Entrepreneurship Archives - Page 3 of 4

Where do those good ideas come from? Stories?

I was watching this great video that is the animation of Stephen Johnson speaking…and I began to think. Where do good ideas come from? He takes us down a path to show us that they start with a hunch…this hunch can take years and years to grow. But what ultimately brings this good idea to life is this idea of connectivity.

But to me…it is more than just connectivity…it is the sharing of the ideas with others, the language exchanged. Mutual discourse leads to innovation. Yes, we can be connected to one another, but we have to bring that idea to a path of articulation. Let’s think for a second. Two people can have the solution to the other’s problem…and their collaborative efforts could yield the tremendous result. But they have to do more than meet, they have to share. We can be invited to some of the greatest conferences with the brightest minds, and those bright minds can stand side-by-side in that room and never share.

Connectivity does not solve the problem. Or maybe it does. Well…those good ideas come from the articulation of those ideas when connectivity is achieved. One of the tools I teach at Clemson is the classic elevator pitch. I found this nifty little tool from Harvard’s Business School which is called the HBS Elevator Pitch Builder…it identifies:

– What would you most want the listener to remember about you?
– State the valued phrase as key results or impact.
– What is the unique benefit?
– What are the goals?

Now this is not perfect when trying to move beyond connectivity to communication…but it provides a barometer for the conversation. How do we break through the connectivity, to find those relationships we trust, and freely exchange the ideas that lead to innovation? Let’s take Twitter for example. Millions of people online using a portal to freely express ideas. You can share, you can listen, and you can sit and watch. By merely opening a webpage and logging into Twitter…you are connected. But what does it take to share an idea openly? What does it take to engage with a conversation inside this massive paradigm of social interactions to exchange ideas. Yes, it provides connectivity…but it can be the same as screaming your idea out loud in a crowd of millions. Bringing language to your idea is hard!

I remember having this idea a few years ago after graduate school. It is a cool idea that I think one day will come true. My father encouraged me to go after the idea, but I was scared. He told me to just write it down and share it with others. But who would I share it with? How would I explain the idea. I did not have the language to articulate this idea and the network of people to share it with to bring it to life. Bringing language to life, giving life to an idea is more than connectivity…it is learning to articulate that idea. It is learning to articulate that particular idea at the right time when connectivity presents itself.

That is why storytelling is a great thing. It is the ability to articulate an idea in a way that connects with our audience. To help the audience see an idea in their context. When we share, when we articulate an idea, when give voice to our thoughts…we are telling the story of our idea. Bridging the gap between two connected people is language…the story of our idea.

Stephen Johnson’s Book: Where Good Ideas Come From

teaching entrepreneurship…defining entrepreneurship

Teaching entrepreneurship is one of the biggest challenges I have under-taken in a while…but here I am teaching at the Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurship. Little ole me with my little business teaching tomorrow’s knowledge economy. Sometimes it is kind-of frightening, but more so enlightening.

The one thing I am rustling with internally…whether entrepreneurship is a learned concept or is it embedded in our “DNA”? I worked for a great entrepreneur a few years ago who hit it big during the telecom days. He used to tell me that entrepreneurship is exercising and unleashing your God given, natural talent. He did not try to explain how to take an idea, leverage your resources, and bringing that idea to market. No…he talked about having passion for an idea and bring it to fruition.

Entrepreneurship to me is more about language and culture. Was I born with the innate ability to become an entrepreneur? Or was it a series of life experiences and connections that led to that point in time when I worked for an entrepreneur, and he unlocked the urge to seek entrepreneurship. Did he teach me entrepreneurship or surround me with that language, showing the opportunities when seeking out my own marketable interests?

The culture or entrepreneurship for me is about passion. What is the one thing that you love to do, the thing that gets you up in the morning and makes you tick. What would be the one thing you would want to do if the world was going to end tomorrow. What is your life passion? For serial entrepreneurs, they have evolving interests. They have numerous passions, one that leads to the next. But it is more than just language and culture, it is identifying that desire to bring an idea to market and acting on those impulses…taking the leap.

Big ole thanks for this daily motivational from LMI

I a few months ago, I took a course from Nancy Eichstadt of Leadership Management Institute. She has helped me to become better organized and focused in my business and commitments. Each day she sends out a daily motivational. Some skip over my daily beat, but today this hits home.

I normally do not like to post content from other individuals, but today is a bit different. She sends out these notes via email, so I could not post a link to this note on Twitter or Facebook for my friends to enjoy. So here is to you Nancy Eichstadt and thanks for giving me a breath of fresh air today, enjoy friends!

YOUR DAILY MOTIVATION
Wednesday, January 19, 2011

YOU CLIMB A MOUNTAIN ONE STEP AT A TIME
Everyone who got where they are, had to begin where they were.
Your opportunity for success is right in front of you.

To attain success or to reach your goal,
don’t worry about having all the answers in advance.
You just need to have a clear idea of your goal and move toward it.

Don’t procrastinate when faced with a difficult problem.
Break your problems into parts and handle one part at a time.

Develop a tendency toward action.
You can make something happen today.
Break your big plan for success into small steps
and take the first step right away.

Success starts with beginning.

If you write it…will they come? Monetize this thought?

Blogging is just a place to really express thoughts, ideas, passions…it is editorial and can be a place of free flowing ideas and thought streams. But monetizing a blog is very entrepreneurial. During a Sunday night #BlogChat on Twitter, Mack Collier’s (@MackCollier) weekly discussion group around blogging on Twitter, Daren Rowse (@problogger) moderated the topic focused on monetizing your blog. As I was sitting back and watching the discussion, I posed the question to Daren…”At what point did you begin monetizing your blog, what was your tipping point?” Daren posed this response:

At first I took as a simple smart ass response to avoid a longer discussion amidst this fast past, Sunday night chat. Pfft. But, I sat back and thought for a few minutes. I realized his quick response had merit…spoken from a true entrepreneur. Now, he knew there was a big need out there for great content, but he knew that he needed to pay for his passion instead of letting the expense of the blog not provide a return.

Monetizing a blog is VERY entrepreneurial and *can* have a very small return on investment, maybe??? But let’s think about that for a second, how do you measure return? What is the basic business question…what need is out there that we/you can provide a solution and bring it to market and bear a “profit”? What do you deem as a profit? Monetary profit, web traffic, PR, exposure to services, expressions of thought/ideas???

Think about this for a second: Did You Know…
According to WordPress, “There are over 27 million WordPress publishers as of September 2010: 13.9 million blogs hosted on WordPress.com plus 13.8 million active installations of the WordPress.org software.”

According to The Future Buzz in January 2009, ” The number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002 are 133,000,000 and the number of people who globally read blogs are 346,000,000.”

According to Technorati on November 3, 2010, “After Hobbyists, Self-Employeds make up the largest cohort, representing 21% of bloggers. Such bloggers say they ‘blog full time or occasionally for their own company or organization.’ 57% say they own a company and have a blog related to their business, while 19% report that their blog is their company. 65% say they manage their blog by themselves. Reflecting their professional nature, Self-Employeds are the most likely to blog about business, with 62% saying they have much greater visibility in their industry because of their blog.”

Point being…there are a lot of people blogging and a lot of people reading. Lots of competition, you better have a tremendous business plan behind your blog if you intend to “monetize” those very words you so carefully craft. Yep…monetize your thoughts, your passion, your eloquence. You think you can just sit down and write and expect they will come…sounds like the pipe-dream of a business that cannot make it past year two with an SBA loan. The ole “Field of Dreams,” if you build it…they will come!

In the movie…it nearly bankrupt the family. They were not waiting for the players to come out of the corn fields, they were waiting for those people with $20.00 bills to see those ghostly players take the diamond, to enjoy America’s past time. Risk…lots of risk.

But what do we really risk by putting a blog out there. I mean, you probably are only spending a monthly hosting fee, design time, maybe paying someone to build it for you? Maybe the most hard costs incurred is at most $600 in a year. Then you are talking about that creative time, that creative tension…that passion that you so eloquently craft with each word in the hopes you will connect with your audience. But at some point, after the confidence has been built and your realize your investment…it is time to make some cash! Yes, you are an entrepreneur…take that little bit of hard costs and lots of that sweat equity and turn into a monthly little bonus. And, if you can work hard…you begin focusing your writing (according to audiences), take part in some adwords and other paid ad campaigns, and you really generate traffic, clicks, and cash. But did you set out to make cash or did you set out to be heard? Or did you set-out to generate interest for your business as a small business owner?

In 2006, my wife set-out to write a journal. Overtime it turned into a full scale blog that tackled topics like breast cancer and infertility. Slowly over time, she gained an audience and built some online relationships. It became her support group…her place to release her thoughts and connect with like minded individuals. She shared her joys, pains, laughs, and cries as she wrote openly and honestly about loosing her best friend, her mother to breast cancer. She revealed to all her struggles with infertility. She had not built a community…she found her voice. But wait…she was not looking to generate any money. She did not set-up those pay for click campaigns…but how is she monetizing her blog? Her value came from the community…her place to share open discourse. Is she any less of an entrepreneur? No…she is more of a social entrepreneur.

I think it is up to us to find what we want to monetize in a blog. With so many audiences and so many spaces to fill with the free flowing words that come from our hearts…we must have a focus in our writing. We put ourselves out there, and for the first time in this world of publishing, we have a platform to feel somewhat equal to those journalists and accomplish authors who make money from their published/broadcasted voices. It is still about community and we as entrepreneurs still have to find a need, a reason to write…because ultimately we want someone to read. Thanks Daren for making me think a bit! Monetize this!

It is all about growing professionally!

I am coming up on the one year anniversary of officially being out on my own. Yes…it is going to be a big day for me. Little context, in January 2007, I entered the world of start-ups joining a technology company. Great group of people, but it ended up being an evolution of previous technology companies rolling over debt from one to the next. They closed the doors the day after I closed on our house. Me and few of my co-workers decided to negotiate the purchase of that business (client list and assets), and off I was jumping into another start-up with new partners. What a learning experience.

What did I learn? Well, choose partners wisely and have a good agreement in-place. I also learned that I had the personality and the drive to venture out on my own…and do what I am passionate about, telling stories. My former partners are now running a successful business and pushing forward with their vision and I am excited for their success. So here I am, less than a month from starting Bobby Rettew, llc.

So now as I am in planning stages for year two…I am putting together my strategic plan for the next few years. I am excited about the opportunities, some cool projects on the horizon, and thinking through how I want to grow my business. This is the fun part…planning the dream and putting a plan in place to make it happen.

I am also excited about my teaching career and growing academically. It is my humble opinion that teaching at a major university has given me credibility and opened doors that normally would take years to open. I began teaching at Clemson University with the Advanced Writing Program, teaching Business Writing in the Department of English. I was able to leverage that opportunity to create a student led networking event called NetworkBash. These events have been great over the last two years. Now I am joining the Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurship to begin teaching Hybrid Entrepreneurship this coming spring. This growth academically has taught me how to manage my business, my clients, my classes, and serve my passion…to tell stories.

So how do we meet our goals, how do we push forward? How? Well, I am not perfect but this is what I am thinking.

1. Have a focus! Yes, know who you are and where you are going. What is the mission statement for your business? Seriously think about what problem(s) are you trying to solve and can you generate revenue by servicing this need? Balance your passion with how you can generate revenue. We are in business to make money…right?

2. Have a plan! Not only a simple business plan…but a short term and long term business plan that maps out goals; covers all aspects of your business. What happens if you hit a recession, what happens during a time of growth, where do you want to grow and how will you get there? This plan should be re-evaluated on a quarterly basis for goal setting, then yearly for revisions and re-focus.

3. Have a mentor! Find someone that you can talk to outside of your business. This person should be someone you can trust and provide perspective while building and growing your business.

4. Grow professionally! Have a place to step outside of the business, a place to stretch the brain and grow. This could be conferences, continuing education, workshops, etc. Plan to take time off for this growth, and plan financially for this expense. I just joined WOMMA and this is a huge investment for me and my business. Not only financially but also when it comes to time commitment. I want to leverage this knowledge for my business growth.

5. Grow your network! Continue to grow your sphere and be willing to remove people from your sphere if they are not helping you grow. Continually evaluate and re-evaluate where you spend your time networking and where you can find like-minded people.

6. Retain professional help! Have a good accountant and attorney. They will not only provide professional advice but will help you grow your business and protect your interests. I have both and THEY ROCK! TJ Way of Nason Way Accounting, LLC and Andy Arnold of W. Andrew Law Firm make my life easy!

7. Make time for family! Work hard and play hard. I take three vacations a year with a minimum of a week each. This lets me get away from business and re-energize. Also…know when to turn off business when you are home with the ones you love. I am always learning to make this distinction…it can be tough!

8. Have the desire to grow! Seek ways to become a better person and know that you have faults. Be willing to grow from each decision you make!

9. Treat your customers/clients like family! It is all about relationships. You want to be on the speed dial so that you can be their expert.

10. Love your business! Keep the passion alive so people can feel that passion when you walk in the door.

Where am I taking this business, well that is for me to know and you to find out. No big secrets…just working on my year two plan. But I do know this…my failures over the last 20 plus years have taught me so much. From starting as a broadcast journalist, through graduate school, multiple start-ups…and now my own deal. I am so fortunate to be where I am today. I just want to have some fun! Year two…here I come! Also…my CFO (my wife) has given the ultimate support needed to be successful, thanks beautiful!

Something to be learned from the Spiro Institute

Today, I was invited to attend the first in a series of First Friday Speaker Presentations by the Spiro Institute at the new campus for Clemson University called Clemson At The Falls. It is a center for Professional Advancement and Continuing Education located in downtown Greenville, SC. Today’s speaker was Steve Edwards talking about “Amazing!!! Simple Tools to Transform Your Life from Ordinary to Amazing.” I talked more about my thoughts and reactions to the insightful presentation in the above video.

To download the flyer for the event, CLICK HERE!

The next event by the Spiro Institute will be October 15th at the Brooks Center for Performing Arts. The event is titled Entrepreneurship Tomorrow and will be featuring:

Nikki Haley – Republican Nominee for Governor of South Carolina
Steve Edwards – CEO of the Edwards Group
Greg Smith – VP & GM of Xerox Mortgage Services

It will be moderated by Claude Lilly who is the Dean of the College of Business and Behavioral Science. To learn more about the event, CLICK HERE.

We should feel so blessed!

We should feel fortunate. We should feel blessed…because everyday we have an opportunity to get up and chase our dreams. Times are tough right now. Everywhere we look, more and more stories of foreclosure, layoffs, cutbacks, indicators or slow economic times. Families being forced from their homes, men and women looking hopelessly for work.

We should feel blessed…I know I do. I wake up every morning with a roof over my head and the God given ability to generate income. I shed tears every time I read an article about a family not able to pay their bills, no work in sight, no healthcare…tears. We live in the United States of America…land of the free. What is so wrong with access to health care and a quality education. What is so wrong with the humanity of sharing with the common man.

I am self-employed, blessed everyday that I have the ability to serve my clients. They have been so good to me….damn I am blessed! I get to express my God given, creative talents at their expense. What an honor. This creative enterprise pays my mortgage, my healthcare, and the food on my table. I should be so humbled.

When is the last time we have exercised the ability to say thank you! Thank you to those people that have made our successes possible. There are so many people who “have” and so many who “have not.” I hurt for those who “have not.”

So tomorrow…I will wake up and say my prayers, be thankful I have someone wonderful to share life with daily, and remind myself that everyday is a blessing. Let us be passionate about what we do, how we do it, and thankful we have a platform to exercise that creative energy.

Entrepreneurs are wanted: InnoVenture 2010

There is something about walking through the halls of innovation. Feeling the overwhelming assurance of our ability to innovate, generate ideas, connect with like minded people, and push forward. There is something refreshing, moving from one hand shake to the next, from one introduction to another, and feeling the sense that connections can help us conquer the possible impossibilities.

This is the “pipeline of game changing opportunities.” John Warner has brought us together, empowered our intellect, inspired our creativity, and provided the platform to “connect together in our enlightened self-interest.”

Why is it that we strive to go attend a two-day event, one that has evolved each year….what are we in search of? Hmm…could it be that we are entrepreneurs at heart? We want more than the status quo, we want to find people that can not only help us solve the problems that seek to understand, but meet people and share. It all starts with a handshake.

As we looked around, we found ourselves in a sea of possibilities, and the room was filled with a sea of problem solvers, seekers, ad diverse set of individuals looking for what we are looking for: the common ground that binds us together…innovation.

Where else can you find a room filled with over 500 people listening to a revolving door of entrepreneurs, big business, big ideas, angel investors, people with solutions, people looking for solutions…a sea of opportunity. Where else can you find more human connection happening faster than the transactions in the Blue Cross Blue Shield server farm. Whether if it was an entrepreneur, a big box business, or someone offering a solution…the isles between the chairs were like the sea waters being split providing an angelic pathway from the crowd to the presenter…connecting diverse groups, talking innovation and collaboration.

I want to be a part of this..yes. I want to take my idea to the next level. I want the assurance that it is possible to find someone to help me develop a plan, guide me to funding, inspire me to keep pushing, ground me in the reality, and cheer with me during my successes. Then, I want to be a part of a place similar to Plato’s Republic…a place of sharing, sharing ideas, sharing knowledge, building our knowledge economy.

Where else can you listen to a wireless information provider talk about distributing video to devices and immediately be followed by a appliance provider thinking about the possibility of having video content provided on the face of a refrigerator. Then, both sitting down side-by-side and having a conversation. WOW!

Where else can I be empowered by the COO of Michelin Americas Research Company to think big about the possibility of reducing friction between the tire and the road for energy efficiency; only after being empowered by a lawyer talking about bringing one of the biggest airliner manufactures into our knowledge economy of South Carolina. Where else can I here from someone who wants to help entrepreneurs connect with Angel Investors right after someone seeking new ideas to present to automakers in Detroit.

It is possible! It is in our DNA! It is in our language. We can do it…we can create this knowledge economy right here in South Carolina and become the poster child for open innovation…globally.

Where else can I have a few brews right beside one the greatest examples of open innovation, bringing the academy and private sector together under a common vision. How inspiring is it to see each person clap and cheer a deserving award, knowing we felt a little closer to those around us because we wanted; hoped one day to be honored by that very award just named. It is like a new fraternity was formed, a fraternity of innovators…we know that feeling, that dream, that reality that we can almost touch.

Thank you John Warner, thank you for connecting us, inspiring us, and creating a language of innovation right here. The future is right here…among us. Like Dave Bodde said,”Entrepreneurs are wanted!” We are all entrepreneurs…open innovation is fun. The sea of open innovators is right here. Just like Dan Wooster said…”We are story shapers.”

Web Strategy Firms are the New World Order

Times are changing faster and faster everyday. As technology evolves faster than we can breathe…and as it evolves, we need people to help us with it, understand it, and sell us a strategy to implement.

Web strategy of 2010 has evolved into business communication strategy. Creating and monitoring revenue streams as we create and monitor conversations…well actually the technology that distributes these conversations and messages.

I think back to when I was in undergrad at Clemson. My freshman year (1992), no email and the only knowledge of the World Wide Web was this thing called Gopher. I remember I could use it to find my girlfriend’s class buildings at Appalachian State University. By my sophomore year, I had email and the WWW became a new idea on Clemson’s campus. By my junior year, Clemson was teaching web design and development classes. While I was in college, major AD & PR agencies were building strategic communication strategies and the computer geeks were creating webpages.

Now…here we sit in 2010, the new age AD Firm is the web/new media agency: building business models around web strategy as a communication plan that drives revenue. It started out as going paperless to save money, but now communication strategies are sold to drive revenue not only for the organizations that buy the plan but for the firms that are selling the strategy.

Why the discussion…I have been studying and trying to understand the evolution of the new media business models. Watching and researching the retainer models for web and new media firms that are not only creating an updated web presence but also building relationships with C-Level executives for long term ROI.

I have been talking and visiting with companies everyday who are caught in similar positions. They are staffed with creative professionals that handle all the graphic design and communication planning for their communication strategies. These companies are staffed with “traditional” media execution but scrambling to create and implement web and new media strategies. Many companies staffed with seasoned professionals trying desperately to get up-to-date with these web, social, and new media concepts. These same companies are staffed with interns that are training professionals how to evolve and adapt practitioner concepts into new technology.

Web strategy companies come in with big retainers and big ideas…visions of solving problems capitalizing on the current deficits in knowledge in many mid to large size organizations…”how can we make our web presence better and drive traffic to our message.” The new age AD Firm is today’s Web Firm….staffed with Presidents/CEOs, project managers, business development professionals, designers, developers and a board of directors. These board of directors made up of investors and visionaries capitalizing on the new wave of messaging.

It is a new world order…we are buying iPad’s and Androids as fast as we consume information. We sit and watch HDTV on our couches while we sit and surf the Internet with our Mac Book Pros and posh laptops. We are texting as we drive down the road while answering phone calls and listening to Pandora. Information velocity has a new derivative…information velocity. It is a new world order. And what is the next evolution? Hmm…Mobile Media Firms will take over and create the new strategies as business communication strategies with brick and mortar offices in every city.

How will we as practitioners stay relevant though this accelerated evolution of business and technology strategies. Hmm…maybe just keep on telling stories. BTW…I realize I might be one of these groups I am talking about…taking part in the new world order.

What is next for GoogleOnMain? Standby and Listen!

Well…it has officially happened and now nine days after the big event ( tons of local, regional, and national press) and finally with a big wrap-up party at the Warehouse Theater, it is time to say…what is next? First off…it needs to be noted that Aaron von Frank and all those who made this event a success should be proud. But now, what is next and what happens after the hype. Well, for starters…sit back and wait to here what Google is planning on doing.

The whole purpose of this event was to publicly solicit the opportunity to be one of the chosen cities for Google to invest billions of dollars into a fiber infrastructure. Now, while they are still doing their due diligence, Greenville, SC is sitting back and wanting more. This little idea that turned into a big idea has now built a community of innovators into a community of believers…”We can get the attention of a big group like Google.” Now is not quitting time….it is actually time to keep on pushing forward and taking the nicely branded idea “We Are Feeling Lucky” (nice job btw by Spike Jones) to the next level…continue building on this momentum and grow the community at large around an idea of innovation.

Thinking back as I was flying in the helicopter over the event, I was not only looking down and capturing an image of 2200 hundred people forming the words “Google,” but actually capturing the image of 2200 stories, 2200 ideas, 2200 reasons why Google should consider Greenville, SC. There is not just one story for Google to hear, it is more than “We Are Feeling Lucky,” it is 2200 different stories why each person thinks Google should come to Greenville, SC. Define through each of the 2200 individual stories as 2200 supporting arguments why Greenville, SC could use such an innovative pipeline of technology.

Imagine of the next several months (through the rest of the year), each of those 2200 people that formed the human wave of Google could articulate their story, their reason why they personally could benefit from this technology. Each one would be a different perspective ranging from small business owner, family member, large organization, government leader, entrepreneur, etc…all with a vested interest to make Greenville, SC a hot bed for innovation and thought leadership. Imagine if we could capture each story, and funnel them through the WeAreFeelingLucky.com website using video, text, audio, images, etc…capturing the hearts and minds of a community, building a larger case supporting a technology initiative.

I would image that many of the cities have stopped campaigning for Google’s attention, feeling that they have met their burden and thinking “now it lies in the hands of the organization to hand down a decision.” But the energy felt tonight in the Warehouse Theater auditorium showcased the desire to keep on campaigning, not just for Google technology but for a bigger cause…bringing a community together with a common goal, to build a bigger and brighter Greenville, SC. What a tremendous case that could be made if we could continue this mission, capture those stories, display them everyday on WeAreFeelingLucky.com and show the world that Greenville, SC has more in store…not just a one time event that happened on March 20, 2010.

***Photo courtesy of Michael Bergen of AidJoy.org