Neal Schaffer on Entrepreneurship

Recently we had the opportunity to talk to social media specialist Neal Schaffer, author of the book "Maximize Your Social" where he lays out a guide to getting the most out of social media tools to promote your business.  Neal has been all over the planet revolutionizing and studying how people communicate on different social media platforms and has mastered the ins and outs of how people use these communication tools.  As an entrepreneur himself, Neal answered what characteristics make up the best entrepreneurs.

1. Perseverance - Neal says that great entrepreneurs "...never give up." Only the most driven entrepreneurs will weather the storms of ups and downs  and be able to come out on top.  One way to do this is to stay positive and remind yourself why you got into the business in the first place.  Most entrepreneurs are very self motivated and are able to persevere through tough times.

2. Experimental - Trial and error is really the only way to make progress as a young company.  It's impossible to have the answer to every challenge if your company is unique.  The only way to know what decisions to make in every situation is if you were duplicating the processes of another company. A lot of first time entrepreneurs have a tough time pulling the trigger on a decision and they miss opportunities.  Great entrepreneurs make decisive decisions good or bad and will learn from mistakes and strike gold on good decisions.  Being experimental will help you not hurt you.

3. Recognizing best practices - Learn from your competitors and companies that have already made it.  There is a right way to do it.  Successful entrepreneurs are mainly very ethical business people and the ones who aren't won't be successful in the long run.  Make good choices and choose the best business model that makes sense for your product or service.  Don't reinvent the wheel.

4. Outgoing - Very social people make very good entrepreneurs because people want to be around them and are very willing to give them their money.  Neal talked about how keeping company with good talent and surrounding yourself and your company with good talent will create a successful company.

Don't worry if you do not have all these characteristics.  They can be learned and taught!  If you're an introvert that doesn't mean you can't stay in touch with people and if you don't typically like to take risks you can still be experimental.  Just experiment more wisely and more cautiously just be decisive.

Investing Time to Save Time

Have you ever given thought to how much time is spent searching Google for a specific subject or item?  How many times have you tried to find a golden nugget of information only to come up short wondering if your using the wrong wording or maybe Googles just broken right now?

Now imagine you see a picture of a building and you want to know the phone number of the office occupied by the unseen person taking the picture.  Sound impossible?  Actually it’s not if you know the correct steps involved.  As an entrepreneur starting out Im sure the sound of saving time at every opportunity is a good one.

I had the good fortune to attend a talk given by Dan Russell the Űber Tech Lead at Google’s Search Quality & User Experience Research.  His background includes a PhD in artificial intelligence but he moved away from that because “I wanted to learn how to enhance human intelligence.”

He now is the primary instructor at the Power Searching with Google Academy.  This is a free online course that teaches people to how to search more efficiently and effectively for information however granular it may seem.  What I soon came to realize was what they actually teach is the skill of saving years of time over the course of one’s life.

His talk centered around eight key skills that search experts use when they dive in to the Google search pool.  What he explained was that an effective search depends primarily upon using the correct language.  All too often we try to type in a search using our own language and expect a computer to understand exactly what we’re saying.  Truth be told, a computer is actually a very stupid machine and only operates on the commands it’s given, (at least until Google starts cranking out their A.I.’s that know our feelings by our expressions.)

It’s far too long for me to explain in a blog post but some of the key skills include:

-Knowing which tools to use and when.

-Understanding the terms, concepts, and genre for your search.

-Knowing how to use different media types in a search.

-Knowing what’s possible to ask.

-Using multiple resources.

While the thought of taking out time now to do an online course may seem like asking a bit too much, I can guarantee that the time invested now will save you exponentially more down the road.  I will be enrolling in their free program very soon and hope that you will as well.  If they could only teach me how to get back all the time I wasted on previous searches, well then that’s when I start shelling out the bucks.

5 Funding Sites to Avoid That First Pitch

In a post from yesterday we may have scared you from ever making the jump out of your garage and in front of potential venture capitalists.  If that was the case don't worry because there are other options and no not just Kickstarter or Indiegogo.  Here is a list, in no particular order, of 5 funding sites that you can turn to if you find yourself in a unique financial situation.

1. MicroVentures - It takes very little work on the business end.  The way its set up is you tell them your idea they research it and ask further questions.  Then they relay the information to investors and they make an offer.  Sounds simple enough.  My only knock is that you have to give up equity in your company unlike Kickstarter or typical crowd funding sites.

2. Angel List - I know I've mentioned this and you may or may not have heard of it.  Anyways it's different then most funding websites because you already have to have $100,000 worth of funding to even get on it.  But if you manage that feat its phenomenal.  You immediately get in front of some of some great investors.  After you gather those investments your portfolio then attracts young people looking to get hired.  It's a great way to streamline your business toward success and it seems like you barely have to lift a finger.

3. SoMoLend - This is a really interesting crowd funding concept.  The idea behind it is that you prey on the locals around you that may know you and you set up a lending plan and you get funded.  Pretty basic I just don't know if I trust it, or if people will trust you.

4. Razoo - This site is really not strictly geared toward businesses more toward causes.  However, they do allow businesses that work with causes.  So if you have an idea that is catered more toward social entrepreneurship this could be a great start considering the claim they've raised close to 1 billion in funding.

5. Appbackr - Pretty self explanatory.  This is one of those niche funding sites that caters towards just applications.  That might narrow your competition so you don't have to compete with the big dogs like 

the Oculus Rift.

The Second Pitch

One of the most important days in your life will be the first time you pitch your idea to investors.  And I will tell you right now that you will fail, with out a doubt.  First of all they know more than you about new businesses because they've invested in more successful companies then you've created.  They will poke more holes in your business strategy and "big idea" with in the first five minutes then a block of swiss cheese.  

But once that's over and done with you will know what to expect so I wanted to present a couple of ideas about how to go about your second pitch to investor's so it doesn't turn out like the first blood bath.  

First things first, sit down with your business partners and write down all the questions that you weren't able to answer decisively in the first meeting and answer them.  However, don't work them into your presentation.  Just be informed and know your company in and out.  When the questions start flowing you'll be comfortable this time.

Second, scrap that Power Point presentation with a 56 slide deck that put the investor's to sleep. Practice using slideshows with strictly visuals or animations.  A great way to do this would be to create a visual info graphic that is designed to match your brand and reports important information.  According to Zabisco 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual and visuals are processed 60,00 times faster in the brain then text.  This will help get your idea across to the investors.  Most of the time investors won't invest in a company because they claim they don't understand the concept when in reality it wasn't explained properly or effectively.

Next, bring a prototype and include the investor in the pitch.  Let him or her hold something and play with it. This will do a couple of things according to Kimberly D Elsbach from the Harvard Business Review.  They will respond better if they feel they are participating in the presentation and it will present the idea to the investors that you are a collaborator.  This will also lighten the mood and level the playing field.  

Finally, keep it short and sweet and just know your company and your margins.  As long as you know the answers to tough questions you are almost better suited leaving them for the investors to ask.  By answering with confidence it will be more impressive then just giving them the answer up front.  Use the presentation to tell a story to your audience and engage them.  This is far more important then going over projections on investment return.  Trust me, that'll be the first question they ask.

The Up Side of Habitual

A day in the early life of the entrepreneur may consist of emotional highs and lows.  This could be due to the roller coaster effect of new discoveries and disappointments, but I submit that’s not the most efficient way to go about becoming successful in your chosen field.

It is far better to keep things rolling along on an even path because this is the course you’ve chosen.  You’ve planned for it and most importantly you have foreseen yourself attaining each milestone along the way. 

This is not to say that unexpected things shouldn’t pop-up all the time.  This is life right? By definition life equals the unexpected.  What I’m talking about is controlling the controllable.

Laney Griner

There are scads of lists titled “the successful habits of so & so,” and some are huge selling books because they are indeed very good.  Combing through various and sundry lists I started picking out the habits that were shared among a good many of the them.   More importantly, I started choosing the ones that may best apply to an entrepreneur just starting out.

Here’s what I summarized to be the best ones:

Visualize What Success Is – We’ve touched on this in earlier posts, here and here but this deserves to be repeated.

1)   If you don’t have a good idea of what success looks like then how can you know when you find it?  Part of leveling out the emotional highs and lows involves knowing where your going and understanding that getting there will indeed have some bumps along the way.

2)   “Fake It Till You Make It” may the best advice I’ve ever received, (Thanks Dad!)  It doesn’t mean being fake or phony at all. What it does mean is if you think, act, walk, and talk like you are headed straight toward your definition of success then it’s only a matter of time till you reach it.

Establish Priorities – This one is a common habit of success shared among the most famous of lists namely, Steven Covey & Brian Tracy and deserves to be repeated often. 

1)   Hit the big stuff early.  By cracking the big nuts early in the day we set ourselves up for success for the rest of it.

2)   We also free ourselves up mentally for giving the smaller things their proper focus

3)   80/20 Rule – This applies to so many areas of life it’s staggering.  Only 20 percent of what’s done during the day produces 80 percent of the results.  Recognize what that 20 is and tear through it.

Eliminate Waste – Funders & Founders provide some excellent tips for focusing in a digital age and eliminating the chatter that interrupts work.

1)   Turn off the news – hardly anything important happens during our busy times.  If they do occur someone will let us know quickly.

2)   Turn off the phone – Obviously we can’t disconnect from the world completely but we can set aside blocks of time for no interruptions.  Let others know when those times are and if need be allow yourself the opportunity to answer the expected call that will help you move forward on that project.

3)   Limit email replies – If you cant reply to an email in a minute then put it aside for later.

4)   When you get stuck creatively, map it out.  Even if it means sketching something on a napkin, having something tangible and visual helps to shape ideas into actions.

Routines Matter – Part of the reason we choose to be entrepreneurs is because we can’t stand the hamster wheel effect we associate with going to the cubicle farm everyday.  However, routines for how we start and finish everyday can add productivity and help us recognize when we are getting sidetracked.

1)   Early morning habits like picking clothes, leaving the house, etc. can help us remove distractions.

2)   Setting up routines for healthy eating help to reduce the mental chaff that accumulates over time.  This may sound like the road map to boredom but it doesn’t mean bland and if we accomplish more in the process isn’t it worth it?

Relationships Matter – Two habits I found in my search really stood out to me.

1)   Never eat lunch at your desk alone.  This is a very good time to share those somewhat relaxed moments in the day to get some feedback on your ideas but more importantly, offer advice and help on the ideas of others.  Cross pollenating is hugely valuable in harvesting our crop of ideas.

2)   Provide Utility to Others.  In addition to the lunchtime idea/advice we can also share with others short articles we run across that can help with their projects. Put a comment in there saying what jumped out at you.  Also, this will come back as rewards when others share valuable information they run across and could provide big payoffs.

I hope this helps those that don't practice any of these habits now and for those

that already do may this help to reinforce good habits already established.