There is no such thing as get rich quick

As an entrepreneur making money should not be your primary motivation in running your own business. Sure more entrepreneurs become millionaires than people in the corporate world, but that is not reason enough to start your own business.

The best advice I have received while I was starting out is to focus on your passion. Once you decide what type of business you would run even if you made no money, then your focus should be on delivering the best products to your customers and continually improving your service and execution. If you are the best at providing for your customers then the money will come, but if money is your primary focus then chances are that you will not be providing well for your customers and your business will ultimately fail because of this.

Entrepreneurship has its ups and downs over being in the corporate world. There are some things that I absolutely love and others that I don’t like, but I would not trade it for the world. That is because I love what I do. It doesn’t seem like work because I love my businesses and the products we sell. It is this fact that helps me to get through both the good times and also the not so good times.

While we all hear about the 1 in a million stories about someone who strikes it rich quickly in business, the key is to building value in the market place in the long term. Don’t get hooked into this get rich quick mindset because it is as detrimental to you as the lottery mindset. Just focus on delivering for your customers at 110% performance. Don’t worry about the money, it will come. This is the only way to create a sustainable business with a solid foundation that will stand the test of time.

Invest in Yourself

Americans in general do not engage in the practice of saving money as much as they should. The personal savings rate during this time is starting grow due to the uncertainty that the recession is causing, but in general it is much too low. In China, for instance, the personal savings rate averages 50% of income. Compare this to the 3% currently in America or the negative number that happening just a few years ago.

The current economic situation has got me examining where I am spending my own money every month. By making a few minor changes, I was able to cut $800 out of my own budget and am now putting that into various investments. I encourage you all to take a look at your own spending habits and try to cut out as much waste as possible.

If you don’t already have a Roth IRA. I encourage you all to open one immediately. This is especially important to us young entrepreneurs who don’t have retirement accounts that an employer would traditionally offer. The beauty about a Roth IRA is that you can contribute up to $5000 per year and this money will grow interest and tax free. There are limitations as to when you can withdraw the money without penalty, but if you look at using this as a retirement fund, at age 59 1/2 you can withdraw your money and you will owe no tax on your earnings. That means, depending on your age, you will have 20, 30, 40 + years of tax free capital gains on your investments. This is like getting a huge amount of free money.

Out of the $800/month that I have cut out of my budget, I am putting $435 into my Roth IRA (Maxing out the $500) and putting $300/month into what I call a personal investment fund. It is important to continue to grow in our abilities and skills. Thus, I use this $300 for investing in leadership courses, language classes, and other things that will raise the value of my skills in the market place. If you don’t already save money every month for some sort of reinvestment in yourself, I think this is a very important thing to start doing. It is important to use discretion to make sure that this money actually does what it is intended for. Don’t try to trick yourself into thinking that setting aside beer money constitutes self investment because it does not! Make sure that whatever the money is spent on actually increases the value of your skills and abilities.

By following these tips you will be both preparing for retirement and enriching your mind. Here’s to your success!

Following Your Dreams

One of my very best friends who I’ve known since 6th grade and am currently in a venture with told me yesterday that he was enrolling in the US Navy flight school to fly fighter jets. 2 years ago I would have felt angry or abandoned that he wanted to leave the business we had created together. Today I have a very different outlook.

For those of you that don’t know, this program is highly competitive to get into. It is the military equivalent of becoming a professional athlete.

I have noticed a change in my friend over the course of the last 2 years. I could tell in his demeanor that he just wasn’t happy or satisfied with what he was doing. I could tell that something was missing; a thrill that couldn’t be satisfied. I noticed this long before he actually said it to me. His commitment to the venture has been wavering.

Some months back, someone had asked him what he would do tomorrow if he could do anything. He immediately resounded that he would go flying. Flying is the true passion that my friend has. When he told me last night of his plans, I think he was a bit surprised at how encouraging I was. I told him that if this was truly one of his dreams, that it was something that he had to do.

We only have one life to live. Yet most people don’t follow their dreams and end up as middle aged and full of regrets of the things they didn’t do. There are several different quotes that I like that all speak to the fact that nobody ever regrets the opportunities that they took, but they do regret the opportunities that they let get away.

Spend your life doing what you love and your life will be much more fulfilled; you will be happier and more successful in your life if you do live your dreams. Dream big and you will live big.

New Posts on Monday

What’s up Young Mogulers

Sorry for the delay in updating the posts. I have some exciting new ventures on my plate that are taking up much of my time. I will be updating more posts on Monday.

-Keith

Dressing for Success and the Importance to Entrepreneurs

You’ve probably heard the term ‘Dress for Success’ before. Usually this refers to dressing nicely so that you will make a great impression when you go in for a job interview. I believe that this principle is equally as important for entrepreneurs. Even if your business is only a one person operation and you work out of your home, I still recommend dressing up in a suit or at least a dress shirt and slacks. I have noticed a distinct change in my attitude and behaviors that I can directly attribute to my attire.

When I started my first business I was working at home and would often times roll out of bed in my sweat pants and t-shirt and begin to work. Sure it is convenient and it feels great, but I started to realize that this sloppy dress affected my attitude and work quality. I felt a little lazy and sloppy and my attitude toward my work reflected this as well.

I started experimenting by dressing up and getting out of the house to work at the local coffee shop. Just by putting on a suit and getting out of the house, my confidence spiked dramatically as opposed to just slouching around in sweatpants. I felt important and that my mission of growing my company was more legitimate than it had been before. There was more of a bounce in my step that sweat pants just could not provide. This simple alteration in my routine had a tremendous impact on my attitude and productivity. It was a good way to network with people too because often times I would see the same people every day at the coffee shop. Surprisingly there were quite a few entrepreneurs that were there as well, working hard on their computers.

It is interesting how something that simple can have such a huge impact, but it does. I encourage you to try it if you are skeptical and to use it frequently as a way to boost your success. If you look and act like you are already successful then it will become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Here’s to your future success!

Happy Monday,
Keith

What Can Super Bowl Advertising Teach Young Entrepreneurs?

Advertising during the Super Bowl is by far the most coveted of all advertising. It is one of the few times where people actually look forward to commercials and stay tuned to them. With around 100 million people tuning in, the Super Bowl can be a great way for large companies to gain widespread exposure to their advertising message. Not only do the commercials get seen during the game, but there is also a plethora of buzz before and after the Super Bowl regarding these commercials, so the publicity goes on for a while.

With a cost of $3 Million just to air plus 100s of thousands if not millions of dollars to produce, it is important that the advertising be unique and stick in the mind of consumers to get the most return on investment.

So where am I going with this and how does it relate to you, a young entrepreneur, who doesn’t have millions of dollars to spend on advertising?

You can use the same principles that the big firms use to create effective marketing on a budget. We as young entrepreneurs don’t have a lot of money so we have to be creative in our advertising to get the most benefit from it. The firms that advertise during the Super Bowl are looking to generate a lot of buzz for their ad and company that transends just the ad themselves. The ads that usually get the most publicity are the ones that combine various elements of humor, clever plays on current events or popular culture, and sex.

Sometimes pushing the envelope on any of the three elements above also provides huge amounts of publicity. A perfect example of this is the ad that NBC rejected from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) featuring scantily clad women and suggestive images of them with vegetables. PETA didn’t have to pay $3 Million to play their ad during the Super Bowl, yet they received countless amounts of publicity in the news and on the web.

The key message we should understand is that as a small business we have to utilize our advertising budget creatively. Come up with a message that is unique, revolutionary, and gets people talking about it and you will be able to generate huge amounts of publicity for your business in the news and on the web. Some times the most absurd messages are the ones that are most effective.

Below are some of the most popular Super Bowl commercials from this and past years.

Young Entrepreneur Profile: Ben Queen

For today’s edition of the Young Entrepreneur Profile, I wanted to tie in the Super Bowl theme. Ben Queen won a free trip for four to this years Super Bowl through an amateur photo contest that Canon sponsored. Ben is only 13 years old and has never taken a photography class which is amazing in its own right, but I want to focus on Ben’s entrepreneurial story rather than this contest.

Ben has been very active in sports his whole life. He has participated in baseball, basketball, soccer, and cross country running since he was 5 years old. Ben also has always had a love for photography. He was able to combine these two passions by taking pictures on the field during downtime at his games and meets. Ben started off giving away these pictures to his friends and the parents of the kids on his teams for free. Soon after the parents began offering him money to cover the expense of the film and developing. At age 11, Ben had saved up enough money to by a digital camera and set out with the goal of taking the best on field pictures and offering them for sale for $1 a print. Just 1 year later he incorporated his business and had a website that was doing just that. Ben’s website currently has 2327 photos on it that individuals can purchase. This service has been highly popular with parents.

Ben is once again another inspirational tale of a talented young person. Photography and sports are two hobbies for him and he would do them even if he wasn’t getting paid to do it. This is the key to the success of any of the ventures that we as young entrepreneurs engage in. If you can start a business that requires you to do things that you would do even if you never had to work again, then it will be more fun and you will be willing to put in the time to foster and grow the business to be the ultimate success.

Check out Ben’s website at Ben Queen Photography

Inspirational Quote for the Day

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” -T.S. Elliot

I hope that you all enjoy the superbowl today. Have fun and be safe.

Choose to Think Positively

Thinking positively is not something that is reserved for a few disconnected dreamers. With a little bit of conscious effort anyone can become an optimist. While the load of life can sometimes bear down upon us, it is important to keep your head up and look for a silver lining in any situation.

Some people will say that being eternally optimistic is naive and unrealistic; that there will be times when there will be something that you just cannot do. I cannot disagree any more with this statement. If you examine the type of people that are negative and reject the notion of positive thinking, you will find people that have not accomplished anything in their lives.

Nothing great was ever accomplished with a negative mindset. When the USA set out on the daunting task of landing a man on the moon, it was the persistance and positive thinking that enabled us to actually do it. If nobody thought it was possible, then it would not have happened. It is the dreamers, the optimists, and the revolutionaries that dare to see a world full of opportunity rather than a world of closed doors that become successful both in business and in life.

That’s not to say that there will not be challenges along the way. Believe me, there definitely will. That is where your passion for your work will become essential. If you love what you are doing, then taking on challenges head on will be fun for you and you will be much more likely to succeed.

So how do we maintain a positive mindset in a world full of negativity?

First of all, I would not watch the news or read most newspaper articles. Negativity sells in the media. When our country was doing well prior to this recession you did not hear about how many jobs were being created, yet now that times are rough we see the amount of job cuts on a daily basis. The news could be highlighting businesses that are actually doing quite well in the recession, but they don’t because negativity sells. If you avoid paying attention to the media, your brain will be able to avoid a lot of the doom and gloom that is in the atmosphere right now.

Second, I would make an effort to read either a self help book or a book about a dreamer who succeeded greatly. My aim of providing you with profiles of young entrepreneurs is to give you more confidence in yourself when you see that someone similar to you was able to accomplish great things and you can too! Reading these types of books and my blog will refresh your memory of this fact.

Third, surround yourself with positive people that will encourage you rather than bring you down. I used to have friends who were unmotivated and lacked an optimistic viewpoint. They often feared trying new things because they would always come up with excuses for why they could not do them. Having friends like this is probably one of the best ways to stifle your own success. Instead, by surrounding yourself with highly motivated friends that believe that they can accomplish anything, you will also be able to better maintain these traits yourself. Their success and hard work will also work as a motivator for you. If your friends are doing big things, then you will be pressured to also do big things.

Finally, make a conscious effort to reject negative thoughts that may enter your brain. If you find that a pessimistic thought is creeping into your mind, immediately switch what you are thinking about to something that would be considered positive. It doesn’t even matter what you think about as long as it is optimistic and blocks those toxic negative thoughts. This will get easier to do the more successes that you have as you become more confident in your abilities. If you are talking to people that bring up a topic with a negative tone, try to change the topic immediately. My parents can be somewhat pessimistic sometimes so I often have to change the subject with them. I cannot let the negative vibes seep into my brain and let even an ounce of doubt enter it. Negative feelings begin to snowball once they start and this impact is devastating on your ability to achieve your goals. Squash these bad feeling right away.

We are all truly blessed to live in the United States. This is one of the few countries in the world where we can all accomplish anything if we put our minds to it. This may be a cliche statement, but it is definitely true. We have so much opportunity, we just have to reach out and grab it. Opportunity should not be confused with easy success for it is not that, but we do live in a country where the sky is in fact the limit for those who want to work for it. I know you all do want to work for it, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this right now. Dare to be great and keep the inspiration alive. I promise to do whatever I can to help you do this.

Here is to your success.

-Keith

Friday Night Inspirational Quote

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain