If this sounds difficult, it is.
If this sounds dangerous, it certainly can be.
And if this sounds scary as hell, it’s that too.
It’s also my favorite metaphor for how it really feels when you are leading a start-up.
Let me cut to the runway.
I’ve been dodging bullets, striking out and smacking some base hits on a start up for nearly three years. Had an idea, raised some money, made a slew of choices, bought some snake oil and experienced some great moments of joy.
I’m still standing.
I’ve had some super-sized disappointments. They came from vendors who oversold and under preformed, ding dongs who came dressed as smarter persons, partners who bailed and from me too, who was present during all of that.
Learned lots of things they don’t teach you in any business school.
1.Most people do not have the wiring to be a card-carrying entrepreneur and won’t understand you.
2.Cash poor can be as valuable as having a fresh round of funding.
3.People have limits and most won’t change. This will aggravate you often especially if you are a high achiever. Get pissed off for about 20 minutes max, then accept it and move on.
Common emotions, but temporary situations
o Feeling deserted and alone (Go to the airport, you won’t feel alone and you will feel skinny)
o Feeling stupid (Start wearing glasses even if they are fake, instant IQ)
o Feeling like a big looser (Watch the Enron story, you’re not even close)
o Feeling slightly more empathic to bridge jumpers and workplace violence (Just stop that)
o Feeling like there is a national conspiracy to not return your calls, emails or ever meet with you (99% of all conspiracy stories are fiction, if you are that 1% the FBI may be a better answer than this blog)
Frequent questions you will ask yourself
o Why can’t I figure this out?
o Where is my magic wand when I need it?
o What the hell is wrong with me?
o How did a company that goofy do that so well?
Things you may want to do.
o Move to France and wait tables under a new identity.
o Drink a lot, everyday
o Sleep for several months
Been there, done all that.
Things you need to remember.
o No one said being an entrepreneur was easy. If it were, every Schmo in the hood would be one. Sacrificing stuff and people, going to scary places and working seven days a week is common in most startup stories.
o One of the most important attributes of an entrepreneur is they try stuff, sometimes they try a millions times before they discover the winning formula
o Only you can control how you feel every day. Decide to feel great. Feeling like crap will not fix anything, feeling happy, confident and throwing off positive vibes will increase your odds of success and attracting good things.
What you’ve got to do.
o Exercise, eat right and take care of you
o Work smart, focus and prioritize on achieving things that will move you closer to your goal
o Let things go, disappointments, yesterday’s stuff and all screw ups, yours too
o Believe in you, your team and your dream
I’m not only still in the game, I’ve got a big second wind gusting momentum.
I’m proud of my jet plane, even though it’s fueled by a ½ paper clip and may not be all pimped out with a full crew and resources. It’s still in the sky and this moving forward.
After months of bumps, damage control, fighting off flying alligators, rebuilding a site, moving back to Tampa and trying to figure out how to build a sustainable venture, while eating and paying a mortgage—we have a new plan—and a very bright future.
There’s a few seats left, you may want to jump on fast.
Trying to get publicity on your business can be a grueling effort. You are competing with every organization out there, the news professionals are many times extreme stress baskets and under huge deadlines, and then there’s the $2 million dollar question “what is really news worthy?”.
This past week I called one of the local news stations about doing a feature on Oddpodz. I reached the morning show producer, but unfortunately, she was putting out a fire and gave me about 15 seconds to tell her our story. At the end of my sprint pitch, she requested, why don’t you email me something. “Great” I replied, “it’s on its way”.
I sent her a brief, to -the-point note about our company and three angles that may light her fire. I knew her show was a mix of stay-at-home businesses and professionals on their way to work. I attempted to appeal to those audiences.
A couple days passed. No word from my contact at the station, should I call her, email her again or blow it off?
I rationalized, sure she’s busy, but they all need news and our company is newsworthy—so I picked up the phone and followed up.
Man, I’m glad I did. When I got her on the line, she recalled the company and me. She politely said, “I do remember seeing the information and I also remember accidentally throwing it out. Can you send it again?” Sure can.
I resent the info, waited another day and called her again. This time she was very attentive, had questions and said, “sounds like a perfect story for Monday’s morning news, we’ll send cameras today and can you be at the your office at 4:30 AM Monday for a live feed too?” Absolutely!
Quick PR lessons.
1) Timing is the magic in the news room.
There are slow news days, interviews cancel, breaking news can bump your piece off the schedule, but TV stations always need stories. Scoring a segment often is not just about the hard news factor of your pitch, but about filling the airways and lucky timing.
2) The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
My follow up calls got us booked. If your story is newsworthy, non-annoying and resilient follow up calls can definitely make a difference.
3) Don’t give up so easy.
If you get a big fat, “No we are not interested”, don’t take it personal and throw in the towel. Re slice that cheese, there are many, many ways to present a story. Ask yourself, would it fly if it were tied into something already in the news, like a current affair? what about if it were pitched as a round up story with 2-3 other examples? or what about connecting it to a holiday?
4) News is often like art, its value or market merit is often left up to the eyes and the schedule of the producer.
We’ve all seen stupid stories that sound like the biggest commercial ever, with no apparent news angle, and wonder “How did that get aired?” Someone was persistent.
Our story ran this morning and will again run at noon, plus with the Internet, it will be streamed later today and be around forever, got to love that.
Have you ever misinterpreted an email message and reacted like a crazy person? And soon found out that the message that you read in your head was not what the sender intended at all? YIKES!
Caution fellow tweeters, the same thing can happen in the new world of very abbreviated tongue.
Tweet in point, last week I get a direct message from someone. The tweet read: “Consult, don’t sell”.
I’m having a day from hell, full throttle PMS, allergies, rained on my tennis game and feeling a bit cranky.
I’m thinking who is this tweet chick insinuating that I’m behaving badly, breaking the rules of tweet etiquette by hard selling?
Needless to say my feathers were ruffled, because I am very conscious of the golden rule in social media, never sell, spam or whore dog in any way!
I first fire back with a direct message back to my follower. “What exactly are you referring to?”
Twenty four hours goes by and no response. Now I’ve been stewing on this bird crap criticism of me being a sleaze and selling instead of consulting.
I discuss this whole matter with some of my fellow tweeters. What would you do? What do you think? They all banded with me. You don’t sell they confirmed. What’s she drinking? If she does not like your style of Diva-ness, tell her to opt her tweet butt out.
Yeah. They are right.
So I get back on my high-horse bird and fire another message, this time it’s going public, no direct soft tweet here.
I repeat to my follower “What exactly are you referring to? If you don’t like my style of content, opt out. Funny, my other 1400 followers have never thrown me a sour grape”.
It’s interesting how a sour tweet spreads like the swine flu. Some of my other followers even queried me, “what’s up with the cat fight on twitter?”. I explained the deal and felt like I had handled a big bully.
What a difference a tweet makes!
So today, I’m trolling through all my tweets and I notice one from that tweople who got my panties all in a big wad.
Oh my gosh—
I felt a giant black twitter egg growing on my face as I read her words.
The tweet read: >@Brandingdiva, you posted a list of ways to be different in your blog, and asked for ideas, I was contributing to your list, “consult, don’t sell”.
Moral to this bird-brained story.
Tweeting can cut out words, leave out previous posts and vital data. When this happens, find the spatula and start scrapping the big egg off and immediately apologize.
(The following post is by Sarah Guinot, Oddpodz newest team member).
I was until this week, when I attended Social School in Tampa.
I just joined the Oddpodz team as an intern. I’m finishing my MBA at the University of Tampa and I am thrilled to be working with such an exciting, young social media company. To learn more about me and connect, my Oddpodz user name is sarenka. I’d love to hear from you.
Part of my contributions to the company will be helping the Oddpodz community members and attracting new ones through social media.
My first assignment, get in the social media grove fast.
Lucky for me, the Oddpodz offices are located in www.Walkerbrands.com, a super cool place to work. Not only is it a design-centric, creative environment, the office culture has also lots of means for collaboration and learning via our roommates, tools and events.
This week the office hosted Social School. It was lead by Nancy Walker, President of Walker Brands and a super savvy, branding and marketing pro, and Julia Gorzka, a social media enthusiast and consultant.
The event attracted a diverse group of business people, all like me, hungry to get on the social media train.
So what is this international phenomenon sweeping the media, business and people’s lives?
It’s the “world’s largest cocktail party where everybody is invited”, explained Julia.
Such a definition makes it clear that social media challenges the “old school” marketing thinking. As most of the audience, you might find social media intimidating. After all, there are so many social tools out there, where does one start? How do you find your markets in this new World? You heard about Twitter and might wonder who is this new animal. But have no fear. The good news is that it is completely possible to understand social media and, even better, to make great use of them in order to support your brand and its delivery- two essential components for business success.
Here are some of the highlights I took away from Social School.
1) The first step is to define your brand. A brand is not merely a logo or a catchy slogan anymore. It’s what customers think, feel and expect about you, which is earned at every touch points, every contact with your customers, from product and signage to employee training.
2) Then, once you have a coherent and strong brand essence, it’s time for delivery. You are now ready to hit the social media universe. What are your goals? Is it brand awareness? Discoverability? Finding new leads?
3) Remember that in the World’s largest cocktail party (social media), the communication style is very conversational, helpful and educational and definitely not about hard selling. If you’re focused on mere transactions, you will be quickly black listed and your efforts will be a waste.
As Julia explained, “It is not as much about advertising anymore anyway, when companies were pushing their messages. It is about giving your customers something to talk about”.
For more on how social media can help your business check back, we will be posting other gems gained from the class. If you are interested in attending a future social media class go to social school.
(Updated 05.07.09)This list grows, thanks to our communities contributions.
Most businesses can gain from standing out from the pack. People too can benefit from being different in the crowded world of bodies and brains. When ever I speak to audiences I always preach “Be distinct, standout and own a space that’s unique”. There is often a big sigh, HOW can we not blend in?
Here are some ideas to help you be unique in your industry. Apply them to one or several brand attributes or touch points. My goal is to assemble a list of 140 soon, all clearly stated in less than 140 characters for the new language of tweet tongue. I’ll be tapping my social stream for more ideas and be updating the list everyday. Have a contribution? DM at @brandingdiva on twitter.
1. Make up a word as your name
2. Leave something out
3. Use different ingredients
4. Sport an odd uniform
5. Do it faster
6. Save the earth while you are at it
7. Cop an attitude
8. Add humor
9. Package it in the unexpected
10. Combine extreme opposites
11. Infuse a foreign language
12. Give something big away
13. Slow it down
14. Jazz it up with a tune
15. Birth a new holiday
16. Hide something
17. Introduce an unbelievable guarantee
18. Splash a wild color
19. Involve younger minds
20. Gift often
21. Start earlier
22. Never close
23. Dispense it from a vending machine
24. Invite animals
25. Be exclusive
26. Create a mascot
27. Blow up a common practice
28. Use the earth to build it
29. Display it on a building
30. Mix in minis
31. Charge a lot more
32. Take alternative payments
33. Reward loyalty with living gifts
34. Start a new way
35. Slice it up
36. Get social
37. Remove technology
38. Add chocolate
39. Make a metaphor
40. Rearrange it
41. Sacrifice something important
42. Break the rules
43. Require tickets
44. Mash up weird things
45. Always have a deadline
46. Partner with an unusual suspect
47. Conduct an annual poll
48. Create controversy
49. Add a feminine touch
50. Be obnoxious
51. Super-size it
52. Get nostalgic
53. Exaggerate
54. Simplify the process
55. Reverse the order
56. Take a pause
57. Sing it
58. Scream it
59. Always whisper
60. House it in a remote spot
61. Sprinkle spice on it
62. Fast forward
63. Get glamorous
64. Dress it down
65. Get folksy
66. Make it low fat
67. Start a trend
68. Infuse a scent into it
69. Make it see threw
70.Make it edible
71.Be an expert
72.Be independent
73.Make it more durable
74.Turn it black and white
75.Add serenity
76.Incorporate cool
77.Expand its dimension
Sound familiar? We’ve all heard this from boyfriends and girlfriends and now business and customer starving brands. Please come back, we miss you badly, it’s not the same without you. Yada Yada Yada.
The funny thing is when I was a loyal customer I never heard a peep, I depart and suddenly I get their attention, a little late I’d say.
Companies and brands do this all the time and it makes me crazy. Why not show love for the ones who are loyal and loving you back, before they leave, instead of begging for defectors and offering sweeter deals to new customers instead of giving long time customers a perk for being a customer, that’s so annoying.
Here’s some tips for you sleeping brands.
-Say thank you often.
-Gifts for paying customers are good.
-If you do offer a special for new customers, offer the same level of perk for your current customers.
Today I got three, please come back offers yesterday.
Hello!!!! If you pay attention and give attention while your customers are paying you and provide a good product it will likely cost you a lot less than all this begging stuff, deep discounting stuff.
Even in this tight economy, there is no shortage of conferences to attend. From pure networking to specific educational events, there are plenty to choose from on any given topic. The question is how do you decide which ones to attend and which ones to pass on, and how to you get the most from your conference investment.
As a speaker and consent learner, I attend lots of conferences, both as a presenter and as a participant.
Through these experiences, I’ve compiled a list of items that have helped me better evaluate a conference before I sign up.
1) First, get clear on what’s important to you.
For me, it’s always a mix of learning, networking and experiencing a pleasant time with inspirational people. I would much rather attend fewer conferences that provide an awesome experience, than a whole bunch of mediocre ones.
2) Put the pencil to all your costs related to attending, conference fees, all travel costs, books, drinking and eating. And now look at what you will gain from attending. Does the math work? Or can you accomplish this online in your PJ’s?
3) Also determine whether the event provides all learning materials and copies of presentations after wards, online?
4) Do you get a list of attendees?
5) Are the speakers top-rate, business experts or mostly sponsors and vendors pitching their stuff?
6) Is there other business you can do while you are traveling to the conference city?
Should you decide to attend a conference, now make sure you use your time wisely.
1) Research the speakers and program options in advance.
2) Don’t sit by people you know, site next to people you want to know.
3) Pack enough business cards.
4) Dress like your brand. There is only one first impression.
5) If you meet someone meaningful and a new biz relationship is in the stars, follow up with them on a timely basis and communicate with something of value, not a form note that screams you are just another contact.
Tuesday, I addressed The Florida Conference for Women held in Orlando. It was a very nice, productive conference. Granted I was speaking there and not a paying guest. However, all the items that are important to me if I were an attendee were exceeded. In fact, whether I’m speaking or not, I would attend their next event in Florida.
Florida Conference for Women gets high marks from me.
-The attendees (over 1000) were a quality group of business woman, entrepreneurs and women in transition.
-The speakers were top rate and national business authorities.
-The visual experience (from collateral mail pieces to programs and gifts), the venue, the food and the staff were all excellent.
-The ticket price was very reasonable for the overall experience, along with the quality knowledge and connections that were made accessible.
If you attended the FL Conference for Women event and would like a copy of my Power Point Presentation on Personal Branding, view it and download below Personalbrand Flconf.Ppt
For the Personal Branding Audit go to the Free Biz Findz section, then the personal branding section and it is posted there for download. If you have a problem, shoot me an email.
If you are like many others out there, the current economic conditions might be having an impact on your top and bottom lines. The challenging environment means that we need to find new ways to generate sales, hold on to current customer and attract new ones. I’ve had three interactions with sales and customer service folks that left me shaking my head and wondering aloud, “who told them to say that?” These are NOT winning strategies. Please do not replicate them.
1. The car service department catastrophe
My car, fortunately, has an extended warranty that lasts for a few years and tens of thousands of miles. I am in year three of ownership of said vehicle and I am still below the milage threshold. I called to make an appointment for one of the scheduled tune-ups. The woman on the other end of the phone barely eeked out a polite “hello-and-how-can-I-help-you?”. I told her that I needed to make an appointment for service. She asked the make, model and year of my car. I supplied the information not a second after I’d finished, she shot back with, “this will be your last complimentary tune up.” I was taken aback for a couple of reasons. 1. It wasn’t correct. 2. If it was correct, why would you inform me like that? Here’s a suggestion, let me enjoy my last complimentary tune up, then tell me that I am off warranty, but that you can help with my future needs.
I was so turned off by her attitude, all I could think was, “great! I’ll start looking for a new mechanic, because I know I don’t want to send any money your way.”
If an organization has a customer in a complimentary/free program and that customer is going to have to start paying for a product or service somewhere, why not retain that customer and transition them into a paying customer? If I’d had a great experience with this car service place, I’d be happy to give them my future business. Don’t alientate your free customers and make them feel like they are the unwashed masses - they are leads you already have. You have a chance to interact with and perform for them and make them realize how much they love you and that they can’t live without you.
2. The HVAC company that blows hot air
My friend’s central air started acting funny during a heat wave we had last week. The unit on their house is on its last legs, but it’s not dead yet. She called the company she uses for servicing the A/C and and made an appointment to have it checked out. The repairman showed up, asked her a few questions, took a BRIEF look at the system and told her the unit was dead. There was NO way to repair it. He started talking in techincal jargon and said that he could have his Sr. Technician come by to double check that the system was, in fact, dead. The “Sr. Technician,” Tommy, was not a repairman. He was the company’s salesman. My friend had not planned on spending hours on this appoinment or on purchasing a big ticket item that day.
Tommy started by telling her that the unit was dead, then started throwing around four and five figure estimates to replace the A/C unit. He had sheets of paper for her to sign and asked if that Friday would be a good day for the new system to be delivered and installed. She was so disgusted by this bait, switch and fib tactic, that she has vowed never to use this company again. Furthermore, she has told all her friends (including me) about their slimy sales tactics. Word of mouth works both ways - good and bad. Unfortunately for this company, studies have shown that BAD word of mouth spreads ten times faster than glowing WOM.
She got a second opinion from a guy who has a small HVAC company. He came highly recommended and got her A/C working for $20. He said that she could call him anytime the system acts up and he’ll fix it until it is unfixable. Although he can’t sell and install a new unit, he offered to help her get fair estimates when the time comes (at no charge!) Guess who she will be using for all her future repairs?
I know times are tough and we have sales quotas, but in this case David’s approach beats Goliath’s. The small business that was honest and met the customer’s needs (she needed the unit repaired, she didn’t need to be sold a new unit) wins. Twenty bucks isn’t a lot, but lots of customers at $20 and a steady stream of happy repair customers is probably a more sustainable business model than one-off sales of big ticket items with 10-12 year life spans.
3. Let me tell you what I CAN’T do for you
There is a vendor that I work with (that will remain nameless) that has some pretty odd customer retention policies. I have been working with them for about three years. During that time, I have upgraded my services with them as needed. However, right now, I just do not need the capacity that I had in the past. I downgraded my services with them in January, then needed to do so again last month. I didn’t need to be paying for something that I wasn’t using. Instead of saying “thanks for your business, we appreciate you as a customer no matter what size you are,” I got a note that said, “I notice[d] that this was the 2nd request to downgrade your account so far this year. Unfortunately we do have a limit of 2 downgrades per year and will be unable to honor any further downgrade requests for the remainder of 2009.” What kind of inflexible policy is that? Next time I need to “downgrade” I might just downgrade myself right off your client list and over to another vendor. And, when my demand for your service picks up, my upgrade will be with the other guy.
Please do not follow that example. I would never want a business to operate at a loss to be accomodating, but seriously, what would it cost them to be flexible and accomodate my needs? If you can help out a customer, do it. It’s likely that they will remember your kindness and stick with you as they grow.
Have you had experiences with any sales tactics that left you thinking “what are they thinking?!?”
Do you have any success stories to share? Leave ‘em in the comments section!
Most people hang in jobs they hate for years. Work for bosses they despise and accept an easy career path instead of pursuing their dreams and passions.
OK, collecting an unemployment check may make life a little tough, but at least you are one big step out of a gloomy career rut.
The world is changing at the speed of sound. This recession will end and it does have an upside. It is producing many new business sectors, start ups are emerging, and your pink slip may actual be your big pass to an opportunity of your lifetime, it’s just in total disguise.
Whether you are thinking about birthing a new biz, rebranding you or merely finding an ideal company to work with, you’ve got to:
* Lose all the resentment
* Embrace the challenge
* And get focused on finding the career that you love, not a job that makes you sick.
Here’s 5 tips that can help.
1) Accept what is and work on creating what you want.
2) Do what you need to, to pay your bills and protect your credit. This may mean swallowing your pride and taking an “in the meantime gig” to bring in some short term cash.
3) Get out of your comfort zone. No risk, No nothing.
4) Be proactive. Most opportunities do not know where you live and won’t find your door step. Network every day. Reach out to people you don’t know and be clear on what you are seeking to do and how you add value back to them.
5) Hang around other positive people who have made the leap from recently unemployed to totally empowered.
There is only one person who controls your destiny. There is only one person who can make you feel great or like crap.
You are the lucky one because you have access to them 24/7.
Like nice wine we just get more valuable with time.
When I started my first business I was 22. It was an ad agency in Houston. I was absolutely fearless. If I didn’t know how to do something, I figured it out. Or I’d find someone who did and delegate it to them.
For years all my staff was older than me. Then one day they weren’t. I realized this in my thirties. Nothing much changed except that bartenders stopped carding me for adult beverages. I had the same drive, same courage and same unstoppable love for my independence.
Then my fortieth birthday came. I got an early forehead lift while I was getting my nose done for the second time. This 2nd round of nose surgery was just about breathing. My rationale for the vanity treatment was, I was going to be under the influence of la la land drugs anyway, why not make it harder for wrinkles to show up and get efficient with my health care expenses.
While recovering and looking like Frankenstein’s wife for at least a month, I read a very good book called Halftime by Bob Buford. It was an excellent read. Even though he is more religious than I am, It was a moving message. The theme was: the first half of your life is good and hopefully full of success, but, the next half is about something much greater called significance. Well that book really shook me up. In fact, when I healed up and finished the book I actually felt younger and even more entrepreneurial, just restless and craving a new challenge. I lead my agency for nearly 18 years.
My next entrepreneurial chapter did not have a happy ending. It was an e-commerce site in the first dot.com era. I transferred my agency assets to this start up and never got paid back. Enron was my primary investor, that was interesting. We had been live for only 30 days and market crashed and funding dried up. Unless you were making money, and we were not, there was no more money to raise. So, I had to put that company on the history channel and took a nice hair cut. Not a high point in my entrepreneurial life, but an education no business school can teach you.
In 2000, I moved to Tampa to leverage my entrepreneurial and marketing experiences, my goal was to speak professionally, write books and consult on branding, as The Branding Diva® and play lots of tennis, something I only took up at 40. It all happened. Got a big publisher book deal, traveled the world.
The past nine years have been pretty unbelievable. My tennis game is solid, even won some titles and my journey has been incredible. I’ve shared the speaking stage with people like Magic Johnson and Mark Burnett, addressed thousands, been featured in tons of media venues including: Bloomberg TV and the Early Show in NY, and contributed a monthly column to Fast Company. Entrepreneurialism has been good to me.
I was born with an entrepreneurial gene. It was apparent at age 10 when I started selling my parents possessions without their permission. I can’t imagine having a boss other than me. Lots of my friends ask, “Isn’t that scary working for yourself?” And I say, “Working for a big company, now in my head, that’s really scary”.
So now I’ve got two companies. My branding, speaking practice, Brain Tattoo Branding and Oddpodz.com, the community for creative-minded businesses and professionals. I love them both. One makes money, one will, hopefully this year. Both require a driven, dedicated 24/7 entrepreneur. Will my now mature entrepreneurial stars interfere with my chances to hit a big home run? I don’t think so. If fact, I believe they will add to my chances of success.
Raising money, attracting super star teams and customers is a fierce, competitive game. Being a twenty-something entrepreneur has advantages. But, so does being a forty-something entrepreneur, as long as you stay in the game with a high-energy and a fearless, open-minded, young attitude.
Just follow these timeless entrepreneurial mantras.
Graying and loss of hair may be happening and you can’t control that. But, you can control your thinking, your team and your attitude. If you hang out with a bunch of senior doers, you will act just like them.
Mix up your world with young, contemporary stuff and stimulation.
Read hip publications, watch MTV and Video 1, invite to Gen Y and Xers to your world of problem solving and spend the day at the mall.
Don’t tell your body how old you are. It doesn’t need to know.
I played tennis every day this week. That’s 7 days of competitive fun, calorie burning and cardio. This helps me be a better entrepreneur.
Don’t let your life experiences muck up free spirit thinking.
A down side of being a seasoned entrepreneur (at least three decades of service) is letting past experiences filter your open mind, and shut out new and crazy ideas. Can’t let this happen. Activate and live the no risk, no reward philosophy and continue to try new things.
Trail blaze with your best wisdom in your saddle.
The up side of experience is that you’ve seen a lot. The good, the bad and the utterly pathetic. This can be a huge determining factor in your success.
Yep, I’m a forty something entrepreneur. I’ve made lots of money and been leveraged out the kazoo too. I would not trade my place in the business world for anything. My stripes earned are priceless. My state of mind is as renegade-powered as it was 25 years ago. I just have different challenges now.
I say bring it on.
And to my fellow forty-something leaders of start ups, remember, a seasoned entrepreneur is a premium being in this world of commerce. Just wait and see who emerges out of this temporary economic down time. The battle tested, experienced, shot at entrepreneurs will demonstrate real valuation and asset appreciation, just like a good cab from 1960.
Blog 
