I just came back from a conference where there were a few notable keynote speakers. Some did an amazing job. They were gregarious, thought provoking, and were well worth the price of admission. Then there were others who clearly phoned it in and were obviously just coasting off of the reputation they had built online. [...]
Career Advice
Quick Reminder To Twentysomething Entrepreneurs
I had dinner the other night with a friend, a fellow entrepreneur from the midwest, living in California, around my age. Our conversation soon turned towards the realities of being an entrepreneur. It wasn’t the conversation you have with your parents or your friends from back home, where you put a positive spin on everything. [...]
You Know You’re an Entrepreneur When…
When you’re presented with a problem you have no idea how to solve, what do you do? A) Do you highlight the major obstacles in a dejected tone and quit? (i.e. “I don’t know how to code” or “I don’t know anyone in the entertainment business”) or B) Do you immediately identify how to overcome [...]
3 Traits of Successful People
In my quest for professional success, I’ve spent a great deal time studying and observing the career trajectories of the highly accomplished. What I’ve discovered is actually very simple. Successful people come in all shapes and sizes. They work in different industries, fighting for different causes. But regardless of their industry, all successful people have three traits. [...]
Be Extraordinary
I was having a conversation with an advisor the other day about startups. Among other things, we were discussing my mobile venture and I had expressed apprehension about finding funding in the coming year. Aside from the fact the fact that I shouldn’t even be worrying about this (I don’t even have a finished product), [...]
What I Learned From Creating My First Pitch Deck
I recently created my first pitch deck. The objective being to raise seed money to develop a mobile app. It was the first time I had made a presentation like this and I made some rookie mistakes. I had the good fortune of having a former Idealab executive review my deck and show me the [...]
Overcoming Fear
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Fear is a funny thing. Men have grappled with fear for hundreds of years. It has this undeniable control over a great majority of us. We all suffer from fear to some degree. But those who can overcome fear, become [...]
Starting a Company: Business Partners
Starting a business isn’t easy. There are a lot of unknown obstacles and the reality of starting your own business is that most new businesses fail. One essential step when starting your business should be to decide whether or not you should have a business partner. I chose a business partner and I’ll share why [...]
What Guy Kawasaki Learned From Steve Jobs
Guy Kawasaki recently shared on Google+ some things he learned from Steve Jobs. It’s a great list and I suggest everyone read the post. I wanted to highlight a few of the lessons here on my blog because I strongly agree with the sentiments. My comments are italicized after Kawasaki’s point. Experts are clueless. Experts—journalists, [...]
How To Advance Your Career
A friend of mine emailed me asking how he can find a better job, one that pays more money, and will be more fulfilling. It occurred to me that many young professionals have no idea how to advance their career. They get comfortable at their job, get used to their lifestyle, and hope that they’ll [...]
