Exposed: 10 big myths about successful entreprenuers

 

1. To Be A Successful Entrepreneur You Must Invent Something Truly Novel. Wrong, but I doubt facts will stop achievement-obsessed upper-class parents from building “replica garages” for their kids’ play dates, to instill in them whatever made Hewlett & Packard and Jobs & Wozniak do what they did. Big Error! Why? Ask yourself what Sir Richard Branson invented, then remind yourself that Ted Turner didn’t invent TV news, all he did was perfect it and disseminate it (via CNN) brilliantly.

Entrepreneurs who build better mousetraps are the exception, not the rule. Most business builders look at the world, see things that can be improved upon, break the mold, and add value. They prod, poke, and push paradigms, infinitely more often than they cause cataclysmic shifts. Take the crème-filled cookie, now 100 years old: Everyone thinks that Oreo invented it because it dominates the market niche. Nope, it was Hydrox. Oreo was a Johnnie-come-lately to the game – but owing to better marketing and, some claim, a better recipe, Oreo now owns the space.

15 things they SHOULD’ve taught us in High School..(but didnt..)

Top of each level- is the bottom of the next.

We all have learned a bunnnnch (hopefully) since High School. And i dunno about you but here are a few things i wish idve known earlier… Like, seriously, why wasnt there a class on some of these?

-@HaZiQ

1. The 80/20 rule.
This is one of the best ways to make better use of your time. The 80/20 rule – also known as The Pareto Principle – basically says that 80 percent of the value you will receive will come from 20 percent of your activities.

So a lot of what you do is probably not as useful or even necessary to do as you may think.

You can just drop – or vastly decrease the time you spend on – a whole bunch of things.

And if you do that you will have more time and energy to spend on those things that really brings your value, happiness, fulfilment and so on.

2. Parkinson’s Law.
You can do things quicker than you think. This law says that a task will expand in time and seeming complexity depending on the time you set aside for it. For instance, if you say to yourself that you’ll come up with a solution within a week then the problem will seem to grow more difficult and you’ll spend more and more time trying to come up with a solution.

So focus your time on finding solutions. Then just give yourself an hour (instead of the whole day) or the day (instead of the whole week) to solve the problem. This will force your mind to focus on solutions and action.

The result may not be exactly as perfect as if you had spent a week on the task, but as mentioned in the previous point, 80 percent of the value will come from 20 percent of the activities anyway. Or you may wind up with a better result because you haven’t overcomplicated or overpolished things. This will help you to get things done faster, to improve your ability to focus and give you more free time where you can totally focus on what’s in front of you instead of having some looming task creating stress in the back of your mind.

3. Batching.
Boring or routine tasks can create a lot of procrastination and low-level anxiety. One good way to get these things done quickly is to batch them. This means that you do them all in row. You will be able to do them quicker because there is less “start-up time” compared to if you spread them out. And when you are batching you become fully engaged in the tasks and more focused.

A batch of things to do in an hour today may look like this: Clean your desk / answer today’s emails / do the dishes / make three calls / write a grocery shopping list for tomorrow.

4. First, give value. Then, get value. Not the other way around.

The Top 10 Absolute BEST Salespeople Of All Time

This list is no specific order in terms of success scale etc. Instead I really tried my best to place the names you havent heard of first so we begin to associate brands we see- even huge ones- with the work of a single or a few dedicated person(s). Also- i highly encourage you to google these names if you’d like to improve your own skills. I personally hold forth that there’s no more important skill-set than salesmanship..

:-$
Enjoy.
@HaZiQ

NAPOLEAN BARRAGANThe founder of 1-800-Mattress was a genius at using technology to open new sales channels for his Simmons and Sealys. He was one of the first and most successful adopters of the 1-800 number, correctly predicting that consumers would be perfectly willing to have mattresses delivered to their homes sight unseen. Soon after the advent of e-commerce, he registered the domain name mattress.com, and derived significant online sales at a time when few retailers were thinking about the Web. Fun fact: The Ecuadorean-born Barragon got his start in 1950s Colombia selling beer and soda from the back of a burro.

Daymond John’s 6 magic steps for Achieving your Dreams!

Read a book nixxa, read a book... not a magazine, not a sports page...

If you dont know who Daymond John is- shame on you. He and his partners are only responsible (along with a cat named Karl Kani) for starting the whole urban clothing industry!! FUBU (For Us By Us) is the grand-daddy of most these urban street-wear labels u wear today. They got so big they even bought Coogi! Among other pioneering moves, he was the first to plot out actual product placement in music videos and if you read his book Display of Power you’ll find he actually “gangstered” his first endorsement from a celeb (LL Cool J) by pretty much camping out-outside the mans house!! The stuff of which legends are made. Especially when LL took such a liking to the guy, his partners, and their company- that he eventually raps the now infamous “For Us By Us- On the low” line in an ad for the “GAP” clothing brand commercial he was being paid to star in!!! Is this not proof that miracles happen?

In a song on my album called “Watch My Wrk” I talk about how thru ‘sheer force of will’ you can create your reality…” Well, here are Daymond’s 6 steps to making it happen. I found these on his twitter page by the way. Archived in his “favorites” section (BTW checking out peoples’ “favorites” on twitter is an AMAZING way of seeing who you’re dealing with. They are usually SOOOOO telling. LoL & SmH) At any rate- let me know if you like these..

@HaZiQ

7 tips for motivating employees

Soooo.. alot of times the records i do are centered around motivating yourself. #ChampionSound or #UcanDoItMusic is mostly about revving up the single most important person to your dream. You…

HOWEVER, any CEO knows that employee motivation is a key to individual performance, group productivity, and maintaining a pleasant company culture. Teamwork makes the dreamwork, right? So how do you do it exactly? For a dose of inspiration on how to motivate those who work for you, here are the best recent pointers on the subject from articles published in Inc. magazine and on Inc.com.

HahaaaaHAAAhaaa thas a f#@$d up poster, rite? The second they feel like a slave is the minute yr company is about to start losing. Trust that. I hope the following tips help….

1. Set a Good Example.

Remember that your attitude is contagious. Kevin Plank, founder of Under Armour, an apparel company located in Baltimore, says that communication is key to making members of your company’s team feel including in major decisions. “I listened to everyone’s opinions, and, without fail, they’d bring up things I hadn’t thought of. More important, my team members knew that they were part of the process and that their voices mattered,” he told Inc. “Employees are more motivated when they feel needed, appreciated, and valued.” Plank also recommends hiring employees who have great leadership skills. At his company, he calls these natural leaders “engines,” and peppers them strategically around the organization.

2. Focus on Employee Happiness Rather Than Employee Motivation.

Zappos is often hailed as the most employee-friendly business out there. But, perks aside, what really keeps the workers there motivated? When Inc.’s Max Chafkin last interviewed Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh in Las Vegas, he discovered that what Hsieh really cares about is making Zappos’s employees and customers feel really, really good. In fact, he’s decided that his entire business revolves around happiness. Chafkin writes: “Zappos’s approach to workplace bliss differs significantly from that of other employee-friendly businesses. For one thing, Zappos pays salaries that are often below market rates – the average hourly worker makes just over $23,000 a year. Though the company covers 100 percent of health care costs, employees are not offered perks found at many companies, such as on-site child care, tuition reimbursement, and a 401(k) match. Zappos does offer free food to its employees, but the pile of cold cuts in the small cafeteria loses its allure faster than you can say Googleplex. Instead of buying his employees’ loyalty, Hsieh has managed to design a corporate culture that challenges our conception of that tired phrase.”

3. Make Sure Employees Share in the Company’s Success.

Employee performance, productivity, and motivation can all be tied to how invested a worker feels in his or her company. That’s what makes profit sharing such a powerful tool – especially when the company is consistently successful. Sue Holloway, an expert in compensation at WorldatWork, a human resources organization focused on employee benefits, told Inc.com that the objective of a profit sharing plan “is to foster employee identification with the organization’s success.” By implementing such a program, the CEO is saying, “We’re all in this together, and everybody’s focused on profit,” Holloway says.

5 lessons from Lady GaGa: Branding Genius.

At age 2324 (this week actually), Lady Gaga has rocketed to global fame in less than two years (of course that depends on whose counting as she was playing piano at age 4 and rockin’ New York nightclubs at 14). She recently broke Billboard’s record as the first artist to have her first six singles reach number one. She’s won two Grammys, sold over 8 million albums& 15 million singles digitally worldwide. While her performance art-style stage shows and bizarre outfits have garnered much buzz, it’s her loyalty marketing that may sustain her for years. And even if not- hey- she did in 24months what it took Madonna 8years to do- and in a farrrrr harsher climate. Gaga is dedicated to her fans and clearly knows the elements of cultivating a community of evangelistic fans cult.

With that, here are Jackie Huba’s 5 lessons about building brand loyalty a cult, Lady Gaga-style:

The Puppet-Master..

1. Give fans a name. Gaga doesn’t like the word “fan” so she calls them her “Little Monsters,” named after her album “The Fame Monster.” She even tattooed “Little Monsters” on her arm and tweeted the pic to fans professing love for them. Now fans are getting their own Little Monster tattoos. By giving the group a formal name, it gives fans a way to refer to each other. Fans feel like they are joining a special club. (Related business examples: Maker’s Mark Ambassadors and Fiskar’s Fiskateers.)

2. Make it about something bigger than you. During her concert tour, Gaga recites a “Manifesto of Little Monsters” (text) (video). Although a bit cryptic, most Little Monsters see it as a dedication to them, that her fans have the power to make or break her. (Related business examples: Smoque BBQ (pdf).)

3. Develop shared symbols. The official Little Monster greeting is the outstretched “monster claw” hand. As all Little Monsters know, the clawed hand is part of the choreography in the video of her song “Bad Romance.” Gaga tells the story of watching a fan in Boston greet another fan with the claw hand and that’s when she knew this was the Little Monster symbol. Even Oprah knows the Little Monster greeting. Shared symbols allow fans to identify each other and connect. (Related business example: LIVESTRONG yellow wristbands.)

Dale Begg-Smith: Olympic Gold medalist &Self-Made Millionaire by 19

CALGARY—Olympic gold medalist Dale Begg-Smith is the top-ranked moguls skier in the world. Yet after he finished first this month at a World Cup race here, reporters swarming around him didn’t ask about his kicker, his twister or his daffy, as moguls tricks are known. They asked about his high-tech business.

“Guys, sorry,” Steve Devosich, Mr. Begg-Smith’s coach, told them. “But Dale’s not supposed to answer questions about business.”

There’s no shortage of subjects that famous athletes don’t want to talk about—marital infidelity, marijuana pipes, dog fighting, performance-enhancing drugs.

But Mr. Begg-Smith’s sore subject would be the envy of most 25-year-olds: He’s an Internet prodigy. As a teenager in Vancouver, Mr. Begg-Smith launched high-tech businesses that earned enough money to spare him the usual hardships of striving Olympians. Mr. Begg-Smith is so rich he has never even needed corporate sponsors.

Yet to his chagrin, his business endeavors often draw more attention than his athletic triumphs.

At the press conference following his gold-medal win at the 2006 Games, for instance, reporters asked his fellow medalists how their cars compared with Mr. Begg-Smith’s Lamborghini. After the other two medalists responded “Audi” and “Subaru,” Mr. Begg-Smith said, “I don’t know why we’re talking about [that]. I’m not here for business. I won Olympic gold.”

How we started our record label with $350.00

I regret how much I was cursing… I beleive it was Lauryn Hill who said “I add a mu_____ so u ignant nixxas hear meeeeeee…” LoL

Lizard Brain: why MOST are so creative but so FEW are successful.

Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain from 99% on

Marketing. Genius.

Please click the above link. This guy Seth Godin is the bestselling author of ten books. Most of which could easily change your life. He writes about marketing, the spread of ideas and managing both customers and employees with respect. What i love about the following 18min is that he explains, in the most simple terms i’ve ever heard, exactly why you BS yourself out of success- over and over again.. Here’s a quick synopsis:

Thrashing: The idea that the bigger a project gets, and the closer you get to shipping- the more ideas, excuses, and confusion come about. Seth’s concept is that “thrashing” must happen, but it must happen at the beginning. It’s cheap in the beginning, but very expensive rite before it’s time to “ship”. Amatuers ignore this. The successful companies adopt a “speak early or shut-UP” philosophy.

Charles Schwab learns easiest time management trick EVER!

...least he tryin tho...

Charles Schwab, President of Bethlehem Steel, and the same name you know today as one of the leading investment houses, paid Ivy Lee $25,000 for this time management techniques benefits over 100 years ago. If it was worth so much to Schwab, don’t you think its worth learning too?
I’m going to share this time management technique with you the same way I learned it….through a story.

Around 100 years ago, Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, wanted to increase his own efficiency, and of the management team at the steel company. Ivy Lee, a well-known efficiency expert of the time, approached Mr. Schwab, and made a proposition Charles Schwab could not refuse:

Ivy Lee: “I can increase your people’s efficiency – and your sales – if you will allow me to spend fifteen minutes with each of your executives.”

Charles Schwab: “How much will it cost me?”

Ivy Lee: “Nothing, unless it works. After three months, you can send me a check for whatever you feel it’s worth to you.”

Charles Schwab: “It’s a deal.”

The following day, Ivy Lee met with Charles Schwab’s management executives, spending only ten minutes with each in order to tell them: