Why Every Entrepreneur is the Modern Day Leonidas

The startup road is littered with bodies of dead startups and crushed dreams. The chances of your startup making it and ever being successful are extremely low. Many of those dead bodies were perfectly capable of success, but uncontrollable changes in the markets or life in general can strike a final blow, with no warning, at any time.

Being the CEO of a startup is much like being Leonitis when he commanded his 300 Spartans to face the thousands of Persians in the narrow passage with the almost certainty of death. While this is exciting to think about, the consequences of defeat are real. Yes, it might not cost your life if your startup fails (though, sadly it could), but there is so much at stake. The physical toll and stress from the startup will definitely take years off your life.

Leaving Accountant for Accounting Software Xero

This video covers the difficult predicament of starting your own business and having to manage finances when they are not your strong point. I explain how I will now be using Xero to do my accounting. We’ll see how it goes but it looks promising.

How To Build Your Million Dollar Idea Muscle

Conceiving a business idea — or more accurately stated — recognizing an opportunity, is a fundamental stage to any new business. It’s the vision someone aspires to bring to reality. It’s what provides excitement and enough courage to take incredible risk. It’s the beginning of a journey that could lead to wealth, and will lead to inevitable hardships. Creating valuable ideas is a skill that needs to be sharpened with practice, and more importantly, action. Learn to love this skill, because it’s a daily task for any CEO or entrepreneur.

One of the Scariest Things in the World for Entrepreneurs

I recently read an article by Groove’s CEO, Alex Turnbull. It resonated with me because it explained one of the scariest things for entrepreneurs - uncertainty. Insecurities can really affect an entrepreneur’s self belief which is devastating and something that’s frequently challenged with this lifestyle. His article explains a solution to uncertainty that is simple and efficient, but difficult to maintain. Here’s what he said:

Entrepreneur Advice – How I raised $50,000 from an Angel Investor

This is a presentation where I discuss my entrepreneur career thus far, what tips and advice have worked for me, and how it led to my first angel investment. Continue reading…

5 Effective Tips to Produce and Manage Your Content

Being able to produce good content is difficult, yet essential to any branding strategy. I’ve learned a lot over the years after having my own publication with writers all over the country, and as branding manager for a big corporation that didn’t know what a blog really was prior to me being hired. These are 5 essential tips for prodcing and managing content I learned the hard way. Continue reading…

Excellent Comprehensive Video About Crowdfunding

As the release of PenPath‘s private beta approaches, all the options on how to fund the company prior to revenue cross my mind. One of tactics I’m considering is crowdfunding. So as usual, I research the topic and see what experts have to say before continuing down that path. Continue reading…

IF ITS IMPORTANT TO YOU,
YOU WILL FIND A WAY.

IF NOT, YOU'LL FIND AN EXCUSE.

How I Got Mark Cuban to Respond to My Email

15. Sep
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Business Advice Life Advice Marketing Advice
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Last week I decided to reach out to some big investors and tell them about my startup, PenPath. My goal was to simply just be on their radar and hopefully get some feedback. One of the emails I sent was to Mark Cuban — a very famous entrepreneur I really look up to. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any mutual contacts or context to put me in touch, but decided to reach out anyways. Getting a reply the next morning with the name “Mark Cuban” in my inbox was surreal. I had quite a few people ask what he said and others wonder how I got him to even reply after I wrote a Facebook status about it, so I decided to write this and share some tips I used while drafting the email I sent him.