21 Golden Rules

Jason Nazar, founder of docstoc.com, speaks to students at the University of California, Santa Barbara about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Among his “21 golden rules” is a caveat about effort. He asserts that effort is the only controllable variable in the start-up equation (and life, for that matter). You, and how hard you work is the only factor within your control. Additionally, it pays to choose where you invest your efforts. Energy is finite so get your priorities straight. If being self-employed, financially independent, or just doing work you love is top priority…then put your effort there. Work is the only thing that will reliably carry you to your destination.

The logic is here is simple: you have to be a student to become a master…and to become a master you have to do the work. Take the time to listen to Jason’s lecture, apply the lessons, and get the results. (And visit docstoc, it’s a great resource!)

Your Success Depends on YOU

Your success depends on you.
Your happiness depends on you.
You have to steer your own course.
You have to shape your own fortune.
You have to educate yourself.
You have to do your own thinking.
You have to live with your own conscience.
Your mind is yours and can be used only by you.
You come into this world alone.
You go to the grave alone.
You are alone with your inner thoughts during the journey between.
You make your own decisions.
You must abide by the consequences of your acts.
“I cannot make you well unless you make yourself well,” an eminent doctor often tells his patients.
You alone can regulate your habits and make or unmake your health.
You alone can assimilate things mental and things material.
Said a Brooklyn preacher, offering his parishioners communion one Sunday: “I cannot give you the blessings and the benefits of this holy feast. You must appropriate them for yourselves. The banquet is spread; help yourself freely.
“You may be invited to a feast where the table is laden with the choicest foods, but unless you appropriate and assimilate them, they can do you no good. So it is with this holy feast. You must appropriate its blessings. I cannot infuse them into you.”
You have to do your own assimilation all through life.
You have be taught by a teacher, but you have to imbibe the knowledge. He cannot transfuse it into your brain.
You alone can control your mind cells and your brain cells.
You may have spread before you the wisdom of the ages, but unless you assimilate it you derive no benefit from it; no one can force it into your cranium.
You alone can move your own legs.
You alone can move your own arms.
You alone can utilize your own hands.
You alone can control your own muscles.
You must stand on your feet, physically and metaphorically.
You must take your own steps.
Your parents cannot enter into your skin, take control of your mental and physical machinery, and make something of you.
You cannot fight your son’s battles; that he must do for himself.
You have to be captain of your own destiny.
You have to see through your own eyes.
You have to use your own ears.
You have to master your own faculties.
You have to solve your own problems.
You have to form your own ideals.
You have to create your own ideas.
You must choose your own speech.
You must govern your own tongue.
Your real life is your thoughts.
Your thoughts are your own making.
Your character is your own handiwork.
You alone can select the materials that go into it.
You alone can reject what is not fit to go into it.
You are the creator of your own personality.
You can be disgraced by no man’s hand but your own.
You can be elevated and sustained by no man but yourself.
You have to write your own record.
You have to build your own monument – or dig your own pit.
Which are you doing?

“Keys to Success” by B.C. Forbes, published in 1917.
Found in The Little Book of Business Wisdom by Peter Krass. (via Josh Kaufman)

konfidince n skewls

New poll shows public’s opinion of our education system. (via thedaily.com)

 

The Personal MBA

“Getting an MBA is an expensive choice-one almost impossible to justify regardless of the state of the economy. Even the elite schools like Harvard and Wharton offer outdated, assembly-line programs that teach you more about PowerPoint presentations and unnecessary financial models than what it takes to run a real business. You can get better results (and save hundreds of thousands of dollars) by skipping B-school altogether.

Josh Kaufman founded PersonalMBA.com as an alternative to the business school boondoggle. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. Now, he shares the essentials of entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, negotiation, operations, productivity, systems design, and much more, in one comprehensive volume. The Personal MBA distills the most valuable business lessons into simple, memorable mental models that can be applied to real-world challenges.

The Personal MBA explains concepts such as:
* The Iron Law of the Market: Why every business is limited by the size and quality of the market it attempts to serve-and how to find large, hungry markets.
* The 12 Forms of Value: Products and services are only two of the twelve ways you can create value for your customers.
* The Pricing Uncertainty Principle: All prices are malleable. Raising your prices is the best way to dramatically increase profitability-if you know how to support the price you’re asking.
* 4 Methods to Increase Revenue: There are only four ways a business can bring in more money. Do you know what they are?

True leaders aren’t made by business schools-they make themselves, seeking out the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to succeed. Read this book and you will learn the principles it takes most business professionals a lifetime of trial and error to master.” (From the book’s cover)

The College Trap by ABC News

The College Trap by ABC News

It Would Make Sense

“I understand why the top students in America study physics, chemistry, calculus and classic literature. The kids in this brainy group are the future professors, scientists, thinkers and engineers who will propel civilization forward. But why do we make B students sit through these same classes? That’s like trying to train your cat to do your taxes—a waste of time and money. Wouldn’t it make more sense to teach B students something useful, like entrepreneurship?” -Scott Adams

In this article for the Wall Street Journal, social commentator and cartoonist Scott Adams ask some poignant questions about education. I agree with this… if you’re not a tech geek or an astrophysicist, learn business, become a leader.

image courtesy of Scott Adams

Drop out, Get paid

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel, famous for financing facebook, is giving $100,000 to 20 young entrepreneurs under 20…each.

watch the interview on 60 minutes

He claims that higher education is, for most, a waste of time and money. American kids and their parents have been convinced that a Bachelor’s degree is the only credential that matters. But those who have a Bachelor’s degree know that a Masters degree or Ph.D are the only credential that matters.

I believe credentials are important. I believe a college education is important...but only if you can afford it. Here’s a quick test to see if you can:

Do you have at least $20,000 in extra cash, right now, in your bank account/backyard?

No?

Then you can’t afford college.

Debt is slavery. Slavery is death. Death sucks.

Theil’s anti-education stance is taking plenty of criticism, however. Professor Vivek Wadhwa argues that “if you don’t even have a basic education, you are beyond hope.” About kids with ideas he says, “ideas are a dime-a-dozen, what makes you successful is being able to take that idea, turn it into an invention, then turn that into a company.”

I agree. I also think that’s exactly what Theil’s program is designed to do. It’s what my program is designed to do.

There are four things missing from this discussion. One is the topic of self-education. The fact is that people who want to learn…will, school or no school. Curious and determined minds seek out information which, today is free, instantly available via the internet and highly accessible though the public library system.

Number two is the fact that the kids Theil’s mentoring are special. They’re IQ scores are well above average and their technical skills beyond what mine or yours will ever be. So much so that part of Theil’s program includes training in social intelligence, things like how to have a conversation, read body-language, and shake someone’s hand.

The third issue that should be addressed is the pervasive sense of uncertainty in today’s youth. Theil says that higher education is the right path if your life-plan is to be a professor, doctor, or scientist. If that’s not part of your path then you should do something else.

Life plan? I don’t know many 18-year-olds, or 28-year-olds for that matter, who have a life plan. Those who do worry me. For better or worse today’s motto is live for today…YOLO.

We’ve got to give these kids practical ways to understand their individual strengths, identify their passions and then teach them how to amplify and apply them. Success will follow whether they go on in school or not. Run-of-the- mill guidance counseling isn’t going to cut it. I found it to be more of a liability than an asset.

Finally, let’s say college is not for you. You’re not Bill Gates Jr. and you don’t have $30,000+ to spend but you do want to be educated. Not only so you can get a job but so you can appreciate life, the world around you, and especially the world inside you. Knowledge is a birthright.

Finally, we have to address the problem that there is no relevant institution to fill the void that stands between university’s and trade schools. Is it homeschooling? For adults? Can you get a credential for life experience? Perhaps. Maybe that infrastructure and culture is already growing.

Students should have access to an unbiased mentor or coach (not just a teacher or counselor) who is capable of guiding students through the ins-and-outs of developing an education or career plan, and ideally a business plan. They need to be encouraged to dream big, hatch big ideas, communicate those ideas, accept constructive feedback, and take action.

Theil says that credentials don’t matter. And that’s probably true for the 20 under 20. But for B students like me, a strong foundation in business, life experience , a taste of the liberal arts, as well as resilience training is what’s needed. Credentials or not, I want my kids to get a better education than I did.

Education Reformation (RSA)

This is an excellent overview of the past, present, and future of education.

Important questions being asked:
– How do we educate our children to take their place in the economies of the 21st century…given that we can’t anticipate what the economy will look like at the end of next week?
– How do we preserve cultural identity in a globalized world?

Watch!

 

The Cut Runs Deep

The cover story of today’s USA TODAY tells an all too familiar story. Only one of 2.6 million students who have graduated college this year, Megan Silsby is having a hard time finding work and staying positive. She’s applied for over 80 jobs so far. In the mean time she lives at home and cherishes the support and connection she has with her family. Family and friends can make tough times easier. But these relationships can become strained as young people remain unemployed and their optimism declines.

The millennial generation (born between 1982 and 2003) is most like the Depression Era generation of the 1930s. They were raised in relative affluence, came to expect that life would only get better, then crash, it all came falling down. And like those depression era kids, they have a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tim Elmore, a writer and lecturer who specializes in early-adulthood development states that “we have prepared the path for the child instead of the child for the path.” Just another example of how the mass-education system has completely failed my generation. On top of being poorly prepared for real life, students are also learning a hard lesson in mental health. Being jobless, stuck at home, and facing 20-50 thousand dollars of student loan debt is a lot to handle. Many, myself included, find it easy to justify spending that last $2o on a case of beer instead of the ongoing search for a career.

What do you get when you combine substance abuse with depression, anxiety and cynicism?

The future of America.

If you think you aren’t being affected by this think again. Think about a generation of unhappy, unbalanced, and unemployed people with an education and an iPad. Our attitudes about life have been changed dramatically and it should leave you more than a little uncomfortable.

Note: I finished a book today about the influential business writer Peter Drucker, wherein the author ends her acknowledgments section with a wish from her generation to mine:

I hope my generation leaves you a world with ethical, innovative companies that create opportunities while sharing your love of the environment and your sense of what’s right.

I hope so too.

 

Preach