Author: Jeet Banerjee

Jeet Banerjee is a 24 year old serial entrepreneur, author, digital marketing consultant, and public speaker. In his young career, Jeet has launched several different companies, written two books, and has helped many businesses make more money from the internet. He strives to create the next big tech company and give back to the world in the best way possible.

What It Takes To Be Successful in Life

In this article, I share the various characteristics and tips for what it takes to be successful in life. Everyone has their own definition of success, but you need to have some fundamental elements to guide yourself to a successful life.

 

Everyone wants to achieve success, but what does it really mean to be successful? Everybody has their own definition of what success means to them.

 

 

Regardless of what success is to you, there are a set of actions and results that must take place in order to attain it. Success is measured differently by each individual, but all successes require some sort of action to get there.

 

 

I am quite often asked the question, “What is your greatest success….” or “Do you consider yourself successful?”

 

 

At this point in my life, I hope that the successes that haven’t taken place to date do not end up being considered my ‘greatest success’. Not only that, but I truly do not feel I am successful as of today.

 

 

Many people are surprised by my answer, but my level of success is very different from others. From pursuing my own dreams, studying other successful individuals and networking with brilliant people, I have learned what it takes to be successful in life.

 

 

Successful People Don’t Quit

 

Do you remember that guy who chased their dreams and quit? Neither do I. Quitters cannot succeed and that’s the brutal truth. If you want to be successful, you have to get back up every time you fall without losing any enthusiasm. Remember things that come easy aren’t worth having.

 

 

Successful People Don’t Shy Away From The Big Moments

 

There are moments in life that define who we are and who we become. Some of us shy away from these moments because of fear and doubt. Successful people embrace these moments and conquer it. Fear and doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. When those defining moments come, rise up!

 

 

Successful People Adapt

 

Charles Darwin famously said, “It’s not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” The road to success is usually filled with a bunch of twists and turns. If you’re close-minded and unwilling to adapt to your surroundings, you will struggle to achieve success.

 

 

Successful People Work Hard 

 

Early mornings, long nights and a dedication to your craft is crucial to be successful. The harder you work, the luckier you get. Just because you have a vision of what success is does NOT mean you will be successful. It requires massive action and tons of hard work before you will ever become successful.

 

 

Successful People Surround Themselves With Winners

 

The people around us have a HUGE influence on the things we do and the person we become. If you want to be a winner, you need to surround yourself with people who share a similar mindset as you. My circle has grown to feature tons of entrepreneurs, which as a result has helped me get closer to my success.

 

 

Successful People Never Stop Learning

 

Education, whether formal or informal is a vital part of being successful. If you think getting a college degree is the end of your education, you’re in for a huge nightmare. With a wealth of resources available such as books, articles, videos, courses, and more, it has never been easier to educate yourself. Make sure you’re constantly learning to fuel your growth.

 

 

Successful People Embrace Failure

 

Most people look as failure as a negative thing while most successful people look at it as a positive. Life is all about perspectives. Personally, I look at failure as a learning opportunity. Failure doesn’t define me or my businesses, it’s just an event – something that takes place at a certain time. That event is meaningful because it gives me a chance to reflect at the mistakes that were made so I can come back better.

 

 

Successful People Are Brave

 

In life, you always have options. You can choose to go to bed or stay up late working. You can eat that extra burger or stop yourself after one. You can take a big risk or play it safe. Successful people are filled with courage and let their bravery guide their decisions. When most people shy away from risks, successful people weigh the risks and rewards. If an opportunity is on the table, never overlook it even if it’s really scary.

 

 

Successful People Have Vision

 

You don’t need to have the right answer at every turn to be successful in life. However, you need to have the vision necessary to guide yourself to success. Don’t just think for today but also focus on tomorrow. It’s important to live in the present, but it’s crucial to prepare for the future as well.

 

 

Successful People Take Control

 

If you want to lead a successful life, it all starts with taking control. At 17, I realized the source of my unhappiness. It was because I was working jobs that felt like chores where I had no freedom or control. If I had stayed at those jobs, I would have never been able to come where I am today. If you do not have the freedom or control to make your own choices in life, it will be very hard to find success.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared a variety of different characteristics and tips for what it takes to be successful in life. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments below.

 

How To Keep Your Resolutions in 2014

With the calendar moving ahead one more year, it’s time to share some tips on how to keep your resolutions in 2014. It’s a battle everyone faces and my guide can help you!

 

With the new year just beginning, more resolutions and goals are set during this time period than any other. The toughest part of any ‘goal’ is making sure it doesn’t fall into the category of a ‘wish’.

 

 

Goals are dreams with a deadline while wishes are just dreams without any intent of actually getting them done. As an entrepreneur who has his hand in many different things, goals make or break me on a regular basis.

 

 

Not only do I set goals every day, but I try to set bigger goals each quarter that will be achieved through my daily actions. In this article, I’m going to share some of the strategies I have used to successfully my see goals and resolutions out.

 

 

Here’s how to keep your resolutions in 2014:

 

 

Make A Plan

 

Resolutions fail because you set a goal without creating any plan of how you want to make that dream a reality. Before I set my goals, I create a plan of exactly what needs to be done on my end to accomplish my goals.

 

 

If you’re able to create a series of smaller steps that you need to take in order to achieve your goals, your resolution seems a lot more possible. Break them down into monthly or weekly chunks so it’s a lot more manageable.

 

 

Hold Yourself Accountable

 

Many goals go untouched because we do not have someone holding us accountable. As an entrepreneur, my partners and mentors are constantly there to hold me accountable if I don’t reach my goals.

 

 

Find friends, family, co-workers, or anyone who cares about your success and get them to help you. Tell them to motivate you throughout the year and have various consequences if you’re unable to achieve your goal. It’s hard to be successful in life all by yourself, create a support system.

 

 

Visualize It

 

Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I see is a list of my quarterly goals on a white board. No matter what I try to do, I cannot avoid those goals and it’s a really good thing. I’m motivated from the minute I wake up to start conquering my goals.

 

 

Depending on what your resolutions are, write them down so you can visualize them. Keep them in front of your desk, bedroom, car, or any other place you’ll be motivated.

 

 

Set Time Aside For It

 

This goes back to the planning section of things. If you don’t set aside time for your  resolutions, how do you plan to achieve them? You need to do something different in 2014 than you did in 2013 if you’re looking for a change.

 

 

Create a schedule where you can incorporate time to achieve your new years resolutions. If you have the time for it, you need to follow it up by putting the work in. Remember, the harder you work, the luckier you get!

 

 

Make It Public

 

Another way to hold yourself accountable to your new years resolutions is to put everything in the public. Each quarter, I share my goals for that specific quarter publicly through my Facebook page.

 

 

By potentially facing heaps of embarrassment if you don’t even try to shoot for your goals, making your resolutions public is a great idea. Not only that, but you can reflect back to see where you started and how far you got at the end of it.

 

 

Reward Progress

 

When I was a kid, the best part of getting good grades was that I got rewarded. I didn’t really care that I was doing good in school, I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on a reward from my parents.

 

 

Setting goals for yourself is much of the same. If you go to the gym that extra day or put in that extra time at the office, reward yourself for it. Progress and small achievements deserve to be rewarded and you shouldn’t hesitate to do so.

 

 

Conclusion

 

I hope 2014 is a prosperous and great year for everyone. In this article, I shared some tips on how to keep your resolutions in 2014. Are there any other tips you have for others? Feel free to share them in the comments below.

 

 

Limitless Thinking: My Book Is Now Live!

This post shares the latest achievement in my career. My book Limitless Thinking is now officially live. Check it out and get a copy while you can!

 

If you haven’t heard, my book Limitless Thinking: How One Young Entrepreneur Found Success With No Degree, Experience or Money just went live. I wanted to share a short post about this huge accomplishment in my life.

 

 

2013 has been an absolutely surreal year for me. From becoming a serial entrepreneur to delivering a TEDx speaker, the accomplishments have been piling up. It’s a great feeling to be doing so many amazing things.

 

 

I found out earlier that my book hit the best-sellers list on Amazon and was continuing to be hailed as one of the most purchased books of this weekend. That was an amazing honor.

 

 

If you haven’t gotten my book yet, I suggest you do. My story, experiences and lessons are sure to shape your life for the better. My book is available on many different platforms, feel free to check it out here.

 

My 2013 in Review: Highs, Lows and Everything Else

In this article, I go through my journey in the year 2013 by sharing the highs, lows and everything else that took place during the year.

 

This post will be sharing some of the various accomplishments, downfalls and meaningful events that took place in my professional life through 2013. I want to look back at everything as I plan to have an amazing 2014.

 

 

I’ll break down each part of this year by quarters and discuss a few big accomplishments/events that took place along with a few downfalls that occurred. Without further ado, here is my 2013 in review:

 

 

Quarter 1 – Jan. 2013 to March 2013 

 

I started the year off with big hopes and ideas. I decided I would fully build out my personal brand and many of my goals in Quarter 1 revolved around just that. In regards to downfalls, I hit some roadblocks and lows as well which brought me down but it didn’t keep me there for long.

 

 

Accomplishments: 

 

– I had 4 different speaking gigs around the country

 

– I started a twitter account for my personal brand (Less than 1,000 followers when I started and 11 months later, I’m just passing 126,000 followers)

 

– My first time getting a single blog post of mine over 15,000 hits

 

– Took my first semester from college off to fully focus on my entrepreneurial ventures.

 

 

Downfalls:

 

– Disappointed to find out that Vintelli.com model would not work since customer service cost us more than our customers paid us. Refunded hundreds of customers and began pivoting to a new model.

 

– I realized I had to regain focus on my startups since the personal branding stuff was taking up too much of my time. Worked on creating a nice balance of both.

 

 

Quarter 2 – April 2013 to June 2013

 

This Quarter was a big one for my startups because my team and I decided to get down to business. In the previous quarter, the progression of my startups was slower than we had expected so it was time to pick it up.

 

 

Accomplishments: 

 

– Teamed up with a local accelerator program to push StatFuse.com to the next level.

 

– Started conceptualizing my idea for a course helping others build successful startups of their own.

 

– Volunteered in Los Angeles where I dedicated a whole day to helping high school entrepreneurs with their business ventures.

 

– Judge at the National FBLA competition in Anaheim, California.

 

– Helped a business owner increase his $7,000/Month business to over $30,000/Month with my consulting services.

 

– Launched over 10 digital products in this quarter.

 

– Sold my sports car to buy something better on gas.

 

 

Downfalls:

 

– Signed up for business deals with shady people without doing proper due diligence.  Ended up costing me a lot of time.

 

– Still didn’t have a solid enough monetization structure for StatFuse, tested numerous things all of which failed.

 

– Invested into a startup company that failed to garner any return.

 

 

Quarter 3 – July 2013 to September 2013

 

Quarter 3 was a big one for me from a personal standpoint. I grew a lot as a human being and had some amazing opportunities thrown at me. I’m very thankful for this quarter because it really helped make 2013 a big year!

 

 

Accomplishments:

 

– My course on building a successful business goes live and instantly becomes a best-selling Udemy course.

 

– Launched 7 more digital products.

 

– Conceptualized Visionary Media Group, my next big company that aims to launch tons of digital products to solve problems.

 

– Got invited to do a TEDx speech at Bommer Canyon, California.

 

– StatFuse.com took the next big leap as we began figuring out revenue models and growth hit the next level.

 

– Decided to take another semester off from college.

 

 

Downfall:

 

– Worked too much, lost sight of what was important to me during this time.

 

– Dropped a startup project I was working on since it didn’t create value or solve a problem. It was aimed to create more problems than anything else.

 

 

Quarter 4 – Oct. 2013 to Dec. 2013

 

The last Quarter of the year is always very important. You need to make a strong impression by closing out the year strong so that you can start on a good note in the following year. Quarter 4 was filled with successful accomplishments for me!

 

 

Accomplishments:

 

– Delivered my TEDx talk and was extremely happy about the message/delivery.

 

– StatFuse.com picked up massive PR coverage through the nation, even getting featured on the front page of the OC Register.

 

– Added on a new set of team members to StatFuse.com that will take us to the next level instantly.

 

– Wrote and completed my next book, “Limitless Thinking: How One Young Entrepreneur Found Success With No Degree, Experience or Money”.

 

– Passed up a deal with a major publisher for my new book since we didn’t see eye to eye on certain things.

 

– Was named Top Entrepreneur To Follow in 2014.

 

– Launched over 10 digital products.

 

– Turned 21 (not sure if this is a good or bad thing quite yet).

 

 

Downfalls:

 

– Invested money very poorly in this last quarter.

 

– Unsuccessful in growing personal brand through Facebook without using any money for FB ads.

 

– Sleeping more than I need to each night.

 

 

Conclusion

 

This article was my 2013 in review, featuring the highs, lows and everything else that comes with it. Share some of your big events from 2013 in the comments below!

 

Billionaire Vision: How To Capitalize On Opportunity

With so many entrepreneurs out there, I decided to write this post sharing a variety of different tactics on how you can capitalize on opportunity. Millionaire and billionaire entrepreneurs have capitalized on opportunities using these methods for years.

 

Most billionaires are so wealthy and successful because they learned the art of capitalizing on opportunities. Whether we know it or not, opportunities are constantly presented to us. Some of us take them while most of us pass them up.

 

 

The problem actually stems a lot deeper than that. Most people passing up those opportunities don’t really know it’s an opportunity because they aren’t looking for one. Entrepreneurs usually keep their eyes open for opportunities.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to share insight on how to capitalize on opportunity by having vision.

 

 

Scratch Your Itch 

 

Ever since the age of 17, I have written down every single problem I have ever faced. I write down the date it happened, what would be the best possible solution for it and whether it exists or not.

 

 

My iPhone notepad has over 250 entries in just 3 years. That means I have over 250 different business opportunities in my phone simply because I took 5 minutes to write down every problem I faced.

 

 

Many billion dollar companies were formed around problems the founder once faced. Instead of cussing out their situation and forgetting about it, they used that opportunity to create a solution. If you want to capitalize as an entrepreneur, seek out solutions to your problems and see how many others are dealing with the same issues.

 

 

Jump Into Hot Markets

 

Successful entrepreneurs have vision. This means that they can look ahead and see what people want or are going to want in the future. They use that vision to capitalize by building  products or services for tomorrow.

 

 

When the bitcoin began gaining huge popularity, some entrepreneurs decided to take advantage of it. Sites started allowing you to create bitcoin payment gateways and bitcoin wallets started coming out. They saw an opportunity and struck while the iron was still hot.

 

 

As a result, many of these sites have processed transactions worth millions of dollars or have made tons of money during a short period of time. People always ask me what I think is the next big market to capitalize on right now. My answer to that is apps for the Google Glass.

 

 

The Google Glass has been very well-marketed and I truly believe a lot of consumers will buy the product when it is released. If you can get your hands on a pair and start developing high performance apps for it, you have the potential to make a LOT of money.

 

 

Listen

 

Lot of people have the poor tendency to talk too much. As an entrepreneur, I quickly found out that I learned the most when I kept my mouth shut and listened to others. If you’re really seeking out opportunities, listen to what others are saying.

 

 

You may hear about opportunities directly from them or you may learn about problems/issues they are facing. The smartest people in the room aren’t usually the ones talking, but rather the ones who silently sit there and take note of everything happening.

 

 

Some of the greatest opportunities go missing simply because people spend too much time talking. Seek out successful people in industries that interest you and see what they have to say. Most people miss out on great opportunities because they’re too busy to listen.

 

 

Imitate and Improve 

 

Many businesses have become extremely successful because they have taken an existing concept while making dramatic improvements to it. As an entrepreneur, you can capitalize on opportunity by looking for ways to make things better.

 

 

My startup StatFuse allows students to calculate their odds of admission. Whether you’re in high school or community college, we find out your chances of getting accepted and analyze your college applications.

 

 

We were definitely not the first website to calculate a students odds of admission. We started learning about the way other sites did it and realized they had huge flaws. While other sites were using crowd sourced data to provide such an important result, we decided to aggregate our data directly from the University admission offices to maintain a high level of accuracy.

 

 

A year and a half later we have been able to triumph over most of our competitors and make a huge impact in the college admissions space. Instead of getting discouraged by our competitors, we studied them carefully and improved upon their flaws.

 

 

Simplify

 

Apple is such an amazing company and brand because they simplify everything. You know you’re going to get something clean, simple and beautiful when you purchase Apple products. Simplicity is truly bliss.

 

 

As an entrepreneur, you can really build a solid business by simplifying something that is generally complicated. What are things people hate to do because it’s complicated? Going to the doctor, commuting from place A to B, finding an apartment, making coffee and so many other tough tasks exist.

 

 

Find pain points people have and create solutions for them. If you make something easier, you will always have a market for yourself.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared different points on how to capitalize on opportunity. Share some of the ways you have successfully capitalized on opportunity through the years in the comments below!

 

 

photo credit: Philipp Lücke via photopin cc

 

What Every Entrepreneur Must Know Before Taking The Leap of Faith

In this article, I share lessons every entrepreneur must know before they take a leap of faith. Before starting a business, there are numerous things you should consider.

 

When I decided to take a leap into entrepreneurship, I had no idea what to expect. Turns out, becoming an entrepreneur wasn’t anything I thought it would have been. From 4 years of twists and turns as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned quite a lot.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to share what every entrepreneur must know before taking the leap of faith:

 

 

Balancing work and life is very tough

 

I became an entrepreneur at the age of 17. While my friends were out partying and enjoying their teenage years, I was meeting with clients and working through the night to make my business successful.

 

 

I often did wish that I could go out and do all the fun things my friends were doing, but I couldn’t always be there. Turns out entrepreneurship isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle. Everyone believes they’ll have enough time for both, but reality sets in after just a few months.

 

 

If you want to be truly successful as an entrepreneur, it’s going to be very tough balancing life and work simultaneously. If you had a lot of free time before, expect that to be cut down dramatically if you plan to start a business.

 

 

Fancy cars and fame don’t come with the title 

 

I learned about entrepreneurship when I became extremely frustrated with the various odd jobs I had taken. They made me miserable and I knew there had to be a better way to make some cash.

 

 

I came across this idea of entrepreneurship and read stories of people who were rich and famous. They had fancy cars, tons of cash and were looked up to by people of all ages. I thought by starting my own business, I would be entitled to the same thing.

 

 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The perks of entrepreneurship only come to you after you work your ass off and achieve results. Success is attainable, but don’t think it just comes with the title.

 

 

Action trumps everything

 

It’s one thing to talk about your ideas, but it’s something else to put them into action. You’re a wantrepreneur until you implement your thoughts.

 

 

When I became an entrepreneur, I was able to find success so quickly simply because I took action. I wasn’t scared of making mistakes or failing. I hit tons of barriers and made mistakes, but I learned quickly because I took action.

 

 

Test, test, test

 

When I first started my business, I was very foolish with the way I launched products. Instead of testing things or asking potential customers about it, I pushed out what I thought was right. This was a very poor approach.

 

 

Don’t waste a ton of money and resources until you’ve tested everything. Test the market, the product and the need before you go all in. Many principles such as the lean startup and my course share these tactics in much more depth. Instead of doing what you think is best, collect feedback and use those metrics to make decisions.

 

 

4 hour workweeks aren’t enough

 

I hadn’t heard about Tim Ferris until last year, but I was really disappointed to see how many entrepreneurs believed they only had to work 4 hours a week to be successful. If you’re just starting a business, expecting to work a few hours a week is simply insane.

 

 

If you really want to be a successful entrepreneur and build something worth millions or billions of dollars, you’re going to have work way more than 4 hours a week. A 4 hour workweek is possible when you’ve made a lot of money and can substitute your effort by hiring others.

 

 

It’s not about how much money your business makes

 

When I started out as an entrepreneur, the only metrics I focused on revolved around the amount of money the business was making. I ran my multimedia agency for a few years only to realize I was just a businessman. I was disgusted by that thought and decided I wanted to become an entrepreneur.

 

 

I put my business up for sale and focused on creating startups that had a purpose deeper than money. I’ve always said that money is the prize, but not the purpose. If you’re ONLY focused on making money, it’ll never come to you.

 

 

Money is an illusive object. Instead of chasing it, focus on a deeper purpose and the money will find you. What drives you and makes you want to become an entrepreneur? My ‘why’ was that I had the opportunity to be happy, do something I loved and create change in the world with my startups.

 

 

Conclusion

 

These are just a handful of lessons entrepreneurs should know before they take the leap of faith. Starting a business is very rewarding, but you have to be well-prepared for the journey ahead.

 

 

photo credit: Frankenspotter Photography via photopin cc

 

 

5 Things Holding You Back From Being Successful

Achieving success on your own terms is a goal many people have. However, success is often limited by many different things. In this article, I share 5 things holding you back from being successful.

 

Success has no clear cut definition. Every individual defines and thinks of success in their own way. That’s absolutely fine. Regardless of what your definition of success may be, there are actions that must be taken to make that a reality.

 

 

Many actions propel you forward while others bring you right back as you strive towards your goals. Over time, I’ve seen a handful of things that have truly held me back from being successful while others have accelerated me.

 

 

In this article, I share 5 things holding you back from being successful:

 

 

1. Needing To Always Be “Right”

 

Growing up, I was one of the most competitive people out there. I always had to win and I always had to be right. As an entrepreneur, I learned really fast that I wasn’t going to be always right.

 

 

However, I had two choices. I could sit there and force my way until I was right or I could learn from it and fix things until they became right. The first few months, I was my stubborn self. I refused to accept being wrong.

 

 

I quickly noticed that mentality wasn’t going to take me far. Not only was I not getting closer towards my goals, but I was going backwards. I decided to keep an open mind. If I was wrong, I would gladly accept my faults and try to fix them. No matter what it is you do in life, don’t let your ego get in the way of your success.

 

 

2. Believing In Limits Set By People No Smarter Than You

 

I’m publishing a book in the next 5 days that will be available for sale. The title of this book is – Limitless Thinking: How one young entrepreneur found success with no experience, degree or money. Throughout this book, I share one of the most important principles I have learned as an entrepreneur.

 

 

It isn’t what we have as an individual but rather how we think and perceive things that directly affects whether or not we are successful. Many people believe in the limits that are set forth by others in the world to be true. The moment you give faith to these factors, your chances of being successful diminish greatly.

 

 

Limitations only exist in our minds. If we believe something, our actions carry it out that way. In order to be successful, wipe out everything you know to be true. Start fresh without any limitations and reach for the moon. If you don’t make it, you’ll still end up in the stars.

 

 

3. Focusing On The Past Instead Of The Present & The Future 

 

Success can be derailed very quickly if you let your past determine your future. It doesn’t matter who you were or what has happened in the past. As long as you’re driven by your goals and working on amazing things in the present, you have to believe your future will be different.

 

 

If I looked back on the past to see how ‘bad’ of a student I was and how that can potentially affect my success as an entrepreneur, I probably wouldn’t be successful today. It’s important to learn from the past, but make sure you’re not dwelling on it.

 

 

4. Your Friends

 

Surround yourself with the people you want to become. It’s great to have friends, but you want people who are going to help you not hurt you. As an entrepreneur, I quickly saw my levels of success increasing the moment I surrounded myself with like-minded individuals.

 

 

Join groups that have people who think like you and have similar goals. Set up masterminding sessions and hangouts so you can embrace their ideas. Most of my friends from college love to party and pick up girls.

 

 

However, my priorities were very different. I wanted to start successful businesses and change the world. I spent less time with them so I could spend more time with others leading a similar path as me. Remember, your income is the average of your 5 closest friends.

 

 

5. Fear & Doubt

 

Fear and doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. It’s hard to believe, but it’s very true. Our own thoughts have so much power that it often kills our wildest dreams and adventures.

 

 

No matter what it is you’re going to want to do in life, some part of your brain is going to bring up the bad. You’re going to be scared and doubt your abilities. Nobody has been able to find success without overcoming the demons inside their own heads.

 

 

A billion dollar idea is worth nothing unless that thought is turned into an action. Your grandest goals and dreams have the ability to come true if you simply try. There is no substitute to hard work and action if you really want to be successful.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared 5 things holding you back from being successful. Share in the comments below what things you believe hold people back from being successful as well.

 

 

photo credit: nromagna via photopin cc

 

Why Bad Students Make Good Entrepreneurs

From my own experiences and meeting others, I share numerous points on why great students don’t always make great entrepreneurs. This article is my perspective on why bad students make good entrepreneurs.

 

School and a formal education hasn’t always been my thing. As I entered high school, I began slacking off more and that could clearly be seen through the grades I was earning.

 

 

As I come across entrepreneurs through networking, volunteering and mentoring, I’ve seen a fairly consistent trend. I’ve noticed that the best students don’t always make the best entrepreneurs. In fact, I’ve noticed much of the opposite.

 

 

More often than not, most entrepreneurs I come in contact with say that they weren’t very good at school. Bill Gates famously says, “I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft.”

 

 

Here are some reasons why bad students make good entrepreneurs:

 

 

Disruptive Behavior

 

In school, I was often cited by my teachers for my disruptive behavior. I didn’t really know what it meant growing up aside from the fact that I was doing something wrong and I got in trouble for it. As an entrepreneur now, it makes all the sense in the world.

 

 

I wasn’t always disrupting for the better in school, but I was doing something out of the norm. As an entrepreneur, you’re goal is to disrupt a market or industry for the better through your innovations. Students who are naturally used to going up against the norm have a head start as entrepreneurs.

 

 

In order to disrupt, you have to take risks and do things out of the ordinary. 90% of kids in my class weren’t disruptive or breaking the rules. The best part about entrepreneurship is that you get to break the rules.

 

 

Thinking Outside The Box

 

In school, I had a tough time following directions. My teacher would tell me to do ABC, but I’d do DEF. It wasn’t that I was stupid, I just thought my way was better. If I could be creative and do things on my own, why shouldn’t I?

 

 

As entrepreneurs, this behavior is highly promoted. You’re constantly challenged to think outside the box and deviate from the plans others have. Great employees are ones who can carry out orders, but great entrepreneurs create their own plans.

 

 

If you’re creative or have an innate ability to think outside the box, you definitely have one of the stronger attributes necessary to be successful as an entrepreneur. Forget what your teachers told you about following the directions, create your own direction.

 

 

Risks Come Natural

 

Ditching class or breaking the rules almost always involves some kind of risk. The reward is a good time, but the risk is a consequence or punishment. Entrepreneurship is much of the same.

 

 

With every risk comes an equally great reward. Many people never end up getting out of the wantrepreneur phase because they are too fearful of taking a risk. Students who are causing mayhem in school are accustomed to taking risks.

 

 

It may not always be the best risk, but they have the courage to do it anyway. As an entrepreneur, you’re going to have to take many risks. I’ve taken a year off from college while taking numerous risks throughout the process. Some have paid off, while others haven’t.

 

 

However, what’s important is that I took these risks. Without taking these risks I wouldn’t be where I am today. By taking risks progressively throughout my life, it wasn’t a skill I had to acquire. I had been doing it for quite some time, I was now going to do it in a better way.

 

 

Ability To Adapt

 

School doesn’t teach you how to adapt to change. Charles Darwin said it best, “It’s not the strongest or most intelligent that survives. It is the one who is most adaptable to change.” Schools are structured in a way where the individuals who respect order tend to thrive and succeed.

 

 

Entrepreneurship isn’t about reading a book and implementing from it. Knowledge is great to have, but you have to use that wisdom to create your own path. With entrepreneurship, shit changes fast and very often.

 

 

By being an “A” student, you’re only prepared for scheduled tests. What happens in the event of a pop quiz? Those “A” students become “C”, “D” or “F” students. When life throws lemons at you, you make lemonade and get 5 other people to operate a lemonade stand under you.

 

 

After you graduate from school, people aren’t going to respect you based on your college GPA. It’s all about drive and persistence to be successful in the world. Your report card becomes irrelevant the moment you step into the real world.

 

 

Conclusion

 

As an entrepreneur, I can truly say that my bad habits as a student has a had a positive impact on my life. This article was talking about some of the reasons why bad students make good entrepreneurs.

 

 

10 Tips On How To Inspire People Around You

In this article, I share 10 tips on how to inspire people around you. Through my books, blog and work, I have been able to inspire millions!

 

As of late, I’ve been very passionate about inspiring people and changing lives of others. Since this is something I never aimed to do, it’s been hard to figure out what works and doesn’t work.

 

 

However, I finally feel that I have been able to master this skill. Through my experiences in the last 6 months, I have quickly found many more people reaching out to me and thanking me for the inspiration I have provided them.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to share 10 tips on how to inspire people around you:

 

 

1. Be You

 

People aren’t inspired by fakers. I quickly realized that people were inspired by me and what I did on a regular basis. I didn’t have to put on a fake persona or go out of my way to inspire others. As long as you are the best you, people will automatically be attracted to you.

 

 

2. Care About People

 

When people reach out to me, I always give them a response. I do admit I wish I could get on the phone or give people the ultimate value when they reach out to me, but it sometimes isn’t possible with my time commitments. Regardless, people know I care about them by the effort I put in which helps inspire others.

 

 

3. Have A Passion That’s Contagious 

 

Anyone who meets me immediately sees my passion for the things I do. When you are enthusiastic, that energy is contagious. Others see it and believe it themselves as well. A lot of people have been inspired simply by me being passionate about changing the world. Be passionate and others will follow in your footsteps.

 

 

4. Be Cool, Calm and Confident

 

I’m very realistic about everything. If sh*t is going bad, I’ll be the first one to admit it. However, I am not easily rocked by some negativity. I am always cool, calm and confident. If you want to inspire others, you need to be confident in your abilities through thick and thin. Nobody likes to follow the example of someone who is shaky.

 

 

5. Shoot for the Moon

 

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m always shooting for the moon. I don’t always get to the moon, but I’m guaranteed to land in the stars. Role models don’t aim for mediocrity, they aim to be the best. You can inspire people when you set your goals above their expectations.

 

 

6. Be Humble

 

Nobody likes to feel as if they are worse than anyone else. Treat everyone equally and remember that money doesn’t necessarily mean you are better than someone else. Keep your head down and work hard in silence so that success can make the noise. People will automatically notice you.

 

 

7. Keep Your Promises

 

No matter how big or small the promise may be, people respect you based on how honest you are. I’ve made numerous appearances at volunteer events and conferences even if it’s been tough on my schedule. I value the opportunity to inspire others so highly that I will go above and beyond to show up even when things are rough.

 

 

8. Listen Well

 

I learned as much as I did as quickly as I did because I listened to others. It doesn’t matter if you’re giving help or seeking help, listen to others. I’ve been able to inspire and help others because I take the time to truly understand their wants and needs.

 

 

9. Accept Your Flaws/Weaknesses

 

Nobody likes to look up to Superman because they feel as if they can never become a super-power like that. People like to be inspired by other humans who have done great things. Part of being human is making mistakes and having flaws. Share your and flaws and weaknesses with the world so that they can truly get to know you.

 

 

10. Don’t Preach

 

Nobody wants to hear someone preach about their successes or ideas. Instead, find a unique way to get your points across to your audience. I’ve been able to inspire so many people not because I beg them to come to me, but rather because I share my thoughts and ideas and people are naturally attracted to it.

 

 

Conclusion

 

I’m very fortunate to have the ability to inspire and motivate people with their dreams. I’m very thankful for this opportunity and if you are in a position similar to me, I truly hope you capitalize on the opportunity as well.

 

 

photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc

 

How I Closed My Biggest Deal Using A Burrito Analogy

In this article, I share a story from years ago where I used a burrito analogy to close my biggest deal. It’s a valuable lesson I learned that I share with you through this article about sales.

 

When I started my first multimedia business in high school, we mainly sold websites. However, I was intrigued by the idea of search engine optimization and how it could help my customers since so many of them inquired about it.

 

 

I spent some time learning how to do SEO myself and eventually got really good at it. Even though I didn’t do the actual SEO myself, I knew a lot about it. I really wanted to integrate search engine optimization as a service within my business because we would have the opportunity to charge our customers on a monthly basis.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to share some mistakes I made selling SEO, how I overcame it with one simple trick and the valuable lesson I learned through this experience.

 

 

The Mistakes 

 

As a note, I do not run this multimedia agency anymore. I sold it over a year and a half ago so this story and lesson comes directly from my past.

 

 

After learning SEO, I was eager to acquire clients. I could easily make anywhere from $500-$2,500 a month by offering these services to my customers. I was great at selling websites, but I quickly found out that I was terrible at selling SEO.

 

 

I didn’t know what it was. I could close website deals left and right, but I couldn’t get a single customers to sign up for our search engine optimization services. I tried different pitches, prices and plans but nothing seemed to work.

 

 

One day, I was in my room practicing my pitch when my little brother walked in. He was only 5 or 6 at the time. I told him to sit and listen in on my pitch so he could tell me what he thought. After about 45 seconds, he got up and said he was bored.

 

 

My younger brother finally made me realize why every single pitch had gone so horribly wrong. My clients just like my brother didn’t understand anything I was saying. What did my pitch consist of?

 

 

Well a bunch of mumbo jumbo technical stuff. I would start by sharing a bit about our SEO team before jumping into our optimization plan. I would tell our customers about how we increase their page rank, create a high authority back links, article submissions and everything else that goes into ranking a keyword.

 

 

My clients didn’t care about all this. They wanted to pay me to get their keywords on the top of the search engines. As long as that happened and they got a ROI, they would be satisfied.

 

 

The Burrito

 

I knew clients wanted to know how we did SEO, but they didn’t want to hear about it from a technical standpoint. They really wanted to know what we would be doing in words they could understand.

 

 

The best example I could think of was a burrito. I had a mortgage company that was highly interested in our SEO services so I decided to try the burrito analogy. If you’re wondering how SEO and the making of a burrito are similar, let me explain.

 

 

In order to rank a keyword on the search engines, you need to do a ton of different on-page and off-page optimization techniques to make things happen. You optimize the code, add tags, re-write content, and do a lot of other stuff inside their website. On the outside of the website, you create back-links, press-releases, article submissions, forum posts and other things.

 

 

I told them that SEO was just like making a burrito. There are a ton of elements that go into a successful campaign. If you want to make a good burrito, you need to have all the following ingredients:

 

– Cheese

 

– Rice

 

– Sour Cream

 

– Salsa

 

– Lettuce

 

– Corn

 

– Meat

 

– Beans

 

– Guacamole

 

– Peppers

 

– Tortilla

 

 

SEO was just the same way. If we took just 1 of the many things crucial to a campaign, it would fail. If we just grabbed a piece of tortilla and stuffed it with some corn, you’d have a really shitty burrito.

 

 

The owner laughed at the analogy and said to me, “I don’t get why all the other guys confused the hell out of me and you come in and make it so crystal clear.” As you can imagine, I got him as a client.

 

 

Not only that, but that deal would be the biggest one I closed throughout my tenure with my multimedia company.

 

 

The Lesson

 

It’s amazing how making my pitch simple allowed me to achieve better results. Turns out, I learned a valuable lesson in sales. It doesn’t matter what you sell, it matters how you sell it.

 

 

From that experience, I learned two very important things. Look for the benefits of your customers and explain it in terms that a five-year old can understand.

 

 

The benefits of doing SEO with me was that I would get them on the top of the search engines quickly and provide them with a ROI each month. In terms of simplifying what SEO was, well even my five-year old brother knows how to make a burrito, which made that analogy the perfect one to use.

 

 

People don’t want to be confused and overwhelmed by technicalities. Keep things simple and show people how your products or services fulfill their needs and wants. As long as you do that, you’ll have the ability to sell just about anything!

 

 

photo credit: barron via photopin cc