Question: What do you love about being an entrepreneur? Answer: I get to lie in every day…yeah right. I’ve been an entrepreneur so long I almost don’t remember jobs before that. I don’t remember another way to work. When I was younger I worked at call centers, I worked at McDonald’s, and I worked at other odds and ends jobs. But it’s been about 15 years since I’ve been employed at any jobs like that. My early jumps...
Question: How do you balance everything? Answer: I don’t think it’s like balancing everything, I treat it more like spinning plates. When I hear the word balance, it makes me think of the word ‘harmony’ and that’s not what my life is like. I think of it like spinning plates because I go to what needs the most attention first. Everything is going to need attention at some point, so I have to move back...
Question: How do you get over a creative slump? Or your remedy for a creative slump? Answer: Caffeine. Lots of caffeine. Just ask my sister and coworker, Blair to vouch. If there is some kind of mental block, I will drink a can of personality. Then I’ll 260-grams-of-caffeine my way through everything. But I also draw inspiration from the greats. Kings of Creativity. To me, the perfect example of adaptive creativity is the dynamic duo, Daft...
Question: What’s the biggest challenge with starting a business, or a startup’s worst enemy? Answer: The biggest challenge is who you are working with. Are they encouraging you? Are they not encouraging you? It’s probably taken you a lot of time, effort, and consideration to get to the point where you could tell your friends about your business idea. I don’t think peers recognize how damaging it can be to tear down a fledgling idea. I...
Question: I think that my product could be used by everyone, but I have been told that it’s important to have a very focused target market. What can I do to narrow my target demographic? Or should I? Answer: Revolutions all start with one idea, one person, one identity. Figuring out who this person is and how to get them on your new business’ side is what leads to success. People are what make the difference...
Question: How do I figure out whether my target market is the best one for the product I am trying to sell without losing all my money through trial and error? Answer: It’s a contradiction in itself. You have to spend the money to run the test. Results won’t come if you don’t try. You’re going to have to take a leap and be willing to spend what it takes to find your target market. You...
Question: If you could go back to when you started your first business, what would you have done differently? Answer: Nothing. Because it just didn’t work. It’s not about success. I can win on accident. I can’t replicate an accident. I’d much rather know what didn’t work because what I took out of my failure was that I still can conquer the world. I just found out that this was not the way to conquer...
Question: I hear that almost all new businesses fail, what are a few important things I need to do to avoid failure for my business idea? Answer: Here’s the fundamental answer. Don’t be a dumbass. Don’t take your foot off the gas. I’ve actually had this conversation this week with someone else, so it’s a common issue. I know loads of people that I call parabolic entrepreneurs. Which really means they’re a blip in the radar....
Question: I am pretty low on funds, what do I need to do financially to prepare myself to launch a new business idea? Answer: So you’re a starving college student, low on funds with an idea for a new physical product. You have no money in the bank, but you’re still willing to buy that daily Rockstar. Step 1: Stop buying Rockstars. Basically, don’t buy soda for a month. Step 2: Ask yourself if anyone legitimately cares...
Question: When did you discover that you had a talent for marketing? Answer: I actually don’t think that I have a talent for marketing. I think I have a knack for finding and resolving problems. I’m good with logical solutions. I think people put marketing in a bucket. They say marketing is all about conceptualizing and strategizing. That’s helpful and all but if you don’t have the fundamentality to solve problems, it doesn’t matter what else...