I can appreciate books like “Think and Grow Rich” and “The Secret” and the other books that highlight the power of positive thinking. However, I know people that take it just a little too far and focus a little bit too much on positive thinking that they forget that the world does not and has never revolved around them. I just don’t buy that believing and building a mental picture of a red bike will lead to a red bike appearing. Honestly, I don’t even think it’s the right mental picture to strive for. Life in this world does not revolve around me and it does not revolve around you. After coming back from Central America and getting to know an impoverished community over seven years and committing to working with the community for the past four, I’m even more convinced that success in this lifetime comes from our ability to think positively about others or growing a bigger vision about others. Again, it’s not intuitive, but it’s true. If all you and I think about is how we make a fast buck and nothing bigger than that, we will ultimately fail. However, if our dreams are about others and our success becomes a means to an end to doing that - we will be successful. [click to continue…]
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve met several entrepreneurs that are ready to walk away from their businesses for a variety of reasons. In other words, they are ready to quit. The themes are very similar and I’d like to share them with you for two reasons. If you haven’t started your entrepreneurial dream yet, go in with eyes wide open and make sure you are ready to make the commitment, it isn’t easy. I always recommend giving yourself at least 2 years so you can learn and fight through the tough times. If you have started your business, keep at it, everyone is struggling with similar issues - those who are able to persevere in this environment and succeed in this environment will undoubtedly be rewarded in the future. You are not alone, your issues are not unique, and my message is as always DON’T QUIT!
It’s amazing how important networking is to your personal and business success and how few people are actually good at it. I just came back from a Global Leadership Conference put on by EO and one speaker in particular (Christina Harbridge) really stated it well to succeed in successful networking and the best part of it is - it’s not HARD. Successful politicians are for better or for worse pretty good at it. The key to successful networking is … “Watch for what you like in the person.”
A couple years back in 2006, I made the decision to put down a deposit pre-sale for one of the new condo projects in Seattle. In retrospect, it turned out to be a big mistake. Although I haven’t yet walked away from the deal yet since the closing date is still a few weeks away, it is almost certain that I will walk and lose my earnest money in the deal which totals $23,750. Although I’ve read about folks who are trying to get some of their earnest money back, in my mind, a deal is a deal, and I lost so I won’t be pursuing any of the earnest money. It’s a bummer, but I’m here to share my lessons learned. This post is not meant to criticize the developer of Olive 8, in fact I’ve got tremendous respect for him and all entrepreneurs that have a vision and put their money where their mouth is, I think it is a great project and I wish him the best. My purpose for this post is to walk you through my rationale for walking away and hopefully give you some insight as you are thinking about any large transactions - buying or selling.
If you’ve read the book, Bringing Down the House, where a blackjack playing team from MIT was able to rake in millions playing blackjack, you are probably aware that it is possible to beat blackjack. However, the catch is most people are not able to beat the game because of the concept of Gambler’s Ruin. Simply stated, in an even or positive expectation game, the person with the largest bankroll will win all of the money (for those of you math fanatics, theoretically there exists a bankroll program that will avoid Gambler’s Ruin, but for most humans it is very difficult to be that disciplined). Let’s take for a quick example that I’m willing to play heads/tails with you. Heads - you win 10 times your bet and Tails - you lose 1 times your bet. You gather all the money you have because this is a great, fun game, right?! You bet $1,000 and you win $10,000, then you decide to keep pressing your luck and bet everything again and you win $100,000, etc. Because the game is so fun and profitable, you keep pressing your bet/luck. Guess what happens? Eventually, you will lose everything on one roll and I will win assuming I have a monster bankroll. In this super simple example even though you have a positive expectation, you will end up with zero because I have a significantly larger bankroll. If you’re not careful, gambler’s ruin can also cripple your business.
Business models that profit from providing customers with transparency in an opaque and often frustrating industry like Real Estate are inspiring. One company that I have tremendous respect and admiration for is Redfin, what they are doing is not easy - they are tackling the real estate industry specifically the residential buying process. For entrepreneurs, they provide a great model for how we think about our own businesses and how we are truly providing more value for our customers. Although it remains to be seen what the epilogue will be Redfin, it is energizing to see them go after the market. The web is the great equalizer, it allows entrepreneurs to break old business models that rely on opaqueness for profit and squeeze more value for customers while gaining market share. Here’s my personal story about real estate and my learnings from that process.
Ok, I’m a bit biased! But, videos like this from Britain’s Got Talent is very moving and if it doesn’t get you off your seat to pursue your dreams, I don’t know what will. Check it out, it’s truly fantastic and inspirational. Susan Boyle, unemployed at 47, auditioning in front of Simon Cowell et al. I’m a total sucker for this stuff (see Paul Potts for another example)…
Do you have the right people working with you? These days, it’s even more important to ensure the sustainability of your company by only keeping the right people on the bus. The right people will do what it takes to ride out the storm, they have the right mix of passion and efficiency, they are entrepreneurial seeking opportunities when everyone else only sees stumbling blocks. They go beyond what is expected. They are a breath of fresh air and they energize you each and every day you are at work. They will fight alongside you. Ultimately, they get the RIGHT stuff done with a great attitude. If you don’t have these people on your team, you need to move on now and get the right people - they are out there. So, how do you find these people? [click to continue…]
It’s spring time and baseball season is finally upon us! I’m a big believer in small ball strategy in baseball where you focus on higher percentage ways of getting runners on base (singles and walks) and advancing them into scoring position (bunts, steals, hit-and-runs, etc) and manufacturing runs (sacrifice flys, squeezes, etc) . It requires precision, methodical execution and ultimately discipline. The opposite strategy is to go for the “big-inning” where you focus on extra-base hits, homeruns, and try to put up crooked numbers, i.e. 5, 6, 7 runs. For good reason, it’s much harder to get these innings so the percentage that you’ll succeed is much lower. Both strategies are capable of winning, so I’m not going to downplay the “big-inning” strategy, but I’m going to argue that for startups, you should employ a small ball strategy. [click to continue…]
So, I’m finally out of my contract with Sprint! If you’re curious as to why I’m leaving Sprint after 11+ years, you can read about it here. The all important question posed to you now, my blog readers, is should I give in and finally get the iPhone?
Andy is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He is also a stubborn, die-hard Seattle sports fan. He currently runs BuddyTV and sits on several boards. Inspired startup is a collection of ideas and thoughts around entrepreneurship, finance, success, online marketing, investing, giving, and random interesting stories. [read more...]
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