Infuse Program

3 Ways to Build Buzz for a Product Before it Ships

Infuse Program — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:34:04 +0000

By Jonathan Mead

Great companies and brands create profitable products long before they ever ship them. So, why is it that so many people insist on creating something, and then seeing if people want it? These days, this is the hallmark difference between those who sink, and those who swim.

It’s not just solopreneurs who make the mistake of spending lots of time and energy creating something before determining if the market wants it or not. Big companies make the same mistake. They assume they know what people want, and they fail.

The smart people make it big by selling out their products before they ship (see: Apple). I believe there is a lesson to be learned here. Let’s look at a few examples of products selling out before they create and ship:

The Apple iPhone. Sure, Apple creates the product before it pre-sells the iPhone. But the company has mastered the art of building up desire and anticipation before the product is available for purchase. Before it’s ready to ship, they pre-sell the hell out of it.
Tim Ferris’ 4-Hour Body. Like many authors, Tim Ferris made sure there was demand for his book by carefully crafting a compelling story to get people excited. Then he made it available for pre-sale.
Threadless T-shirts. Designs are crowdsourced and voted for by the Threadless community. The only designs put on a shirt are the ones that get the most votes from users. Seems to be working pretty well for them.

Essentially, all these people are ensuring that their products will sell before they spend a bunch of time and money creating them. Seems like a smart strategy, right?

It’s one I’ve been using as well. I pay close attention to the feedback from my audience and buyers to shape the direction of my offerings. If no one wants it, I don’t make it. It seems simple, but you’d be surprised how many people do the opposite.

So, how can you ensure that what you create is successful before you create it?

Set up feedback loops inside your business. You can do this with auto-responders on your mailing list, in product surveys, etc. Keep your finger on the pulse on what your audience’s biggest needs are, but keep in mind that it’s up to you to interpret that data and take the appropriate action. Sometimes people will tell you what they want, but they really mean something different.
Create a compelling story. Develop a narrative about the creation and evolution of your product for your audience to follow. Every good product creation story should have a clear beginning, middle and end. Have you ever noticed that in a TV series or movie that at the end of every scene, there is something that keeps you hooked and baited to find out what happens next? Every time you give people an update about what’s going on, make sure you give them a reason to come back to find out what’s going to happen in the next update.
Use social proof to demonstrate to people the demand of what you’re creating and that’s why you decided to make it. When people see that other people are interested, it takes the burden of risk off of them to become interested too.

Whether your product is physical or digital, there’s a lot of opportunity for engaging your customers more, creating more of an emotional connection and having a lot more fun. It’s also a lot easier to create something great once you know it’s sold. Not to mention less stressful.

So, how can you apply this with your next product?

Since a young age, Jonathan Mead has had a hard time doing things he’s not passionate about. He left the corporate scene at age 23 to become self-employed, doing what makes him come alive: helping others create work they love while getting paid to be who they are.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC leads #FixYoungAmerica, a solutions-based movement that aims to end youth unemployment and put young Americans back to work.

Getting Paid to be Who You Are (Or Why You Need to Create Your Own Livelihood)

Infuse Program — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 09:34:31 +0000

By Jonathan Mead

Have you ever felt like there was a divide between your work, and the rest of your life?

Experts say we need more work/life balance. That we need to leave our work at the door, and create more boundaries and limits. (I say screw the experts, be your own authority.)

What if creating more boundaries was actually counterproductive? Maybe the answer isn’t trying to compartmentalize our work further so it doesn’t “poison” the rest of our lives. Maybe the answer isn’t to bandaid the symptoms, but to look at the deeper cause of the imbalance.

What if instead of creating neat little boxes for each area of our life, we tried to eliminate the distinctions as much as possible?

While helping guide hundreds of people to create a livelihood doing what they love, I’ve found that most people do not want to be able to tell the difference between when they’re working and when they’re playing. The experts tout separation to find solace and balance. But what people really crave is integration and for labor and leisure to be almost indistinguishable.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many jobs that will fulfill this desire. So, if you want to get paid to be who you are, you’ll probably have to create your own livelihood. There are three steps and three questions to ask yourself as you embark upon this journey of work/life fulfillment.

Step No. 1
Ask yourself: What am I deeply passionate about? What could I talk about for hours without tiring, and explore for years without end in sight?

Step No. 2
Ask yourself: What can I offer to the world? Where does my passion line up with what other people need?

Step No. 3
Ask yourself: What’s incredibly easy for me? How does my story make me uniquely qualified to help people with this?

Of course, the next step is to find the intersection, and build it. Create a blog, share your story. Cultivate a burning desire to serve, and cultivate your skills to become a leader in your topic.

And don’t try to make it happen. Know that it will happen and it’s just a matter of time.

Walls and compartments are made for machines and kitchen cabinets. Neither of which you are. Your purpose is to become who you are, and make a living doing it.

We’re waiting for you to build it. When will you start?

Do You Have What It Takes To Create Your Own Category?

Infuse Program — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:35:28 +0000

By Jonathan Mead

Too often, people go into a crowded market and try to carve out a nice, comfortable niche where the competition isn’t too high. There’s already a proven business model, a proof of concept and it’s a safe bet.

However, the world was never changed by safe bets. The people that changed the world and their markets weren’t just category leaders, they were category creators.

For example, Pablo Picasso wasn’t just the best at what he did, he pioneered what he did. He said, ”I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

If you want to do something great, you must dare for your vision to bleed outside of the lines of what has already been done. You must also dare for your fantasies and ideas to take root in the world. New lands were never discovered by those who simply thought about getting on the ship but remained in the realm of hypothesis. In order to pioneer something worthwhile, you have to start moving. Those who are busy refining their plans are left in the dust by those consistently setting sail.

Consider this: if you were a muse, would you be more attracted to someone walking a path, knee-deep in the terrain, or someone sitting in a basement, pitifully agonizing over the perfect idea? Exactly.

But action is only part of the equation; many people take action, even at the pace of a hurricane, and they are clearly not category creators or even category leaders.

The difference is a critical ignorance. You can’t create a masterpiece doing what you’re told, following the templates of what’s always been done. Those who changed art and culture dared to ignore and defy the traditions and rhetoric of approved methods.

A friend of mine once took the principle of ignorance to the extreme; he deliberately shunned all music for several months while working on a new piece. No radio, iPod, nothing. If he walked into a business that played music, he left. His approach was obviously extreme, but it inspired me.

Whether or not you cut all ties from the outside world, or simply choose to defy it, foolhardiness is the breeding ground for creating something worthwhile. Something worth remembering.

So I’ll leave you with a question: Were you born to follow someone else’s path? Or were you meant to create your own category, and rule the market not only as its leader, but also as its pioneer?

Since a young age, Jonathan Mead has had a hard time doing things he’s not passionate about. He left the corporate scene at age 23 to become self-employed doing what makes him come alive: helping others create work they love while getting paid to be who they are.

Photo Credit: Man in Nature © by Stian Rødven Eide (2006)

62 Reasons We Need Your Help To #FixYoungAmerica

Infuse Program — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 09:43:33 +0000

For the graduating class of 2012, summer should be a time to celebrate. But while overall U.S. unemployment has continued to drop to a little over 8 percent — in part because many Americans have simply given up looking for work — America’s youngest workers are still facing double-digit unemployment. Even bachelor’s degree holders are faring badly — one out of every two was either jobless or underemployed in 2011, and 2012 isn’t looking much better.

To combat this epidemic, the Young Entrepreneur Council launched a national #FixYoungAmerica campaign earlier this spring. So far, the response has been incredible, especially from Gen Yers already feeling the pinch.

In April, we held a #FixYoungAmerica rally on 300+ college campuses in all 50 states, in which tens of thousands of students participated — including those photographed here. These grassroots efforts were covered widely, with media outlets from The New York Times to MTV jumping on board. And in May, we released #FixYoungAmerica: How to Rebuild Our Economy and Put Young Americans Back to Work (for Good), a book of essays written by nonprofit founders, educators, politicians and entrepreneurs who shared their own entrepreneurial solutions for ending the youth unemployment crisis in America.

Unfortunately, throughout the rally, campaign and our grassroots outreach efforts, what we uncovered is just how bad chronic unemployment really is for young people right now — and we keep uncovering more evidence that the situation isn’t changing, week after week. The fact is, young Americans need all the help they can get, and they need it now.

A student at Arizona State University’s #FixYoungAmerica rally

What are young people up against? Take a look for yourself:

The current unemployment rate among young workers aged 20-24 is 13 percent.
1 out of 2 college grads – about 1.5 million, or about 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree holders age 25 or younger — were unemployed or underemployed in 2011.Fewer than half of college grads from the class of 2008 to today found jobs within a year of graduation — down from 73 percent.
The majority of the 79 million U.S. Millennials are either unemployed, underpaid, or weighed down with student loans.
25 percent of Millennials have more debt than savings.
Around 94 percent of college students receive their diploma while carrying debt.
For high school grads (age 17-20), the unemployment rate was 31.1 percent from April 2011-March 2012; underemployment was 54 percent.
For young college grads (age 21-24), unemployment was 9.4 percent last year, while underemployment was 19.1 percent.
3 in 5 young college grads are unemployed or underemployed in the Mountain West region of the United States. The next-worst regions for being a young college grad looking for work? The Southeast and Pacific regions.
The share of employed young adults (aged 18-24) is at a 60-year low. It has dropped to 54.3 percent — the lowest level since government began tracking it in 1948.
The unemployment rate for young Americans under 25 is twice that of the general population.
Only 56 percent of American teenagers believe they’ll be as well off as their parents financially– a 37 percent drop since 2011.
Only 1 in 5 college grads thinks their generation will be more successful than the generations before them.
Only 18 percent of American teens say they’ll be financially independent when they turn 20 – compared to 44 percent in 2011.
The 15-percentage-point gap between young and working-age adults right now is the widest in recorded history.
While overall unemployment is around 8 percent, 29.1 percent of young male veterans and 36.1 percent of young female veterans age 18-24 were unemployed 2011—compared to 17.6 and 14.5 percent, respectively, of nonveteran young men and women.
Young American women still earn less than young American men, regardless of their educational background.
According to some researchers, up to 95 percent of job positions lost occurred in low-tech, middle-income jobs like bank tellers. Gains in jobs are going to workers at the top or the bottom, not in the middle.
More college graduates are getting low-level jobs, period. U.S. bachelor’s degree holders are more likely to wait tables, tend bar or become food-service helpers than to be employed as engineers, physicists, chemists or mathematicians combined — 100,000 versus 90,000.
More recent grads are working in administrative jobs than in all professional computer jobs out there — 163,000 versus 100,000.
More college grads are cashiers, retail clerks or customer representatives than engineers – 125,000 versus 80,000, to be exact.
Of young Americans aged 18-34, half have taken a job they didn’t want in order to pay bills.
Of young college graduates from the class of ’08 to today, four in 10 took jobs just to get by.
24 percent of young Americans aged 18 to 34 said they took an unpaid job for work experience.
According to new U.S. government projections, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings in the next eight years will require a bachelor’s degree or higher. Most job openings by 2020 will be in low-wage professions like retail sales, fast food and truck driving.
More than 35 percent of young Americans went back to school because of the economy.
31 percent of young Americans postponed getting married or having a baby due to their financial situation.
Since 2006, 40 percent of college grads have put off major purchases like buying homes or cars.
One in four young Americans moved back in with their parents AFTER living on their own.
Median earnings for young African Americans are only 75 percent of the earnings of whites. For young Latinos, the number is even lower — 68 percent.
Between 2000 and 2011, the wages of young high school grads declined by 11.1 percent; of young college grads, 5.4 percent.
Almost half – 41.3 percent – of 25 to 34-year-old young Americans spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent every month.
The majority of recession-era college grads rely on financial help from their families.
Credit card debt has risen 81 percent among young Americans aged 25-34 since 1989.
The student loan default rate rose 31 percent over just two years.

Oklahoma State University students rally for #FixYoungAmerica
Student loan debt is reaching debt-bubble proportions — it recently topped $1 trillion (and exceeds total credit card debt in the United States).
Two out of three college students now graduate with student loan debt. Average tuition is three times higher today than in 1980.
Average student loan debt is now more than $25,000.
African American students are more likely to take out student loans and graduate, on average, with higher levels of debt.
Federal student loan default rate is 8.8 percent and projected to rise.
Of employed young Americans aged 18-34, less than half think they have the education and training they need to get ahead in their jobs today.
More than 53 percent of U.S. companies say they’re having trouble finding skilled non-managerial employees, in spite of the high number of unemployed Americans.
The situation is equally dismal for high school grads. Some 37 percent of high school students who graduate today are unemployed, in comparison to the 23 percent of those who graduated before the recession.

New Mexico State University students informing others during #FixYoungAmerica.
The total percentage of today’s high school graduates who are looking for a full-time job — including those who are doing so while keeping a part-time position — is 45 percent.
High school grads may be hopeful, but their long-term view isn’t as optimistic. Half are hopeful they’ll start a new job within the year, while the other half have no idea when they’ll be employed full-time.
Close to half of today’s high school graduates say they have been actively seeking employment over six months, and 30 percent have been looking for over a year.
Over 80 percent of high school graduates currently applying for full-time positions have yet to receive a job offer since they began applying.
Of the few who have received offers since starting their job search, the median number of offers was two.
Eighty percent of high school grads don’t expect to be more financially successful than their parents — with college graduates sharing similar sentiments.
After leaving high school, graduates’ job prospects aren’t promising. 88 percent of high school students were paid by the hour at their first jobs after graduating. Their median wage was $7.50 — just 25 cents over the federal minimum wage.
75 percent percent of high school graduates’ first jobs were temporary positions, and 50 percent were only part-time.
Since graduation, high school students only make very little progress. Despite raises, the same number still find themselves in temporary positions, compensating them with hourly wages.
Although 92 percent of young Americans aged 21-24 said they felt entrepreneurship education was vital given the realities of the new economy and job market, more than half (56 percent) were never offered entrepreneurship classes at all.*
Most – 62 percent – students who were offered entrepreneurship classes said they didn’t feel the classes prepared them enough to start a business.*
Meanwhile, even though young people actively want to start new companies, the rate of new startup creation is plummeting. According to Census Bureau data, the rate of newly created startups has plummeted to 7 from 9 percent in 2008 (and 11 percent in 2006).
Only 394,632 new startups were established in 2010, in comparison to 544,109 in 1987 — a drop of 28 percent.
During the 1980s recovery, startups supplied 20 percent of total private-sector U.S. employment, versus only 12 percent now.
Entrepreneurs created 40 percent of all new jobs during the 1980s recovery, compared with under 33 percent during today’s recession.
Though the Startup Act was just introduced in Congress, the U.S. currently does NOT offer any specific visa for foreigners who wish to start up in America.
Not surprisingly, then, 72 percent of youth said they do not feel they have enough support from banks, up from 65 percent in 2010.*
86 percent of recent grads feel they do not have enough support from the government (YEC/Buzz 2011).*
And finally, 52 percent of young Americans 18-29 feel the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction.

Students at Louisiana State University educate their peers during their #FixYoungAmerica rally

*Data is from the 2011 Youth Entrepreneurship Survey conducted by Buzz Marketing Group and the Young Entrepreneur Council (of young Americans ages 21-24).

Scott Gerber is a serial entrepreneur, internationally syndicated columnist and TV host, and the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council. He is also an active angel investor and author of the book Never Get a “Real” Job.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC recently published #FixYoungAmerica: How to Rebuild Our Economy and Put Young Americans Back to Work (for Good), a book of 30+ proven solutions to help end youth unemployment.

How To Network With Everyone

Infuse Program — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:44:10 +0000

By Scott Dinsmore

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

I don’t care what your goals, industry or interests are, there’s no getting around it: Personal relationships run the world. But why is it that some people seem to build instant rapport with most anyone they come across, while others are left with a network of one?

Over the past few years, I’ve conducted a study of exactly what sets these people apart. Turns out, the results are more simple, and more powerful, than you’d think. And they led me to interactions and connections with world-class CEOs, best-selling authors, professional athletes and other seemingly untouchable folks, including Tony Robbins and Warren Buffett.

Regardless of status or fame, people are people. And the 7 pillars of making a connection with another person are always the same — whether applied to your next-door neighbor, one of the world’s biggest celebrities or even the cute girl sitting at the bar:

Be genuine. The only connections that work will be the ones that you truly care about; the world will see through anything short of that. If you don’t have a genuine interest in the person with whom you’re trying to connect, then stop trying.
Provide massive help. Even the biggest and most powerful people in the world have something they’d like help with. Too many people never reach out to those above them due to the fear that they wouldn’t be able to offer anything in return. But you have more to offer than you realize: write an article or blog post about them, share their project with your community, offer to spread their message through a video interview with them. Give real thought to who you could connect them with to benefit their goals. If it turns out you can’t be that helpful, the gesture alone will stand out.
Pay ridiculous attention. It’s nearly impossible to genuinely offer help if you don’t pay attention — I mean real attention, not just to what business they started or what sport they like! Do your research by reading blog posts, books and articles about the connection beforehand. Learn about their backgrounds and passions. Invest genuine time in learning what really matters to them and how you can help.
Connect with people close to them. Most job openings are filled through networking and referrals, and making connections is no different. You automatically arrive with credibility when referred to someone you want to meet by a mutual friend. For example, I recently wanted to meet a best-selling author, and it turned out we had the same personal trainer. In reality, that fact means nothing, but in the world of social dynamics, it’s gold! Spend more time connecting with your current network of friends and colleagues and see where it leads.
Persistence wins most battles. If you can’t get a direct referral, simply click send on that email or leave a message after the beep. But do not stop there, as most the world tends to. The first attempt is just the very beginning. Realize that the first try may get you nowhere, but the fifth or the tenth tries are the ones that start to yield results. An unreturned email or voicemail doesn’t mean they don’t want to connect with you. It’s your job to be persistent! I sometimes get hundreds of requests in a day from readers who want to connect, but only about 2 percent ever follow up. Don’t be in a hurry, but don’t be invisible either.
Make real friends. Think about how you’ve made the friends you have. That’s all this is. You only make friends with people you genuinely want in your life. The same rule should go for bigger-name connections. Don’t over-think it. Be human, be helpful and most humans will happily be human in return, regardless of who they are.
Remain unforgettable. All of the above are simple — yet sadly underused — ways of standing out. Send birthday cards. Mail your favorite book with a signed personal note from you on the inside flap. Send them your family Christmas card. Be genuinely helpful. You’d be surprised how the simplest things actually never get done. Being memorable isn’t as hard as some think!

It all comes back to helping others. If you spent 100 percent of your waking hours thinking about how you can help absolutely everyone you come in contact with — from the woman who makes your latte, to the top authority in your industry — you will find everything else tends to take care of itself. The world will suddenly be in your corner.

Scott Dinsmore is the founder of Live Your Legend, a coaching and digital product company helping people build a career around work they love. He’s also a Managing Partner at Cumbre Capital, a value investment partnership modeled after the Buffett Partnerships of the ’50s and ’60s. Scott loves a good adventure.

Photo Credit: Hello, my name is anonymous © by Quinn Dombrowski (2010)

13 Startup Skills To Learn Outside the Classroom

Infuse Program — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:45:49 +0000

Question: What is one practical DIY thing that you have learned about entrepreneurship that traditional education did not teach you? How/Where did you learn it?

Question by: Geoff R.

YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER

“I learned to trust myself and my gut, instead of always searching externally for an answer. This came about after many hours and dollars spent on seminars, programs and books. I was sitting in a leadership program after becoming a certified coach, and I found myself saying, “I know this stuff.” Why did I need someone else to tell me what I already knew? The lesson was to test my hunches.” - Michael Bruny | International Speaker | Coach | Author,Ambassador Bruny.Com

GET AWAY FROM THE DETAILS

“Traditional advice places a high level of importance on detail, but this can be a hindrance. Why? An extreme focus on detail limits one’s ability to grasp the larger picture, which is critical to knowing what details to focus on. Under the microscope, everything appears larger. Learn to discern what is most important and how it contributes to the larger scope of things.” - Kent Healy | The Uncommon Life

PEOPLE WILL HELP IF YOU ASK

“Thanks to higher education, I entered the traditional workforce, not realizing there were any other options. Learning from industry professionals is what helped me find my own success. Be proactive about requesting informational interviews and seeking out the wisdom of others. As long as you respect others’ time, they’ll typically be willing to share their experiences.” - Steph Auteri | career coach, writer, and editor, Word Nerd Pro

ALL THE TOOLS ARE ONLINE

“Leveraging the power of the Internet has enabled me to learn about entrepreneurship at an accelerated rate. Traditional education is simply not able to keep up with the amount of information available online. Utilize online communities geared toward teaching and promoting entrepreneurship.” - Anthony Saladino | Co-Founder & CEO, Kitchen Cabinet Kings

HOW TO BUILD A TEAM

“Traditional education is all about the individual — working on your own coursework, improving your own grades. Entrepreneurship requires immense teamwork. The greatest tip I ever heard was this; when your building your team, hire only people that you would trust for them to hire more people without consulting you.” - Ben Lang | Founder, EpicLaunch

THE PRICE IS RIGHT!

“One thing I wished someone taught me early was how to set pricing models, we had to learn this on our own and read about it from diluted web sources. But it is as important as putting the product out — if you don’t set your retail price correctly all other avenues of sales become difficult to manage. Drop shipping, wholesale accounts, affiliate sites, commission sales — all important.” - Jerry Piscitelli | Owner / Inventor, Portopong LLC

REVERSE ENGINEER YOUR GOALS

“The only way to create change in your business or personal life is to define and complete the right sequence of baby steps. This is something I was never taught; there are 10 steps or tasks between me and my desired end result. If you can reverse engineer something you want to accomplish and define the baby steps — deadlines, money and talent needed — you’re in good shape.” - Josh Shipp | TV Host & Bestselling Author, JoshShipp.com

HOW TO NEGOTIATE

“Schools rarely teach negotiation, and if they do, it’s using sample scenarios between classmates with no “skin in the game.” As an entrepreneur, you need to negotiate all the time, and it’s a skill I continue to refine each day. Whether it’s negotiating salaries with new hires, equity split with co-founders, deliverables with team members and more, negotiation is one definite educational DIY.” - Doreen Bloch | CEO / Founder, Poshly Inc.

EFFECTIVE GOAL SETTING

“Business school taught me how to set goals in an organization and how to organize systems properly. However, it didn’t teach me how to set goals as an entrepreneur. With the need to balance my personal brand, personal life, company and the goals for each, I had to develop my own system for setting and achieving goals. I learned by trial and error.” - Lisa Nicole Bell | CEO, Inspired Life Media Group

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO MONEY

“As an engineer by training, I knew a lot about delivering results, solving problems and creating things. What I didn’t learn from school is that running a business comes down to one thing: making money. It’s so simple, but without this mindset you’ll be hard-pressed to build a successful business.” - Nathalie Lussier | Founder, CEO, Nathalie Lussier Media

NOVELTY IS OVERRATED

“Academic culture puts a huge weight on novelty and innovation. I started my business while finishing a Ph.D and it took me a long time to learn that I didn’t have to come up with something completely new to make a significant mark. Making current technologies easier to use or more accessible is far better than coming up with something new just for novelty’s sake.” - Charlie Gilkey | Principal, Productive Flourishing

SALES AND MARKETING RULE

“Traditional education teaches you that if you do the best work, you will be rewarded accordingly. But in the world of business, it doesn’t matter what you do, but who knows about it and who buys it. I’ve seen dramatic improvements in my business game by investing in sales and marketing training.” - Elizabeth Saunders | Founder & CEO, Real Life E®

ACTION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITY

“Traditional education teaches us to plan before action (the business plan). How many entrepreneurs out there simply followed a business plan to success? In my opinion, very few. The most practical lesson I have learned is simply to start. Start now, and don’t be afraid to get it wrong. Getting it wrong is the only way to know how to get it right. Planning to start is not starting at all.” - Lucas Sommer | Founder CEO, Audimated

The 3 Pieces of Startup Advice My Team Lives By

Infuse Program — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:35:53 +0000

By Jesse Pujji

Bootstrapping a startup from three to 30 people and counting has, without a doubt, been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life. While it’s extremely rewarding, nothing really prepares you for the emotional ups and downs, organizational challenges, and on-the-fly decision-making required to have any degree of success when turning nothing into something. With that said, here are three pieces of advice I received that have stuck with me and my team since day one:

Watch out for the most dangerous 4-letter word in the dictionary. These words of wisdom were given to us prior to starting by Russ Fradin, the very successful founder of Adify. He noticed that we were using the word “just” a lot: “If we just close a few clients and just buy some search campaigns, then we’ll be generating revenue in no time!” Of course, we didn’t understand until about six months in, when each of our “justs” took twice as a long as we expected and were four times more challenging. Today, it’s a mantra we live by internally: There is no such thing as “just.”
You don’t know anything until you’ve actually done it. Coming from backgrounds in consulting and finance, our team members were experts at building fancy Excel models with amazing projections. “Buy this many clicks, have this percentage of users convert and only 5 percent market share, and we’re billionaires!” It all made perfect sense as we analyzed and projected…until we actually did it. Then, we purchased clicks at three times the price we budgeted, converted a tenth of the users we projected, and realized that 5 percent market share was actually made up of hundreds of thousands of transactions and sales that needed to be closed. The takeaway is to analyze less and do more; only after doing do you get the actual data you need to understand your business.
Decision and action are always better than indecision and inaction. This is much more important for early business success than any other factor, and has been absolute hardest thing I’ve had to learn thus far – make a decision and push the ball forward. It sounds so simple: Do we hire him or not? This office or that office? Green or orange? In the early days, each of those questions took us between a week and a month to answer, and often at our peril. We lost a talented person, had nowhere to work, and missed a client because our website was still “under construction.” A good decision far outweighs the best decision if it can happen in half the time. Even a bad decision can be better than no decision! For example, our first hire was terrible (and, thus, let go after two months), but he got enough momentum going that we landed our first few clients. Then there was no turning back.

All of this advice is squarely focused on doing. It’s a cliché, but execution really is 99.9 percent of success in the early days of any startup. Doing is far more important than thinking for startup success!

Jesse Pujji is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ampush Social, a technology-driven online marketing company that helps advertisers turn clicks into digestible customer actions. The company has built a proprietary media acquisition tool and an analytics and attribution tool that leverage social, search, and display biddable media platforms.

Photo Credit: Advice to a Young Artist © by Cliff (2010)

How 20 Entrepreneurs Got Ahead Early (and You Can Too)

Infuse Program — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 09:58:27 +0000

Question: Share one thing you did at the beginning of your career that is helping you succeed today?

Question by: Kristin

Get to Know Others

“I networked like crazy, went to events constantly, and got my name out there. As a result, in a few years, people started saying, “You know everyone!” I always connected interesting people together too. So whenever I’ve needed an important contact, I’ve always had people bend over backwards to help me out! To this day, I’m still blown away by the people I meet and things I get to do.” - Jennifer Kushell | Founder & President, Young & Successful Media

Always Get Back to People

“Always get back to someone, whether it was through the phone or email. When I first started out, I always told myself that I would answer every email and phone call, even if it was just a quick reply back. If someone took the time to contact you, the least you can do is acknowledge them. If you don’t, you may just miss out on some golden opportunities and networking contacts.” - Ashley Bodi | co-founder, Business Beware

Promote Others

“The best career move I’ve made is to focus the attention and promote other people, instead of just myself. By supporting other people, they are more inclined to help you. Too many people are selfish with networking, yet if you give, you end up getting a lot in return.” - Dan Schawbel | Founder, Millennial Branding

Help a Promising Startup for Free

“When you are first starting out as an entrepreneur, one of your first challenges is to separate yourself from the pack and legitimize yourself. One great way to do so (that not many think of) is to offer your skills to an up-and-coming startup for free! Through this approach, you will learn from established entrepreneurs while attaching your name to a startup with promise.” - Brenton Gieser | Co-Founder , JoynIn

Pick Up a Few New Skills

“Photoshop, iMovie, and basic HTML, oh my! A little knowledge goes a long way. I picked up the basics on all three of these using Lynda.com and just playing around with the applications. Knowing just a little bit of all three has saved me in thousands of dollars upon startup.” - Benjamin Leis | Founder, Sweat EquiTees

Build Credentials Early

“From the beginning of my career, I have seized every opportunity to build impressive credentials. I’ve done speaking events for free, nominated myself for awards, submitted my work to the press, and earned professional certificates. Pursue every opportunity at your disposal to build your resume. Ten years from now, you’ll be glad you did!” - Robert Sofia | Co-Founder & COO, Platinum Advisor Marketing Strategies, LLC

Learn From Your Mistakes and Failures

“Failure has helped me become the business man I am today. In the restaurant industry, there’s so many more downs than ups, due to small and big failures in my systems and industry. But the lessons learned from these failures has given me the thick skin and the knowledge I needed to become successful.” - Michael Sinensky | Owner, Village Pourhouse

Take a Job in Phone Sales!

“If you can learn to sell someone on the phone from a cold call you are on the right path to success in business. In everything we do, it involves some form of a sale. Learning the skills to create a relationship out of thin air and get someone to trust you and spend their money was an amazing. Sales always came natural to me, however, it is asking for the sale that is the hardest part. Now I can!” - David Schnurman | CEO, Lawline

Get Comfortable Presenting

“When I was in college, a buddy and I taught a ten-week course on presentation skills in a business environment. It taught me early on to be comfortable speaking in front of crowds, large and small. It’s a powerful skill that still benefits me today.” - Andy Drish | Founder, Referral Squirrel

Become Self-Taught

“I’m a huge advocate of voracious reading, and taking massive action to learn new things. For me, that meant teaching myself all things web-related (in my early teens) and then continuing to learn as new technologies, marketing strategies, and concepts came out.” - Nathalie Lussier | Founder, CEO, Nathalie Lussier Media

Travel, Travel, Travel

“It’s cliche but true: travel opens your eyes to the world around you. I left on my trip with little more than wanderlust, but returned with a greater understanding of humanity, personal connection, storytelling and more. The experiences I’ve had in foreign countries both inspires and informs all of the work I do.” - Alex Budak | Co-Founder, StartSomeGood

Set Goals and Hustle

“Early in my career, I would make time to set goals on my own. I found that gave me shorter term hurdles to strive towards. Overall, there is nothing that can match hustle. Work hard, learn a lot and you’ll be set up for success.” - Anderson Schoenrock | CEO, ScanDigital

Work Remotely

“If I hadn’t decided early on that my company did not need a physical office space, we would probably still be working toward profitability. You’d be surprised how much capital you save every month getting rid of the expenses that are absolutely unnecessary. Besides, I’d confidently argue that working remotely often makes a team more productive.” - Logan Lenz | Founder / President, Endagon

Secure a Proven Mentor

“There is no better advice I can give you (regardless of your niche) than to seek out and lock down a proven mentor. This will accelerate your path to success. It will save you years, tears and dollar bills.” - Josh Shipp | TV Host & Bestselling Author, JoshShipp.com

Figured Out “Why” First

“Figure out “why” you’re doing something, rather than just how and what to do. When you have intrinsic motivators pushing you forward, the how and what become more defined and an integral part of the way you run your business. When you know the why — why you are solving this problem, why you started this business etc. — it becomes clearer where you want want your business/venture to go.” - Aj Thomas | Founder & Executive Director, Infuse Entrepreneurship Foundation

I Decided to Rebel

“My first entrepreneurial thought was that I knew a better way to do things, and I should act on that. This thought isn’t always true, of course, but I took enough risks and made enough decisions based not going with the flow and trusting myself over someone else’s opinion that I was able to establish myself quickly in several congested fields.” - Colin Wright | CEO, Exile Lifestyle

Confirm That Your Client Exists

“I was working full-time in book publishing, but knew I wanted to start my own business providing editorial services to various clients. But was the need there? I secured several regular clients before making the leap. Having them let me know that I was on the right track, and also got me through the slow startup at the beginning.” - Steph Auteri | career coach, writer, and editor, Word Nerd Pro

Formed Strategic Alliances

“The best thing I did at the beginning of my career was to form strategic alliances with people who had been in the business world longer then I had. These relationships are invaluable to me. As a solopreneur, you often find yourself learning everything on the spot. Having these relationships has helped me to foster mentorship relationships with these partners, which always helps me learn.” - Kris Ruby | President, Ruby Media Group

Investing in SEO Upfront

“One of the biggest investments we made in the beginning with our business and our own personal profiles has been investing heavily in SEO so we get ranked within the top ten results for highly targeted keywords. I never thought I could do it, but if you search the fairly generic terms, “Blank Label” or “Danny Wong,” we’re right up there!” - Danny Wong | Co-Founder, Blank Label Group, Inc.

Took My Time

“Most people start out with a goal thinking that it would be nice if they could reach it. They think that it might happen, or it could happen. These are more often, the people that fail. The people that succeed, however, know that it will happen. To them, it’s just a matter of time. They don’t need resources, they’re resourceful. They create their own luck. Remember that from the beginning.” - Jonathan Mead | Chief Troublemaker, Illuminated Mind

How Startup Founders Can Reduce Risk — and Stay Sane

Infuse Program — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:47:53 +0000

Question: As a startup founder, what risks and personal liabilities do I need to be aware of — and how can I safeguard myself?

Question by: Matt

Build a Portfolio of Proof

“People will lead you on, steal your ideas, and ride you for free. The best way to safeguard yourself from this is to build a portfolio of proof, proof that you can excel at getting the job done with great results. Have a solid number of case studies and testimonials that you can point to so that you’ll never have to waste your time and resources.” - Benjamin Leis | Founder, Sweat EquiTees

Don’t Forget Your Family

“Your family is going to go through your startup with you. Especially as a first-time entrepreneur, the effects of uncertainty and stress, and all the other ups and downs will be shared by the people closest to you, so make sure you’re aware of that. Over communicate and be honest along the way — it will be hard enough without trying to hide the craziness from those who care about you.” - Derek Shanahan | Co-Founder, Foodtree

Never Turn Your Back on the Numbers

“Finances are the spirit of a business because even if the business entity fails, debt lives on — and few things can weigh you down more. From day one, manage your dollars and cents with an extreme attention to detail. A good accountant is worth every penny. Whether it’s your own money or investors’, be sure you can always show where every penny has come from and gone.” - Kent Healy | The Uncommon Life

How’s Your Health?

“As a startup founder, you won’t spend hours each day at the gym. In fact, you’ll spend more time in front of your computer than anything else, and your health will likely suffer. Make sure as an entrepreneur that you find enough balance to keep a healthy body, which leads to a healthy mind that’s able to conquer all the challenges you will face as you develop your business.” - Danny Wong | Co-Founder, Blank Label Group, Inc.

Don’t Rely on a Handshake

“Never make a deal on just a handshake. Even if you’re dealing with family or close friends, put together at least a minimal letter of intent to outline what is expected out of each person or company involved in the deal. It’s not a sign of distrust, but a sign of professionalism every entrepreneur needs to have. It shows commitment from each party, and increases the odds of success.” - Ilya Pozin | Founder, Ciplex

Watch Your Threads

“Email records can be used in lawsuits, and it is essential that all correspondence you have via email is professional and on the record. Always assume that any email you send can be scrutinized and used in court.” - Zach Cutler | Founder and CEO, Cutler Group

Contact a Business Attorney, Just In Case

“Your risk of personal liability varies depending on the type of business you are starting. If your business has very little risk, you may decide it is not worth the financial and time investment to incorporate. However, you should speak with a business attorney to make sure you fully understand the costs and benefits — including the potential tax savings — of forming a legal entity.” - Doug Bend | Founder/Start-Up and Small Business Attorney, The Law Office of Doug Bend Follow @@DougBend

Think Through Your Taxes

“Every business is taxed differently — before you get started, you need to be aware of what the government expects from your business activity. Safeguard yourself with extra due diligence and by consulting a professional. You do not want to figure out your tax liability after the fact.” - Lucas Sommer | Founder CEO, Audimated

Don’t Burn Out

“Workaholism is a double-edged sword. It’s great to get a lot done, but it’s unsustainable. The safeguard for this is balance, and in my experience exercise.” - Ryan Holmes | CEO, HootSuite

Consult a Lawyer First

“It is impossible to know what liability is most important without knowing more about you and your startup. The first step should be contacting a lawyer and discussing your situation and how you can protect yourself. Ask for a flat fee and let the lawyer know you are a startup, and you can likely get this done without breaking the bank.” - Nick Cronin | Founder, ExpertBids.com

The One Question to Ask Before Starting a Business

Infuse Program — Sun, 27 May 2012 09:37:42 +0000

By Avichal Garg, CEO and Co-Founder of Spool

Most people take “Build something people want” to mean “Pick a problem to solve and solve it well.” This is not sufficient to build a world-changing company. ”Why now?” is the question entrepreneurs really need to answer, because it encompasses two important and closely related concepts: Why have previous attempts at this idea failed? What enabling factors have emerged that enable you to succeed today?

The world is full of smart people who have the same idea.

There are a lot of smart people out there. At least five of them have already tried to solve the problem you’re trying to solve. But you haven’t heard about any of these people.

Why would a similar product in an extremely similar world be vastly more successful? Most entrepreneurs essentially say: “There are other smart people who saw this opportunity. But none of them were smart enough to figure out the right product/marketing/sales strategy to succeed.” Betting that other people are less capable than you is a bad idea. For you to be massively successful where multiple startups before you have failed, something in the world has to have changed. If the world has not changed in some fundamental way, you too will fail.

Some common answers to “Why Now?” are:

A new enabling technology has emerged (GPS)
Consumer behavior has changed (Consumers understand the idea of “the cloud”)
New distribution channels (The iTunes App store)
Legislative changes (Environmental regulations drive clean tech)

To succeed, you have to clearly articulate “Why now?” You need to have a thesis about why the world is different today and be able to back that up with some data. As a corollary, if you cannot clearly articulate why now is the right time for this business — and why two, three, five or seven years ago were not the right times — then you are probably going to fail, just like the other very intelligent entrepreneur who previously tried to solve this problem.

This is not about timing a market. This is about a framework of thought to evaluate the opportunities that are presented to you as an entrepreneur. If you see an opening that clearly answers the question, then you can capitalize on it. Also, this is not about multiple startups competing against each other in a short window of time. This is about comparing a startup today against a similar startup from an earlier point in time. Determining which of Startup A or Startup B will do better today is a different question. However, you can still ask whether or not today is the right time for either of them to try.

“Why now?” does not say that successful entrepreneurs happen to be in the right place at the right time. It reinforces how much execution really matters. Not only do you have to come up with a brilliant insight and build a product that people want, but you have to build your company with a deep understanding about how the world was, is, and will be. Doing all of this is hard.