As the co-founder and the CEO of the Endeavor company, Linda Rottenberg has served as an inspiration to many. She has made it her life’s mission to provide budding entrepreneursRead More
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]]>As the co-founder and the CEO of the Endeavor company, Linda Rottenberg has served as an inspiration to many. She has made it her life’s mission to provide budding entrepreneurs with the help that they need to turn their bright ideas into decisive action. Even if the person does not have a great deal of experience or a concept that seems outrageous, Rottenberg still takes the time to provide aid.
No idea is too crazy or out there for Rottenberg and her work serves as an inspiration to anyone who has been told that they cannot achieve their goals. After taking a dive into her book, Crazy Is A Compliment, these are the top five lessons I believe that every entrepreneur can learn from the works of Linda Rottenberg.
Whenever a would be entrepreneur comes up with a brand new idea, they are usually called crazy by people who cannot take the time to think outside of the box and see their vision. Rottenberg believes that anyone who is going to try something new and seemingly insane will experience blow back from a variety of sources. She is quick to tell her acolytes about the problems Henry Ford experienced on his way to the top and how Sam Walton’s Wal-Mart idea was considered crazy at the time.
It is important for an entrepreneur to realize that there are no physical barriers standing between them and success, their obstacles are purely psychological. One of the most enduring mottos that she shares in her work is that “crazy is a compliment.”
While most people see entrepreneurs as being wacky and adventurous types, Rottenberg is quick to tell her audiences that this perception does not always match up with reality. She is quick to speak about the importance of taking risks that may seem crazy to the outside observers, but are actually calculated in nature. A common piece of advice that she gives is to keep your day job while you are trying to get your business off of the ground.
Rottenberg speaks about how crucial it is not to bet the entire farm on one idea. Craziness and the ability to stomach risk taking are great qualities to have, but only when they are properly utilized. Even some of the biggest names in the world of entrepreneurs hedged their bets. Phil Knight worked as a tax preparation expert before Nike took off and even Richard Branson (who is seen as being wacky and nuts) talks about containing the potential for disaster. Rottenberg makes sure that these parts of the story are not left out.
Rottenberg takes great pains to dissociate people from the common mental image of the disheveled, rumpled entrepreneur who drapes themselves in old hooded sweatshirts, telling stories of women who launched successful enterprises in the comfort of their own kitchens at home. Despite what you may think, you do not need to be a young male clad in a sweatshirt in order to meet the stereotype of what an entrepreneur should look like.
Young males are no longer the predominant group of budding entrepreneurs. Statistics now show that an entrepreneur is just as likely to be an older male (over the age of 55) or a female. With more and more Americans being forced to work for themselves during this turbulent economic times, it is crucial to get with the current program or end up being left behind.
Many startups employ family members, not because they are the most qualified for the position, but because they have the time on their hands and are able to work for little to no money. That is why a startup prenuptial agreement is necessary. As your company grows, you may need to replace some of these beloved family members with people who have more experience in the particular areas of expertise that you require.
When you start your business, Rottenberg preaches the importance of coming up with a formal partnership agreement and having it in writing. The vision that you and your family members start off sharing for the company can change and in many instances, a family member may even want out, but be too timid to speak up. Avoid these circumstances by spelling out exactly what you expect from your employees and/or partners during the early stages.
Rottenberg often talks about her past as an extreme workaholic and attempts to teach her audiences about the importance of work/life balance. When you are a workaholic, not only is it difficult for you to maintain a normal lifestyle, but it can also be difficult to retain talented employees. Make sure that you get a life and encourage anyone who works alongside of you to do the same. After all, what good is success if you don’t take a moment to enjoy it?
The idea that you have to ignore your family or put the people you love on the back burner is a foreign concept to Rottenberg and she often speaks about the surprise in people’s voices when she mentions her daughter’s dance recitals or other family events. In order to be successful, your personal life does not have to fall by the wayside, a lesson that Rottenberg goes out of her way to preach.
Preview Crazy Is A Compliment with Linda Rottenberg herself
Buy Crazy Is A Compliment by Linda Rottenberg on Amazon today
Visit LindaRottenberg.com to learn more about Linda and her work
Visit Endeavor.org to learn more about Linda’s company
Follow Linda Rottenberg on Twitter and Facebook
The post 5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Linda Rottenberg appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>A summary of things you should know about The Self-Made Billionaire Effect according to John Sviokla: Introduction In this episode John Sviokla gives an in-depth summary of his and MitchRead More
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]]>In this episode John Sviokla gives an in-depth summary of his and Mitch Cohens’ book, The Self-Made Billionaire Effect, where they discuss how extreme producers create massive value.
In their book Sviokla and Cohen provide extensive research drawn from interviews with some of the most successful billionaires in order to debunk the perceptions people have of high producing entrepreneurs. The goal of the book is to teach you habits designed to improve your business value, how to start thinking like a billionaire, and how to be highly valuable to your employees.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs that set very high expectations when it comes to business goals and are looking for solid ways to provide massive value when it comes to building a business.
This book is the first ever systematic study of a self-made billionaire.
It’s really a book you can jump in and jump out of. The introduction of the book tells you that these people are not who you think they are. 80% of them made their money in highly competitive contested markets.
The one thing I would say is to follow your curiosity about an opportunity area and don’t separate thinking from doing. If you want to pursue it, pursue it yourself.
The core notion that the book talks about is underneath every billion dollar opportunity what you will see is what we call a Producer or a Producer Performer Pair.
A Producer is the kind of person that knows how to design a business from scratch and to get all those design variables and land them well. That’s true whether these people are doing it in pizza, coffee, or high-tech.
As I mentioned before these people are not who you think, they come from all walks of life. Then we look at what makes these billionaires distinctive and what we found were these Five Habits of Mind.
The Five Habits of Mind are inventive execution, epithetic imagination, a relative view of risk, patient urgency, and producer performer pairing. For example epithetic imagination is a combination of understanding where markets going as well as a rational understanding of what the economic opportunity might be.
Throughout the book I give you a deep definition of each of the Five Habits of Mind and pair them with stories to help the reader get a visual of how each one works.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 03:51
“The universe is a fight between habit and novelty and novelty is winning.” Terence McKenna
I am a partner in the PwC consulting division and I hit up our Thought Leadership. I have been there for about four years and about a dozen years before that I was a consultant at a company called Diamond. And for a dozen years before that I was a professor at Harvard Business School in the area of technology strategy in innovation.
The inspiration was I was talking to my co-author Mitch Cohen and PwC is really about helping our clients create value and I told Mitch that we should study the people who created the most value on the planet. We took the self-made billionaires and made a book of all the things people could learn from their success.
Life Unlocked by Srinivasan S. Pillay
Buy The Self-Made Billionaire Effect by John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen on Amazon today
Visit PWC.com to learn more about John and his book
Follow John Sviokla on Linkedin and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
The New Rich by David Moore
Three Feet From Gold by Greg Reid
Strategy Rules by David Yoffie and Michael Cusumano
Relevant advice and tips:
7 Successful Attributes of a Billionaire
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