Mavericks, Entreprenuers and Risk Takers

I am a perpetual entrepreneur and a maverick in my own mind. Here’s what that means….

I am constantly and consistently looking for the new idea. It excites me. Drives me crazy in fact. I realize the society has built people like me who are hungry for the next idea thought and form of entertainment. You want to connect with me? Thats great! Do it in a way that gets my attention. Do it in a way that stands out. Which is exactly why I have supported and used social media since day 1. I signed on to use LinkedIn shortly after it hit the scene and spent a lot of time trying to get others involved. I still do because it’s a new medium that people are interested in or curious about. It may one day fade. And if it does, there will no doubt be another form that takes it’s place and I’ll use that to contact you. Don’t be a fraid of the new and don’t try to justify it’s potential short term impact by your beliefs on it’s long term viability.

I’m also a fan of the tried and true. Writing a card, a personal letter or a call to an old friend shows class and attention to the most valuable commodity we have. Time. It takes time to do those things. It takes intentional thought. We can’t copy and paste onto a hand written notecard and the reader of said card knows that. Again though, you are embracing a medium for contact that stands out. Someone told me (and we all knowhow accurate information is that begins this way…just sayin) that over 80% of business communication these days takes place via email. 80%!!!!! This means that the other 20% is split between all of the other mediums out there. And we all knwo that email, even the coolest newsletters, is not a high touch form of communciation. I delete probably 50-60% of the newsletters I willing signed up for, so I can hardly expect a prospect of mine to open any email that I send.

Unless we have a relationship.

And that is third key  I’d like to rant on. Relationships, networks, tribes….whatever you want to call them, are the basis of any great success. Every time I have conceived a plan for business, be it an internal strategy or a full fledged start up, I have started with the thought of community. How do I reach them? Where do they shop? What they use as their buying decisions? Who do I know within that or industry or a feeder industry? It is is your ability to tap a community that will make you successful. Take the time to build and nurture the relationships that most benefit you and your goal. You will always be a better developer of business (and life for that matter) when yous pend time on others.

Being an entreprenuer is often mis-understood. We are seen as Mavericks, rule breakers and disruptions to the status quo. OK…maybe we’re not mis-unserstood…but we are all those thinsg because we are idea people. We find new ways of communicating and solutions to problems. We don’t see a brick wall, we see the crack that will bring the wall down and the pot of gold on the other side. We work harder than others and see risk as fun. Most importantly we are not afraid to live life. It is the living of life and lack of percieved fear that brings about great realizations, profound success and joy.

So if like me you see yourself as a Maverick of sorts then go forth and re-invent something. Make a great thing happen and be awesome in the process.

Lately I have taken to adapting a quote from a TV character by the name of Barney Stinson, there many variations and essentially it says…

“When I hit a brick wall, I stop being frusturated and be awesome instead. True story.” Barney Stinson

Dude! just be awesome!