MindFrenzy

It’s important to take the time to learn more about a brand before leaving a negative comment on their website, especially if its the first time you have been there.

I wanted to invite you to a special live call I am taking part in tomorrow at 2pm EST with Matt Wilson co-founder Under30CEO and Greg Rollett from Rockstar Lifestyle Design. I don’t want to give too much away other than they have agreed to go no-holds barred talking about building a young brand, getting national syndication on radio and using new media to build their empire.

The call is totally free and is going to be well worth your time. I am super excited myself to be a part of it and help out up to 100 young professionals build their brand and their business.

Here are the call details:
2PM EST
Dial in Number: (712) 432-0800
Access code: 944122#

Wanna know the best part? You get to ask questions and play a part in what we talk about. This is going to rock and I don’t want you to miss it.

Till next time rock stars,

Jared

P.S. This call is part of the launch for a really cool webinar series that we are getting ready to kick off. If you want some more info on that, we may talk about it on the call, or you can venture over to the sales page to learn more.

Click here to learn more.

My main project Under30CEO.com has fully launched as a magazine. It has taken a long time to really figure out what direction we have wanted to go with the project. Even while knowing the whole time that we wanted to inspire people to never settle in life and start businesses we didn’t know how to relay that message.  As of July 1st the site as turned into a full fledged magazine covering the topics of Adventure & Travel, Entrepreneurship, Lifestyle Design, and Sex & Dating.

All of these topics take a focus on Young CEO’s and how awesome it is to be one in all aspects of life. Were leading everyone to live that dream life of getting women, traveling the world, dressing to impress all while becoming a leader in the business world.

We have over 40 contributors to the magazine and are always looking for more. All contributors get bylines and links to their projects after their articles. We do edit all article submissions to make sure they live up to our standards but will work with anyone to perfect their articles. If your interested in contributing learn more.

We also have many advertising options for your company. One of the popular options are sponsored reviews where we will actaully write an article about your company and will publish it like any other article in the magazine. Check out all the options.

Things are really picking up steam and we are getting a great response. The magazine publishes 7-10 articles each week and we are always improving our techniques and quality.

Stay tuned for more big announcements this fall and winter. We will be holding the first Under30CEO events and parties. There will also be a full fledged business resource center coming in the next couple months.

Lets all make it happen and live the dream!

Last week I read an article somewhere about how entrepreneurs talk up their networking efforts but rarely live up to it. We all preach about never losing a contact no matter how big or small. However I was thinking about how I definitely don’t live up that.

I think I do a good job with my contacts and networking but nowhere near a great job. I mean its hard as hell to keep up with how many people I meet. With things like twitter I meet probably 50+ new people everyday…or at least I have the opportunity to meet them. Something like twitter is so powerful in providing all of us with a seemingly endless list of people to meet. But do we really take advantage of it as best we could? I mean I think a full day (12hrs) could be spent just @replying people on twitter and striking up conversations with people you don’t know. Sounds a little brutal but but if you want to get known you have to get out there right?

I feel like a huge part of my job description as an entrepreneur is simply network. Meet everyone. You never know who you might get introduced to or who might be the next big fan of your work.

Of course there are a million other opportunities beyond twitter. I could easily know my facebook friends better or simply engage that handful of business cards I have from an event 6 months ago.

But do we really live up to what we say when it comes to networking. Are you really putting forth that huge effort to meet as many people as possible? When you meet them do you stay in touch or do %80 of those people fall through the cracks never to be heard from again?

It’s so ridiculous how dumb I feel sometimes while starting a business. The going back and forth on ideas and then announcing a decision only to question it the next day. It’s not even a lack of confidence its the on-going search for perfection. How can our start-up compete with the industry leaders.

Who cares!!!

Your start-up probably can’t and won’t compete with the industry leaders in the beginning. Hell your start-up might even be doing the same thing many other businesses are doing. All that really matters is the fun you are having. If your doing something you love who cares if its the perfect business model. Worry about your 1st $1000 before worrying about perfecting your business model.

What will make you successful is being happy and having fun. Don’t over analyze and get caught up in making the perfect product. I guarantee by just having fun and being happy and the hard work you will put in because of it you will come out on top. Your business will probably change many times in the years to come. You might have to adjust your business model to push from $1000 in revenue to $10,000 in revenue. But make the $1000 1st doing something that makes you happy and then look to tweak it.

Happiness will lead to success

Something that really bothers me is that many days I find myself falling into a 9-5 schedule. I can’t really say its a bad or good thing but I mixed it up today and damn I feel refreshed.

Today I went to the gym at 2PM right in the middle of the day and I got back online at about 4PM. I honestly feel better then usual and have more energy and motivation to do things for the rest of the night.

I think as entrepreneurs we have to remember that while we have responsibilities and we still need to be active during the day when more people are around its important to mix it up. I know a big reason I am trying to start a business is because I don’t like the hours 9-5. I like to wake up later and go to bed later. I also rather be outside in the middle of the afternoon on a nice day and then work from 8PM-2AM instead.

I think a lot of us got into this game because we didn’t like that schedule and the boring routine of everyday 9-5 jobs. So don’t fall into that trap when starting your own business.

Change up your hours:

Go somewhere in the morning

Stay up until 4AM

Sleep until 10AM

Play golf at 2PM on a Weds

Whatever it is mix things up and I think you will stay fresher and you will find you get more done in those awkward hours once in awhile.

Have you fallen into a 9-5 while starting your business?

Wow this is the longest I have gone without writing since I started this blog. Not a good thing and just simply poor effort on my part. The main reason being all the work going on over at Under30CEO.com.

Finally after about 6months of developing our idea and trying out a handful of different approaches I feel like I am in the trenches of a start-up company. Everyday is a challenge – exciting yet stressful. No idea what is about to happen and at many times feel like I have 20 things filling the #1 spot of my to do list. But this is what I have been asking for over the past year, right?

HELL YES

This is what it is all about. It doesn’t matter how crazy my mind feels or how out of control things feel at times. This is where it is at. This is where you dig in and make shit happen. This is where you not only have to innovate and stay ahead each day but balance that with building on your core values.

I can’t imagine anything better. These are the days that separate the men from the boys and where leaders are born. I realize that and with those dreams in mind I wake up early, go to bed late and never stop pushing the envelope in-between.

With pushing that envelope means becoming more dedicated to this blog. There is no reason to slack off with it. The community around it took along time to build and I am an idiot if I let that slip away. So I am back. Posts may be a little shorter but they will be to the point. Mostly like this one and on the same topic. The Trenches.

Its time to make moves, make mistakes, and make moves again. And I’ll be telling you about them here.

Let’s all make it happen! Who else is in the trenches and feeling the pressure?

Found this cool post over at The GrowingLife.com titled:

Healthy, Wealthy, and DEAD?: 5 Reasons Why Getting Up Early Might be Harmful

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a late riser! But this also goes hand in hand with staying up late. I would say I get about %75 of my real creative and productive work done between 11pm and 3am. I don’t know why but this is just how I am. I find it very hard to get anything very productive done in the mornings.

I really have most of my ideas at night. I’m one of those people who just never wants to go to bed. I’d stay up until 5am every night except I make myself get to bed so I don’t sleep into the afternoon.

I know a huge reason for wanting to create my own business is for the hours. I want to work from 6pm-3am. I love that idea rather then being forced to be productive at 10am. Not that I can’t get stuff done early but the everyday grind of it makes me less productive in the long haul.

I also think that there is just so much to do during the day. Especially during the summer I want to be outside all day. Once midnight roles around everything quiets down and I am left to do whatever is on my mind.

Anyway what does everyone else feel? Are you an early or late riser? When do you feel the most productive?

What a wild ride starting a business can be. You never know what is coming next. Everyday I get hit with things I didn’t see coming or decisions that can decide the fate of my business. Recently we made one of those decisions over at Under30CEO.

We decided to change the name from Under30CEO to Factor77. I’m not even going to bother explaining our reasoning behind it, we had good intentions and truly thought it was for the best but it killed us! We got away from our brand and lost track of everything we set out to do – inspire people to do something they love in life.

The results – Our progress as a business basically came to a complete stand still for 2 months, actually went backwards I would say. What a bad move! We knew the decision was a big one and a tough one but wow we did not see that coming.

Now almost everyday it gets brought up at some point by either Matt or myself and what happens? We laugh. We just laugh at what a bad move it turned out to be. At how we lost 2 months of progress due to it. How it sent a cash strapped, bootstrapping business downhill. haha.

I mean what else is there to do?

We went for it. We crashed and burned. We went back to Under30CEO. And we move on.

2 things here:

1. Laugh a little (its good for you)

You won’t make all the right moves. Hopefully they aren’t quite as bad as ours but in any case its in the past. You can only control whats next. Don’t lose sleep over it. Lift your head up take the next step and laugh it off.

2. Realize when your wrong

Once you make a mistake don’t be afraid to admit it. Realize what you did was wrong and now make the right move. Do whatever it takes to get back on track. Learn from that blunder and move on. Don’t be stubborn!

Cheers to all of our mistakes!

Recently did a Post over at Corp Magazine. Here’s the intro click through to read the rest.

As I have entered this crazy world of entrepreneurship, I have noticed a few key things that have kept my ventures moving forward. Launch, Learn, Revise, and Repeat. Seems so simple, but this process is what will make any project a success in the end.

Launch
This is by far the most important and most feared step of the process. Too many people have ideas yet never do anything. They make a product and are never satisfied and keep tweaking until they are sick of the product themselves. Launch it! You have to put yourself out there. This is first step is the biggest, but most satisfying hurdle to overcome. Obviously if you don’t implement your idea it never has the chance to succeed or fail. Not a SINGLE project has ever launched with everything perfect. The idea is in place, but the expression of it is rarely fully developed. That is just fine! Don’t run from this step.

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