Success demands that you take risk!

“If you keep doing what you have always done you will keep getting what you’ve always gotten, do hear what I’m saying you gotta do something different if you want to get something different.” Eric Thomas

To get ahead we have to step out into the deep, yea we have to take risks BUT make sure they are calculated risks  - This means that you have done your due diligence in reference to the risk you are willing to take, minimizing risk is one of the best ways to get what you are striving to achieve. But to achieve success you have to take some sort of risk along your journey, doing so may change the destination *where you would reassess the situation*, or it may deliver you to your goal

Last week, I attended the Hackers and Founders Tech talk 2012, WOW is all I can say! The environment was full of ideas and questions about what each other was doing. This talk lived up to what I expected;

• Coming along to an event where there was mostly developers was like travelling to a foreign country with no guide book!

• Only knowing so much in Developer talk I done my best to pitch our product to a few people, I was looking for advice and or key contacts.

• Made some great mates and had a good time! (What I went for)

As the Tech talk began and several speakers had finished their speeches, like a sponge I was listening and absorbing as much good quality content as I could. There were some very colourful, funny and really dramatic speeches from the guest speakers! I’m glad Guy Horrocks from Carnival Labs was the last to do a sort of freestyle speech at the end! It gave me the boost to say, you can make it with a quality a quality idea  – they had been making Apps for 5 or so months before the Apple App store was even out on jail broken iPhones, Really impressive

At the end of all the speeches, there was a truck load of pizza and drinks ready to be hooverd down while the networking began, I done my best to get the name and idea out there! a handful of I.T guys from Developers to Architects ask many questions which I was able to give them an answer for satisfying their technical minds!  

Funnily enough, I had the best conversation with one man on the way out of the building! Its funny that in New Zealand its true that somebody knows somebody! My partners old boss, now works with this man, so it was a great personal connection!  We had a great yarn about the Tech talk and what each other does, then I thought I would pitch my idea and it was my best pitch of the night (Yes I’m getting better ) J. He couldn’t wait for this EyeGratify to actually come out so he could use it! Topped off a good night that’s for sure.

So, building confidence to talk to complete strangers about something you are passionate about is one of the hardest things to do yes! But if you have an Idea that believe is GREAT, the best thing you can do is show up to the events that are relative to your idea and GET it out in the open! Doing this will take you one step further in taking you to the next level and achieving your goal!

As you can see, I TOOK myself out of my own comfort zone and stepped into the unknown, yes I was all nervous but also excited, Just like most of the people in that room, but I kept thinking of the bigger picture and how I have to do my best now to reap the benefits later. So get comfortable with being UNCOMFORTABLE is you are on the road to SUCCESS because you wont get there being comfortable.

So I challenge YOU to find some sort of meet up (use www.meetup.com ) that fills you with your passion and go and execute it! there is no time like the present.

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men, who find it easier to live in the world that they have been given than to explore the power they have to change it” – Eric Thomas

How do you want to change it!

M

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Six degrees of separation - The power of Networking

Hey guys! Another week, another LEAP in performance! This weeks Blog is all about the power of networking!

We have moved on from the motionless week, we have perfected SMALL, The big picture is now a jiggzaw puzzle and we are taking ACTION, putting the small pieces together to get to our “Big Picture”

Who you spend time with influences the person you eventually become. Who you are with can elevate you as much as it can bring you down.

Networking is one of the best things you can do with what ever you are trying to accomplish in life weather it be a;

• Business idea
• Finding a job
• Making your athletic goals come true
• Etc

Get out there and actively search for the people who are doing what you want to be doing! Because the fastest way to start doing something you don’t think can be done, is to start hanging out with people already doing it.

I have wanted to meet new people with the same interests in business and life as I have for the last couple of months. As an extrovert I thought I would just magically bump into someone by chance, however this did not happen. So taking initiative I done a simple Google search and found www.Meetup.com this website is awesome, within a couple of minuets I had RSVP to meetings in my area and even to a Tech Founder Blast Talk 2012! This event is going to have 5-6 speakers from “lean start-ups” to full fledge million dollar companies. Being where people are that are doing what I am trying to achieve is where I need to be!

There is nothing better than getting your idea out in the open and being accountable for it! I have done this and I feel like I have MOMENTUM, all the work I put in everyday is keeping me going! Even if it is just a little bit it is more than doing nothing at all – think of it like compounding interest!

So what’s STOPPING YOU? Go out into the world and SEEK that you want, nobody is going to give it to you! If you could get what you want handed to you without any work, every supermarket would be selling SUCCESS however that is not the case!

REMEMBER;

• Small puzzle pieces
• Do everything 120% or 200%
• SEEK what you want in life
• ASK for help
• And ENJOY the process!

Do the above and you will get the opportunities that you have never had before.. BUT make sure when you have this opportunity in front of you make sure you TAKE IT and seize the moment!

ALSO Check out the EyeGratify App Landing Page! If you have anything to comment about leave a comment! I would LOVE feedback!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/EyeGratify-App/358986470797235

Cheers

M

Motionless Week!

Hey guys it has been just over a week since I have posted on the blog. I have had one hard week! I found out a few things that threw me into the deep waters which I thought I would never return. However I have with the help of my partner Emma and WE are back stronger than before!

Sometimes the things we say to ourselves in our mind can be the thing that determines if you go forward, stagnate or worse go backwards! And we all know in life we want to go forward! Well last week I was stuck in a stagnant position. Like I said in my very first blog, this blog is all about my Trial and Tribulations that I go through so the YOU the readers can learn from me! Coming from nothing to being a success is the only goal that matters!

So the week that was! I was doing some research in regards to other products that are “up and comers” and product that could or are the competition to the product that I have created. I stumbled across one that I thought was it! all the way from silicon valley with some big players behind it. You can imagine this made me feel down as your product is your baby.

The whole week I was wrapped up thinking about this product and NOT my own, I was stuck. Everything I thought or had a conversation about was negatively worded, and un productive. I was constantly having and emotional connection with this other product and my emotions got the better of me. My partner Emma took me back to step one! Focus on what you are doing and not what others are doing! This product may sound similar but is different, stop thinking about it!

Research and Market validation is great, But DO NOT hang up on what you find! See it for what it is and see where you differ and that is your competitive advantage!

This week is when we will make it happen I have refocused and we have our plan of attack and we won’t stop until we have reached it. Treading new water everyday to make it happen.

Accept the challenge starting a business is not easy! Especially if you are on your own! Find the people who can help you and ask for help, do not be afraid to put yourself out there start walking the talk and get your business started.

4 Steps to help not get to the stagnant place I was;

1.       Have your goal in mind and write down what it is

2.       Plan backwards on what you want to do

3.       Take baby steps everyday! And Trust the process

4.       Everybody is only interested in what THEY are doing so mind YOUR own business

Approach every opportunity like it the BIG one! When you stick 120% into what you do good things happen! Never ever put a mediocre effort into ANYTHING you do!

Can you Invest your time and effort in what you want to achieve at 120% all the time?

Plan Big

Invest Big

Get the Opportunity “Show up”

Get what you have dreamt

So what does mean for myself! Yea I have hit a wall! But I am better for it! Life is funny how you always learn the lesson after the fact, Learn and keep moving forward

Would you guys like to know anything? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment!

M

Lay ONE Brick at a Time

There is a story that Will Smith tells of his childhood about the wall. One summer Wills father tore down a brick wall in the front of his business and told 12 year old Will and his 9 year old brother to rebuild it, a job they said was IMPOSSIBLE! it took them a year and a half but they did it, his Father said now don't you ever tell me there's something you cant do.

Will Smith says " you don't try to build a wall, you don't set out to build a wall you don't say I'm going to build the biggest baddest wall that has ever been built, you don't start there. You say I'm going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. You do that everyday single day and soon you have a wall!"

How does the above story relate to Business? Well being able to pull the BIG picture apart into manageable pieces is exactly where I am currently. I have this product idea for video Identification that has been thought up, I can see the finished product in my head BUT how do I get there?

Like Will Smith I have to lay my bricks, I have been laying bricks and building this product since November 2011. Breaking the tasks at hand into manageable pieces and attacking them until completion.

Investment

The other week I said enough is enough, the project had hit a wall and there was little movement in any direction - the problem capital. We had realised that there needed to be help from the outside as this is all new technology that needs to be built very capital intensive. After approaching some seed investment companies, I received a prompt email from one of the companies I approached. They wanted to know more about the product, how it works, how it will generate revenue etc. I replied with a big word document for filling their questions within the next couple of hours, then the wait began...

A few days later i was meet with a reply! surprisingly it was not a what I expected, it was a very good email. And so I continue to bring the product into fruition through laying each brick at a time.. soon I'll have my WALL.

I hope you get something out of this blog today! if you haven't reached your dream yet keep going and give 100% at everything you do and soon you will have your wall too!

M

Inception

Hey All

Thanks for Stopping by and reading this blog! 

I'm Mark from little New Zealand! this blog is the Inception

This is why the blog is called Excess2Success, starting from where I think I am, Employee - to where I will be a Business success! hopefully not just with one company but many!

I have been meaning for a few months now to start a blog on my Trials and Tribulations at trying to grab my dreams in the realm of business! You see I AM a creator, its been proven at work we all took a test that was meant to establish your working character so that we could all be better aligned with what we enjoy doing. The results for me was Creativity was the highest 40 odd percent, productivity a measly 4 percent  - don't get me wrong I was very productive just in a different way, this way was later the new way that everybody followed.

Enough about work!

This blog is about my trials and tribulations in the realm of business! you see I have an excessive drive to create and develop my ideas! I have a long list on my Ipod of my dreams that have been validated or are waiting until i meet the right contacts to speak these ideas into fruition.

This blogs first Idea that is going through the works is in regards to Video Identification! 

- Idea thought up on a Cruise ship in New Caledonia 

Once back in NZ I used what I had thought up and approached a (contract) developer at my work, I had talked to him many times before - up with technology, knows what he wants and most of all we definitely get along!  

The Coffee

We managed to get out of work at lunch and went for a chat about this idea, within 10 minuets ( I don't even think it was that long) we had gone from an product idea with little commercial viability to an product idea that could possibly change the way people do this task for the better. We agreed to have weekly meetings and assigned tasks that we needed to have done, even with full time jobs we always found time to get the business done so to speak haha.

1 month passed, We had developed the product idea MORE and we had gotten to the point where we need capital....

I'll leave it there for the first post! if you find this interesting please keep coming back, I'll be aiming to update this blog a couple times a week! at worst once a week!