The 12 Days of Entrepreneurship

To celebrate the holidays, here's my rendition of a holiday classic.

The 12 Days of Entrepreneurship

On the first day of entrepreneurship,

my angles gave to me,

ONE totally new direction for the company.

GULP!

On the second day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

TWO contradictory marketing strategies.

YIKES.

And one totally new direction for the company.

On the third day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

THREE disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

On the fourth day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

FOUR new complex SWOT analysis.

Oy Vey!

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

On the fifth day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

FIVE Venture Capitalists in fowl moods.

Uh-OH!

Four new complex SWOT analysis’.

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

This is going to hurt.

On the sixth day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

SIX Useless Overpriced Consultants.

Don’t just charge it.

Five Venture Capitalists in fowl moods.

Four new complex SWOT analysis’.

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

Does it ever end?

On the seventh day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

SEVEN slick marketing slogans, using the old branding.

There goes the graphic artist! Right out that door. He looked pissed.

Six useless overpriced consultants.

Five Venture Capitalists in fowl moods.

Four new complex SWOT analysis’.

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

Where’s my Tylenol?

On the eighth day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

EIGHT equity investors each wanting 50 plus one of the business.

Something just doesn’t add up!

Seven slick marketing slogans, using the old branding.

Six useless overpriced consultants.

Five Venture Capitalists in fowl moods.

Four new complex SWOT analysis’.

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

Those golden handcuffs are starting to look pretty good now.

On the ninth day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

NINE outdated web articles.

Do they even know what we do?

Eight equity investors each wanting 50 plus one of the business.

Seven slick marketing slogans, using the old branding.

Six useless overpriced consultants.

Five Venture Capitalists in fowl moods.

Four new complex SWOT analysis’.

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

Where’s Sir Richard Branson when you need him?

On the tenth day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

TEN Silicone Valley rejected interns.

That’s a lot of nerd trash.

Nine outdated web articles.

Eight equity investors each wanting 50 plus one of the business.

Seven slick marketing slogans, using the old branding.

Six useless overpriced consultants.

Five Venture Capitalists in fowl moods.

Four new complex SWOT analysis’.

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

Business school never said it was going to be like this!

On the eleventh day of entrepreneurship,

my angels gave to me,

ELEVEN mad scientists hell-bent on taking over the world.

I didn’t think it would end like this!

Ten Silicone Valley rejected interns.

Nine outdated web articles.

Eight equity investors each wanting 50 plus one of the business.

Seven slick marketing slogans, using the old branding.

Six useless overpriced consultants.

Five Venture Capitalists in fowl moods.

Four new complex SWOT analysis’.

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

What’s that smell?

I smell burning?

MONEY on fire!?!?! 

OMG the mad scientists are lighting up thousands like they are brickets! 

That’ll kill our burn rate.

On the twelfth day of entrepreneurship, 

my angels gave to me,

TWELVE wanna-be CEOs.

Follow the leader? Which one?

Eleven mad scientists hell-bent on taking over the world.

Ten Silicone Valley rejected interns.

Nine outdated web articles.

Eight equity investors each wanting 50 plus one of the business.

Seven slick marketing slogans, using the old branding.

Six useless overpriced consultants.

Five Venture Capitalists in fowl moods.

Four new complex SWOT analysis’.

Three disagreeable patent lawyers.

Two contradictory marketing strategies,

And one totally new direction for the company.

Tell those mad scientists they are on their own.

That’s it!

I quit.

I’m going to work at McDonald’s.

Happy Holidays to all our friends, fans, followers and anyone else we have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past year and previous years.

P.S.

We’re only joking about our angels. We love everyone that works with us, for us and with us to make the world a better place. Now go out and hug a Silicone Valley rejected intern today.

SEX -- Now That I Have Your Attention -- Personal Branding is All About Sex Appeal

Once the domain of corporations and their slick marketing campaigns, branding is no longer limited to just that -- but encompasses you too.

You are a brand -- and if you aren't -- you better create your own personal brand because everything depends on that personal brand.

Perception, whether true or implied, is how we accept the world.

So how you present yourself, even when you aren't there to do so in person, is how others see you.

Think about anyone you know, and you'll develop a mental picture of that person. That's their personal brand -- or rather -- that's the personal brand they are representing to the world.

It wasn't always like this, we used to accept people on their face value and a handshake.

But since the explosion of the social media universe, when our images, our thoughts, even our voice can speak when we aren't there, now we base our decisions about liking, unliking, or despising someone completely on the way they appear to us, even before meeting them.

Human Resources professionals have been doing this for years. Statistics show that over 80% of those responsible for hiring people, Google job applicants BEFORE calling them for a phone screen interview.

So those pictures of you drunk dancing on top of the bar at your friend's party might actually prevent you from getting your next job. Unless drunk table dancer is the job you want.

Is this fair?

Hell no!  We all make mistakes. Just so long as we learn from those mistakes and move on, instead of hitting our heads against the same brick walls every time.

However, creating and managing your personal brand -- the way the world sees you when you aren't around -- isn't hard. You just have to always be aware of how you present yourself to the world, and you have to have sex appeal.

No, I don't mean taking it all off and flashing the cameras.

PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON!!!

The first step to creating a personal brand, is making you appealing to others, usually by wrapping a catchy descriptive slogan around who you are, what you stand for, and why anyone should pay you any attention.

Coke is it, and Timex takes a lickin' but keeps on ticking, and you -- well -- you . . .

PSST. . . this is where you insert your catch phrase that tells us in as few words as possible who you are.

Personal branding is all about asking yourself questions, to dive deep into who you are, and creating the message that you want to convey to the world when they hear your name.

Some key questions to ask yourself to help you build your personal brand:

• How do I make people feel?
• How do others benefit by having me around?
• What words do others use to describe me to their friends? 
• What industry am I in?
• What's my job or ideal job?
• Who are the people you want to respect your personal brand the most?
• What can you do best for those who you want to respect you?
• Why me, instead of everyone else? What makes me special/different?

Ask yourself these questions, and create a short catch-phrase which sums up your answers. That's your personal brand. Or at least, the start of a great one.

Voice Mail: The Art of Getting Someone to Call You Back

Ever since the first telephone call decades ago, people have come up with imaginative, and annoying ways to get others to return their calls.

Telephone folklore tells us of the Legend of Tim. Tim got a new job selling advertising in the phone book. He spent a week making phone calls to hundreds of potential clients, only to get absolutely zero calls back.

He left his name, number and a detailed message, but still no success.

He even tried smiling when he left messages, because that's what everyone says works.

No luck.

So Tim, started getting creative with his voice mails -- he said just by returning his call, he'd buy you lunch at one of the most expensive and exclusive restaurants in the city.

Soon, Tim's phone was ringing off the hook, as everyone wanted a free lunch.

Problem is, Tim just started this job, so he couldn't afford to take everyone out to lunch, let alone at one of the most expensive and exclusive restaurants in the city!

Lesson learned, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

At least Tim left messages. My biggest pet peeve is when someone calls but doesn't leave a message. Sure, I may know who called, because of my call display, but that doesn't tell me WHY you called, how urgent, or anything else.

So, we have two extremes, making radically false promises in voice mail, or simply not leaving a message at all. Neither are the best way to get someone to call you back.

No one can guarantee you a system to get people to call you back, but here are four tips which I find useful:

Keep It Brief

Don't you hate going through someone's long rambling voice message? I tend to zone out or even fast forward or skip messages longer than 30-seconds. Chances are others do too. So keep your voice-mails under 30-seconds, unless you want to be ignored.

Be Polite, Friendly, Energetic and Appealing

If you're tired, down, upset, angry, or just don't sound like you care, why should I call you back? Yes, everyone says to smile when you leave a message, and it does work. But there is more to it than that -- be polite, friendly, energetic and appealing -- out of all the voice mails you want yours to be the one that the person WANTS to call back.

Leave a Specific Actionable Item

If you say "call me when you can," you'll never get called back, because I'm always busy. But if you say "let me know if you're free on Friday by noon today so I can book time with you," then you are being VERY specific on why you are calling and more importantly WHAT you expect them to do. 

Always Leave Your Callback Number

Sounds obvious, but with call display, often we assume people know what number to call us back on. But sometimes those displays don't work, or sometimes they display the general switchboard number instead of your specific one, or for any of a dozen or more reasons -- if you don't leave your call back number, you may never get called back. I always repeat my number at the end of the message, so that it's clear, and if they are writing it down, they have it repeated again to confirm they wrote it down correctly.