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Daily Maxim

It's realizing
that a great dream
is not as good as a great memory.
The dream can be had by anyone.
The memory;
Must be made.
- Eric Thomas, Eric Thomas Opens The NBA Season on TNT, ETNT, Heart of Detroit Mixtape

Daily Maxim

“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

 

The 3 F's - Friday Fascinating Facts

Theory always up for debate as long as the debate is riddles with further findings of existing data or new data

- AsapSCIENCE

Daily Maxim

A hero. Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed. Nothing less than a knight. Shining. 

- Lt. James Gordon:

 

The 3 F's - Friday Fascinating Facts

-engineerguyvideo

Daily Maxim

“Many a false step was made by standing still.”
― Timothy Ferriss

P.S Don't forget about the Book Competition - Send in your stories of how tragic failure has been turned into incredible success! to Mark@eyegratify.com

The Prize:

Hard Cover - If You Build It Will They Come, Dr Rob Adams

What did I get out of this book?

This taught me the need to customer development, searching your product market fit, and some other snazzy things.

This book goes well with the below books (method wise)

The Lean Startup - Eric Ries

The Lean Entrepreneur - Brant Cooper

The Startup Owners Manuel - Steve Blank

M

 

Daily Maxim

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Born with it, Or a Skill Taught?

”Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

-Steve Jobs

Hey Guys,

I have been pondering over the last couple of weeks if Entrepreneurship is a born with it skill, or is it something the can be taught.

Schools all over the world are rushing to invest in entrepreneurship, many colleges and universities are putting together classes - curriculum about entrepreneurship.Self-help books for business founders are topping the best-seller lists. All of which is rekindling an age-old debate in the business world: Is entrepreneurship a skill that can be taught, or one you have to develop by doing?

But what does it mean to be an entrepreneur? an easy Google search brings up the below;

A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on financial risk to do so.

Hmm, this seems to simple, why are schools investing heavily in teaching academics how organize and operate a business through taking on risk? This doesn't seem right - I could search the internet all night for a solid definition of what an entrepreneur is, each would be different in some manor.

Blogs, Vlogs, you name your "ogs" - many people write about business. Finance, Marketing, HR & Directorship, guru's are out there running their proven frameworks for people to adapt, leverage - this leads to what I call, Co-Creation Methods and Frameworks. 

These woman and men are entrepreneurs, helping other aspiring entrepreneurs. That would mean that these people selling their frameworks etc must have taken on some sort of financial risk to build what they have created as a business... at face value the above lines up with the definition

BUT

This doesn't take into account the thought process prior to investing money the VISION. Are you taking on financial risk, piecing together the pieces in your head? focusing your scope on the niche? Can you never be classed as an entrepreneur until you put your money where your mouth is?

Its funny that a poll taken by Ernst an Young by successful Entrepreneur rate Vision, Passion, Drive, integrity and innovation BEFORE risk, Does this mean the definition is somewhat wrong? 

So many questions - Ill give you some answers based off my experience,

Right after finishing my Marketing paper i was inspired...that feeling when anything was possible. My eyes were open for opportunities, I decided to merg 2 things, GYM and GREEN, yes with some help from some enablers, i was on the road to open the first self sufficient powered gym in NZ... until.. Yes someone told me i needed to do a business plan.

2-3 weeks wasted as a perfected this plan  

It didnt survive first contact with customers, I didn't follow through with this idea, I thought I had the best resources at the time to lead this idea to success, I could think up of a million excuses as to why it didn't work, but I do know one right now - I wasn't ready, I needed to learn some frameworks and broaden my network. I needed a Method to quickly test, iterate and learn.

So - does having ideas mean you are an entrepreneur  no, Its a combination of many factors

1. Understand your problem/opportunity. What are the different factors or variables that affect that problem?
2. Focus. Specialize with fewer products and services. All your offerings should adhere to a common thread, rather than trying to attack every aspect of a complex problem.
3. Understand your own personal strengths and weaknesses. You don’t have to do everything! The faster you can go out and attract others to work with you or learn to fill in your gaps, the better.
4. Pilot – Try it out! Invite feedback.
5. Please do not wait for the perfect moment. It will not come. Lack of funds, team, etc. should not delay you. You have to start today.

From the Gym experience I have gone strength to strength utilising the above points

Are there elements of entrepreneurship that can't be taught? Sure, just as there are elements of engineering, medicine and law that can't be taught. And, as some critics point out, these unteachable elements involve people skills: for instance, how salespeople can figure out how to get to "yes" with potential customers after hearing "no" after "no."

But everybody has to develop people skills to get along in the world. Everybody has some experience building relationships and motivating people. Harnessing those experiences and then extending them through real-world experience applies to all walks of life.

What I know is that I must let my ideas flourish.. but i must test them hard enough to see the viability of them

What I can tell you is, Writing a Business Plan was the worst thing I have ever done for exploring one of my ideas, Academics, professors, entrepreneurs are getting things right now and there is a wealth of information coming from them which is informing the people like yourself and I

Some key things to note when you have an idea.. 

1. Let it flourish, let it stirr in your mind
2. Write it all down on a Business Model Canvas
3. Test all these assumptions, if you need help read Steve Blanks book *link below*
4. Rewrite your canvas, pivots, included
5. ReTest

The key thing here is getting out of the building, an idea is great in your head - but don't be scared in writing it down, and going and talking to who you think your customers are, this could even be a landing page website with some smarts behind it drawing analytics to further test against.

I can tell you I have wasted to much time sitting idle, not doing much when I should have been taking leaps into the unknown... 

this is the heart entrepreneurism

Books the a recommend reading;

If you build it will they come - Dr Rob Adams

The Lean Startup - Eric Ries

The Lean Entreprenure - Brant Cooper

The Startup Owners Manuel - Steve Blank

While writing this email - I was watching something that took my back to the spacies down Rata St fishn' chip shop in Naenae, Good times!

The 3 F's - Friday Fascinating Facts

Tag - engineerguyvideo

Daily Maxim

“The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint
The greats were great cause they paint a lot” ― Macklemore

Daily Maxim

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
― Margaret Mead

The 3 F's - Friday Fascinating Facts

Tag - Veritasium

Daily Maxim

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

DANCE

- Baz Luhrman

Build Your Own Things - Build a Life.

"How many of you have a lollypop moment where a person said something or did something that made your life fundamentally better"

-Drew Dudley

Hey Guys,

This Blog, is a teaser for what I am working on, A little story about someone amazing and future posts I’ll be making that I hope will help others.

Following on from today’s Daily Maxim – regarding opportunities often look like hard work What Chris A.K.A Ashton says in his speech is so true

Everything around us, that we call life – was made up by people who are no smarter than you, You can build your own things

Recently I have been putting in work, and now some major projects are underway that I am really excited about. Not only am I excited about the problem I am solving, or the people that will benefit from its use.

It’s the challenges I face, and the learning’s I will get that just EXCITES ME.

Hedy – Just an amazing person!

Just recently I have been chatting to this fantastic lady Hedy who is a colleague of mine. Since becoming a Business Architect we have crossed paths with friendly chit chat and banter. I’m not the kind of person who just walks by while smiling – I actually love to learn about people and their stories! So last week I grabbed my opportunity with a prolonged yarn!

WOW, I am always amazed at some peoples stories, what they do in their spare time, their passions etc and Hedy was overflowing with passion! Just a few things I picked up from her;

1.  Improvisational Theatre (otherwise known as IMPROV)

2.    Travel

a.    Upcoming adventures

b.    Past adventures

3.    Social enterprise

a.    Chalkle 

b.    Enspiral

As we were yarning about the above some amazing things happened – opportunities opend up!

When talking about her “Upcoming Adventures” of going to Washington DC , I asked why. Her Son wants to go there to see the Jefferson Institute… I asked, how old is your Son, 16 she answered.. What an amazing thing for such a young person to want to see! Hedy said he watches a lot of discovery & History channel. I asked does she know what he wants to do when he older… she couldn’t imagine, what a bright spark this child is – just that short blurt about her son made me think I use to be like that.

I said to Hedy – I am working on a start-up right now, that will help anyone who wants to do their dream job, but doesn’t know how to get there or what skills are required!...

I thought – Nice pitch, perfect

Downside, She asked if she can use it now?...me No. NEXT :P

We careered down a path of social enterprise, I am PASSIONATE about PEOPLE, and AIDING their DREAMS, Social enterprise is a good vehicle for this!

Hedy, asked if I would do some courses on Chalkle, “have you ever heard about Chalkle? No, do they not have any courses on personal finance? I would love to tell me story and lessons learned. I know I am not a registered financial advisor (and would have to clearly state that) but there are basic lessons around personal money management that can tear debt down and build a nest egg for you to choose to do whatever you want with.

I now have the details to get involved with chalkle and hopefully help many people out there, no matter what comes into your account, daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

Chalkle

-          Teach budgeting from a non biased view

o   My story

o   Tips and tricks I know

o   Habit changes

o   etc

Sometimes opportunities float around testing people, seeing who will lay idle or who is ready for the next step . That day, one came my way – that I grabbed it.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about an amazing person, get this she even knows people who have left quite high roles.. and turned into erotic novelists !! how awesome is that.

UPDATE: What am I building?

Currently I am going to rebuild this blog into an entire website, with the below area’s

-          Projects

o   What I and Others are working on.

-          This blog

o   Continue to provide usable advice that is proven to move you forward.

-          My Travels, Your Stories

o   Could be YOU

-          Services

o   Ideas – Seed

Cheers

M