The Entrepreneurial Savant

- Jean Cocteau
Sometimes criticism is a sign that you are on the right track. Often, when we are pursuing a personal dream or vision, our actions and decisions may seem completely off base to others. They begin to second guess or constructively criticize our actions to make them fit their view of reality. Sometimes this can be a help but other times you should be careful to trust the individuality of your path and keep following it. As Cocteau implies, lose your personal style and risk losing yourself.

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“If it’s so good, how come everybody isn’t doing it?”
Every visionary, entrepreneur, artist and creative thinker has heard this one. The answer is that ‘everybody’ seldom follows through on their dreams and it always takes a powerfully determined individual to take action on their ideas and visions. Sure, someone may have thought of your idea before. I doubt there are too many new ideas out there after thousands of years of human thought. Embracing that idea and pursuing it diligently separates you from the crowd and that’s why everybody isn’t doing it. Follow your dream. You may succeed and if you don’t, you’ll have the satisfaction and experience of having tried.

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Imagine if, when you were a baby and just learning how to walk, you fell several times and just decided that walking wasn’t for you? The only way to learn and experience new skills is to start as a beginner, realizing that all those experts around you were beginners once. Interestingly, if those experts are really interested in their skill, they’ll welcome your first clumsy attempts and provide help all along the way. Whether you’re starting a new business venture, learning how to kayak or going back to school after years away, you have a great learning advantage: You’re a beginner. Exploit your ignorance by using it to get the ‘experts’ to help you. It’s human nature to want to help others with knowledge we already have. Just remember when you’re an old hand and some greenhorn is struggling along behind you to turn around and lend a hand. It can make all the difference.

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This is a simple yet powerful way to achieve your goals. Many of us depend on appointment books and calendars to organize our life. Taking this one step further, as part of your goals achievement process get a five year calendar that is on one page. These are available as poster size planners at office supply stores. Use them to make specific appointments for each step of your goal achievement process. For instance, if you are a musician and you dream of making a record, break your dream down into realizable steps. These might include getting 12 songs together, rehearsing with other musicians, saving a certain amount of money each week for expenses, playing a certain number of gigs to prepare for recording, looking at studios and talking to others who have put out records, booking your first recording session, finishing recording and mixing, having cover art done by a designer, having CDs duplicated on your own label and selling them to stores, opening social networking pages etc. Each step can be entered into your calendar as a specific appointment or deadline by which you hope to have things ready. This project may stretch over one or two or more years but you can always see the next step and have a good idea where you stand. Not only that but your five year calendar will keep having new projects and goals added to it, serving as a record of your dreams and achievements.

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Every salesperson knows what a ‘cold call’ is. Its a telephone call to someone you don’t know that you make for purpose of furthering your cause. If you’re selling something, you may be seeking an appointment to make a presentation. If you’re raising money for a cause you may have a similar goal. If you’re trying to learn about a new career or resource you may simply be trying to find the right expert for advice. Whatever the reason you make the calls, they are often the only way you can accomplish your goal(s). Unfortunately a very human and common fear of rejection keeps most of us from making cold calls and we get stuck, unable to make forward movement.
There are many methods of beating the fear. Use a script so that when fear freezes you up, you can keep going with what you wanted to say. Rehearse your script ahead of time with a co-worker or spouse. Find common ground ahead of time through research so that you can turn a feared encounter into an opportunity to share interest. Most importantly, make a certain number of ‘cold’ calls everyday. These shots into the dark can lead to many new resources and profitable relationships.
Give yourself an incentive to make your calls everyday. Think of them the way a salesperson might. A good cold caller knows exactly how many calls they need to complete to make an appointment and how many appointments it takes to make a sale. Knowing their average profit on each sale, they can assign a dollar value to each and every call, no matter how successful. For instance a real estate agent may call on homeowners to get houses to list and sell. She knows that for every twenty calls she completes (reaches a person), she gets one appointment. One half of her appointments result in listings for which she averages a commission of $1500 each. The math shows each call she makes to be worth $37.50. ( 40 calls = 2 appointments = one listing @ $1500. 1500/40=37.50) It kinda warms up those cold calls doesn’t it? Take your goals and reduce them to the value of a phone call done three times a day, day after day. The value of each of those dials may be a pleasant surprise.

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Synergy is defined as the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Synergy is what makes planning so important. By planning how to reach your goals through a well defined set of steps you get the added bonus of synergy. It works like this: Every effective action you take multiplies the effect of any other actions you take. If you are seeking publicity for an event you’re working on you make a plan to reach every potential source of publicity. You call the radio and TV stations with a good story about your event. You send press releases with pre-written anecdotes about the organization, perhaps its history or influential founders. You build a website, place ads on Google and send out an email blast, all according to your basic plan. What happens? People hear your event announced on the radio on the way to work. You’re in their E-mail later that morning. The paper features a story about the eccentric millionaire who started your group and mentions the fund-raiser. That night, they flip on the news and there you are again, building the decorations. Wow, they think, this event must really be the thing to do. And the power of synergy reinforces and reminds them about something that now seems much more than just an event in the paper.
Professional promoters and public relations people do this all the time, but there is no reason why you can’t get in on the action. The event you are promoting might be yourself. Maybe you want a new job or a new client. Make a plan and use the power of synergy to make it many times more effective.

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Are you surprised when things don’t turn out the way you planned?
When unexpected events turn things around in unexpected ways?
When it seems that Murphy’s Law should be named after your experiences?

It is said that entrepreneurs are risk-takers. Perhaps that’s why so many fail. Most successful people are risk-avoiders because they know that it is very difficult to make up a loss, whether a monetary one or a loss of momentum. They build in risk protection using a variety of techniques. One of the most effective is rehearsing scenarios. All this means is that they look into the future and imagine as many possible scenarios (What-if? situations) and how they would react to them. They look at how different variables could affect their plans and they make contingency plans to handle those crises and profit from them. In cases where they cannot profit, they plan ways to exit with the least amount of damage.
Perhaps you have a business dependent on one customer. What if the impossible occurs and they pull out? Rehearse your actions now and you’ll be ready ahead of time. Suppose a partner pulls out of a project or a relationship? Or your distributor goes out of business? Or you don’t get into the college you wanted? Simply rehearsing these scenarios and developing back-up plans can do a great deal to ensure your success.

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If we all had stores this one wouldn’t need any elaboration. But maybe your ‘store’ is a desk or a pick-up truck full of tools. Either way it is a good idea to set things straight before you start your workday by doing some cleaning up around the shop. It conveys a great deal to a prospective customer or patron about your style and efficiency and makes you and your co-workers feel better about your jobs.
By the way, this rule apples to big shots too. We’ve all heard stories about company founders who still set examples by being on time and involved, even if it means grabbing the occasional broom. Next time you see a piece of litter on the company lawn, pick it up yourself.

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Superficial knowledge and borrowed experience are the rewards of being an observer rather than a participant. No matter how much expertise you accumulate by watching, reading and listening, you will never truly experience success unless you take the plunge and go out into the deep water. When you become fascinated by a subject and go beyond the contemplation stage into the action stage your entire perspective changes. All kinds of opportunities open up. I’ll give you what may seem to be a far-fetched example.
A friend’s father is nearing retirement from a job with a large company. In the past few years he has become interested in carved duck decoys. These decoys have evolved from a utilitarian aid for hunters into an art form. In fact there are  competitions with categories for non-functional decoys that are judged solely on the skill of the carver. Our retiree has read books and articles on the subject, has calendars featuring photos of decoys and has often contemplating trying his hand at carving. One Christmas he is presented with a book of patterns and goes beyond reading and actually tries his hand at making a bird. His first attempts are amateurish but because he has actually done it, his insight into other’s work is radically changed. He begins to look at how they resolved certain problems and learns about carving competitions with categories designed for novices. He begins to enter and receives awards and encouragement from people who he had revered as experts.
After a few years of carving, his birds begin to sell for respectable prices. By now he specializes in certain birds and certain positions and has developed a style that is recognizable to decoy aficionados. His armchair interest in an esoteric discipline has become an important (and profitable) part of his life, opening up whole new groups of relationships and providing an interesting second career.
As soon as you explore an interest beyond what you can absorb through observation you are in new waters. To continue the metaphor, you may get swept along into an entirely new and fascinating life.

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All successful people appear to have been naturally endowed with more energy than the average mortal being. Where does it come from? How do you get it? Try the following:
• Exercise-A regular regimen at a gym or club. No matter how tired or stressed you are, an interesting combination of exercise will revive you. You won’t really believe it until you try it. Go to a club for a space in your life dedicated to exercise alone. Many people find it easier than working out at home.
• Food- Some foods like meat and fried foods require more energy to digest. Eat them when you are doing strenuous physical labor, otherwise avoid them. Eat less; you’ll live longer. Eat more green stuff.
• Coffee- If you drink it, try only having one cup early in the morning. There is evidence that different people metabolize caffeine at different rates. One person might be able to sleep 20 minutes after a pot of hot black java, other may toss and turn 24 hours later. I am an admitted coffee maven but I’ve noticed a distinct decrease in energy after I pass the first or second cup (at least I’m admitting it).
• Booze- It’s fattening and hangovers are definitely not high energy experiences. Moderate yourself or join a group for some help.
• People- Stay away from negative people who are not interesting. I know this sounds callous, but if all your friends always do the same thing when socializing and relaxing, whether it’s watching football or talking about work, it’s time to meet some new people. Take a class, go to a seminar or meeting, go for a nature hike in the middle of winter, take up a new sport, etc. Not only will you suddenly look highly energized to all your couch potato friends, you will feel it. New people can be very stimulating.
Energy is at least partly determined by your degree of interest in what you are doing. I never cease to be amazed at how much energy people put into endeavors that fascinate them.

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