A Bigger Voice

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.

This would have been unheard of just a few years ago: http://on.wsj.com/keoYAQ . Just goes to show how much social media has enabled individuals to have a bigger voice and build communities, since I started this blog in 2008.

The Wisdom of Gary Vaynerchuk

One of the best books I've read recently on social media is Gary Vaynerchuk's The Thank You Economy. Not only does Vaynerchuk have practical wisdom in this area, based on his own experience in using social media to grow his wine business, he's eminently quotable. He's the rare "social media expert" who really is an expert, because he's done it and lived it--and in the process, created compelling results for his own business. Photo by Eric Kastner.

If you don't "get" social media and why it's such a powerful tool for building relationships, read this book.  A few of my favorite quotes from the book:

On Customer Relationships

"[The customer] is not going to give me the chance unless the other guy slips up.  And even then they'd probably give him a second chance because forgiveness is the hallmark of a good relationship."

"Any company that gets so complacent it thinks everything is "fine" deserves to go out of business--it literally means its leaders have stopped caring. A competitive company is always on the offense.  Always. Always. Always."

"A successful social media campaign is one that plays close to the emotional center; the farther away you stand from that center, the farther away your customers are going to stand as well."

Photo by rachaelvorhees

 

On Quality Over Quantity

"It's not the number of followers you have or "likes" you get, it's the strength of your bond with your followers that indicates how much anyone cares about what you have to say. In this game, the one with the most real relationships wins."

 

On Messaging

 "You may not be able to control the message anymore, but you can absolutely control the tone in which the message gets played."

 

On Company Culture 

"We are a capitalist society, but the majority of businesses are taking a communist approach toward allowing their employees to use their voice on social media. They don't want the wrong message to get out, but if they create the right internal culture, it's unlikely there will be a wrong message."  

Photo by malias

 

On Social Media as the New Focus Group

"Social media gives us the opportunity to figure out what people want before they even know they want it.  Using social media to talk to customers is like getting access to the most honest focus group that's ever sat around a conference table and not paying a dime for their input."

 

The best part of book is at the end, in a section titled, "Sawdust".  Here, Vaynerchuk discusses everything from how fear blocks innovation to how Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, should have bought Woot several years before he actually did (in 2010) to hiring and firing.  In this section is Vaynerchuk's version of the Cracker Jack prize at the bottom of the box--small, intriguing, and a delight to find: 

Biggest Mistakes Companies Make With Social Media

1. Using tactics instead of strategy

2. Using it exclusively to put out fires

3. Using it to brag

4. Using it as a press release

5. Exclusively re-tweeting other people's material rather than creating your own original content.

6. Using it to push product

7. Expecting immediate results

Social media gives us back the ability to be personable, in a quiet way, in a world that can be too impersonal, too over the top, too reality-show-attention-getting.  That neighborly approach, even as it is applied one-to-many, can be the basis for a lasting and trusting relationship with your audience.

The Many Faces of Entrepreneurs

Last night, I hosted a networking group, Coolest Women We Know.  As part of the evening, I facilitated three women telling their stories of being an entrepreneur. It's one of my favorite things to do, uncovering wisdom through stories. The format is simple enough--10 minutes for each speaker, followed by Q+A from the audience.

I purposely invited women who are at different stages of the journey.  Fiona has a start-up that is less than two years old, working on a Facebook app.  Nadine has been building a data company for 12 years that is now an "overnight success" and didn't become an entrepreneur until she turned 50. Jamie always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur.  She's worked in several start-ups as an employee and founded a start-up, with stints in between as a management consultant and an "intrapreneur" at a telecom company.  One is single.  Two are married.  One has children.  One has a sales background. One started as a research biologist.  One has the traditional MBA from a top school.

Entrepreneurship has many faces. Despite how seemingly different their three stories are, there was a convergence in the wisdom they had to offer:

• Persist by believing in what you are doing.  Nadine talked about having  to sell her house to meet payroll.  There was no turning  back for her.  And what kept her going was the fact that she knew she had an idea that was novel and addressed a gap in the marketplace.  She was doing what no one else had done before.  It's one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur--seeing a need and then forging the way to create something from nothing.  

• Know thyself. All of the speakers stressed the importance of knowing what you do and don't like to do. And then finding someone to hire or partner with to get the other things done. Jamie loves product management and hates sales. Fiona is great at project management and she lacks any interest in accounting. Nadine is a natural salesperson, and definitely isn't a programmer. 

• Be willing to take risks. Whether you are bootstrapping or going after funding, each of the women showed their appetite for risk--to go forward with both feet in.  Leaving full-time jobs, promising clients a product without people in place to deliver, giving up control in exchange for VC money. These are all risks that these women took along the way.  Photo by MissTurner.

• Expect days of euphoria and despair/panic. This is one of my favorites and one that I know all too well.  Successful entrepreneurs are resilient.  They ride the waves and see it through.  It's why so many entrepreneurs don't "make it" until they've failed a few times.  They get knocked down and come back for more. In fact, Jamie had a blog during one of her entrepreneurial stints which she titled, "Glutton for Punishment".  

My thanks to Fiona, Jamie, and Nadine for telling their stories and for showing me the many faces of entrepreneurs.

Joy of (Re-)Connecting

Part of the beauty of communities is that once formed, the bonds can remain between members in the community for a long time. 

Over the years, I've played with the concept of virtual communities, through this blog and another blog for my coaching biz, and more recently, with social networking sites used for my work for alumni associations. If I were to draw these different communities, they might look like slightly overlapping Venn diagrams--very few people are part of all of these communities, but combined, it represents a lot of people. Combined, this is my brand community--the people who know the value I bring and the unique way of delivering that value, and are willing to tell others about me.

So it's been a joy recently to re-connect with members of my brand community, some of whom I had only known through phone or email or social networking sites. A few of my favorite moments in the last month:

That's me with Tim Wendel, one of our original participants in the pilot for A Bigger Voice.  I've interviewed Tim and his brother, Chris Wendel, for this blog more than once and even met Chris twice in Traverse City, MI.  But this was the first time meeting Tim on his home turf in Washington, DC.

Tim was gracious enough to meet me for a very early morning (6:30am!) coffee (although neither of us drinks coffee) and then gave me a ride to the airport, complete with historical commentary of DC sites along the way.

I was in DC to do a two networking workshops, so it was only natural that two participants from my Networking Naturally webinar series showed up. (A big shout out to @krekkas for coming to the event!) 

That's me with Yvette Owo and notice how she towers over me (with no heels!)  While Yvette and I had talked over the phone, emailed and chatted via a social networking site set up for the webinar series, we had never met in person.  So when I first met her, my first words were something like, "You are SO tall!"  An honest reaction, don't you think?

While traveling to new places can trigger a connection with someone in your virtual community, being online can be the catalyst for catching up with someone who used to be in your physical community.  Finding high school friends on Facebook is a great example of this. 

I'm providing to several university alumni associations a webinar series on using social media to enhance your career opportunities. One of the universities is my alma mater, Northwestern.  A few days before the first webinar, I received a LinkedIn invitation, with the following note:

"... just signed up for your webinar on the 16th... what a thrill to see your name! You might not remember me but you probably remember my wife..."

Turns out he's married to one of my sorority sisters who was a few years behind me. He was dating her when I was still around. We caught up on the last 25+ years in the course of a few LinkedIn messages (well, not entirely!) 

The biggest surprise of all came when I read the survey responses after I delivered that same webinar.  There's always an open question on these feedback forms that basically says, "Any other comments?"  So one respondent provided the following:

"Kudos to Carol on her very successful career transition! And, thanks, for the great information. It has been a very long time since our freshman year in Allison Hall!"

It was a woman who lived down the hall from me, who I remember as being an extremely accomplished flute player, even though she was not a music major.  I was always envious hearing her play difficult pieces with what seemed like relative ease. I struggled to play flute at the competency expected in one of the college ensembles, while trying to keep up with my course load and the studying that came along with it. I eventually stopped playing in my sophomore year.

Again, we caught up virtually through email, and at least for me, by looking at LinkedIn profiles. We talked about the twists and turns of our careers.  (No one ever expects an engineer to become a career coach.)

And finally, I received an email from a former coaching client who I had not spoken to in over a year.  She mentioned that she had been keeping up with what I've been up to through our LinkedIn connection. I replied back with a link to the aforementioned webinar, as I thought she could benefit from some of the information.  I got a response that same day.  She had already listened to the recording and was thrilled to get the information. But what struck me was when she mentioned how hearing my voice brought back so many memories of work we had done together.  I was touched.

It's truly been a blessing to connect and re-connect with so many people in my brand community over time.  Whether virtually or in-person, there's nothing quite like that feeling of having a common bond not only reinforced, but deepened.

You don't need to be doing webinars or speaking engagements to connect with your community.  But it does mean reaching out to others when you are in new places (e.g., arranging a meetup at a local coffee shop) and staying active on social media.

We now have many more ways to connect with kindred spirits, than even just a few years ago.  This is good news for wisdom entrepreneurs and other builders of communities.  It happens one post, one status update, one email, one webinar, one Skype call, one YouTube video, at a time.

PS. I was surprised to see that it had been over two months since I last posted here.  My apologies for the long absence. It feels good to be back.

Encore Webinar on January 18

I'm moderating a webinar on Encore Careers for the Northwestern University Club of Colorado on January 18 at 5pm Mountain Time. This event is open to the public.  Registration closes the morning of Jan 18. See below for more information:

U.S. Census statistics indicate a talent shortage by the year 2018.

Yet, 78 million Baby Boomers make up the largest, healthiest, and best-educated population segment. They have the potential to help solve serious social problems and to bridge critical labor gaps in education, health care and the green economy. This adds up to a tremendous social impact called the Encore Career. Photo by vastateparkstaff

What is an Encore Career?   As defined by Civic Ventures, an organization leading the way on creating meaning in the second half of one's life:

An Encore Career consists of work after a primary career that combines continued income with personal meaning and social impact.

So if you are wondering what's next for you, join us. Here are some of the questions we'll address:

1. What does job competitiveness look like for the experienced worker?
2. How can I turn volunteering into a job?
3. Where are the encore career opportunities - now and future?
4. What need in the world aligns with my passions, gifts, educational background and experience?
5. How do I make the transition from corporate to nonprofit?

In addition to a speaker, we'll also have three panelists who are in different stages of an encore career--from planning an encore career to being one of a select few nationally recognized for the impact of their encore career on society. 

Many wisdom entrepreneurs are playing out an encore career in doing their work.   Join us next Tues, Jan 18 and get inspired!

How a Community Pioneered a New Way of Funding Cancer Research

I was inspired by a blog posting, The Cause to Find Cancer Causes: Direct Funding for Cancer Research by Crowd Sourcing from Millions on Causes, written by Harvard researcher, Eric Ding.

Okay, it's not a title that rolls off the tongue.  But what is easily talked about and remembered is this:

Three years ago, Ding founded the Campaign for Cancer Prevention.  Today, it's a community of 6 million people from around the world, with a shared interest in funding research for cancer prevention, and at the same time, allowing the average citizen to connect with leading edge researchers.  So far, this community has raised $300,000, to fund the first breast cancer study through public grassroots donations.  The Internet excels at cutting out the middleman.  Why not with medical research, by creating direct donor-to-researcher funding?

The impact of this new funding model is significant. According to Ding, traditional funding organizations typically have 25-35% overhead and often experience 2-5 years of bureaucratic delays in administration.  Ding estimates that by crowdsourcing the funding, 9 months or less for "innovation delivery time"  is realistic.

In an email exchange with Ding, his commitment to this cause comes through loud and clear:

"This is just the beginning...we're going to expand this cancer funding-research model even more in the coming year." 

I can't help but love that rare mix of passion, commitment and vision, leading to results worth talking about.  

Ding goes on to say how part of pioneering this new model is to allow donors to see the fruits of their "donation labor."  This is the type of transparency that plagues traditional command and control organizations and is the value-add/competitive edge for those who embrace Web 2.0.

What other stunning results can communities produce that otherwise would be unthinkable?  How are you rallying your kindred spirits to pioneer new ways of doing things?  Do let us know.....