. I helps me put into perspective how much I really am learning and allows me to cut myself some slack.   Photo by idovermani

 

New Customers Come From the Actions of Past Customers

This one sentence from the book was so simple, yet so striking.  I don't think I had ever thought about creating business sustainability in those terms--through the actions of past customers. Ries defines four possibilities:

• Word of mouth. I'm trying this out now, by providing past customers great deals on new programs for a limited time and encouraging them to share with friends. I'm finding this is not as easy as it sounds, as how the person tells their friends or network makes a huge difference as well as whether it's an individual conversation or a mass broadcast. Promo through a newsletter or social media? Not much help. Showcasing a guest blog post?  Works, but slowly. Telling your co-worker who you have lunch with everyday?  Gets even better. Photo by Ethan Hein

• Side effect of product usage.  This is where an idea or product goes viral.  I seem to think this is really hit or miss.

• Funded advertising. Cost of acquiring a new customer is less than the revenue that a customer generates. Hasn't worked for me yet, but this traditional model works for a lot of businesses. 

• Repeat purchase or use. Subscription. Yep, that's something I'm trying out this fall.

 

What's Your Engine of Growth? 

Honestly, I've been a solopreneur for nearly a decade, and I've never asked myself this question.  It's the difference between what Michael Gerber, the author of the E-Myth books would say, "working on your business vs. working in your business." Ries provides three possibilities to consider:

• Sticky. Once you start using the product, it's hard to switch.  Designed to attract and retain customers for the long term. Attrition or churn is key metric. Growth - attrition = positive number.
• Viral. Customers do the lion's share of marketing. Viral coefficient is key metric. How many new customers will use a product as a consequence of each new customer who signs up? How many friends will each new customer bring with them? Not for my business but may be for yours. 
• Paid. How much does it cost to sign up a new customer? Revenue/customer - cost of acquiring customer = positive number

It's too soon for me to tell which of the above will be the engine of growth for my newest initiative, but it's good to have this framework as I move forward. Seeing the big picture while working on the details is an art that every entrepreneur needs to master. Photo by taylor.a

Would love for you to share your stories with any of these concepts. Stories are how I learn best and how wisdom is shared.

Part 1: A New Roadmap for Building Something Big and Lasting

The sign of a good book for me is one that I wish I had read years ago.  So it was for Pam Slim's book, Escape from Cubicle Nation and more recently, with Jonathan Fields' book, Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance. Those books covered familiar territory and their insights resonated deeply, often because I had come to similar conclusions through experience. It was their articulation and further enhancement of what were wisps of wisdom in my head that made those books so enjoyable.

Unlike those books, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, didn't so much support what I knew from experience, as much as it pointed me in a new direction.  What I know from experience is that the old way of doing a startup wasn't working for me.  But the new way was no where to be found.  The Lean Startup gave me a clear roadmap and methodology to move forward. (Hat tip to Jonathan Fields for pointing me to The Lean Startup, in his book, Uncertainty.) Photo by betsyweber

Let's set some context.  Whether you are a social entrepreneur or a for-profit entrepreneur, your goal is to create something from nothing and grow it, to something big.  And keep it going, long past the time you are kicking around. The myth that I want to believe is that if you work hard, and have passion, things will work out. I know now, that's not true.

Successful entrepreneurs have figured out for how to create something valuable in the marketplace and grow it. It may have taken several tries, but they did it.  They know what to measure and they focus on that.

I once heard an acquaintance talk about a friend, "Mark", who is well-regarded in the local startup community.  Mark has started half a dozen companies, with a great batting average.  This acquaintance said of Mark, "He measures everything."  Now obviously, you can't measure everything. But what this person was saying is that Mark knew that measuring what you do is important.  Starting a company (or a movement, for that matter) is one experiment after another and if you don't understand the outcome of an experiment, you can't create better experiments going forward. Photo by wwarby.

The trick is knowing what to measure and deciding what you are testing with each experiment.  Without a focus on those, all the passion and hard work in the world won't be enough to build a sustainable business. (I think this also applies to social entrepreneurs. It's just that social entrepreneurs seem to have more tolerance for dragging out the process of growing big.) With limited resources, what you DON'T spend time on is just as important as what you do spend time on. (Trust me on this one. I have the scars to prove it.)

As a former engineer, this makes sense.  And yet the romantic in me is a bit disappointed.  I'll get over it.

Now to the juicy stuff.  In the Lean Startup, the following are key concepts that have greatly influenced how I spend my time.

• Leap of faith assumptions.  The success of your venture rests on these assumptions. If they are true, tremendous opportunity awaits.  If they are false, the startup risks total failure, because there's no work around. No amount of tweaking product, process, or people can make up for a condition that you believed was true and in reality, is false.  A leap of faith assumption for me related to my newest iteration of My Alumni Link:

Busy professionals will buy career development tools that are delivered completely online.

Ries points out that it takes courage to state these assumptions and many entrepreneurs don't do it.  He goes on to say, "Every business plan begins with a set of assumptions. It lays out a strategy that takes those assumptions as a given and proceeds to show how to achieve the company's vision. Because the assumptions haven't been proved to be true and in fact are often erroneous, the goal of a startup's early efforts should be to test them as quickly as possible."   Photo by leafbug.

• Two leaps of faith assumptions stand out above all others: 

• Value creation hypothesis. What you create is valued by the marketplace. You solve a problem that people care about and therefore, your solution has value.   
• Growth hypothesis.  The means for growing your venture conforms to how the world works. (Ponzi schemes work for awhile, but not in the long run.)

• Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This one goes against how I think as a former engineer. I grew up working for monopolies (electric utilities, phone company), where time to market was however long the funding lasted.  And for many projects, that was years.  So it was natural to get things just right before releasing them.  An incomplete product was like a billboard saying that it was developed by a group of incompetent engineers.

Ries turns this ingrained habit on its head. The startup should focus not on perfection, but finding the fastest way to get through the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop (what happens with each experiment), with the minimum amount of effort. You do this with a Minimum Viable Product, which is intended to start the process of learning.  He goes on to say, 

"Any additional work beyond what was required to start learning is a waste."

This statement alone has already saved me countless hours of working on stuff that I thought needed to be done, but really didn't. Photo by jedibfa

• Successful companies have several MVPs before getting it right. Ries tells the story of a bootstrapped start-up that released inexpensive MVPs, ones that took no more than 2-4 weeks of effort. They recruited friends to give feedback on each prototype.  It wasn't until they got to the sixth MVP that they had promising results. In the words of the co-founders, "The results were unambiguously negative until [the sixth MVP]" 

This is wonderfully reassuring.  It means that iteration is the norm.  It means that the runway is typically lengthy, not in time, but in iterations. It means that I don't have everything riding on that big launch next week.

MVPs are shaped by questions like, "What would be required to get customers to engage with the product and tell their friends about it?"  They are not driven by the founder's ego or an internal standard of quality.  Which brings me to this wonderful quote from the book about quality: 

"If we do not know who the customer is, we do not know what quality it."

In my next post, I'll talk about what I learned around metrics and pivots from reading the book.

 

Networking Naturally for the Busy Professional on March 6

As Oprah says, one thing I know for sure....

We don't do anything big in the world by ourselves. 

Alone is not how you grow a movement or change the world.  Alone is not how you create something bigger than yourself that lasts long after you are gone. Alone is not an entrepreneurial virtue. Photo by kid mercury

Join me on March 6 for an introvert-friendly webinar, “Networking Naturally for the Busy Professional”.

Watch the video below to find out mistakes every entrepreneur has probably made (including me) when it comes to networking: 

 

 

I am not planning on doing this webinar again in 2012, so if this sounds like something for you, jump in now. 

Go to naturalway2network.com and use discount code, INSIDER, to get $10 off.  Feel free to pass this on to others you know who could benefit from having more mentors in their life.

3 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

Entrepreneurs by definition are attempting something no one else has done before. (I'm not counting franchisees in this category.) And under those circumstances, you will:

• Have some fear (maybe LOTS)
• Need to communicate to others what you are trying to do and enroll them in your efforts
• Lose your way, more than once

No wonder the wash out rate is so high.  Photo by leafbug.

Here are three books that have helped me, and which I hope will help you:

• Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance by Jonathan Fields. This is a must read for anyone who has attempted something big, struggled, maybe failed, and comes back for more, because it's how you are wired. And now, you want the next chapter to be lived with more ease, fun, and creativity. That describes where I am today.  I applied several concepts immediately in the midst of rolling out a new initiative. (One example: setting up a private LinkedIn group for past customers to give me feedback during new product development.  I call it my "virtual skunk works.")  Fields provides both practical tools as well as scientific research that backs up why something works.  The best line in the book: "I turned my own creative process into more of a dance than a race."  Read this book if you want to dance more.

  

• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.  This book changed how I create presentations. And it did much more than that. It made me think  deeply about how I communicate in general.  Filled with great examples, advice from other smart people (like Seth Godin and Nancy Duarte), and a step-by-step process to using more of your whole brain when creating presentations, this was an eye opener in how much I had didn't know and could improve upon. I especially appreciate that Reynolds uses examples and stories to deepen his approach to communicating effectively. Photo by Clearly Ambiguous

• Do More Great Work by Michael Bungay Stanier. Written by the first Canadian Coach of the Year, Bungay Stanier provides exercises that are the foundation of doing great work--including identifying what brings you alive (and what does not), finding role models, confronting your fears, and knowing what support you have and what you still need.  He uses visual "maps" to help the reader navigate unknown territory. One of the most useful maps is one that shows what to do when you've "lost your great work mojo."   The video below provides more of Bungay Stanier's thoughts on what it takes to do great work:

 

In the process of reading all three books, you'll also find references and contributions to other wonderful thinkers (e.g., I'm now reading The Lean Startup by Eric Ries.)  All three authors are part of a larger brain trust for the new entrepreneur. There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. 

Using Social Media To Grow Your Movement

I was inspired by my friend, Sally Spencer-Thomas with her blog post, "Five Things You Can Do With Social Media to Prevent Suicide and Promote Mental Health". A psychologist and teacher turned non-profit CEO, Sally is part of a vibrant community of professionals dedicated to suicide prevention.

No matter what your cause, you can learn from how Sally is using social media to create conversation, correct inaccuracies in the mainstream media, and spur others to action.

 

What It Takes to Be a Provocateur

Great TEDx talk by David Rock, co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, on what it takes to be a provocateur, and how schools can play a part in developing more of them:

 

Hidden Benefits of Being a Follower

This blog is about how to make your thought leadership more visible, to do good in the world.  But sometimes, it pays to be a follower, not a leader.  Let me explain. 

Last year, I looked for affordable technology that would support a dream--to have an Internet version of a talk show. Two webcams, broadcast via the Internet to others who could see and hear a conversation with myself and a guest, talking about an interesting topic.  Add in the ability for the audience to ask questions live, and you get an Internet talk show.

The problem was that I couldn't find a service that was both affordable and reliable. I asked smart people in related industries and still, no one knew of anything that fit what I needed.

While I was frustrated, I knew it was a just matter of time before the service I needed would be available, from a startup, as a beta.  It's what I've seen repeatedly happen in the last few years with technology.  This includes the webinar platform space, which seems to be ultra-competitive these days. (Established vendors, like Webex and Gotomeeting, should be worried at this point.)

I found my answer on a private Facebook group, for participants of Pamela Slim's Power Teaching course.  A woman who had taken the course last year posted remarks about BigMarker.com, describing her experience with the service, as well as the features that it provided over and above the competition, for *free*.  Yes, it's in beta. Yes, there are glitches.  Yes, their site could be better organized. But what they offer is exactly what I've been looking for. 

Here's the important part. I found what I needed by being a follower--by being part of Pamela Slim's tribe, and then going deeper into the experience by buying a course on what she knows from her decades of teaching, first as an instructional designer for corporate training and now as an entrepreneur. 

Being part of the eco-system of a thought leader is not just learning from the thought leader. It's learning from others who are following that thought leader. It's what comes from joining a vibrant community, that's started by a wisdom entrepreneur.

 

What I Take for Granted

Being an entrepreneur in the US never looked so easy. 

I loved a blog post by entrepreneur and Fast Company columnist, Alicia Morga, about her trip to Azerbaijan because it showed me what I have taken for granted for so long.  Things like freedom of expression, rule of law, and a positive can-do, creative environment. 

Creating something from nothing, which is what entrepreneurs do, is 10x harder without those things in place.  While not impossible, it reminds me that successful entrepreneurs in other parts of the world have to be not only savvy and passionate, but also courageous. 

 

Not More, But Deeper

We are conditioned to want more.  More fans. More revenue.  More customers.  More, just more. 

And recently, I've been pondering the idea of not more, but deeper.  What if I've been chasing the wrong thing?  What if satisfaction and happiness comes not from looking elsewhere, but looking at what's right in front of me? Photo by AR Bahar

A few examples of what it means put more aside, in favor of deeper:

• A coaching friend has delivered a sold-out retreat four times over the last two years.  He's decided, along with his co-leader, to offer this retreat only two more times.  Why? In his words, "At that point, we will have a community of fabulous participants.  We want to focus on supporting those people. Having a larger community leads to people not knowing each other. We want to work with what we've got, rather than adding more."

• Another friend, runs Ignite events in a large metro area, and has produced 11 of these events.  He talked about bringing back past speakers to learn what they've been doing since they presented at Ignite. 

• A colleague has been a social media enthusiast for the last few years.  But now, instead of connecting with new people, he's more inclined to prune his "followers" and "friends".  He wants to spend more time with the people in his network that he already enjoys, and less time making new connections. His network has gotten so large that there are many people in it who he barely knows beyond their name. 

This may all seem contrary to the idea of A Bigger Voice.  But I think it points back to the idea of "a thousand true fans".  Go for deep engagement by fewer people instead of a passing acquaintance with more people.  

It's similar to when I speak on effective networking and advise people to focus on quality, not quantity.  Contrary to what many people think, getting a large number of business cards is not a sign of great networking. Instead, aim for one or two truly memorable and engaging conversations.  That will benefit you more in the long term than meeting twenty people who you'll forget the next day.  Photo by Stew Dean

As an entrepreneur, what would happen if I focus NOT on getting more customers, but going deeper with the ones I already have?  What if the idea is NOT to expand to new markets, but to serve my existing market even better, more distinctly, with greater impact? 

On a personal level, deeper means focusing on my sweet spot--the work that I do best and which excites me the most.  It also means weaving the best of my past work with future projects, to create a stronger body of work. 

A video, about bridges in a remote area of India that are made of fig tree roots, grown over decades, provides a wonderful metaphor for what I'm talking about. These living bridges withstand torrential floods which are common to the area. They are tended by the local villagers, because they are so important to the life of the village. This "body of work" is created by a community of people and lasts beyond the life span of the villagers. Photo by Unlisted Sightings 

As I think about my work in 2012, I want to delve into areas that light me up, so that mystery and magic appear as part of the experience.  I want to add to my body of work, to connect the dots, to purposely go for deeper, not more.  

What does it look like for you to go deeper and to stop looking for more? 

More on Failure

Over the last few months, I've been researching failure.  It's my nature to learn about what I'm experiencing.  So when I felt like I had failed this past summer in making a profitable business out of My Alumni Link, I started asking the question, "What role does failure play in being an entrepreneur?'

I talked to fellow entrepreneurs. I read articles about failure. And I gravitated to books on the topic. Photo by tinou bau

One book that I recently finished is Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure by Tim Harford. Written by an economist, the book is uneven--going into gory detail about climate change and the financial crisis of 2008 and giving only minimal coverage to how individuals deal with failure.  I found the most relevant part of the book to be the last chapter, which brought home the concepts from the preceding 200 pages and applied them to how human beings deal with failure. 

Harford presents a simple model for looking at failure:

1. Try new things. (Yes, I do this on a regular basis.)
2. Try them in the context where failure is survivable. (Brilliant!  Why didn't I think of that?  I have barely survived some of my more spectacular failures.)
3. Know when you've failed and learn from your failures. (I can always get better at this one.)

Sounds like common sense but the author shows that all of these steps can go awry if we're not purposeful. Of the three steps in the model, I'm most intrigued by the third. I had always thought this was straightforward, but Harford lists three obstacles to learning from your mistakes:

1. Denial
2. Self-destructive behavior (e.g., throwing good money after bad)
3. Convincing ourselves that the mistake doesn't matter

And here is where it gets really interesting.  Harford advocates identifying  a "validation squad"--individuals who "will back you but also tell it like it is."  These are people who are both compassionate and hard hitting when it comes to telling you the truth. (BTW--this sounds like a coach to me. Just saying.) People who "can help us hold two jostling thoughts at the same time: I am not a failure--but I have made a mistake."  Photo by andyp uk

This last idea, separating who I am (not a failure) with the result of my actions (a mistake), is powerful.  At least it was for me.

I am encouraged by the fact that I'm getting used to the idea of making mistakes, big ones, as a natural part of the journey. It allows me to commiserate with fellow entrepreneurs. More importantly, I see that every step of the way, independent of outcome, contributes to who I am today.

Raised to be an Entrepreneur

I was not raised to be an entrepreneur. I never imagined myself an entrpreneur. Yet I ended up as one. 

After watching the following video of Cameron Herold, talking about how we can raise kids to be entrepreneurs, it makes me hopeful for the future.  Herold also provides wonderful examples of learning to be an entrepreneur at an early age, starting at age 7.

 

 

The video made me wonder how much sooner I would have become an entrepreneur if I had been encouraged to be one at an early age. My thanks to Joline Bernadini for pointing the video out to me.

 

 

Biggest Mistakes Made By Wisdom Entrepreneurs

I've been blogging about wisdom entrepreneurs and the path to A Bigger Voice since late 2007. I've talked to lots of experts, did a pilot with four wisdom entrepreneurs, had numerous conversations with kindred spirits, and helped many attempting to go down this path. Here are the 8 biggest mistakes that I've observed:

1. Mistaking passion for an idea for the ability to effectively communicate an idea.  It's easy to think that because you get it, everyone else will. But the communication of the idea is as important, if not more, than the idea itself. I listened to a podcast about entrepreneurship recently where this advice came out:  Spend 20% of your time developing the product and 80% on the marketing and sales. For wisdom entrepreneurs, this translates into 20% on development of the idea, and 80% on the communication of it. Photo by jonny goldstein.
2. Downplaying the need to tell your story. People need to hear how the idea that you are so passionate about came into being. Bless all those humble wisdom entrepreneurs out there who don't like talking about themselves. (You know who you are.) But without a human voice representing the cause, your ideas are less likely to engage others. Your story is essential to that engagement, not only to make it personally inviting to others, but because story helps others make sense of why you, why now. It gives credibility to your cause.
3. Thinking too narrowly about the beneficiaries of your cause. This impacts not only who you invite into your community (the kindred spirits) but also limits how you think about monetizing. One wisdom entrepreneur I know has a cause of creating more living donors in general and specifically for kidneys. He was discouraged that his potential "community" consisted of only those patients on the waiting list for kidneys, about 70,000 people. And yet the people who care about his cause are not only the patients but their families, their doctors, their friends.
4. Focusing only on top down, instead of top down + bottom up.  It's easy to go after the "big fish", those who you perceive have money or status or power. And yet, this is just one half of the equation (and becoming less relevant all the time with the pervasiveness of social media and crowdsourcing.) Relying on the traditional power structure to promote and align with your cause will only get you so far, so fast. Again, going back to the living donor example, the crux of their efforts focused on Congress and policy makers in Washington, DC. One of the founders of the cause wrote several Op-Eds for the Wall Street Journal. But the real power comes when there is a groundswell from those who personally feel the pain of not enough living donors--patients and their families,  friends, and health care providers. These are people who become engaged in a community and respond to a call to action. Photo by VinothChandar
5. Ignoring the use of technology to expand your reach. This has been less of a problem with the pervasiveness of social media, but it still bears a footnote for "digital immigrants."  It's easy to stick with what you know and not invest the time into other ways of reaching your tribe.  
6. Focusing on an event rather than a conversation. I have a friend who has organized a social entrepreneur day in his local area for the past few years. He usually has a prominent speaker fly in from out of town, gets the mayor and other luminaries to say a few words, and lines up several events throughout the day.  The problem is that it happens once a year, with no follow-up as a community to continue the conversation.  Sparks initiated by the day of events are likely to be snuffed out without some support afterward. 
7. Forgetting that community building is a two-way dialogue, not a one-way broadcast. Nothing dismays me more than to see a site for a wisdom entrepreneur that offers no means for the reader to respond and contribute. Contact pages don't count. Really. Information dumping doesn't take the place of authentic dialogue and being shaped and influenced by that dialogue. Photo by BASFPlantScience
8. Neglecting the balance between outward engagement and inward focus. Sometimes, the wisdom entrepreneur needs to visible and out in front, sparking the conversation, telling her story, creating alliances. Other times, she needs to be reflecting, self-managing, and working on her own personal growth in order to be more effective in the world. Both are needed, in good measure. 

I'm not immune to these mistakes, so the adage, "People who throw stones shouldn't live in glass houses" comes to mind. This post is as much for me as it is for you.

What mistakes have you made?  What mistakes have you observed others make?

Resonate, Lessons From the Grateful Dead, and the Disease of Entrepreneurship

Over the last few years, this blog has expanded to talk about entrepreneurship in general, beyond being a social entrepreneur or wisdom entrepreneur.  The concepts of story-telling and community-building apply to entrepreneurship in general, especially these days. More importantly, the personal journey of creating something lasting and larger than yourself, whether it's for profit or non-profit, is the same. 

Here are resources that I recommend any entrepreneur check out:

• Resonate by Nancy Duarte.  This book is based on change management principles and the things that move people into action.  Duarte is a master at creating a compelling story that helps the listener feel the tension between what is and what can be. In this book, she analyzes great speeches in history and outlines a form that you can use to develop presentations that connect deeply to the audience. A few wonderful quotes from the book that inspire and tell me that Duarte knows what she is talking about:

"Passion for your idea should drive you to invest in communication."

"We were born to create ideas; getting people to feel like they have a stake in what we believe is the hard part."

"If you can communicate an idea well, you have, within you, the power to change the world."

• Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead, by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan. Meerman Scott and Halligan are marketing gurus who are also lifelong Deadheads. So this book is the result of walking in both worlds and realizing the connection between the two (that's a boundary crosser in my book.) Watch this video to learn more about the approach of the book.

I quickly devoured this book and finished with a renewed feeling that community-building is at the heart of a successful enterprise--whether for-profit, non-profit or anything in between.  Sure the product has to be interesting and engaging.  But it's the community that fuels the growth beyond what any business person could envision.

• Harnessing Entrepreneurial Manic Depression: Making the Rollercoaster Work for You. This blog post is one of the best descriptions I've seen of the emotional journey that every entrepreneur makes. Even more useful is a section that matches activities the entrepreneur should undertake in each phase and what activities to avoid.  I've lived this and only wish I had read this blog post a few years ago. Photo by Kekka.

• Entrepreneurship as a Disease.  This post on the Harvard Business Review blog comes down heavily on the side of nature in the debate of whether entrepreneurs are born or made. Entrepreneurs find they can't stop themselves from doing what they do. Those who have the disease will recognize themselves immediately and those who don't will wonder whether they missed out on the magic pill somewhere along the way.  I provide this last resource to help those who are often described as driven (like me) to see that it's what we are wired to do. The caveat is to pay close attention to the other blog post about emotional journey, so that you don't end up burning yourself out (like me.)

And finally, I love this HBR blog post,"On Entrepreneurship, Steve Jobs, and Unashamedly Loving Your Work." The blogger talks about one of the many gifts that Steve Jobs gave to the world--an example of what it looks like to be passionate and engaged with your work, to the very end. A favorite quote from the blog post:

"For too many, work is a grind instead of a passion, a four-letter word. I'm lucky enough to share Jobs' absolute passion for work. A good number of my friends and colleagues I know feel the same way — and entrepreneurs absolutely have to, or their businesses will fail. But it is sad to see how many people do not cherish what they do for a living."

While being an entrepreneur is not an easy path, I count myself among the lucky ones to be on this journey. 

 

What an Entrepreneur Looks Like, Part 3

In the first posting of this series, a sixth-grader showed us how the mind of an entrepreneur works--imaginative, customer-oriented, and opportunistic (in a good way).

In the second posting, we saw how one Millenial uses his resourcefulness, curiosity, and team-oriented leadership style to shake up the music industry's way of finding up and coming bands.    

Much has been written about the joy of being an entrepreneur, the glory and positive impact when successful.  But I'm curious about the flip side.  What happens when things get difficult? Photo by alaina.buzas

In this third and final posting of this series on the different faces of entrepreneurs, we explore the messy side of entrepreneurship--when things go wrong.   It's a big topic, one that all entrepreneurs face, and one that I've been living with over the last few months.

The more I talk to entrepreneurs, the more I admire anyone who tries their hand at starting a business.  Often, things get messy when assumptions (spoken and unspoken) are proven wrong. This creates situations where there are no easy answers and all the choices are unappealing.  I've used pseudonyms below to protect the privacy of entrepreneurs who were willing to share their stories.

"Joanna" assumed that building a business could fit into the life of a mother raising three children under the age of 7 and the role of a supportive spouse to a serial entrepreneur, who hasn't taken a salary in years.  Her assumption was wrong.  She wonders when it will be her turn again, when she'll have enough financial and mental runway to get something off the ground. In the meantime, she's looking to return to a previous employer, on a part-time basis. 

Returning to work for someone else is one that Mike knows all too well. He spent nearly three years trying to get traction on a bootstrapped startup that he described as a "Open Table Meets Yelp" for the XYZ industry.  His spouse worked in the startup, while holding down a full-time job, and eventually, both lost the juice to continue.  Mike now works at a thriving Silicon Valley Internet company. 

This option--dropping out for period of time in exchange for steady paycheck--is one of the little talked about paths for entrepreneurs. Photo by bradleyolin.

And then there's "Louise", who found out that assumptions about the adoption rate of her recommendation sharing service and the ability to sell sponsorships were both wrong. Louise needs a new business model and she needs to prove it out, quickly.  Funding this business on her own, she's run out of time.  Like many entrepreneurs, Louise has plenty of experience in the corporate world, working inside established companies, where unprofitable projects go on for far too long.   In the start-up world, trial and error must proceed at a much quicker pace.

"Dan" also knows the value of time in a start-up.  He's been working on a software start-up for over four years, aimed at serving university students.  His wrong assumption?  The adoption rate of free software that helps to recover lost laptops.  He recently remarked, "If you looked at my website, you'd think I was driving around in a BMW.  Instead, I've got a car that has 160,000 miles on it where the door doesn't open without a good jiggling."  He's emotionally drained, trying to figure out how to make his start-up profitable, with less time invested and better results. He's a serial entrepreneur, using his first company, established decades ago, to fund his start-up and now on the lookout for external funding.  

Neither Dan nor Louise have lost their optimism for what might be around the corner, with the right packaging, a strategic trade show, or a different market. In a ten-round boxing match, they are willing to come back for rounds two and three, after getting punched in the stomach in round one.  They are smarter, and hopeful that learning from their experiences will make the difference in the long run.  Photo by _Fidelio_

"Patty" took a different route, having built a thriving company over seven years, one where venture capitalists were willing to invest.  And then she burned out. Her personal life with her family had suffered considerably.  She took a year and a half off to rejuvenate.  Now, she helps other small business owners avoid unnecessary struggle and depletion. 

In each of these stories, the way that entrepreneurs respond to the messiness is familiar and yet, uniquely their own.  They take a job, continue with another trial and error, or in extreme cases, drop out completely.  One option is not better than the other, but rather a response to the circumstances at the time and what's best for an individual, personally and professionally. Photo by Noobins.

To hear these stories, one might want to quit before even trying.  Yet, my friend, "John", a seasoned serial entrepreneur, provides another perspective.  John is working on his sixth business, and is known for being meticulous about measuring the right things.  He lives close to reality.  He's gone more than a few rounds in the boxing ring and could tell me ten more stories for every one that I've relayed here. He also found success right out of the chute, with his first company, started in college and sold in his thirties.  

What intrigues me is that John has also had his share of failures, when things got difficult, and the only choice was to move on.  Success is no insurance against failure.  And failure isn't a pre-requisite for success. 

A few of John's perspectives that I found fascinating:

• On the need to prove something: "All entrepreneurs have something to prove.  It's part of what makes them an entrepreneur."

• On not having control and humility:  "Expect that things can blow up at any time."

• On the lifecycle of companies: "Companies go through a cycle, starting with the excitement and thrill of starting up and growing.  Then it matures and at some point, chaos comes.  During the chaos, which is really no fun but it always comes, we remember the excitement of starting up and growing.  That's what keeps us going.  And finally, something dies--some part of the company or the company itself. Until something else is born.  Then the cycle starts again."

• On persistence and failure: "Each time we go into the ring, we know there's a chance of getting beat up.  And each time we get beat up, it's not as bad.  But we still get beat up. We all experience failure in our lives, but failure as an entrepreneur is a lot more visible."  Photo by bolhav
  

What I've learned from John and others is that those who endure failure best are the ones who win.   They are able to see failure not as a personal indictment, but as a sign that something needs to change in the equation.  They are able to cut bait, when they've sunk time, energy and money into something that isn't working.  No small feat.  Emotional attachment is both a blessing and a curse for entrepreneurs.

Seth Godin's newest book, Poke the Box, underscores the importance of failing.  A few choice quotes:

"The person who fails the most usually wins. If you fail once, and big, you don't fail the most. If you never fail, either you're really lucky or you haven't shipped anything. But if you succeed often enough to be given the privilege of failing next time, then you're on the road to a series of failures.  Fail, succeed, fail, fail, fail, succeed--you get the idea." 

"Talk to any successful person.  He'll be happy to fill you in on his long string of failures."

"I started a record label, and failed.  I started a fundraising business based on light bulbs, and failed.  Launched the first aquarium on a VHS tape and failed.  Published many books and failed. The winning part?  I learned from each of these failures."

This is the essence of entrepreneurship--trial and error.  Being keenly observant, willing to face reality, humble enough to know that even smart people get hammered, creatively resourceful, and adapting quickly.

Why do it?  Why go through the pain?  I can think of no better reason that this one, from Pam Slim:  

"Entrepreneurship, at its heart, is aligning your purpose for being on earth with a business idea that is so compelling that you must do it, despite the fears that hold you back."

 Photo by @boetter.

What An Entrepreneur Looks Like, Part 2

This is the second in a three-part series of postings about entrepreneurs I've met this year.

Alex White is 24 years old, a recent graduate of Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy (SESP).  I interviewed Alex and his two co-founders, Samir Rayani and David Hoffman,  from Next Big Sound as part of an event for the Northwestern Club of Colorado. Alex, Samir, and David were part of a Northwestern class on entrepreneurship that has since spawned other successful ventures. 

Next Big Sound was named to Billboard's Top 10 Digital Music Startups for 2010, has been endorsed by popular tech blogs, Mashable and TechCrunch and is a TechStars 2009 company.  The company is based in Boulder, CO, has 11 employees, not including Alex and his two co-founders and is backed by venture capital.

I particularly like this description of what Alex and his colleagues have created:

"Alex White and his coworkers at nextbigsound.com are the modern day Lewis and Clarks of the digital frontier, collecting data and tips about fan interactions on the web."

Entrepreneurship is a Rollercoaster

What struck me in hearing Alex and his co-founders talk were the ups and downs that many entrepreneurs experience before "making it", from living together in a house in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois over the summer for less than a $1/person/day to burning through the first $25,000 seed money sooner than expected to getting Sony as a client to all three co-founders moving in with Alex's aunt in Boulder.  Each day is a work day, the days and nights blurring over time. 

In the following video, Alex talks about the joys of being an entrepreneur, the sometimes heavy responsibilities that entrepreneurs feel, and the advantages of seizing the day. 

 

It's About the People, Stupid

During the event, Alex stressed the importance of the team. It's more important than a  hot product or cool idea. Given the dialogue with his co-founders, I could see that he walks the talk. 

The most compelling story that Alex told that evening had to do with the idea that entrepreneurship is first and foremost, about the people.  Good ideas mean nothing in the hands of the wrong people.

Alex recalls arriving in Boulder, having driven out from Chicago with Samir and David. On the way out, they concluded that their original idea that won them acceptance to the prestigious TechStars incubator wasn't going to work, for a number of reasons. Alex talked to the managing director of TechStars--that there was no idea that they readily had in hand to develop and implement during the summer program.  The reply he heard went something like this:

"You might not have an idea right now, but in 90 days, you will be getting in front of an auditorium of investors, pitching your company.  You are in this program because of who you are, not because of the idea that you submitted.  We are betting on you."

Those words are both sobering and motivating.

Curiosity And Passion

Alex goes on to talk about how the concept of Next Big Sound, which tracks social media activity for up and coming bands, came from their own curiosity about the music business.  He and his co-founders, all music lovers (Alex had his own underground rap show at Northwestern) wondered,

"How can you find the next big bands, before they become big? "

From there, that led to a company that touts the ability to provide "actionable intelligence for the music industry."

I love that the winning idea came from curiosity and passion first, followed by filling a need in the marketplace.

 

In the third and final posting in this series, we'll look at what every entrepreneur must learn to do if they want to be successful: adapt.  How do entrepreneurs adapt when things don't go as planned?

What an Entrepreneur Looks Like, Part 1

Lately, I've been thinking and writing about entrepreneurship. Not so much in terms of how I define wisdom entrepreneurs in this blog, but in terms of individuals taking the journey of building something from nothing, to meet a need.  

It's fascinating to see the different faces.  This is the first of three posts about entrepreneurs who I've had the pleasure of talking to this year. 

Are entrepreneurs born or made?  Either way, I love it when I can see the natural talent early on.

"Emily" is starting sixth grade.  I first saw her hand drawn catalog of services and products, with the title, "Mini Mag", on the food table at a friend's summer party.  Her mother and father were not at the party, but instead another friend, Gina, had brought her.  Gina has been getting together with Emily once a week, serving as a mentor.  Emily is a quiet child who soaks up everything.  She's the sort of child who could easily be forgotten in the corner, yet the wheels are constantly turning in her mind. I gave her a few bits of advice--listening for the pain point of your customer and identifying profit margins.  She got it right away.  

When I looked through Emily's Mini Mag, I was struck by several things:

•   She had detailed a range of products and services, from foot rubs and manicures, to cards for any occasion, to "Claymania" animals and flowers made from pipe cleaners and beads, to small posters and finger puppets. She had samples of some of her products on display.  I could see in her catalog the answer to the question, "What can a 10-year old make or do that would have value for someone else?"  This was much more than a typical lemonade stand.

• Throughout her catalog, she had included selling techniques that are taken for granted in the adult world, but no one expects a kid to come up with.  Things like a frequent buyer program, coupons for buy one, get one free and grouping items by season (e.g., Father's Day and Fourth of July.)

• And finally, her customer service mindset came through in small phrases throughout the catalog, from "Have a relaxing day" on the spa services page, to "We will try to amaze you with our cards" on the cards page, to offering to make custom orders on the Father's Day page.  I particularly liked when she listed on the Claymania page things she could make, finishing with "Anything your mind desires."

You can't teach kids this stuff.  Sure, they can see it around them--on television commercials and store displays.  But to have the inspiration, motivation, and imagination to apply what they see is another matter.

If Emily is doing this as a kid, what will she be doing in college or afterward?  I talked to Emily's older brother, who just graduated from high school, about his sister's entrepreneurial endeavors. His face broke out with a smile and he said, "Yeah, I don't know where she gets it. It's crazy."  I'm sure he's been seeing for years what I was just discovering--an entrepreneur in the making.

I'm convinced that how quickly she finds success and to what extent will depend on opportunities, encouragement, and mentoring along the way. 

In my next post, I interview Alex White, a 20-something CEO of a company that was named to Billboard Magazine's 2010 Top 10 Digital Music Start-Ups. 

 

Digital Breadcrumbs for Your Dreams

When I originally started this blog in 2008, new ways of spreading ideas were still in its infancy.  Twitter was largely the domain of early adopters. While blogs had become mainstream, online video had not yet become a pervasive tool for connecting to an audience.  Books were still largely consumed in hard copy and the newly launched Kindle was the iPad of that time.

What a difference a few years makes.

This week, Borders announced that it would close its remaining stores.  E-books have taken off. In June 2011, Amazon reported that it sold more Kindle books than print books over the past three months. Photo by markhillary.

How we distribute and consume information has been shifting for awhile, away from print to digital.  Now there are more platforms and services to package your ideas in a way that bypasses the traditional publisher model.  These include Broadside Books, specializing in  conservative writers with ideas that can fit into a pamphlet and the Domino Project, spearheaded by Seth Godin. 

It's not just about a new venues for publishing, but also new formats for connecting with your audience. A friend of mine has a start-up that helps authors create books that are more than text, sometimes extending them into virtual worlds, with an interactive component. Authors are shooting videos, with just a simple webcam, to answer readers questions and to provide a more personal connection. 

What this all means:

Dreams that were not possible just a few years ago are possible now. 

Gatekeepers have become less formidable and in some cases, no longer relevant. Photo by AlicePopkorn.

I know of someone who aspired to be in broadcast journalism, but never made it, despite her training.  Her idea of success was the anchor behind a desk in a television studio.  Now she's looking at a video podcast, in short segments, for a niche audience. 

A dream of mine is to have my own talk show.  Once I realized that it didn't have to be television-based, I could see the pieces coming together, online, using Skype video chat and a service that streams video.   I've begun to think in terms of a virtual talk show. 

And even those who have been successful in pursuing their dreams in the "old world" are seeing opportunities in this new world. I know of a successful television and film producer in the NY area who is excited about what can be done with online video. 

There has never been a better time to spread your ideas, at an affordable cost.   Today's tools have gone way beyond blogging to help you attract your tribe.   What's your big dream and what idea do you want to spread?

The Need to Prove Something

A wise friend and coaching colleague of mine, upon reading my post about failure, made the observation, "When what drives us is the need to prove something, we suffer."  So she asked me about my reasons for being an entrepreneur. Photo by nasrulekram

I do have reasons for being an entrepreneur that have nothing to do with proving something. I love the process of creating something from nothing.  I also love the satisfaction of having a lasting impact.

And yet, I've been pondering that question. What have I been trying to prove and how have I suffered because of it?

It's easy to see what's suffered.  Two years ago, before spending 90% of my time on a start-up that serves university alumni associations (My Alumni Link), I had more time--to play the flute in a local community band, to blog, to do the things that I know give me joy.  Not so much anymore.

While journaling, I wrote a partial answer, "Being competent at being an entrepreneur."  I've known for awhile that being seen as competent is a biggie for me. It's where I can easily get hooked.  (Yes, if you want to give my Gremlins a field day, tell me that I'm completely incompetent and then cite the reasons why.) 

And here's the kicker: What constitutes competency as an entrepreneur?   Making a profit can be one measure.  Making a living can be another measure.  Creating a sustainable business, worth selling is another. And there are plenty of successful entrepreneurs, people I would judge as totally competent, who attempted and failed repeatedly before making it by any of those measures.

If I'm being totally honest, I'd say my drive to be an entrepreneur is an attempt to make my dad proud, to do what he wasn't able to do and to show him that one of his own made it after all.  Crazy, I know.  My dad died over 35 years ago.  Photo by makelessnoise.

Entrepreneurship is one of the most challenging professions I can think of, because much of it is an "inside first" endeavor.  It's both a head and heart game.  The more I do this, the more I learn about myself.

What are you learning about yourself as a result of being an entrerpreneur? 

What Do You Believe About Failure?

Last month, I hit the wall.  One of the best things that has come out of that experience is uncovering my beliefs about failure.  Photo by Sean MacEntee.

Entrepreneurs are in the business of trying new things.  Not everything works out. Heck, if half of what you try works, you're doing well. A common mantra among start-ups is "Fail fast."  In other words, failure is the gift of finding out what doesn't work and moving on to the next experiment, quickly.

So it came as a shock when I realized that:

• I avoid looking at the numbers associated with my businesses to avoid facing failure head on.  The numbers don't lie. You are either making money or losing money. 

• Failure feels like death. When I started out as a career coach, I was in the red at the end of the year, after being in business for just six months. I went into a long depression that lasted the entire month of December.  It was the same feeling when I hit the wall a few weeks ago with my newest business, My Alumni Link. The world turns from vibrant to dull overnight.

• I take failure personally.  After working two years on My Alumni Link, and seeing that working harder won't necessarily increase the profitability, I wonder, "Am I smart enough to turn this around? "  My Gremlin gleefully shouts, "No, you are not good enough!"  And yet, we can do all the right things and the landscape can shift overnight.  A friend told me about a mom and pop convenience store that had been in business for nearly a decade.  A storefront nearby lost its lease and guess who moved in?  A national convenience store chain.  Overnight the mom and pop store saw its sales cut in half.  Photo by Lyfetime.

• What I interpret as failure may be what others interpret as one step on the road to success.  Friends reminded me that it's natural to lose money the first couple of years in business, given start-up costs. They were right.  Looking back on my early years as a career coach, I can see that the first step on an upward trajectory may point downward.

Much of these insights came in talking with a friend last week. In the course of the conversation, I blurted out, "If I don't change the way that I view failure, it will kill me as an entrepreneur."  As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized the mental model that I had been holding for several decades, dating back to my childhood. 

My father, after being an employee for all his life, realized his dream of being an entrepreneur in his forties.  He opened a Chinese restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was his one and only attempt at building a business. The restaurant went bankrupt within two years.  Afterward, he went back to working for someone else.  But not before he suffered from insomnia and ulcers.  My mother told me that after the bankruptcy, my father was never the same. A few years later, he was diagnosed with cancer.  Within 6 years of declaring bankruptcy, he was dead at the age of 51. 

It's all so obvious now. 

What I know is that I can change the stories that I tell myself.  I'm writing a new story about failure--about how I can't know ahead of time how the experiment will turn out, but that I can change how I interpret the results and what it says about myself.  I can take the results and learn from them to point me in the right direction. I can see failure as one step in a successful journey. Photo by stevendepoto.

I became an entrepreneur in part to follow my own path. And yet, if it is truly my path, and not someone else's, I'll need to turn off the autopilot, leave the highway, and navigate from a new inner compass.